1102. Northern Kings / Rethroned. 2008. 3.5/5

You never know... lightning might strike twice. Following the reasonable success of their first album together, the super-group conglomerate of Northern Kings obviously decided that it was worth a crack, and came together once again to record another album full of cover versions of songs from the past. It was a bold move, one that was always fraught with the danger that too much of a good thing would end up being the opposite. In the end, this was probably closer to the truth than the opening sentence of this review.

Rethroned brings together another eleven songs of mixed heritage to have new life breathed into them by this stellar array of vocalists and their supporting band. For me though, while I enjoyed the first album immensely, this time around I was not as enamoured. This has nothing to do with the musicianship or talents of the vocalists on show, indeed it has almost everything to do with the songs that were chosen to be covered. Whereas I knew and liked almost all of the songs on Reborn, here I knew about half the songs but didn’t necessarily enjoy the ones I knew. That made listening to this album a much more difficult process.
Four of the songs I was unaware of at all. I have of course heard the “Training Montage” before in the scene from Rocky IV where Stallone is getting ready to fight Ivan Drago, but I wouldn’t have recognised it in a million years. Being an instrumental it gave the band itself their time to shine to start the album off. “Strangelove” by Depeche Mode I don’t think I have ever heard, but the version here is listenable enough. “Killer” by Adamski and Seal I have no knowledge of at all, while "Róisín Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend" by Thin Lizzy I must have heard before, especially as it was the one album Gary Moore played on, but I simply don’t recall it at all. First rule of listening to a covers album is knowing all the songs recorded on it. Fail.
Five of the remaining seven songs are hit and miss, depending on your individual taste. Bon Jovi’s “Wanted: Dead or Alive” is a difficult song to cover well at the best of times, let alone by converting it to a faster tempo and trying to inject as much ‘power metal’ into it as you can. The vocal line itself is a tough one to carry off. I’m not sure it really works here. Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” from Batman Forever is another which is hard to do justice to, but on this occasion, I think they’ve done it. By remaining more faithful to the original, expressing the emotion in the vocal lines where it comes and using the energy from the song to make an up vibe and faster tempo track, I think they’ve produced a great version. It helps that all four vocalists were involved in the track as it certainly increases the power and melody of the vocals. Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” which was popularised by Sinead O’Connor, has not been a long-held favourite of mine, and the version here is serviceable. Much the same could be said of the cover of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”. Given the reverence it is held in it was an interesting choice to do here, but I have to say they did a good job of it without taking away from the original. On the other hand, there is very little reverence held for Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky” given its life as the poppiest of pop songs, so the dual attack of this cover version, which begins as a slow, low and deep rendition for most of the track before breaking out in the last third to a fast paced scream gives this the perfect way of honouring this song that everyone knows but no one can actually admit that they like or liked.
The two remaining songs are my favourites. Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill” from the James Bond movie of the same name is excellent, again helped by having all four vocalists involved in the harmonies throughout. I don’t think it betters the original (though I have a soft spot for all of Duran Duran’s music) but it does mirror the emotion and power of their version. Then there is A-ha's “Take on Me”, which the Northern Kings nail here in a symphonic masterpiece of vocal harmonies that perfectly enhance the vocals from the original version. This is a beauty, the kind of cover version of a song that shows off the qualities of both the original and the remake.

I don’t think this matches the previous album, but that is more for the songs chosen than the quality of the musicianship and vocals. Each song here sounds fantastic and the singing is fabulous. This was the second and last release from this supergroup, and perhaps their creative flow together had been sated by the two releases. No matter what the reason, I for one am glad they made the effort.

Best songs: “Take on Me”, “A View to a Kill”, “Kiss from a Rose”.

Rating:  “Until we dance into the fire.”  3.5/5