COVER VERSION V

Perhaps overshadowed by the excellent Cover Version IV, Cover Version V seems to fall somewhat short. That said, it is far from poor. Though the cover song (originally by Prince...I was as shocked as you probably are) may not be the type of music that SW would normally make, it shows Wilson's variety of influences. And I think he pulls it off quite well (probably better than the original song). Although this might be because I am a die-hard SW fan. His vocals are spot-on, and the song has an interesting groove throughout. The noise interlude towards the end will probably put most people off, but I find it adds originality, character and more of an edge to the track.

The second track, Well You're Wrong, is a sweet, poppy, singer-songwriter type song. This track is nothing special, but it does have very good vocal melodies, especially in the chorus. It features familiar SW instrumentation: keyboards, guitar, piano, mellotron (or at least what I think is a mellotron), etc. Overall, not a bad song but not very interesting coming from Steven Wilson.

Although this release is not as good as the previous Cover Versions, it is by no means bad. I actually think it's a fairly adventurous release that strays quite a bit from the previous installments. Definitely worth it for fans, and if you're not a big SW fan, approach with caution.