There’s always that vital question with cover albums, that question which, all too often, the artists forget to ask themselves before they commit their insipid re-workings of classics songs to tape: “Does the world really need this?” Eddie Bezalel, the man hiding behind the scenes of Headless Heroes’ debut, is something of a connoisseur of the form by now, having worked as a sound engineer on Mark Ronson’s trillion billion selling Version, one of the most famous cover albums of recent times, and an album which provides a useful counterpoint to this one. Version went BIG. It took rocking, anthemic songs like Radiohead’s “Just” and the Kaiser Cheif’s “Oh My God” and somehow made them even more suitable for stadium performance. Obviously The Silence of Love is smaller, but it’s interesting to look at just how much it represents the antithesis of Version ”“ wherever Bezalel can strip away, he does, leaving the lyrical and musical progressions of I Am Kloot, Nick Cave and Vashti Bunyan to fend for themselves, albeit ably aided by the vocal talents of Alela Diane.
The tracks here are provided by a pretty diverse group of musicians, the most famous of the bunch is probably cult favourites The Jesus and Mary Chain, who’s “Just Like Honey” is marvellously reworked into a barebones acoustic and vocals track. There’s a wonderful intimacy to Diane’s voice, even on the more instrumentally filled songs she maintains priority, she always remains the centre of attention, and with good reason. The penultimate track, “North Wind Blew South”, represents the album’s climax, heavy string sections introducing Diane as she puts forward the case that could give any song in the world a new lease of life.

The problem lies not with the band, or with Bezalel’s interpretations, but with the question asked at the top. There’s nothing wrong with any of the songs on show, and certainly it’s an album I can imagine myself revisiting, but with talent spilling out like this, it’s hard not to ask why, why, why a covers album rather than a fully-fledged Headless Heroes debut? Do we put it down to lack of creativity on Bezalel’s part, now a second-time offender in this particular avenue of musical crime? It seems not, given that many of the songs are re-worked entirely, he certainly has an understanding for the inner workings of pop music. The problem is, perhaps, that the album is too good for its good. Because of the quality displayed, I can’t help but feel disappointed that what we have is “merely” a very good covers album, rather than the dazzling work of art that could have been.

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