On Doveman’s website, their cover of the Footloose soundtrack album is available for free. It actually reminded me how good the Footloose soundtrack is: the epic highs, the tragic lows; the antic uptempo and the dramatic, hormonal ballads.

I’m usually pretty fond of quiet rock, and of Doveman’s stuff, but I’m not really crazy about this cover album at all. I dislike, especially, the sad, plodding cover of the title track. When you slow down a song like “Footlose,” you’ve only got one thing in mind: you’re mocking it. And, as anyone who has sung “Footlose” at karaoke knows, it’s a great, fast song.

I generally dislike these slow, mocking covers of popular music, like Alanis Morissette’s even-more atrocious cover of the already-atrocious song “My Humps.” But Doveman’s cover of “Almost Paradise” is really, really good. It brings out the rawness and longing of the original song. I recommend downloading that one.