Saturday, September 10, 2011

#44: Leftover Salmon and Cracker - O Cracker Where Art Thou?

Release Year: 2003

What happens when you take David Lowery and Johnny Hickman from Cracker, and give them a jamgrass band as their musical accompaniment?  You get one of the coolest novelty albums ever recorded.

Cracker had a few hits back in the early nineties, the most well-known being "Low."  Cracker has always been considered a rock band, but they've always had threads of country throughout their music.  So, they seem like a natural choice for making an entire album of bluegrass covers (well, maybe adaptations, since I'm not sure it can be a cover if it has the original singer).

This album really works for me for two reasons: (a) I really like Cracker, and (b) I really like bluegrass.  The other reason this album has sentimental value for me is that it really introduced me to the bluegrass genre. Furthermore, it taught me that bluegrass music and rock music can be compatible (for more on that, check out Keller and the Keels, who cover Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," Butthole Surfers' "Pepper," Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy," and an alternate version of Cracker's "Teen Angst."  Also, Punch Brothers versions of The Strokes' "Reptilia" and "Heart in a Cage," Beck's "Sexx Laws," and several Radiohead covers).

Standout tracks:
  • Get Off This
  • Low
  • Eurotrash Girl
  • Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now) 

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