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 THE
UKRAINIANS- Istoriya: The Best
Of The Ukrainians (Omniun)
For those who have never heard of the Ukrainians (and I assume there are
many), their music comes off like some kind of strange concept that may or
may not be a joke: songs by the Sex Pistols, the Smiths and the Velvet
Underground done as Ukrainian folk songs that are actually in Ukrainian.
There are really two types of people this album will appeal to in the
band’s extremely narrow audience- diehard fans of Ukrainian folk music
and diehard fans of the Sex Pistols whose collection of Sex Pistols’
covers are not complete without “Anarkhiya” (“Anarchy in the U.K”).
“Istoriya” is a compilation of the best of the Ukrainians previous
five releases, although I’m not really sure the word “best” is
congruent with this music. Since I know nothing about Ukrainian folk music
it is difficult to determine whether this music is good or bad, but I do
know that the Velvet Underground and the Smiths are legendary bands whose
music does not necessarily deserve this kind of treatment. While it is
certainly a creative and artistic endeavor to reinterpret the works of
such bands in such a way, it is not really all that enjoyable. The one
redeeming quality is that it is pretty cool to hear music in Ukrainian
since there are very few bands known in the
U.S.
who sing in languages other than English. Despite this exciting detail,
there is no reason to buy this CD- instead go spend your money on a copy
of “White Light/ White Heat” or “The Queen is Dead.” -Emily Zemler
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