|
|
|||
Everytime I hear Annie Lennox sing "No More 'I Love You's", I feel a sense of melancholy. Not because the song speaks to me, or because I'm some kind of girly-man. It's because her version pales in comparison to the original. Original? If needed to ask the above question, then you are the embodiment of my melancholy. Not only aren't most people familiar with the original version, featured on the 1986 self-titled album by The Lover Speaks, but were they to hear it, they'd rather eat a vaseline sandwich than hear Lennox' cold, detached cover version. It is with the passion of an evangelist that I wish to change that. It's a issue unlikely to be corrected anytime soon. The song has received almost no airplay since it's original release (I don't believe that to be hyperbole), and even stations that specialize in 80's "new music" have eschewed the original for the pale comparison. The record is even more difficult to find, as the editors of this magazine scoured the globe and managed to find the body of Jimmy Hoffa, run into the Loch Ness monster, and actually locate Chevy Chase's career before finding the CD in England, partially concealed by the Holy Grail. Yet our memories served us correctly; the search was entirely worth it. "Every Lover's Sign", also an '80s fave, opens the album, followed by the classic no one remembers. Why such obscurity? Well, The Lover Speaks (named after one of Roland Barthes' discourses, by the way) was a one-shot project consisting of David Freeman and Joseph Hughes. They only produced one album before David Freeman went on to a multitude of solo projects and and a fairly successful songwriting career. In the meantime, Annie Lennox covered his best-known song with ice-queen vocals, totally obliterating the emotional anguish and passion of the original. But hey, don't take our word for it. Do yourself a favor. Try to track down The Lover Speaks. It's worth the effort. And if you see her, tell Amelia Earhart we said "Hello". |
|||
|
|
