They've been called Phil Spector-ish '60s, West Coast jangle and classic Britpop. Maybe the Bay Area quartet the Morning Benders are all that and more, judging from the mostly classic tracks that they chose to tackle on The Bedroom Covers, a 12-song collection available as a free download on their blog, ambenders.blogspot.com.
During a week off in their tour schedule, the boys gathered in singer Chris Chu's humble abode and tossed together a dozen of their all-time favorites with, they say, no regard for "time period or genre."
From the left-coast pantheon, we get the Benders' take on the Beach Boys' "Caroline, No," plus a Fleetwood Mac signature, "Dreams" — respectable jobs both. Underscoring their love of U.K. pop (and following their recent tour with the Kooks), there's a reverb-y rendition of the Smiths' "I Won't Share You." And they revive the Spector sound, throwing gender-appropriate lyrics to the wind, with two girl-group classics: the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" and the Ronettes' "Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love?"
In case you can't tell by now, the Benders like their heartache; and is there any song more synonymous with that sentiment than Roy Orbison's "Crying"? The boys open with that one, and if maybe that was an overly iconic choice, they more than make up for it with the irresistible "Mother and Child Reunion" by Paul Simon, and their strongest, most confident performance on the record, the Cardigans' "Lovefool." On their blog, Chu encourages fans to check out all the originals and reminds us that "99.99 percent of the time, the cover isn't going to be as good as the original." That may be true, but on "Lovefool" they come close.
The Morning Benders may even bust out a cover or two from the record when they hit the road with Ra Ra Riot. That tour gets under way September 28 in San Diego.