California

by

Wilson Phillips

Edit

I was a huge Wilson Phillips fan in the late 80s / early 90s. I was horribly disappointed when they disbanded. They have beautiful voices and the harmonies are incredible. Unfortunately for them in the 90s, musical tastes gravitated towards boy bands and rap. Now that the boy band era is over, maybe there is room again for these wonderful and talented ladies.

For those who criticize them for releasing a cover album, I respectfully disagree. I think it was a masterful move for them to release a cover album filled with fun and familiar tunes. Now that they have shown that they still have a fan base, perhaps we will be seeing a CD of original work.

Although I like "Monday, Monday", for the Mamas and the Papas homage I would have preferred to have heard "California Dreamin'". It would have been amazing.

I was somewhat disappointed by this album. Like most "tribute" albums, the inherent problem is that if you remake a true "classic" song and you don't change the arrangement, then why re-record it? And, if you do change it dramatically, then more often than not you'd rather hear the original. The Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter comes to mind as the rare exception to a re-make improving upon the original . . . that doesn't happen with the songs on this album.

The harmonies are, as always, terrific, but there isn't one song on here that really jumps out and makes me say "well done!" You're No Good is just that . . . no good.

I thought that Wendy and Carnie's Hey Santa! album was a better album . . . remakes of songs that have been sung a hundred times, but they still sounded fresh and new when the girls sang them. The songs on California sound like the girls made them their own, but not necessarily in a positive way.

After hearing the album, I know I won't listen to it again . . . I'll take all the existing artists, burn my own cd of the their versions and have a "greatest hits" that is really great!