“Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers is one of the most recognizable songs one will hear. Yet a number or bands and singers have covered the song over the years and more recently Smith & Myers released their version off their album Volume 1.
Currently since the music video release on November 13, 2020 there has been 75,574 views on YouTube with 4,141 likes and 32 dislikes.
Vocalist Brent Smith elected to sing “Unchained Melody” in a rather unique way. Which likely has to do with the song being sung in a higher key. It also seemed that there was more of an attempt to make the cover sound like the original rather than their own. Even with that Smith & Myers version is still good.
Still the opening “woah, my love, my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch, a long lonely time,” doesn’t capture the listener’s attention as other Smith & Myers songs do. He did do a great job with the climax of the song which is “are you still mine? I need your love, I need your love.”
Yet the final lyrics of the song “Godspeed your love to me,” is a bit of a disappointment.
The cover doesn’t live up to the expectations of their other covers such as “She Talks To Angels”, “Nothing Else Matters”, “In The Air Tonight” and “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.” Can also assume that also is the case on the albums Volume 1 and Volume 2. Which is where Smith sings those in his natural voice.
What speaks volumes for Smith is that he wasn’t afraid to do something different and he still showcased his truly powerful voice in the process. Now If Smith & Myers made “Unchained Melody” similar to that of the cover done by J.R. Richards who is best known as the original lead singer of Dishwalla or even their own version of “Rebel Yell” it definitely goes from good to great.