FEATURE:
The Right Cooks, the Wrong Ingredients
IN THIS PHOTO: Prince performing in The Netherlands on 5th August, 1990/PHOTO CREDIT: Rex
Wasted Musical Collaborations
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NOT that this is relevant of anything particular…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kylie Minogue
but I have been thinking about musical collaborations and the ones that would be really cool. I guess we all have a list of the artists that we’d love to see get together and jam; maybe they would be from different generations but, when mixed together, the effect would be wonderful. I think Jack White and Florence Welch would team together nicely. Maybe putting together Dua Lipa and Kylie Minogue together. How about, in a musical partnership domino link, having Nick Cave and Fiona Apple singing together? I say that, as one of the best collaborations ever was when Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave released Where the Wild Roses Grow – it was taken from the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Murder Ballads. There are articles like this and this one that bring us some truly epic duets. I think Elton John and Kiki Dee together on Don’t Go Breaking My Heart is right up there with them. I also like Gwen Stefani and Eve bringing the swagger on Let Me Blow Ya Mind; Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure is epic, as is Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith on Walk This Way. Who can forget Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s Islands in the Stream and Alison Krauss and Robert Planet’s album, Raising Sand?! There is no magic recipe when it comes to getting a collaboration right.
It is usually best, I feel, to have two artists together, as it can be tricky to balance with more – though there have been some great joint efforts where several artists have been in the mix. Great duets and collaborations can work with artists from different genres who mesh seamlessly or singers who blend naturally. From Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel harmonised in Don’t Give Up to Beyoncé and Jay-Z killing it on Crazy in Love…there have been some tantalising and explosive combinations! There have been some occasions where brilliant artists have come together, but either the song has been wrong, or they didn’t quite mesh at that particular time. I am not going to mention the truly awful hybrids that have occurred through the years but, looking back, and it is a shame these artists performed together on the wrong song. I have been thinking of Paul McCartney and how, through the years, he has worked with some great. He is someone who can easily cross genres and make anything sound great. Though I love him and Michael Jackson’s Say Say Say from Macca’s 1983 album, Pipes of Peace, I think Ebony & Ivory is not up to his best work. I am not one of those people who slags it off – as it sends a positive message -, but this cut from 1982’s Tug of War united two musical giants. I think McCartney and Wonder could have blended in this epic Soul jam or something funky. Ebony & Ivory is a nice song, but considering who was singing on it, and I wonder what could have happened if Macca and Stevie would have joined strong for a really dazzling song in the vein of Superstition?!
McCartney and Michael Jackson got it right on Say Say Say, but The Girl Is Mine from Jackson’s Thriller (1982) was a bit underwhelming. It is hard to bring two titanic artists together and create instant gold, but I feel there was a lost opportunity to bring Jackson and McCartney together in a sublime moment. More recent collaborations like John Mayer and Katy Perry performing Who Do You Love? makes me think they could have gone in a different direction and sung this Blues number that would have brought something new from Perry. I think she is more than a Pop singer: someone who, like Lady Gaga, can take her voice in a new direction. Again, I like the idea of Miley Cyrus and The Flaming Lips collaborating, but their version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was not the best song choice. I think they could do a really good Rock song that is trippy and has some cool orchestration in; a bit heavier/faster than Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Two artists blessed with staggering voices are Björk and Antony Hegarty (Anohni). The Dull Flame of Desire is from Björk’s album, Volta, but I wonder whether the song was the right choice for them both. I think they can still duet, but I would like to hear something a bit more elevating and interesting than The Dull Flame of Desire. Going in a completely different direction…and can anyone recall Meat Loaf and Cher doing Dead Ringer for Love?!
That song came out in 1981, and I guess it seemed like a good fit at the time. I love both of them, but things didn’t really click or linger in the memory on Dead Ringer for Love. Lou Reed and Metallica released a collaborative album, Lulu, in 2011. Many say that partnership was ill-fated and odd, but I think they could have pulled off a single rather than a whole album. It is a shame, as I would have loved to have seen a better Metallica/Lou Reed pairing. Perhaps one of the most talked about duets gone wrong is Mick Jagger and David Bowie doing Dancing in the Street. Like Macca and Jacko, having two icons together is a chance for real brilliance to shine – or something a bit misjudged and naff. I think Bowie and Jagger could have created fireworks with a different song, but they were not really suited to tackle a song made famous by Martha and the Vandellas. I love Tom Jones and The Cardigans, but I think Burning Down the House was a song that would have been better in other artists’ hands. I feel the partnership was good, but the material was not really spot on. The same can be said for Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper performing Sweet Dreams. I feel artists who are similar to one another – Marilyn Manson seems like the rebellious kid of Alice Cooper – can work well, and the best duets are not necessarily from artists who bring something very different to the plate.
I am going to end by featuring Prince. Lord knows how many classic albums the man produced in his life, and he was comfortable working with different artists. Paula Abdul ft. Prince on U is great; Prince ft. Sheena Easton on U Got the Look is wonderful! Two occasions that could have been legendary involved Kate Bush and Madonna. I will mention Bush quickly, as it is the Madonna hook-up that seemed like the biggest waste. Prince contributed vocals, keys and the kitchen sink of Kate Bush’s song, Why Should I Love You. These artists share things in common – they were both born in 1958; both are geniuses, and they value their privacy a lot -, so one would think that something tremendous could have arrived on 1993’s The Red Shoes. I think a Prince/Bush collaboration around The Dreaming (1982) or Hounds of Love would have been great, as Prince released 1999 in 1982 and Purple Rain in 1984 – both were on hot streaks, and I feel they could have crafted something mesmeric. Why Should I Love You is too overloaded – the track also features Lenny Henry! -, and a more pared-back and sensual song would have been a much better decision. It is a shame, again, that we will never see that possibility come to fruition. I think the biggest letdown regarding collaboration occurred when Madonna and Prince fused on her 1989 album, Like a Prayer.
Love Song has a boring title and, apart from Madonna cracking out her best French, there is no much to write home about! A few issues surround this song. I think Love Song is the only weak song on Like a Prayer, so I do wonder whether it should have been a B-side. Also, the track appears THIRD on the album – behind Like a Prayer and Express Yourself. After the drama and thrall of the previous numbers, Love Song saps so much energy and cannot complete a brilliant 1-2-3 - maybe having Cherish or Promise to Try would have made for a stronger end. Also, if you do have track on the record, put it between Spanish Eyes and Act of Contrition at the end. Like Kate Bush and Prince, Prince and Madonna were born in the same year, and I think they have a lot in common. Both were bold artists and were at the peak of their fame by the end of the 1980s. Each artist could deliver these seductive, sexual and powerful songs that made you shiver and swoon. Get that much electricity and sweat in the studio and many would have been expecting something more akin to Vogue (Madonna) or Cream/Thunder (Prince). On an album (Like a Prayer) with so many classics, Prince and Madonna could have done something iconic. Maybe the fact that Madonna and Prince had not worked together before meant that the first song from them was going to be like the first time you have sex: coveted, but not always that memorable. It would have been interesting if they re-joined for 1992’s Erotica (Madonna) or her Bedtime Stories (1994). By that point, Prince was releasing Love Symbol (1992) and Come (1994), and a mix of Love Symbol’s harder Funk on Erotica would have been intriguing. Although Come is one of Prince’s weaker albums, he might have been rejuvenated writing with Madonna on a Bedtime Stories song. Like all the other less-than-stunning collaborations I have mentioned here, if the brilliant artists tackled a different song…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna appeared in SPIN magazine in April 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Herb Ritts
WE can only imagine what could have resulted!