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Copeland

Know Nothing Stays The Same (2004)
Militia Group

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Scott
(others by this writer | submit your own)

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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Anonymous (December 26, 2005)

copeland is a good band. just listen idiots.

Anonymous (August 19, 2004)

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

-Strewtho

Anonymous (August 18, 2004)

I'd say lemons are bitter rather than sour

Anonymous (August 17, 2004)

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

Anonymous (August 17, 2004)

"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

Anonymous (August 16, 2004)

2 posts down = someone from the band

Anonymous (August 16, 2004)

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

Anonymous (August 16, 2004)

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.

Anonymous (August 15, 2004)

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

Anonymous (August 15, 2004)

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

quote of the day.

Anonymous (August 14, 2004)

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.

maverick (August 14, 2004)

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

-Scott

Anonymous (August 14, 2004)

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!

Anonymous (August 14, 2004)

"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.

Fuzzy (August 14, 2004)

It's "In the Air Tonight".

maverick (August 13, 2004)

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

GYBE (August 13, 2004)

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...

Anonymous (August 13, 2004)

this score is for the mest review.

tahoejeff (August 13, 2004)

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

colin (August 13, 2004)

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.

tahoejeff (August 13, 2004)

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

tahoejeff (August 13, 2004)

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

tahoejeff (August 13, 2004)

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

Fuzzy (August 13, 2004)

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

civperc (August 13, 2004)

Song quoted is Alan Jackson - Chatahochee

mykindofmurder (August 13, 2004)

who the fuck didnt know it was garth?

Fuzzy (August 13, 2004)

friends in low places, garth brooks.

Anonymous (August 13, 2004)

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.