Tribute albums are almost always ill-advised. Every musician feels passionate about the artists who served as their inspiration but the art of the cover song remains an elusive, enigmatic venture for all but the most daring and insightful of interpreters. The sheer preponderance of bad cover versions (and bad cover records) serves as a solemn reminder of the pitfalls associated with taking on the work of artists more successful than oneself, yet this stinking heap of attempted homage never seems to act as a deterrent.

There are two main ways to go wrong when paying tribute to someone else’s recordings, both of which happen to be anitpodal strains of the same thought. The first path to failure is playing things too close to the vest, attempting to stage a note-by-note recreation of the original performance. Efforts such as these feel bland, uninspired, and most critically, they pale in comparison to the glory of the more renowned version. However, the road to tribute hell is also paved with musicians who seek to stage majestic reinterpretations of the artist’s original vision. In their effort to render the song in an entirely new light, cover artists often miss seizing upon the essence of what made the song so nuanced and appealing the first time around.

Through the Wilderness: A Tribute to Madonna, a new fifteen track paean to Ms. Ciccone, does an excellent job of avoiding these typical potholes on its road to lionizing the Material Girl. While the artist roster lacks the punch of any truly big names (second-stage acts like Giant Drag, the Tyde, and Lavender Diamond are among the highest profile contributors), the versions here do cover a fair amount of ground within the general indie rubric.

Ariel Pink delivers a characteristically oddball, lo-fi approach to the dance beat of “Everybody,” a song that seems up his alley to begin with given his tendencies toward pop convention implosion. Through no fault of his own, it is still impossible not to think of the order of magnitude that separates Pink’s version and Annie’s pseudo-cover, “Greatest Hit,” from her 2004 debut. Jeremy Jay’s “Into the Groove” is one of the most exciting moments on the compilation, a fuzzy, eerie rethinking that gives off an almost post-punk steam and hits the bull’s-eye between recreating the original version and injecting it with a distinct sensibility. Blog buzz act Lavender Diamond do a handsome job with their slightly under-produced version of “Like A Prayer,” lending the hit a mellow acoustic ambiance and some great chorus harmonies.

In terms of ingenuity and originality, there are two exceptional covers on Through the Wilderness. The Chapin Sisters give “Borderline” a banjo speckled lullabye treatment where the vocal melodies take a bold stand, front and center. It is a gossamer arrangement that allows the strength of Madonna’s original songwriting to shine through. By contrast, Apollo Heights’ take on ” Dress You Up” draws its power from the dense walls of guitar noise that mask the song’s memorable strains. It’s a shoegazer version in the vein of more muscular acts like Swervedriver and Curve and is a smart complement to the track’s original potency.

To be sure, it’s not all good news here. The Prayers offering is a tedious paint by number indie-pop wash of “Cherish,” while The Bubonic Plague’s rendition of “Who’s That Girl” aspires toward Ariel Pink’s style of unpolished shenanigans but instead strikes the ears as an amateurish, low quality recording. I’m still not sure how to feel about The Tyde’s “Hung Up”–as big a fan as I am of the group’s records, they seem to have overlooked the original version’s copious charms and eschew its fat electronic beats in favor of a pedestrian, finger-picking take.

Most diehard music fans will agree that there will never be a tribute to Madonna rivaling Sonic Youth’s 1988 The Whitey Album (performed as Ciccone Youth), and Through the Wilderness certainly never comes close to competing. That said, the real winner with this release is Madonna herself. The range of reconstructions contained on this record, and the frequency with which they are at least largely successful, illustrate that for all of her controversy and media posturing, Madonna is ultimately someone who is exceptionally gifted at crafting songs that resonate with a timeless appeal. Most listeners will be surprised by how intimately familiar they are with nearly every song here and how Madonna’s music has insinuated itself into the pop cultural psyche like the work of few other artists. What more fitting thought could there be to take from a “tribute” album?

Through the Wilderness: A Tribute to Madonna will be released on November 27th by Manimal Vinyl Records. Click here to purchase the album.

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