Media

Taken by Trees: Sweet Child O' Mine (Track Review)

6:07 a.m. · February 22, 2008 · by Jeff Klingman

Oh, good people of the blogosphere, I urge you not to encourage this!

I mean, at first listen, it's nice enough. Ex-Concrete and "Young Folks" chanteuse Victoria Bergsman sounds like a marshmallow bunny swathed in honey, and is therefore really hard to dislike. And who doesn't have a fond nostalgic memory to lend Axl's most populist anthem? But it just seems like such a safe, uninspired choice. When Guns n' Roses let their guard down on the original, its vulnerability was a genuine risk to their rock star image. Bergsman obviously understands the power in deflating swaggering machismo, as she's done it to great effect before. The Concretes' exquisitely lonely take on the Rolling Stones' disco anthem "Miss You," exposed a trembling lyrical center that had been there all along. But what new understanding are we to gain from her fragile interpretation of "Sweet Child O' Mine"? That a sad and wistful girl can sing a sad and wistful song? That's she's more adorable than Sheryl Crow? She could have saved herself some  studio fees on that one.