Renee Fleming

If rock stars like Sting can dip their toes in the classical world, why not the reverse?  Our favorite wacky story of the day is that opera star Renee Fleming has recorded a cover album of rock tracks, including Muse’s “Endlessly,” The Mars Volta’s “With Twilight as My Guide” and, of course,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”  “Dark Hope” is out this Spring.

As first blush, it sounds like it could be a train wreck, worst case scenario, and a novelty effort, best case scenario. All we hope is that if it is a disaster, it’s one on a grand scale. Sadly, we think Fleming is way too tasteful for that to be the scenario.

However, Fleming and her producer, David Kahne (Regina Spektor, the Strokes) have chosen songs that lend themselves to emotional, sweeping interpretations.  Maybe they saw an opening following Susan Boyle’s success (although we imagine this was in the works before that and I’m sure Fleming would, understandably, involuntary retch at the thought of being mentioned in the same sentence as Boyle). We kind of dig the idea of hearing a voice as grand as Fleming’s take on Arcade Fire’s “Intervention.” But we really wish this was a duets album instead of a covers album. That would have been awesome!

Here’s the track listing.

Endlessly (Muse)
No One's Gonna Love You (Band of Horses)
Oxygen (Willy Mason)
Today (Jefferson Airplane)
Intervention (Arcade Fire)
With Twilight as My Guide (The Mars Volta)
Mad World (Tears for Fears)
In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
Stepping Stone (Duffy)
Soul Meets Body (Death Cab for Cutie)
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)