Artist: Lena Hall
Title: “Obsessed: Radiohead”
Label: Ghostlight Records
Release Date: 6/1/2018
Genre: Rock
Rating:
I’m continuing my examination of the series of cover EP’s by Tony Award winning musician Lena Hall with her latest offering of “Obsessed: Radiohead”, an album that finds the sonic vocalist offering up homage to the legendary Alternative Rock band by giving us her take on a handful of their numbers. My own relationship with the band Radiohead came very early in the bands debut as a newly signed band to a label I knew some people at way back when and upon inquiring what this one was all about, I was told “we think the song CREEP will be a big hit”. It was of course, and the band went on to their own levels of stratospheric popularity. Sorry, I just had to add that one into the mix but back to the latest tunes from Miss Hall.
Lena begins the album with “Nude”, the hit single from the sophomore album “The Bends” and its stellar. I should admit that I didn’t become the biggest study of the band since my first introduction so as a listener a lot of the release was coming across as new music to me and since Hall stripped these songs down to the basic melodies it was even more impressive. “High and Dry” I knew, and it was probably my favorite song by the band after the original big hit and Lena’s register is impassioned and sincere from beginning to end. She excels on “Exit Music (For A Film) from “OK Computer” and starts off with acoustic guitar accompaniment only before the percussion and piano join in and bring the room down around you. With “Creep” being the biggest of the bands hits it made sense to close this latest EP with that song. It’s remained my own favorite song in their catalog and one that every cover band worth their salt offers up during their set. Lena has only the piano joining her on this one and it worked very well. This song starts off softly as you might know and leads to a glass breaking crescendo at the close. Lena’s register at the final portion of this finale is something that might make you raise your lighter into the air (or a representation on a mobile device) while you give her a much-deserved standing ovation. After listening to this one a couple of times, its safe to say that fans of the band Radiohead might easily enjoy these representations of their numbers as they shine a new light on just how great these songs are.
As with the other pieces of the “Obsessed” series, the musicians include Justin Craig on guitar and keyboards; Matt Duncan on bass, keyboards and saxophone; and Brian Fishler on drums and percussion. I can hardly wait for the seventh installment in this fascinating series of EP’s. Nice work Lena, but we expected as much from you to be quite honest. To enjoy the other “Obsessed” albums I’ve given my thoughts on just click THIS LINK.
Track Listing:
1. Nude
2. High and Dry
3. Exit Music (For a Film)
4. Street Spirit (Fade out)
5. Creep
Official Website: http://www.lenahall.com
Official Website: http://www.lenahallobsessed.com
Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lenahallobsessed
Official Website: http://www.ghostlightrecords.com/