Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters

You can count the number of cover albums I own on the fingers of a hand which has come off second best in an argument with a meat cleaver. The (very) honourable exception being Cœur de pirate's "Trauma: Chansons de la Série Télé" - primarily, because I am a huge fan of Béatrice Martin and secondly, it's not so much a "Covers" album, more a collection of beautifully arranged interpretations, with every song stripped-back, adapted, moulded and structured to her trademark vocal and compositional style, while always remaining faithful to the spirit of the original…

And now to this very select criterion can be added this album from Tanya Donelly and - Rose, Sarah, Ariel and Lydia on cello - the Parkington Sisters, the eponymously-titled "Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters". As an iconic singer-songwriter, Tanya Donelly needs no introduction; co-founding of both Throwing Muses and The Breeders, as well as forming Belly, before embarking on a successful solo career. I may not have every album that Tanya has recorded, but I own a fair few, and it is also safe to say that an awful lot of albums I cherish are by artists who count her as a significant influence…

The Parkington Sisters - who hail from Wellfleet in Cape Cod - required a lot more homework and t'interweb sleuthing. Fortunately their Bandcamp page at least allowed me to listen and get a feel for their music - especially their 2014 album "Me You Us". "Textural" is a pretty good description and while I'd argue that the sister's music has it folk-tinged roots deeply immersed in Americana, the way in which the sisters combine orchestral strings with piano, accordion, woodwind and bright brass alongside percussion and guitar, adds depth, intricacy and richness alongside a hint of melancholy to a sound which I'll best pigeon-hole as indie-folk… More on this point later. And then there's those voices - glorious, the definition of note-perfect vocal harmonies and melodies. I've always been a sucker for these, as my incoherent ramblings about my favourite sœurs, Stéphanie and Mélanie Boulay, will attest… Frighteningly, if it wasn't for this album, the Parkington Sisters would have joined the pantheon of artists that I would have otherwise never discovered or more-likely never will. Mistake corrected and with apparently a new album scheduled for later this year, I for one will be listening out for…

As if to telegraph this album, Tanya Donelly released a series of cover songs - although interpretations are closer to the mark - earlier this year during her COVID-19 isolation and which are available on her Bandcamp page. My personal favourites are her takes of Buffalo Tom's "Frozen Lake", Madder Rose's "Swim" and truly cracking versions of both Yazoo's "Only You" and Marianne Faithful's "As Tears Go By" (the latter is of course a Jagger / Richards composition - but you know what I mean…)

Tanya Donelly

So when news of this album was announced I was already intrigued… and then when I saw the track-listing, my credit card knew it was in for a hard time. The songs, which all address themes of life, love and mortality have been masterfully interpreted - trust me, these are no mere covers - re-worked and re-constructed to seamlessly accommodate Tanya's distinctive vocals and the sisters' haunting and folk-tinged orchestral hues.

The album opens with the "Automatic", originally from the Go-Go's 1981 debut "Beauty and the Beat" - at the time this track always seemed a bit of an outlier, but I saw the band (…checks the web…) at The Lyceum in 1982 and remember being totally blown away when they performed it live - I'm not going to say I had an epiphany - there was suddenly an awareness that behind all this (very enjoyable) West Coast "New Wave" was some serious musicianship and songwriting nous (and probably explains why I keep an ear-out for Jane Wiedlin's musical projects).

With this song, Tanya and the sisters place their cards on the table - opening against a soundtrack of haunting and moody plucked strings - it's arguably more faithful to the song's lyrics than the original. There's clever use of echo and layering of the sisters' strings which complements the cold matter-of-factness behind Tanya's voice. Its dark - almost Gothic, aided and abetted by the ghostly howling to the atmospheric coda. As the opening track, it really makes a statement.

To be honest I wasn't sure as to how Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End Of Love"would be tackled. Outwardly, it feels like a love song, although - as I've discovered - Cohen was at pain to stress that the song was inspired by the Holocaust and the camp orchestras forced to perform in front of the gas chambers and crematoria… And the version here, I feel, pays homage to the spirit of Cohen's original. From reviews, Tanya planned this interpretation as a love song set at the onset of the relationship, but - while I'm not going to argue - it feels like the song is all about the immortality of love juxtaposed against the frailty and finitely of the human body; the sisters' sympathetic interpretation delivers an air of poignancy and I can't help but recall Cohen's last letter to Marianne Ihlen. Seriously every time I've listened to this version I've gotten shivers and I suspect this is my favourite track on the album.

And from love of the everlasting kind to one that had an expiration date. Bandcamp describes "Days" as a song by Kirsty MacColl, but as befits someone who's older - but most definitely not wiser - I've always been drawn to The Kinks original version, the combination of Ray Davies' voice and lyrics seem to me to perfectly capture the thin facade of bravado that you know is going to shatter into a thousand pieces… To be fair though, the version here feels closer to that of Kirsty's - there's a warmer and poppier interpretation, as well as another similarity with the slightly slower tempo. I also love how Tanya's voice weaves between the strings and piano, with the vocal inflection, multi-layering and sweet harmonies adding texture to mirror the sister's accompaniment, and which allows the song to reminisce in wistful nostalgia.

So at the time it felt like Echo and the Bunnymen's "Ocean Rain" was the band's Swan song. Deliberately eschewing their post-punk / new wave roots, their fourth album was enriched by expansive string arrangements, lush orchestration and an expansive, operatic score - with everything reaching a crescendo on this, the album's closing track - and which served to highlight Ian McCulloch's majestic vocal performance. With the benefit of hindsight - sorely missing from yours truly at the time - it is arguably their most consistent album, one that has easily stood the test of time. So I was eagerly anticipating the version here and it really doesn't disappoint, even though it is probably one of the more faithful interpretations. With Tanya wisely not attempting to compete with McCulloch's vocal range, the song seems to effortlessly comes together, the strings are beautiful arranged - the violins even mimic rain running down a storm-swept porthole - the guitars add a pleasing lighter touch - if the original was about McCulloch's blackish mood swings, here its the morning after the storm and dawn's early light stretches its fingers over a calming seas…

Now is it me or are these violins still playing out those other Liverpudlian legends? That being said, I'm not totally convinced that Paul McCartney wrote “Let Me Roll It” as a country song, but the twang in Tanya's voice definitely gives this version a veneer of Americana. Throw in the sublime electric guitar during the song's middle-eight, the sister's stirring strings and the uplifting chorus, and it's not that much of a stretch to suggest this song wouldn't sound out of place performed on a Nashville stage…

The phrase "instant classic" is an over-used and over-worked hyperbole when describing an album, however in the case of The Pretenders' eponymous debut it is totally justified. A mélange of pop, punk and with a smattering of reggae beats and lashings of garage-influence rock - with not a second of filler amongst its tracks - it was one of the albums which would heralded the twilight of the punk-era and the dawn of the more expansive new-wave and post-punk eighties that would dominate my record collection for the first part of the new decade… “Kid” though is a tough song to cover. It's very deceptive; outwardly an incredibly seductive and radio-friendly, retro-sixties pop-song; lyrically, far darker, chronicling as it does the conversation between a mother whose son has discovered she works as a prostitute. Here, the orchestration, especially the strings, set the mood - adding gravitas, dramatic accents and gorgeous upswings - while Tanya's voice hold everything together.

The Parkington Sisters

And now a guilty little secret… My dad had one of those "40 Original Hits, 40 Original Artists" Country Music albums - which in the UK meant mind-numbing and turgid ballads that are now thankfully banned under most strategic arms limitation treaties. However, there was one song - which arose Excalibur-like from this dank cesspit of aural shite - which I will carry to my grave insisting it is one of the greatest songs ever recorded. In the context of this review, the fact the song in question is also a cover version is quite appropriate I suppose… The Stone Poneys' version of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum" featuring a young and up-and-coming Linda Ronstadt on vocals, is arguably the most achingly beautiful of "it's not you, it's me" break-up songs… seriously, if I was just about to have my heart shattered into a million pieces, I'd want this song to be playing in the background… and while I'd probably want to hear Linda's sweet voice soothe away the pain, I wouldn't feel crushed if it were Tanya and the sisters comforting my fractured ego. I love the plucked strings, the gorgeous harmonies and the sympathetic warmth to both Tanya's delivery and the sister's lush violins and cello. In many respects this version is the most faithful to the one that I fell in love with all those years ago and it's for this reason that I'm equally enamoured by it - the song's DNA hasn't really been altered, it's just that Tanya's and the sisters have left their fingerprints everywhere.

There's always one song on a covers album that knocks the original for six, and I'd argue that the version of Split Enz's "Devil You Know” is the one. It's an absolute gem. Every vestige of the safe and dated (as in "really hasn't aged well") arrangement has been eradicated. In its place is an overwhelming warmth - the orchestration of strings is absolutely divine - the cello adds texture and depth - and this is arguably Tanya's crowning vocal interpretation - there's an overwhelming feel intimacy and comfort in her voice, while conveying just an edge vulnerability.

And finally, there's always one song that is a complete discovery. Here it is the album's closing track, Mary Margaret O’Hara's “You Will Be Loved Again” and which enables me to approach both the original and the version here without any preconception or prejudice. But wow - the original is hard work - not because the song is a discordant car-crash, it's actually a truly fantastic almost a cappella piece - trust me, Mary Margaret O’Hara's voice is the only instrument this song needs - but because the lyrics are heart-wrenchingly sad and her voice not only extracts every last drop of wrought emotion, it also puts the listener through the wringer. This is an absolutely immense piece of art. Especially poignant is the fact that what is supposedly the song's uplifting refrain; "You will be loved again" is being performed by someone whose heart has been so repeatedly broken and who has been let down so often, she no longer believes the words she's singing… Here, this is still a gorgeous stripped-down song, this time built around the most beautiful and bewitching of vocal harmonisations of Tanya and the Parkington Sisters - which are gosh, wonderful. I'd argue this interpretation could be similarly performed a cappella, however the addition of the piano adds both warmth and a home-spun comfort. This time when they sing; "You will be loved again", you really believe they believe it, and are sending a message of love and support… It's the perfect song in which to close a truly perfect album.

Tanya Donelly (Bandcamp)
Parkington Sisters (Website)