Daily Track: Cary Brothers - "Something About You"
Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 1:18AM
From his April album Under Control, Cary Brothers does exactly what's required for a classic cover song. Turn it on it's head and then inside out, completely transforming it into something fresh and new -- and, in this case, nearly unrecognizable from the 1985 original. "Something About You" is what is euphemistically referred to as a "one hit wonder", a song that peaked Top 10 in the U.S. and a lone hit for the British electro-pop band Level 42 (an outfit that was hugely popular in the U.K. -- witness their recent 4-CD box set retrospective). Here "Something" is a jangling bit of dream pop, slowed and stripped of any of the song's original funky underbeat. Sweet...and that's Laura Jansen on backing vocals. Original '85 video after the jump...
Cary Brothers - "Something About You" (from the album Under Control)
Reader Comments (1)
Well, actually, besides hitting #7 with "Something About You", Level 42 did hit #12 the following year with "Lessons In Love". (They'll be playing ten dates in the U.S. at the end of this month.) Anyway, here's the review I posted for Cary's album, for which he later thanked me:
"Cary Brothers deserves much more attention than he gets, and "Under Control" is just further proof. His song titles may not be very original, but his confessional style of writing will draw you in. Highlights include 'Alien' and 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You', but there's not a bad song in the bunch. He may not want too much emphasis placed on the one song he didn't write here, but his slowed-down take on Level 42's 'Something About You' is at least as good as the R&B workout that Anthony David gave it in 2006. If you already listen to top singer-songwriter talent like Brandi Carlile, or if you've heard any Cary Brothers song before (like 2007's great 'Jealousy'), you owe it to yourself to hear 'Under Control'."