Everyone seems to have had a crack at Adele's super-hit Rolling In The Deep at the moment, so it seems only right that Linkin Park should get round to doing a version of their own.
Perhaps not the most obvious choice of group, but they do a fair job of it. A lot of the response I've seen on Twitter has been rather negative, but to be honest, the cover is what it is. It's a simple acoustic take on a popular track - there's always going to be those that disapprove, but then that goes for pretty much all cover versions.
With Chester Bennington doing a fine job as ever on vocal duties and Mike Shinoda playing guitar, the group performed the track at a German fan club event.
Linkin Park's current single Iridescent, taken from the soundtrack of the new Transformers movie, is available to download from iTunes now.
What does a wonderland mean to you? A personal world of fantasy and dreams, a place where your every desire is made real. Sounds nice, doesn't it? And while the powers of glamorous new girl band Wonderland may not stretch that far, they do make some very good music.
How to describe their sound? Many have referred to Taylor Swift and The Corrs, and depending on how old you are, Wonderland's album would fit nicely next to either of these on your CD shelves. But for the five members of Wonderland - Kasey, Leigh, Sharon, Jodi and Corrina - this isn't so much about fitting in alongside anyone, more about making those all important first impressions any new band needs to establish.
Their self titled debut might come as a surprise to many 'traditional' pop fans - those in search of hectic dance beats and an overload of synths will be left wanting - and to be fair, Wonderland won't be everyone's cup of tea. But the quality of the songs here is undeniable, as are the girls' vocal talents - and it is these attributes that shine through on every track here.
Not A Love Song and Starlight glide and soar with a freedom that seems so often lacking in the technical over-complexity of the charts these days. As an opening to the album, they're perfect. In Your Eyes is like Abba with keyboard supplied by Keane - harmonies take centre-stage with the various ad-libs proving particularly impressive.
For Wonderland, they take every inch of the freedom and fantasy their name entails to craft a record that sounds 100% 'them' - No part of the album ever sounds forced or tired, this is clearly a sound they are passionate about, it that passion pays dividends in the natural, organic tone of every song here.
And for them to then cover such endearingly popular tracks as Adele's Rolling In The Deep and Lady Antebellum's Need You Now takes real confidence - an attribute these girls thankfully aren't lacking. They bring their own angle to both the songs, while remaining on the whole pretty faithful to the originals.
It's on the sublime When The Stars Go Blue that the album reaches highest - a wonderful mid-tempo track with a maturity to it that exceeds the expectations anyone might have for a new girl group just starting out. Yes, it's another cover - but the band lend it such tenderness that it feels so much their own song.
A couple of years ago I feel in love with Bad Lieutenant's Never Cry Another Tear album - and while Wonderland couldn't be further from a band formed of what used to be New Order, both albums are masterful examples of contemporary pop-rock laced with country influences. Indeed, take that album's lead single Sink Or Swim, put some female vocals on it, and it could easily be a Wonderland track.
They are cases in point that a record can successfully stand that uneasy middle ground between genres without shame or prejudice - that a good dose of pop sensibility is never a bad thing. And for Wonderland, it's on When The Stars Go Blue that we hear that best.
The whole concept of boybands adding guitars to their sound and going 'rock' is old news these days - it's been done so many times, with varying degrees of success, that it no longer surprises us. Yet it remains comparatively untouched in popular girl band terms. There's Una from The Saturdays of course, and the delightful Pierces, whose latest album came out only the week before...
And now we can add Wonderland to that list too. Indeed, in many ways, Wonderland's album feels like a cousin to The Pierces' record - both share an impressively keen ear for melody and pair it with dreamy, beautiful harmonies. Both find their roots in the sounds of years long gone by, but carry it with a youthful energy that is positively radiant. Looking to late album highlight Get Your Boots On, Wonderland already sound like stars - and it's a sound that fits them well.
Looking at the album as a whole, Wonderland have it all - the songs, the glossy, glamorous looks, and most importantly; the consistency that marks this debut out as the confident, assured beginning of a pop career that deserves to really shine.
Take two of the biggest tunes out at the moment and what do you get? An amazing mash-up. Of course, it's not that simple - and some clever soul has to put in all the leg-work coming up with the thing in the first place, but every so often everything will come together just right and you'll end up with an absolute gem like this.
As the first few bars of the Britney instrumental play, you're not quite sure what to expect. Then the Adele vocals kick in, and as with so many mash-ups, your initial reaction is one of trepidation. After hearing the originals so many times, this new configuration teases and confuses as you try to sort the two separate elements apart. But then you give in, sit back and enjoy... or rather, in this instance, get up and dance - for as the chorus hits, this mix is transformed. Flavoured as it might have been with vestiges of retro disco in its original form, the Adele track now becomes an out and out club banger.
You can't help but smile at how well the two tracks go together; the video splicing done here is pretty impressive too. I remember the awesome Take That / Eric Prydz mash-up from a few years ago, and this is right up there with that - clashing together two of the year's biggest hits in a melding of pop and dance. Wonderful.
Wonderland's brilliant debut EP was released this week, but if that wasn't enough, they've also treated us to a brilliant acoustic session for The Sun. I love how they inject some really grit and soul into this cover of Adele's smash hit Rolling In The Deep. It's an inspired version and really shows the best of what the girls have to offer as a band. Great stuff!
It goes without saying that the standout track of Adele’s first album was the hypnotic, bewitching beauty of Hometown Glory. It had this mystical darkness to it with all the right dashes of an uplifting anthem at the same time. And now Adele is back with Rolling in the Deep and the best thing about it is that it captures that very same essence, but wraps it up in a funky, up-tempo beat. It struts its way onto your stereo and has No. 1 single written all over it.
When Adele was hitting the big-time in 2008, it was all about her vs. that other soulful starlet Duffy. At the time it looked like Duffy had easily won the battle – it was Duffy’s single Mercy after all that went on to become a massive global hit – but in 2010, with the stakes re-drawn, it looks like Adele might well and truly take the crown.
Those who loved the retro stylings of Adele’s debut album will find plenty to love here; it’s what she’s always done so well, plucking the best elements of the 60s and 70s and pairing them with glossy modern production and heartfelt lyrics. Those falsetto vocals in the chorus are pure Scissor Sisters, the best moments of Rolling in the Deep transporting you to some glittering disco-dancefloor before letting you fall back into the gentle embrace of Adele’s warm, enveloping vocals – which for the record, have never sounded better than they do on this track. There’s a new confidence to her, she means business with this track and no-one is going to get in her way.
