Detroit Cobras
Life, Love and Leaving
[Sympathy for the Record Industry]
Rating: 4.3
When I pay for a Dee-troit Cobra, I expect a huge black snake coiled in
a pool of grease with a shiny, metallic cowl, skin made from recalled
Firestone tires, and fangs dripping with venomous gasoline. I want it to hiss
like a demon and grind like a faulty axle. I do not want some Ronnie Spector
imitation fronting an oldies band.
Regrouped after a four-year hiatus, this retro-soul act does its share of
playing out in the Motor City scene. They're getting the band together and
playing soul music, which is a Blues Brothers/Commitments type story you've
gotta love, if not listen to. So here are some questions you might ask
yourself: do you listen to the Commitments instead of Wilson Pickett? Do
you think the Black Crowes' take on "Hard to Handle" surpasses Otis Redding's
version? If so, you might enjoy Life, Love and Leaving. After all,
bassist Eddie Hawrsch (aka Eddie Harsch-- whoever wrote the insert also
misspelled Otis Redding's name) is the keyboard player from the Black
Crowes.
The Detroit Cobras should continue providing live music for their local scene.
That is a noble endeavor. Rachel Nagy is a fine belter whose bluesy growl and
soul hiccups no doubt get a bar jumping. Yet to slap this disc into the player
thinking it's the real thing, you'd just be kidding yourself. True, the Cobras
have delved deeper into the soul catalog than most cover bands, coming up with
competent versions of Ike & Tina Turner's "Can't Miss Nothing," Ottis (aka
Otis) Redding's "Shout Bama Lama" and other obscurities. However, the soul
routine is mere homage, without any original heat. Nagy hits all the right
notes, but never makes these songs real. It's rote nostalgia. Maybe that catch
in her voice on "Cry On" (written by Ronnie Mack of "He's So Fine" fame) isn't
affected, but for the most part, the singing:soul ratio is only slightly better
than Cher's version of "Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" or Tracey Ullman's
take on "They Don't Know."
Nagy is the story because the band isn't. They're a smooth, tight band that
never speaks as a single beast. They're fine backing musicians, but no smoke
rises. This is often billed as punk music, but the Cobras veer closer to
sounding like a good wedding band. Perhaps this is the result of an
energy-sapping studio session, but the accompaniment could use some grit,
some weird distortion-- anything to make it more interesting.
Their best moment comes with the opener, "Hey Sah-Lo-Ney--" the closest thing
Mickey Lee Lane ever had to a hit-- incorrectly listed here as "Hey Sailor."
A snakecharmer's call-and-response over a barnstorming boogie, this one song
is the bright moment of a weak offering. Soon after, it becomes a corny
affair, full of Chiffons-esque sha-la-la's and Ronnie Specter Whoa-ho-ho's
and little fire.
The Detroit Cobras don't anger me. Maybe that's because they're in no way
famous. Give them a gold record for this kind of pale imitation, and perhaps
I'd get upset. Maybe their saving grace is that they don't go for obvious
hits, as you might remember Michael Bolton used to do. It's really unfair to
compare this earnest bar band with hacks like Cher and Bolton. (Come to think
of it, I haven't heard Michael Bolton in a while! Life is getting better!)
Of course, no one's really doing the old soul trip these days. Old psychedelia,
old heavy metal, retro-techno, it's all going on again and again. But the
closest thing you get to the Supremes during this arc of predictability are
the state-of-the-art Destiny's Child.
The recently departed Make-Up did this music (and destroyed it) right. It's a
little sad that all we have going in old soul recycling are these poor rockers
trying to do it correctly, and so, of course, doing it wrong. They mean no
harm, and they sincerely love their betters. They're just worse. This CD
doesn't get played again unless I find a mix tape segue that's crying for
"Hey Sailor" or whatever it's called. There are lots of snakes out there;
this one doesn't have enough venom.
-Dan Kilian