I am often accused of taking rock music far too seriously. I know that it is something of which I am guilty now and again, but there you go. It has been an important part of my life since I was 12, and that was 40 years ago. There are certain truisms by which I have lived my life over those intervening decades, and one of them - ever since my mate Kelvin first played me Joy Division during the long wet summer of 1981 - is that no-one can cover Love Will Tear us Apart. There is a long and unimpressive tradition of attempted cover versions over the years. One of the most peculiar is a vaguely bossa-nova rendition by The Brazilian Lounge Project, and one of the best is a dead straight version by June Tabor with The Oyster Band. But none of them are a patch on the original.
Even I have had a pop at it with my ensemble Jon Downes and the Amphibians from Outer Space back in 1993, although our version of another Joy Division song 'They Walked in Line' was much better (and much nastier).
And now Mimi Page has done it, and I have to say that it is one of the best versions that I have heard. She really is a massively talented young lady. I am currently working my way through her new album Breathe me in, and trying not to use the overused music-joourno term 'songstrel', which implies Kylie rather than Kate, and Rihanna rather than Polly Jean.
Check it out lads and lasses:
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