Third in a series that stretches all the way back to 1985, The R. Stevie Moore Family Album, Vol. 3 collects recent covers of Moore's songs by friends, family, and admirers. The majority of names are utterly unfamiliar to casual listeners, except for Jad Fair, Martin Newell, north Jersey power pop combo the Breetles, and "Walk Like an Egyptian" composer Lane Steinberg, who offer excellent versions of "Under the Light," "Sperm Concern," "Play Myself Some Music," and "You Always Want What You Don't Have," respectively. (Longtime RSM fans will recognize the efforts of wife Krystyna Olsiewicz, longtime collaborator Billy Anderson, and patron Irwin Chusid as well.) Other highlights include the tape collage "The New Phonographers," a John Oswald-style reworking of Moore's 1976 album Phonography by Seattle's the Bran Flakes, sister Linda Moore (formerly bassist in the '80s country-pop outfit Calamity Jane) doing a quirkily countrified version of "Traded My Heart for Your Parts," and a lovely, High Llamas-style recasting of the instrumental "World's Fair" by the Listing Attic. Of course, as Columbia Records once said of Bob Dylan, nobody sings Stevie like Stevie, so none of these covers outshine the originals, but The R. Stevie Moore Family Album, Vol. 3 is a sweet bit of friendly admiration.
The R. Stevie Moore Family Album, Vol. 3
R. Stevie Moore
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The R. Stevie Moore Family Album, Vol. 3 Review
by Stewart Mason
