Emotive

1	Annihilation 2:13
2	Imagine 4:48
3	(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? 5:03
4	What's Going On 4:53
5	Passive 4:10
6	Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie 2:18
7	People Are People 3:43
8	Freedom of Choice 2:59
9	Let's Have a War 3:28
10	Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums 5:36
11	When the Levee Breaks 5:55
12	Fiddle and the Drum 3:06

Barnes & Noble

The political climate of 2004 spawned an unusual number of protest-oriented musical statements, none of which have been as successful on a purely artistic level as this peripatetic collection. Made up mostly of cover tunes, Emotive is Maynard James Keenan's effort to speak his piece on the state of affairs in America today. But rather than shout from atop a gaudily outfitted soapbox, he's chosen to do so in the sort of near-whisper that an adman would drape in the tag line, "When a Perfect Circle speaks, people listen." The band take on a wide array of material, chopping and channeling every song to the point where the original is virtually subsumed. In the case of Nick Lowe's "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding," that means tamping down the measured rage in Elvis Costello's familiar version and replacing it with a creeping desperation evident in both the ambient sonics and Keenan's feathery, defeated vocal tenor. Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" is afforded a similar treatment, with Billy Howerdel's eerie sound-sculpting emphasizing the gravity of the song's lyrics. Keenan and company are just as willing to deconstruct classic rock sacred cows -- as evidenced by a mournful rendition of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" that brings to mind Coil's early work, and a tense, insistent revamping of John Lennon's "Imagine." While most protest songs are made to accompany marching, charging feet, Emotive seems custom-made to escort listeners through the sort of personal journeys that take place in small, darkened rooms. David Sprague

All Music Guide

When Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan covered Wings' "Silly Love Songs" as a guest vocalist for the Replicants, it was amusing and well thought out. When Tool covered "No Quarter" in concert it was intense, appropriate, and staggeringly good. And when Maynard continued the tradition with the beautiful recording of Failure's "The Nurse Who Loved Me," it became apparent that Maynard had a penchant for re-recording songs that were of high quality but not necessarily anthems. But then there's the notion of recording a whole album of covers, which immediately sends off red flags that the water may be running dry and the record label is thirsty for a new release. A Perfect Circle's album of covers, Emotive, falls flat and fails to raise the bar set so high by the quality of their previous two releases. Turning some of popular music's most potent songs into a soundtrack ideal for background music at your local teen-angst mall-chain clothing store, A Perfect Circle work their way through 12 songs that would almost be unrecognizable in their current arrangement if one weren't familiar with the original versions of each song. John Lennon's somber, optimistic anthem for peace, "Imagine," is changed from its original major key to a funereal minor key dirge. Marvin Gaye's perfect "What's Going On" is turned into a horrible industrial track that would be permissible on a budget-line compilation but is simply unforgivable in its inclusion here. The same could apply to the butchering of Black Flag's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" and a few other numbers. However, the album's sole moment of tranquility and its most effective moments lie in the band's treatment of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks," and the disturbing a cappella of Joni Mitchell's "Fiddle and the Drum." Emotive is a slight dent in the armor of Maynard's nearly flawless career as a frontman, and it's (hopefully) a mere detour for A Perfect Circle. Rob Theakston

New York Times

A soundtrack for blue-state malaise. Jon Pareles