Walt Disney Records
***
There are so many cover albums out there that are sloppily put together. Songs are paired with the wrong artists or the production is lazy. But that's not the case with The Green Album. Produced by The Muppets Studio, this 12-song album comes out at the perfect time, when Muppets nostalgia is running high, but also when the lighter side of life is so sorely needed.
One of the best Muppets songs, Rainbow Connection, spawned one of the best covers. Weezer so perfectly slides into the album, it sounds like it was theirs in the first place. Lead singer Rivers Cuomo's beautifully innocent voice even has something a little Kermy about it. Andrew Bird covers Bein' Green.
The soulful rendition starts with a weeping violin and continues with Bird's delicious hot-summer-soaked voice. The song is sleepy, lilting and perfectly matched with the Chicago musician. And then there's Brandon Saller from the metal band Atreyu. Although the song he covers gets a more aggressive treatment, Night Life wouldn't have suited a lighter sound. It might be a low point on the album as a whole because it's so harsh, but as far as the song subject is concerned, the style is fitting.
