When it comes to covers, the rule here on the Shuffle is: Do it different, or do it better.<\/p>\n
Given that the covered artist is Bruce Springsteen, pretty much every\u00a0Cover Me<\/em> entry leans toward the “different” end of the spectrum. Rarely do I encounter a cover that I actually like\u00a0better<\/em> than Bruce’s original.<\/p>\n But here’s one.<\/p>\n It’s not surprising (at least not to me) that the track in question comes from\u00a0Human Touch<\/em>. That album is full of great songs that go underappreciated, largely due (IMHO) to the album’s over-the-top production. “Cross My Heart<\/a>” is one of the rare\u00a0Human Touch<\/em> tracks that doesn’t suffer from over-production–it’s actually pretty spare.<\/p>\n It’s also pretty slow.<\/p>\n “Cross My Heart” features some of Bruce’s most graphically sexual lyrics. Musically, though, while the original track sounds like it’s aiming for steamy and sultry, it never gets past a mild, meandering smoulder. The song doesn’t get its due as a result.<\/p>\n Enter The Mandrillos.<\/p>\n I know very little about this three-man combo. I have no idea where they’re from, and their barely-a-year-old social media pages don’t give many clues.<\/p>\n But I do know that they absolutely nail “Cross My Heart,” preserving the original’s bass backbone while taking the pace up a notch and filling in the instrumental breaks with some terrific guitar solos.<\/p>\n