Friday, March 6 ~ Musical Wonderwoman: Behind the Scenes of Watchmen
"Superman or Green Lantern ain't got
a-nothin' on" singer-songwriter Allison Crowe.
The Canadian musician has transformed into a
much-acclaimed and loved international presence in music
- all without the sort of corporate-backing,
grant-funding, and ad-shilling elements that can be like
kryptonite to an artist of talent and integrity.
Crowe's latest props come from Hollywood director Zack
Snyder whose movie version of Watchmen
opens today in theatres worldwide. The creative team
behind the Watchmen blockbuster already list Allison
Crowe alongside Jimi Hendrix in their fave pop culture
music listening right now (on their
Cruel and Unusual Films site).
What can now be revealed is that, for the past year+,
two of Allison Crowe's recordings of iconic songs have
been part of the Watchmen film's creation.
Crowe, one of the most original and exciting songwriters
and performers to emerge since rock's golden age, is
also world-renowned for the beauty and emotional power
of her song interpretations.
"Allison Crowe is the best thing to happen to 'Me
And Bobby McGee' since Janis Joplin changed
Kristofferson's lyrics", says American culture blogger
Allan Showalter (in his
1 Heck of a Guy blog).
Her recording of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah",
a song with devotees for each of its plenitude of
renditions, has found a cherished place with global
audiences. "Crowe's version is a living thing, a
meditation and a celebration and a benediction," says
one reviewer. Another calls her Tidings album,
single/first take, version of Hallelujah, simply, "one
of the most amazing things ever recorded onto magnetic
tape".
The Watchmen movie, a faithful adaptation of
the seminal graphic novel created by writer Alan Moore
and Dave Gibbons, presents an alternate reality set in a
1985 when Richard Nixon is still US President, and
costumed heroes are outlawed as vigilantes. Characters
inhabiting this twilight world, writes Slant
mag, are "all psychological misfits, their perversions
and sadism warped reflections of superhero virtues, and
Snyder pulls few punches in his depiction of them..."
Discussing a scene involving Nite Owl II (Patrick
Wilson) and Laurie (Silk Spectre II - Malin Akerman), in which leather/latex
fetishism of costumed crime-fighting serves to conquer
male impotence, Zack Snyder provides insight into the
wedding of music to imagery and action. "I originally
had a different version of 'Hallelujah' on that
scene - it was the version by Allison Crowe, and it was
really beautiful," he explains to the Boston Phoenix.
"Too beautiful, as it turned out,
because when I showed it to my buddies, they were like,
'Wow, you really mean this, this love
scene.' So I was like, okay, that didn't work."
To fit this particular dystopian vision, Allison Crowe's
singular, modern, covers have made way for the film's
use of the original song recordings. The famous Janis
Joplin and Leonard Cohen tracks are paired, instead,
subversively.
It's tremendously exciting for Crowe to be part of
Watchmen movie process and, "mind-blowing", as
she describes it, to receive such respect and
appreciation. Looking to the independent Ani DiFranco as
a model, she says it's an honour, and, "stirs a certain
somewhat buried hope that things can still be done the
way I believe they can... and that there are still
people who love music for music's sake".
Allison Crowe is readying now for performances in
Western and Atlantic Canada, and her return to Scotland,
Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and more concert
locations this Spring.