This writer tends to have a rather fractious relationships with the "cover version as single" ploy. Often employed as a desperate and cynical attempt at easy sales and airplay, it's a scheme which usually only adds to the litany of one-hit wonders still clogging up the charts and the majority of such remakes are largely pale imitations of the originals anyway. Bah humbug, basically.
As a rule, MAGNET'S Even Johansen has no need to partake in such folly as the string of enticingly brilliant, ethereal EPS already attached to his name will attest, yet in his capable hands, the horribly hackneyed notion of covering a Bob Dylan tune and hawking it as a single actually sounds like a flash of major inspiration. But such is the mysterious flight of true genius, I guess.
So, in Even's capable hands, this most enduringly passionate of Dylan outings takes on its' own special shape. It's dignified, delicious and benefits no end by employing the smoke and velvet of Gemma Hayes' seductive answering voice. "Your clothes are dirty but your hands are clean, I'm the best thing you've ever seen, " she purrs and that's it. You're smitten as the strings and harp swirl lasciviously around. Even hmself has described this version as "the song's logical conclusion" and I can only concur. It's a remould to die for.
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This being Magnet, we also get further riches to sift. "Wish Me Well" illustrates beautifully the level of confidence Even Johansen is currently operating with, as he creates something of typically tantalising beauty out of a "Pet Sounds"-style arrangement, garnishes it with the most haunting of orchestral flourishes and throws in entirely perfect curls of pedal steel to emphasise the point. And then throws the damn thing away as merely a B-side. It's called quality control, should you have forgotten.
Finally, we get an entirely credible "Cosmos Vox" mix of album highlight "Last Day Of Summer" from Chemical brother Tom Middleton. Tom's twiddling adds a swirly, spacious sheen to a song already pregnant with melancholic splendour and shows Magnet's wonderfully slow-burning music can lend itself even to this sphere with credibility intact.
If there's any justice, a veritable hit then. Creatively, it seems, the sky's the limit for Magnet just now.
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