“Beautiful Love” is another one of those 1930s standards that every jazz great has recorded at some point. But my first experience of it wasn’t the version posted here. It wasn’t Anita O’Day, Bing Crosby, or even the original 1931 Wayne King Orchestra recording.
It was a version done by a 90s alt-metal band called Helmet.
Some quick, mildly embarrassing context: I was fifteen and suffering from my first hangover while on a school trip to Quebec. I’d just been through some very fifteen problems; the kind of personal drama that feels adorably quaint in retrospect. I told a friend I just wanted to lie down and listen to music, and he kindly offered me his Discman (!) and two CDs that he was really excited about – Blowout Comb by Digable Planets and Betty by Helmet.
Both albums were released in 1994, and that’s pretty much where the similarities end. But they each captivated me in their own way. I listened to them constantly for the remainder of the trip.
The Digable Planets album has had more success holding its place in my affections, but one track on Betty stayed in the back of my mind for years, because it was so left-field bizarre. Midway through the album, after the end of another 2.5-minute guitar blast, there was a soothing jazz guitar track called “Beautiful Love.”
Metal bands are well-known for throwing in acoustic tracks as a way to showcase their thoughtful side, but rarely do they have the audacity (or skill) to attempt jazz guitar. But Helmet’s frontman, Page Hamilton, has some serious guitar skill. His version of “Beautiful Love” implodes into directionless noise halfway through, but the main melodic line is still there in the background if you’re listening closely enough.
Looking back, I’m not sure how I was able to listen to Helmet on repeat while in the clutches of a hangover, especially the type of hangover brought on by the type of beer that a fifteen-year-old with neither money nor beer expertise is willing to drink.
But that song stayed in my mind, and was recently dredged up from memory by this fabulous 2016 version by Nels Cline.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Like the 1994 Helmet version, it starts one way and ends another way- but while Helmet transitioned from rich guitar to metal armageddon, the Nels Cline rendition goes from a slow waltz to loungey jazz.
2. Like Page Hamilton, Cline’s skill as a guitarist is as prodigious as it is versatile. He’s worked with Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, and has been Wilco’s guitarist since 2004. In this song he carries the melody on the guitar as gracefully as anyone.
3. Like a teenage hangover, this song feels nostalgic and current all at once. Except that in this case, I wouldn’t mind if it lasted a bit longer.
Recommended listening activity:
Rolling up a duvet cover to turn it into a giant pillow.