Sunday, June 22, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews

Edwin McCain

“Nobody’s Fault but Mine”  (Time-Life)

Zack Arias

EDWIN MCCAIN W/THE ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
w/Meghan Coffee
Saturday, June 28
Chastain Park Amphitheatre
$20-59                                                                                                                 
404-733-4800
www.classicchastain.com

Lou Reed once sang “I Wanna Be Black” with tongue planted firmly in cheek. It’s the rock ’n’ roll attitude that everyone from Pat Boone to Mick Jagger spends their careers atoning for being black men born into pale, middle class bodies. In recent years Michael McDonald, Marc Broussard, Hall & Oates, Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall and even Michael Bolton, among many others, have reinterpreted R&B classics for crossover (i.e. white) audiences, with varying degrees of success.
 
Add Edwin McCain to that list for this set of 13 workmanlike soul covers. The South Carolina pop-rocker’s heartfelt voice and sentimental streak won him a place in ’90s wedding ceremonies with the undying love anthem “I’ll Be,” a song that defines his working-class soul roots. Eleven years, six albums and four labels later, it’s time to get as funky as a folk-popper can get. McCain dips into the catalogs of Little Milton, Otis Redding, the Temptations, Wilson Pickett and Johnny Taylor, among others, to tackle songs already made famous by the original artists—and in the case of “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “I Know I’m Losing You" and “Can I Get a Witness,” subsequent rock ’n’ roll covers.
 
McCain acquits himself well; he’s obviously having fun, and the uncluttered arrangements and songs are suited to his gruff, blue-eyed soul voice. Yet while these performances would be acceptable as surprise concert encores, a whole album of them from an artist as B-list as McCain is like empty calories; momentarily satisfying but instantly forgettable. 2 STARS—Hal Horowitz