When the JEM Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards CD showed up in my mailbox a few weeks back, I felt like I was doing something forbidden by listening to it. The annual JEM Records Celebrates compilations have never come out this early in the year, and when I popped the latest installment into my car player, I felt like a naughty kid sneaking into his parents' closet to scope out his hidden Christmas presents. But let's be honest here: I certainly wasn't complaining that Marty Scott didn't make us wait until August to hear JEM Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards!
Having created the best tribute album I've ever heard last year with JEM Records Celebrates Ray Davies, the label had a tough act to follow. So why not have a go at (arguably) the greatest rock 'n' roll band the world has ever known? There have certainly been numerous Stones tribute albums over the years, but this one is definitely a cut above. In keeping with the spirit of this entire series, the point of this album is to celebrate Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as songwriters. They are so well-known as performers and personalities and eternal personifiers of bad-assery that they might actually be a little undervalued as songwriters. So it's a joy to hear JEM's talented stable of bands and artists take on some of their finest material. If you are assuming that the songs of Jagger & Richards won't suit the JEM roster the way the songs of Davies, Pete Townshend, Brian Wilson, and John Lennon did, this album will prove you wrong. Perhaps we don't associate the Stones with "pop," but this collection suggests that Jagger & Richards don't get enough credit for their command of melody and flair for hooks. Listening to Paul Collins take on the Stones' 1964 single "Tell Me," you can hear how this song was part of the primordial ooze from which power pop music sprang. If you didn't know "Dandelion" was a Stones B-side from 1967, you might think The Grip Weeds were covering The Zombies or Bee Gees! In one of the finest recordings he's ever done, Johnathan Pushkar transforms the early 2000s Jagger composition "Don't Stop" (first released on the Forty Licks compilation) into something that sounds like it came from the heyday of power pop. Marty Scott hand-picked "You Can't Always Get What You Want" for The High Frequencies (Lisa Mychols' new band with her husband Tom Richards), who give the song a glistening '80s pop-rock makeover while still remaining faithful to its iconic melodies. In an absolute genius move, The Airport 77s turn the '90s Stones rocker "Too Tight" into a Cars song! On the more rockin' side of things, The Cynz absolutely steal the show with an inspired, raucous take on the classic "Star Star." And The Midnight Callers transport "Jumpin' Jack Flash" to 1970s New York.
The mistake that can sometimes be made with a Stones tribute is thinking you have to cover all the bases. That's literally impossible unless you're doing a triple album. JEM Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards works so well because it makes the right selections rather than the obvious ones. Whether you're talking classics (Nick Piunti putting his signature on "Ruby Tuesday") or deep cuts (The Anderson Council punching up 1967's "Connection"), the performances on this album are consistently top-notch. With these JEM Records Celebrates compilations, there's always a perfect balance between reverence for the original songs and a sense of joy in re-making them. As I did with the Ray Davies tribute, I've continued to listen to JEM Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards for pleasure even after I finished preparing for this review. From this album, you can expect much satisfaction.
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