So, you are a London based acoustic Americana band. What are you going to come up with to stand out from the crowd? If you’re the Wandering Hearts, the answer is Déjà Vu. And if that doesn’t sound familiar, keep reading.
The subtitle of this intriguing release is a lyric from the title track: “We Have All Been Here Before.” To me, that’s either a musing metaphysical or a tad presumptuous. I mean, really–how many of us have actually sat down and decided to make a song by song cover album from one of the premier vocal bands of all time? If they had elected to cover, say, the debut by the original three-piece that may have made better sense, being a more acoustic arrangement, by and large.
But they didn’t. Déjà Vu was, arguably, the release of 1970, as Messrs. Crosby, Stills and Nash bestrode the world, adding the trump card of Neil Young into the brand. Very much of its time, hippy dippy lyricism aplenty, somehow it remains timeless. There are few 50-year-old records that can raise the neck hairs like this one can. Each and every song comes with an instant flashback to the day first heard, whether you were hurling down the highway in an open top car or (like me) headphones on, under the bedcovers. A wonderful record, we gave it the Cover Me badge of honor a year or 5 back, with our own specially compiled covers compilation.
So who the Hearts, Wandering or otherwise? Tara Wilcox, Chess Whiffin and AJ Dean Revington is who. They have been on the UK country circuit long enough to have gained plaudits from most who have encountered them, sharing stages with big hitters like Robert Plant, Tom Petty and more. Indeed, no lesser than Lissie chose them as her support band for her US tour of 2024. This is album number four, the third as a trio, founding member Tim Prottery-Jones having left after their 2018 debut. All three are strong and confident singers, gelling well for the harmonies that are their trademark.
The earlier releases suggest that this record would be a milder confection than it actually is, the trio electing to go for the full-on electric assaults that characterize the release. Which, given the axe-wielding credentials of Young and Stills, might be considered brave or even foolhardy. We’ll get to that, but suffice to say it is their regular band they employ to provide the surprisingly faithful instrumental heft of the full fat rock songs that fill out the recording, along with the additional input of producer Michael Rault. That the set was recorded at Taurus Rising Studios, Joshua Tree, CA, may have something to do with the atmosphere of authenticity, too.
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