Oh my god, I'm posting Peter Jöback, what the fuck is wrong with me? It would appear I've gone off the deep end once and for all.
For anyone who doesn't know, Jöback is a Swedish dork well-known for his work in various musicals and for being a harmless goody two-shoes that makes Josh Groban look like Charles Manson.
A while back he decided to take a break from everything and moved to New York where he of course felt reborn and decided to go to Woodstock and record some of his favorite songs to celebrate his new lease on life. An admirable ambition, it's just too bad he had no idea what he was doing.
On East Side Stories, truly one of the strangest records of 2009, he rapes one classic after another, from Radiohead's No Surprises, The Verve's The Drugs Don't Work and R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts (featuring Declan O'Rourke... how the fuck did that happen?) to Depeche Mode's Somebody, America's A Horse With No Name and many others. Without any sort of subtlety he effectively uses his overblown Broadway wannabe voice to make each song sound like he's auditioning for The Phantom Of The Opera.
But the cover of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game is not too fucking bad, though it pains me to admit it. Australian singer Sia Furler, perhaps most known for the song Breathe Me and her work with Zero 7, contributes vocals and is the main reason the cover sounds as good as it does. Nothing earth-shattering, but a nice reworking with Spaghetti western trumpets and stuff.
Maybe Sia can be talked into recording a cover of it by herself? Or what if they can just take Jöback's vocals off it and release that instead? That would be awesome.
(mp3) Peter Jöback & Sia - Wicked game
The original available on Heart Shaped World (1989)
(mp3) Sia - Breathe me
Available on Colour The Small One (2004)
