Always tricky to continue the legacy of an iconic artist without it being little more than a tribute act, like the Bootleg Beatles, or the legion of Pink Floyd and Queen tribute acts.
Just being able to play a decent cover version or staging a decent show is not really the best that can be done. What really should be done is taking an artist's work and putting it in a new context, taking it to a new audience, re-creating the work in a way that the artist them selves might have done.
Take the Serge Gainsbourg Expérience. They pay tribute to the giant of French music in a way that you imaging Serge himself would approve. (Their album is available on LA LUNE ROUSSE/SOCADISC/ABSILONE)
He was always re-inventing his work, taking a new approach to his back catalogue and was prepared to take risks. I doubt he would have wanted his work to remain as a museum piece, to be approached only with reverence and respect. Take his late period re-interpretations of his early songs, or his reggae versions of his hits.
But above all, it's great that a band are not only taking his work into new realms, but are playing it live as well. I, like many others, never saw Serge live and hopefully this band will playe somewhere I can see them.
They tour extensively, and have been playing in Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Syria, and are soon in Japan.
I suspect they would go down an absolute storm at the Edinburgh Festival.
There's a massive audience for Serge's music, and this band get closer to the spirit of his music than even the most expensive box sex.
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