No Tears Likely
Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' is right up there with the most emotive tunes of all time, the ones that make you recall particularly moments with such emotional intensity that you're quite taken aback. It's a pretty risky cover tune to take on, but it works out with reasonable success. It's not as moving as the original in its own right, only because it stays fairly close to the beautiful strains of Massive Attack's classic, but Newton Faulkner makes the song his own with a soft guitar rendition that's subtle, mellow and serenely beautiful, but lacks the all-encompassing spark of the original tune. Faulkner is known for hippy indie songs and to this extent he's made 'Teardrop' very much his own with lilting vocals and soft, stripped backing accompanied by padding percussion that reverberates with instant warmth. Faulkner's vocals are colourful and do have strength, climaxing after a couple of minutes but the whole tune feels simply a little too chilled to hold your attention; it simply washes over you with every chilled breath.
Of course it's an achievement that the tune has a different feel to the original, but it's just a little too recumbent to stick in your memory for as long as Faulkner may hope.