Originals outshine protest covers

What would an era of scandal, war and political strife be without a soundtrack of protest and peace songs?

Luckily, this generation has such albums as eMOTIVe, the new offering from A Perfect Circle, Tool singer Maynard James Keenan's side project.

Unfortunately, rather than original protest music like much of Green Day's outstanding American Idiot, most of the tracks on eMOTIVe are covers of classics from the Vietnam War era to '80s punk anthems.

Reimagined versions of John Lennon's "Imagine" and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" are successful, ominous and tinged with darkness, consigned to failure by the bitterness in Keenan's voice. They're peace songs from the clinically depressed. In one song, Keenan asks us to "Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if you can," and it's obvious he thinks we can't.

The band's varied approach to the album's punk covers is equally creative, countering a quiet version of Crucifix's "Annihilation" with a seething, growling take on Black Flag's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie."

The concept of rethinking older songs falls short only when the band refuses to really revise the songs, pretending slight alterations in tone and a different singer rehabilitate songs not intended for metal bands. A Perfect Circle's good intentions in adding Joni Mitchell's "Fiddle and Drum" and Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace Love & Understanding" would have been better served by just adding the originals to the disc.

The real highlight on the album is the two original tracks, which truly befit the band's sound. The first, "Passive," is certainly worthy of a listen or two, but the standout is "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums." A loud, rattling, apocalyptic stomper backed up by agonized screams and shouts, "Bodies Like Sheep" is the kind of track you'd want blaring on your sound system while you watch the world end on CNN, or maybe from a boombox carried by a protester in a cloud of tear gas.

eMOTIVe

A Perfect Circle

Grade:B+