REEL BIG FISH / ZOLOF THE ROCK AND ROLL DESTROYER "Duet All Night Long" (Reignition) Review by Jordan A. Baker
The attraction of the cover song is hard to pin down but it basically comes from two separate positives: a built in familiarity with the song in question, and a band's ability to transpose their own personality with that of the cover song's origins. Reignition's six song split, Duet All Night Long, puts a unique spin on an all-covers release, as members of the esteemed ska-rock group REEL BIG FISH join forces with keyboard-pop starlets, ZOLOF THE ROCK AND ROLL DESTROYER, and each band does their best to slip into the skin of their favorite pop classics.
The pattern to Duet All Night Long features REEL BIG FISH playing "Ask," "Lyin' Ass Bitch," and "It's Not Easy,"as tracks 1,3, and 5, while ZOLOF is the driving musical force behind songs 2, 4, 6, the better choices, "Dress You Up," "Don't You Want Me," and "Say Say Say." The "duet" element to the release is mostly intuitive - the lead singer for each song is done by a member in the opposing band. Some of the covers are more balanced vocally than others, with the duet factor strongest on THE HUMAN LEAGUE's indomitable "Don't You Want Me," where both Rachel Minton and Aaron Barrett truly shine. MADONNA's "Dress You Up," comes off feeling rambunctious by Minton's face-melting sweetness, but FISHBONE's "Lyin' Ass Bitch," falls flat in sounding too vindictive for the spirit of the release. A near nirvana is achieved on the pristine, near cuteness overload, "It's Not Easy," where the interaction between Minton and Barrett makes it seem like the two have been singing together for years.
Not surprisingly, Duet All Night Long leaves a strong aftertaste of novelty. All six songs are fun and carefree, and each would bring a smile to my face if they showed up on an iTunes playlist, but nothing on here is likely to become a pivotal moment in your music collection. If you've heard REEL BIG FISH's wonderful cover of A-HA's college pep-band staple, "Take On Me," you know that the people involved in this project have had success in this area before. Simply, Duet All Night Long is a release that should go over well among fans of each group, and will likely pull in a few stragglers too, drawn into those sweet, sweet sounds of yesteryear.
