BORN TO BE WILD (Sky Saxon with SS-20)
My introduction to SS-20 was on From L.A. with Love (1992) – probably the best compilation album of previous releases on Bomp! Records – which came out on Patrick Boissel’s label Marilyn Records. The song is actually by SS-20 and Sky Saxon and is a remake of the landmark Steppenwolf song “Born to be Wild”. This number certainly falls into the category of songs whose original version seemingly could hardly be improved upon. The most obvious change in the SS-20 version of “Born to be Wild” are the vocals (including many new lyrics) that are shared by Sky Saxon and Madeline Ridley, but the arrangement of the song has also been innovatively changed. If I had to choose, believe it or not, I would probably say that this is now my favorite rendition of “Born to be Wild”. However, most of the songs that SS-20 covers are not so prominent as this one.
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Dream Life provides a delightful ride (trip?) that could be described as psychedelic folk, with meandering melodies, unexpected instrumental mixes, and signature guitar pyrotechnics. The vocals that are both written and sung by Madeline Ridley are a particular treat (Bruce Wagner is the other songwriter listed on the album); here she sounds quite a bit different from the way she sang “Born to be Wild”. Standout cuts for me among the band’s original songs include the opening track “Parade”, “Breakaway”, “You Think it’s Me”, and “The Wake”, plus the two covers of course; but as usual with the UARB’s, the whole album sounds great, and I could easily list all of the songs.
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SS-20 and Sky Saxon also collaborated on a 7” EP on Voxx Records called SS-20 with Sky Saxon (1986). Their cover of “Born to be Wild” mentioned above comes from this EP. Also on hand is Mars Bonfire, the songwriter for “Born to be Wild”; Sky Saxon and Mars Bonfire co-wrote the opening song on the EP, “Paradise” that was evidently created during the recording sessions.
(December 2017)
