Reel Big Fish / Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer

Duet All Night Long EP

Written by: PP on 22/02/2007 12:41:07

Apparently Reel Big Fish feel that their ever-expanding list of cover songs isn't quite long enough yet, so the band teamed up with another ridiculously titled band, Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer, to record a six-track cover EP together. "Duet All Night Long" is a collection of ska/electro-indie-fied remakes of popular songs by Madonna, The Smiths, Fishbone, The Human League, and Michael Jackson. It even has a tune from a Walt Disney movie!

The Reel Big Fish vocalist Aaron Barrett and Zolof frontwoman Rachel Minton share the vocal duties in every song, hence the title reference to a duet. The Zolof-songs on the album have a distinct electro-pop, almost Hellogoodbye-ish sound to them, which makes especially the Madonna song "Dress You Up" sound inspiringly fresh and modern, a trait which is also brought by the contrast of the male/female vocal work alternating line-by-line. The Fish horn-infused version of The Smiths classic "Ask" sounds equally fresh and different, and though the bands haven't destroyed the original melody of the song (nor any other one on the disc), they've differed the tempo and included the horns in a natural way, creating a feel that they were always meant to be there in the first place. The same applies for the trademark Fish upbeat ska-guitar hooks as well, which transform the song in the same way as they did the old A-Ha classic "Take On Me" on one of their earlier albums.

Both bands have done an excellent job at transforming the old classics into their respective sound, bringing together ska and electro-indie-pop in a way that would sound wrong at almost every other occasion. But "Duet All Night Long" unsurprisingly doesn't sound like the most serious effort of all time, and especially on the Reel Big Fish cover of Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" it becomes obvious these two bands have spent countless hours together at karaoke bars in the past - a likely inspiration for this EP. It's a nice refreshing reminder why we are so eager to wait for new full albums from both bands.

7

Download: Lyin' Ass Bitch, Dress You Up
For the fans of: Reel Big Fish, Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer, Cover songs
Listen: Reel Big Fish Myspace, Zolof Myspace

Release date 20.02.2007
Reignition Records

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