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Copeland

Know Nothing Stays The Same
2004
The Militia Group

Copeland - Know Nothing Stays The Same (Cover Artwork)

Review by: Scott
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Published on August 13th 2004

This EP is simply a horrible idea.

Generally, cover albums/EPs/etc. are a bad idea on principle. Very few bands can record an entire release's worth of cover songs and make them sound alive, unique and fresh. No matter how talented the band in question is, covers are usually a letdown. (The same logic applies to tribute albums, but that's another review entirely.)

Now, Copeland is a good band. I'd go as far as to say that they're a great band. Beneath Medicine Tree found itself permanently lodged in my stereo for the majority of 2003. But this? This is horrendously bad. The band's selection of cover songs ranges from the awful (Phil Collins' tribute to watching homeless people, "Another Day In Paradise") to the absolutely cheesy and cringeworthy (Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," a song many of you were probably conceived to back in 1985). Singer Aaron Marsh's gorgeous tenor voice still sounds phenomenonal in and of itself, but he's wasting his breath on songs this tepid and vanilla. The instrumentation on these tracks is as straightforward and predictable as one would assume from a jangly indie rock band. Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman" is reduced to just keyboards and vocals, and sounds like the slow dance at the worst wedding you've ever attended. "Part Time Lover" by Stevie Wonder gets a bizarre taste of electronics, and it's as bitter as sucking on a lemon.

Copeland has dug themselves into a rather enormous hole with this EP. Their beautifully-constructed emotional indie-rock will still live on in Beneath Medicine Tree, but the prospect of the band playing any of these horrifically bland cover songs live makes me never want to see them on stage.

MP3
Another Day In Paradise [clip]

STREAM
Another Day In Paradise

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 26, 2005 at 12:07 AM (EST)

copeland is a good band. just listen idiots.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 19, 2004 at 9:29 PM (EDT)
My Score:

scores for Phil Collins, you know you like Easy Lover.

-Strewtho

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 at 6:08 PM (EDT)
My Score:

I'd say lemons are bitter rather than sour

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 at 6:27 PM (EDT)
My Score:

i cannot believe that dude took the time correct bitter vs. sour...a lemon could be bitter...taste is subjective you douche

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 at 4:17 PM (EDT)
My Score:

"as bitter as sucking on a lemon"...dude, as great as this review was...lemon's are sour, not bitter...was a great line though.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaahh yeah

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 16, 2004 at 10:22 PM (EDT)
My Score:

2 posts down = someone from the band

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 16, 2004 at 5:26 PM (EDT)
My Score:

this EP is great...it's no "beneath medicine tree," but it is still really good.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 16, 2004 at 1:47 PM (EDT)
My Score:

First off... the idea of the Covers EP was not because Copeland can't think of their own stuff or they're lazy. I personally think the idea to do the EP was clever. There is actually an interview with Aaron from the band on killyourscene.net explaining the whole thing. And by the way, the song is not Friends in Low Places, its Chattahoochee by Alan Jackson.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 4:35 PM (EDT)
My Score:

this isnt so bad. not as good as their other stuff. for the record, they only play one of these songs live.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 2:23 AM (EDT)
My Score:

"(Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," a song many of you were probably conceived to back in 1985.."

quote of the day.

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 5:09 PM (EDT)
My Score:

isn't that take Take my Breath Away song from Top Gun? I fucking hate that song.... da da da da da ..... ahh fuck its in my head now.

Posted by maverick on 2004-08-14 12:04:14
My Score:

Ah fuck, I knew I got it wrong. My apologies.

-Scott

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 11:22 AM (EDT)
My Score:

Thank you for the link to the Mest review! It really just made my day. I don't know how I missed that the first time!

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 2:48 AM (EDT)
My Score:

"In The Air Tonight" is about seeing someone drown and not doing anything to help them.

"Another Day In Paradise" is about homelessness.

Both good songs. I like Phil Collins.

Posted by Fuzzy on 2004-08-14 01:34:07
My Score:

It's "In the Air Tonight".

Posted by maverick on 2004-08-13 23:58:17
My Score:

It's a widely-believed story that that specific Phil Collins song was about him walking through the city one night and seeing a girl get murdered, but doing nothing to help her.

Or am I thinking of "In The Air Tonight"? I know it's one of the two...

-Scott

Posted by GYBE on 2004-08-13 22:52:37
My Score:

I don't think it's quite that bad. I enjoyed Part-Time Lover and Another Day In Paradise.

How do you construe Another Day In Paradise being about a murder though...

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 13, 2004 at 10:06 PM (EDT)
My Score:

this score is for the mest review.

Posted by tahoejeff on 2004-08-13 20:48:04
My Score:

Score is for this review..it never fails to make me laugh...
http://calvin.punknews.org/reviews.php?op=albumreview&i d=2129

Posted by colin on 2004-08-13 20:40:55
My Score:

score's for this:

" (Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," a song many of you were probably conceived to back in 1985)."

holy shit, i was born in '82. keep forgetting that 13 year olds were born when "nevermind" came out. fucking shit i hate getting old.

Posted by tahoejeff on 2004-08-13 20:36:46
My Score:

Apparently the different way is to completely suck ass!!!

Posted by tahoejeff on 2004-08-13 20:36:02
My Score:

To Which Someone Replied

Re: Copeland to release covers EP (Score: 0)
by Someone on Saturday, January 24, 2004 @ 16:59:42 EST

have you ever heard copeland you dumbass? you need to listen to "Beneath the Medicine Tree". its called an EP because its not a full-length, its something they did for fun. covers were around long before mfatgg and there's a different way to do covers than just distortions and "yeas" ... dumbass

Posted by tahoejeff on 2004-08-13 20:34:07
My Score:

Re: Copeland to release covers EP (Score: 1)
by TahoeJeff on Saturday, January 24, 2004 @ 16:19:15 EST (

Posted by Fuzzy on 2004-08-13 20:17:02
My Score:

Shit, I think you're right. Fucking Alan Jackson.

Posted by civperc on 2004-08-13 20:03:52
My Score:

Song quoted is Alan Jackson - Chatahochee

Posted by mykindofmurder on 2004-08-13 19:58:13
My Score:

who the fuck didnt know it was garth?

Posted by Fuzzy on 2004-08-13 19:30:11
My Score:

friends in low places, garth brooks.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 13, 2004 at 7:22 PM (EDT)
My Score:

well, way down yonder on the chatahoochee,
it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie,
we layed rubber on the georgia asphault,
got a little crazy, but we never got caught.

name that song.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 13, 2004 at 7:22 PM (EDT)
My Score:

and this is for me being second.............BIATCHES!!!

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 13, 2004 at 7:17 PM (EDT)
My Score:

This score is for me being FIRST, BITCHES - haha!

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