The Welcome Wagon is the modest musical duo of husband and wife, Vito and Monique Aiuto. Married in 1998, both are homespun Michiganders transplanted in New York City. They befriended a dude named Sufjan back in '99, and when his work hit its grandious stride with Illinoise, he asked the Aiutos to be in his band (Vito on guitar) and choir (Monique). The Welcome Wagon took shape over the following years, and their forthcoming debut is a collection of Aiuto originals, some reworked old hymns, and straight up rock covers.
Their version of The Smiths classic has less pomp and sway than Morrissey puts into it, but they have made it charming. It's got a sexy 70's vibe with the guitar echo and funky bass. And more later because I'm off to work...
Ok, so I was saying... Obviously I like this song quite a bit. More than The Smiths version, actually. The Aiutos sound beaten down on the first verse. The guitar is minimal, she sounds tired, he sounds apathetic. It fits perfectly with the lyrical content. And when the band kicks in I like that it's all a little quieter than you'd expect, that their voices stand out more.
The echoing of each line in the chorus is brilliant, and gives the song a jolt of life, makes it stand tall. Plus the tambourine is almost always a great filler. And unlike the original, they separate the chorus from the second verse, which stands as a great addition on its own, and then it's is made subtly grand with Monique's glockenspiel interlude.
Then we're back to the wah-wah (Thanks, Bane. I was completely blanking on that effect before, so I just went with the 70s reference) and, respectfully, the rocking, which gives me pictures of everyone dancing in a twisting way, lots of shoulders and hips. So not "The Twist," with fingers pointing and all that up and down business. Just that feet planted, shoulders grooving, ladies' dresses swishing, and tambourines in hand.
And then it's over. Short and sweet.
Let's have a party. Seriously, when's the next party? I need to dance with you guys. And I don't even know some of you.
Half A Person
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3 comments:
Got a real Belle and Sebastian vibe going on here, and that is not a bad thing at all. Anyone that can make me enjoy a Smith's song has definite appeal.
I dig this track. Though, and this may be due to a digital compression of the track or these damn ear buds, I wish that some of the instrumentation was higher up in the mix. The vocals are very well done, but they are brought so far out that it seems that there is sometimes not a very consistent instrumentational "base". This really apparent to me during the chorus.
But again, good cut.
my theory on smiths covers is that they work better the more radically you can re-invent the song, like Schneider TM's "The Light 3000". i'd say this one adds enough of its own flavor with the group vocals repeating each line of the chorus and the wah-wah guitar on the verses - neither of which i can imagine in the original.
also, the line "do you have a vacancy for a back scrubber?" is just sort of muttered at the end of the chorus when Morrissey sings it, but Welcome Wagon turn it into one of the song's key melodic moments. which is neat.
my one complaint, like chad said, is that the arrangement feels a little empty at times - i could hear a string section really giving the chorus the meat that it deserves.
"meat," jared? maybe "THRUST" is a better word? but you're right. a string section would really give the song the boner it deserves.
did you think we wouldn't notice? just cos you changed the word?
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