Interesting reworkings of excellent songs
The prospect of a deluxe edition is always a difficult one. People will certainly catch on with their dedicated fans who wish to hear more music, and often that’s all a deluxe edition gets to be. But in some rare instances, a band tries to go out and grab a new audience alongside their existing one, but that runs the risk of alienating the only people who are guaranteed to engage with their album. On the deluxe edition of Temple, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down decide to play it safe, but the result is shockingly successful.
Let’s get the things that aren’t changed out of the way. The whole album remains as excellent as it was the first go-around. Songs like “Temple,” “How Could I” and “Marauders” all perfectly balance the line between rock and pop. Each track is infused with an exciting arrangement of classic rock instruments and indie rock sensibilities. Despite the tried and true combo, nothing feels derivative or dated. Instead, the whole affair is compelling and fresh “thanks” to their careful deployment of these beloved staples.
So onto what people are all here for, the new stuff. It would be understandable to be concerned that the lack of the original instrumentation on these reworked songs would lead to a sort of unappealing melange of disparate elements. Somehow, these versions may even surpass their extremely good original versions. For instance, the original version of “How Could I” was a bright track filled with lamentations and missed chances, but the upbeat instrumentation holds the song in a place that avoids being too melancholy. The string version leans harder into the sadness but has a percussive, ever-present melody that stays too high to be sad.
These same principles are also present on the string versions of “Marauders” and “Temple.” Marauders choose to lean further into the sadness, much like “How Could I.” The main difference between the approach in these tracks is that “Marauders” takes a slower approach and uses even more exciting methods of instrument playing, such as violin plucking, to keep the song’s backbone interesting. “Temple” uses some of the original sounds and blends them with the other strings to create a rock-infused symphony of excitement. The particular combination of the guitars and violins is one of the most compelling bits of music on the entire album.
Oftentimes, deluxe albums can be ignored. There’s usually a reason that the songs that wind up on deluxe editions weren’t on the standard version of the album. This is especially true in the overstuffed streaming era, where more songs equal more money. But Temple stands as the rare exception where every addition is essential. So much so that this should be recognized as the definitive version of this record.
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