ARTIST: Aly And Aj
TITLE: “We’re An American Band”
WEB DEBUT: March 11, 2008
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: Because they are not without their ephemeral summertime charms, if there’s one thing you should demand from a canned tween pop cover of a classic rock standard, it’s too much pep, not too little. The two A’s (who’ve actually displayed some honest pep in the past) flub by offering up a turgid butt-rockin’ take on the (admittedly butt-rockin’) Grand Funk original, notable mostly for A.) making me long for a Grand Funk original. (Who at least didn’t sound so squished and enervated thanks to all that compression.) (Or like their producers had just C+P’d the vocal in from another session.) And B.) perhaps the most cowbell on a record by a Radio Disney-related act ever.
WHERE TO HEAR IT: We woulda said pop leak source Crazy World Of Music, but alas it seems to have finally fallen afoul of the great leak-blog war of ’08. So here’s a YouTube:
(Listening again, I actually kinda like the guitar tone during the run-up to the second chorus, and surprisingly it actually sounds a little less flat when YouTubed. But still…eesh. I also can’t believe I initially credited “WAAB” to dirty Canadians Guess Who. I’m sleepy. Apologies to Messrs. Farner/Brewer/Schacher.)
Aly And AJ – “We’re An American Band” [YouTube]
the (admittedly butt-rockin’) Guess Who original
Umm…Grand Funk Railroad, surely.
oh THANKS A LOT, NED. i almost got away with it, too.
@Ned Raggett: And now I imagine Randy Bachman ‘n’ pals belting out “We’re A Canadian Band” (though what rhymes with “we’re comin’ to your province”?)
i’m never getting that post-blogging gig as programming director at a classic hits station now
@Jess Harvell: i almost got away with it, too.
Except for me, the meddling kid.
I was kind of hoping for a Yo La Tengo cover, but oh well. Maybe next year.
Meh. They’re a bunch of “intelligent design” wackjobs.
“American Woman” must be the culprit for the confusion. Not to be confused with American women, who are tops in my book.