Songs to slit your wrists to: Cymbals Eat Guitars cover Elliott Smith "Ballad of Big Nothing"

Covers are a touchy matter. Most of the time, it's a tragic case of a decent band taking an incredible song and ruining it. Sometimes though, the cover turns out to be better than the original (as was the case with Jimi Hendrix's cover of "All Along the Watch Tower"). This new cover by Cymbals Eat Guitars of Elliott Smith's "Ballad of Big Nothing" doesn't really fall into either of these categories. It's a good cover but, in many ways, not much of a departure from the original. The band adds their own raspy vocal stylings, trades in the acoustic guitar and light drumming for something a little harder and throws in some distortion and horns for good measure. While that might sound like a grand departure from the original, the original spirit still seems to be there. What we're left is a pleasant revisit to an old stand by. Hey, it's better than a full on butchering, right?