In his story “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” Jorge Luis Borges imagines a literary critic in thrall to an exact modern facsimile of the Cervantes epic—a book “verbally identical” to the original yet, in the critic’s estimation, “infinitely richer” for the new meanings its duplicated pages have accrued in the 20th century compared to the “mere” 17th. There is a distinctly Pierre Mendardish aspect to Jim James’ take on the cover album. When the My Morning Jacket singer elects to record a compilation of songs mostly from the 1960s and 1970s in 2017, what stands out, aside from his interpretive choices, is primarily the question of differing vantage. How do the sentiments of the Beach Boys or Sonny and Cher sound in the 21st century compared to the 20th? What new riches of meaning might Willie Nelson gain?
Tribute To 2 is not, confusingly, a paean to the number two, but rather a sort of sequel to 2009’s EP of George Harrison covers, Tribute To. This suite of unmistakably Jamesian tracks comprises a range of material derived from diverse styles, periods, and genres, all of it filtered through the man’s quite singular sensibility. One can well imagine in advance what he might do with standards like, say, “Blue Skies” or “Crying in the Chapel”: How that reverb-laden, inimitably alien voice handles familiar melodies is no surprise. The vocals on Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” sound like they were recorded in a grain silo. His howls and warbles on Ray Noble and Al Bowlly’s “Midnight, the Stars and You” sound like dispatches from another world. Tribute To 2 sounds, in short, like Jim James. What proves more intriguing is the matter of perspective.
Differences in the mood and character of the eras in question, then and now, seem very much the crux of James’ interest in this project. His previous solo album, last year’s Eternally Even, found the ordinarily abstract singer/songwriter confronting post-election American turmoil, and much was made of the fact that it represented the most overtly political statement of his long career. As that record’s immediate successor, Tribute To 2 is perhaps most fruitfully read in conversation with it. If Eternally Even was James’ aggrieved effort to engage directly with a world in unrest, Tribute To 2 is an attempt to offer succor. It’s a little glimpse of the past James hopes will soothe and reassure us.
“It’s a really crazy time in the world right now, a lot of negative energy in the air,” James told Billboard recently. “A lot of the songs I feel are dealing with that, reflecting on the sadness of that. But also, a part of me likes to remember that life can also be beautiful.” The album is “dealing with that” more explicitly at times than at others: James imparts Abbey Lincoln’s world-weary ballad “The World Is Falling Down,” with its lamentations that “the news is really very sad,” with an urgent sorrow. And when he finds a plausible affinity with Brian Wilson on “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” the sense of alienation is amplified by how fed up James seems with what he sees all around him. The language here is identical to the the source material. But in James’ hands, in times like these, the covers can’t help but sound different.
