In celebration of the fact that the storm-related blockwide (or more) brownout affecting my neighborhood for the past 24 hours hasn't affected my Internet access, here is a post! I figure posting for the first time in weeks is a good way to pass the time while I wait for everything in my refrigerator to melt and spoil.
The Raincoats "Lola" (Kinks cover) For a while there, everyone seemed to want to know my opinion of the NY Post's "Best 100 Cover Songs of All Time" thing. Um, yeah. Let's just say that I scan all "Best Cover" lists for the Raincoats' version of "Lola." If I'm unable to locate it, I don't really pay much attention to the rest of what's there. I mean, Orgy's version of "Blue Monday" made the list? Are you kidding me?
Shampoo "House of Love" (East 17 cover) Hell, even this is better than most of the covers on that list!
I've been slacking on my blog reading for the past month or two, so I was shocked to learn a few days ago of Lee Hazlewood's death on August 4. I know that there have been a slew of celebrity deaths in the past week or two, but it's unfathomable that I didn't read or hear mention of Hazlewood's passing via ANY mainstream media outlet until I specifically hunted them out after reading of his death via bloggers. A shame. I loved him. RIP, Lee.
Lee Hazlewood "It Was a Very Good Year" (Frank Sinatra cover, comp. Ervin Drake) Thank you, Lee, for many very good years of music. I, for one, will sorely miss you and your talent.
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood "Jackson" (comp. Lieber/Wheeler) I get that the Johnny Cash/June Carter version won a Grammy, but I still don't see why theirs is the most popular version of this song. (Although Cash's duet with Miss Piggy is one of my favorites.) Honestly, I think Johnny and June's version lacks the sense of deadpan snarky resignation that Nancy and Lee's has. Theirs is coyer. Grittier. Angrier. Sexier. And it's one of my favorite songs of all time.
OP8 "Sand" (Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood cover, comp. Lee Hazlewood) OP8 was a project featuring Lisa Germano, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) and Joey Burns and John Convertino (Giant Sand/Calexico). Their sole album Slush—which features a cover of Neil Young's "Round and Round" as well as a slew of lush originals—is one of my favorite albums of the 1990s.
Calexico feat. Valerie Leulliot "Sundown, Sundown" (Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood cover, comp. Lee Hazlewood) Speaking of Calexico, here's another of their Hazlewood covers. This and the following track come from Total Lee! A Tribute to Lee Hazlewood album.
Lambchop "I'm Glad I Never..." (Lee Hazlewood cover) I'm not the hugest fan of alt-country or Americana, but when it's done well I'm all for it. I discovered Lambchop, a Nashville band, via the handful of covers they've done, but I'm now a fan of their originals as well. It makes me sad that this track is so short.
Caroline Williams and Spectre "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" (Nancy Sinatra cover, comp. Lee Hazlewood) I have so many covers of this that I just put them on shuffle and picked the first one that hit that I hadn't already posted in the past. And here it is!
Steve Wynn Quintet "Summer Wine" (Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood cover, comp. Lee Hazlewood) Steve Wynn's post-Dream Syndicate catalog is so immense that I've weaved in and out of it for years never deciding whether I was into it or not. I do know, however, that I really like the stuff the quintet has put out.
OMG, I hate the new Blogger deal where you have to be signed in on your linked Gmail account and whatnot. I didn't realize how much I hated it until, in the middle of writing this post, I logged into a different Gmail account but kept updating the blog only to have Blogger NOT SAVE any of my updates as I made them. So, just know that I initially spent a good deal of time writing little accompanying snippets to each of the following tracks but only a few were written before the e-mail gaffe and now I'm too annoyed to rewrite the others—including the one in which I confess to having sung "Ultimate" at karaoke.
Enjoy!
Lil' Dave Merriman "I Palindrome I" (They Might Be Giants cover) Dave is a good friend of my pal Jessica and acquaintance of mine because he fronts both the Arrivals and the local GBV tribute band, Textbook Committee. I used to be quite the TMBG fan, although I haven't advertised it so much in recent years.
Jay Buchanan "Lemon" (U2 cover) When my friend Ryan (who is/was a pretty big U2 fan back in the day, depending on the era) visited a few weeks ago, I believe we were making fun of "Lemon." Or maybe I was making fun of it and he and my other friend Brent chimed in. Regardless, it reminded me that I didn't hate this '60s-esque blue-eyed soul/R&B cover of it.
Palomar "I'll Come Running" (Brian Eno cover)
Fabienne Louves "She Works Hard for the Money" (Donna Summer cover in Swiss German) The Swiss are allowed to have pop stars too, I suppose.
Jared Louche and the Aliens "Search and Destroy" (Iggy and the Stooges cover)
Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys "One Fine Day (aria from Madame Butterfly)" (comp. Puccini) I didn't realize how much I needed Japanese Ventures-style surf-rock covers of famous classical pieces until now.
Skye Sweetnam "Part of Your World" (from The Little Mermaid, comp. Menken/Ashman)
Nerina Pallot "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division cover)
Animal Jazz "Frozen" (Madonna cover)
Karen Jo Fields "Famous Blue Raincoat" (Leonard Cohen cover)
Spoon "Decora" (Yo La Tengo cover)
Astrud "With Whom to Dance" (Magnetic Fields cover)
I vow to try to have new songs for you tomorrow. Until then, please enjoy this animatronic bear "covering" the new emo smash ballad (that I hate, particularly thanks to the crappy "poetic" backward sentence structure of "even more in love with me you'd fall"), "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's:
I was MIA there for a while, huh? I guess my plan to accept all affordable social invitations in the face of perhaps being forced to leave Chicago due to lack of viable employment is in full effect. So, yeah, in the midst of Pride weekend, "celebrating" my birthday, trying to get/preparing to go to interviews and having friends cool enough to buy tons and tons of drinks, I almost forgot about the blog. Sorry, kids.
One of the cool things I did recently (as recently as last night, even), was attend the aforementioned cover-fest at the Beat Kitchen. And while the awesome GBV tributalicious Textbook Committee delivered as usual, I was also extremely pleasantly surprised by the musical prowess of a band I'd never seen before: Farewell Captain. Seriously, their all-cover set was so awesome that I remarked to my friend Jessica (who I have to thank profusely because I was initially waffling on whether to go out into the sweltering night with very little pocket money and she offered to be my sugar daddy and encouraged me to go) that if they were a real indie cover band that played every week, I would go see them every time. (Of course, even if they don't play covers, I will check out their non-cover sets should the opportunity arise.)
Among many other favorite moments, their rendition of Teenage Fanclub's "The Concept" was particularly phenomenal. Sadly, I missed the first half the song because we came late, but whatever. What I saw the rest of their set ruled as well. Such as this cover of "Web in Front" by the Archers of Loaf that features a few extra vocals from my new friend John Sellers, author of Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, which you should totally buy:
A good drunken time indeed!
I'll be busy this week as well with job interviews, a visiting friend, Sonic Youth at Pitchfork and karaoke, but I'll try to post a few tracks in the next day or two.
I got one of the most shocking and unexpected birthday gifts today in my e-mail: a message from a label rep who actually sent me a link to a cover song! Therefore, I felt only right in pointing you all in the direction of Scott Simons (ex-The Argument, whose cover of the Cars' "Hello Again" was pretty good and was posted here a few years back) and his version of Rihanna's spring/summer jam, "Umbrella." You can download it here or over at his MySpace page. Man, these dreamy solo male indie singer/songwriters are practically tripping over themselves to turn crunk and/or R&B hits into sensitive ballads lately, aren't they? Whatever. I'm down.
Yesterday I had the somewhat lame idea to do a two-for-Tuesday type of thing today and, in the middle of figuring out what songs to use, I realized that it was already Tuesday and I wouldn't actually be posting until Wednesday. The best-laid plans, eh? Here were a few that were on my "maybe" list.
Lampshade "Good Day Sunshine" (Beatles cover) I didn't think I'd ever see the day when a Danish/Swedish twee cover of anything might be too sickly sweet for even me. Seriously, this is by far not the worst cover I've heard of this, nor is it all that bad if twee Scandinavian covers are your bag, but it makes my teeth hurt.
Roy Redmond "Good Day Sunshine" (Beatles cover) Man, talk about channeling Otis for an awesomely soulful cover. I can't find out too much about this Roy Redmond character, but I'm guessing one Otis Redding was enough for everybody.
Kunamaka "Hunting High and Low" (A-ha cover) In an alternate reality, Mike Patton is French and this is one of his many projects.
Sissel Vera Pettersen and Nikolaj Hess "Hunting High and Low" (A-ha cover) I can't say that ethereal vocal/piano jazz is necessarily my thing, but I am pleasantly surprised by By This River, the collaboration cover album from Danish piano/composer Nikolaj Hess and Norwegian vocalist/saxophonist/composer Sissel Vera Pettersen. Eno? A-ha? Blur? Depeche Mode? I'd rather hear those acts covered by jazz and/or classical musicians with technical skill than by a punk band full of 18-year-olds who can barely play.
EverEve "Fade to Grey" (Visage cover) Aside from a Nouvelle Vague here and a Konki Duet there, most covers of "Fade to Grey" are synthy, dancey tracks that sound like little more than Hi-NRG remixes of the original. This, at least, is a gothy, metally, synthy version replete with an introductory quote from Babylon 5.
The Gregorian Masters of Chant "Fade to Grey" (Visage cover) Remember when chant tributes were more poplar than bluegrass tributes? Those were the days, my friends.
Chrome "Here Come the Warm Jets" (Brian Eno cover) Ah, Chrome. The band so many people have never heard of who influenced so many of the same people's favorite bands. Isn't that always the way? I'm not sure which later incarnation of Chrome this is. Is it just Damon Edge? Is it just Helios Creed? I don't know, but it's still 100 times better than most of the stuff you find on electronic tribute albums.
Arturo Stalteri "Here Come the Warm Jets" (Brian Eno cover) Another jazz/classical instrumental piano arrangement perfect for my imaginary coffee shop.
Union 13 "Roots Radicals" (Spanish-language Rancid cover) I'm currently experiencing a bit of guilty pleasure in the form of the Tim Armstrong/Skye Sweetnam ska/pop "Into Action." Why guilty? I don't know exactly. Despite liking many ska, ska/punk, ska/pop songs, I never felt comfortable aligning myself with it. I never felt punk or mod or cool or lame or whatever enough. I didn't have enough tattoos or a poor enough work ethic or something to fit in with the die-hard fans. My hesitance to commit today is probably just lingers from the '90s when I cared far more about what other people thought of me than I do now. Aaaanyhow, Tim Armstrong's new "guilty" pleasure reminded me that I once considered a few Rancid songs to be my "guilty" pleasures. This Spanish-language version by Los Angeles's Union 13 makes me happy, although I suspect that if it were in English I wouldn't like it as much.
The Covert Agency "Roots Radicals" (Rancid cover) See? These guys don't sound guilty about it in the least.
Also, in honor of my good friend Eric's birthday today—which is always a pleasant stepping stone into my own birthday tomorrow—here's some video of a live cover of Clutch's "Big News" as performed by Dozer and featuring Troy and Bill from Mastodon also—aka people from bands I might appreciate a little more if I were a big angry man. But, hey, Dozer's from Sweden, so I can't be completely disinterested in them.
Judge me harshly if you must, but I've never been much of a U2 fan. Therefore—although I have many—covers of U2 songs tend not to excite me very much. All of that said, I'm kind of in love with SongFight regular Jeff Fal's Add Musical Program podcast (which is often chock-full of covers) and his free downloadable tribute, Add Covers Achtung Baby. And if you like what you hear, you can download a slew of his originals as well directly from the ADD Home Page. I've been meaning to bring all of this up for a while, so why not now?
There are a slew of Guided by Voices tribute acts out there, and most of them have MySpace pages, but for some odd reason I just found about the Girl Guides, who describe themselves as a "girls only!!" GBV covers project. I'm suspicious that that isn't true since there are male vocals on the cover of "Motor Away," but whatever. The stuff there is still delicious. Sadly, my favorite cover of the three on their MySpace page, "Always Crush Me," is the only one that's unavailable for download, but you should head over there to hear it anyway and to download the other tracks. Edit: "Always Crush Me" is now downloadable there thanks to Sarah of Girl Guides. We all win!
For various reasons, I'd been thinking pretty seriously the past 24 hours about deleting this blog entirely or going on a hiatus. But then I thought how messed-up it would be for me to abandon one of the few things in my life that consistently brings both me and thousands of others—according to reviews, stats, comments and e-mail inbox—joy. Screw that. If any of you in my "real life" reading have nothing better to do with your lives that you spend part of it cataloging the things I say and do that piss you off so you can later attempt to lord it over me, that's your glitch, not mine. In the immortal words of Popeye, I am what I am. Take it or leave it.
Please, faithful readers, no need to leave supportive (or otherwise) comments on this topic. I don't want to waste any more time thinking about or discussing it. I'm not going anywhere for now. I know most of you reading like what I do here and think I'm cool. And I like what I do here and think I'm cool. That's all that matters here.
Now, let's get on with the show, shall we?
Speaking of shows, all of you Chicago indie rockers may be interested to know that my new e-acquaintance and fellow Guided By Voices fanatic, author John Sellers, is going to be in town soon for a few events. He's promoting his book Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, which I'm very much looking forward to reading. He'll be reading, signing, meeting and greeting at the Book Cellar at 7PM on Monday, July 2. Rumor has it there's wine involved, which is always exciting. If you can't make that event or you need a little more rock with your lit and liquor, he'll also be reading at the Beat Kitchen at 10:30PM on Saturday, July 7, followed/accompanied by Dayton's Billy Catfish and local faves Farewell Captain (who, rumor has it, are planning to perform an all-cover set of indie standards) and headlining hooligans extraordinaire, the premier Chicago-area (and beyond?) Guided By Voices tribute band, Textbook Committee. Should be a good time, provided you don't get so GBV-style drunk you don't remember where you were.
And speaking of covers of indie staples...
Tom 7 "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" (Guided By Voices cover) My favorite track from Tom 7's downloadable tribute to GBV.
Nickel Creek "Spit on a Stranger" (Pavement cover) This made the rounds on the MP3 blog circuit about a year ago, and I say rightfully so. I'm all for twee bluegrass.
Rheinallt H. Rowlands "Gwawr Newydd Yn Cilio (New Dawn Fades)" (Welsh Joy Division cover) A reader (sorry, I don't remember who!) sent me this a while back, and I'm indebted. What other Welsh covers out there should I/we know about?
Richard Hawley "Some Candy Talking" (The Jesus & Mary Chain cover) Definitely one of the most worthwhile tracks on that Q cover sampler that came out a year or two ago.
Straylight Run "Velvet Waltz" (Built to Spill cover) Apparently there's some emo drama surrounding this band, but even I'm not bored enough to look up what it is.
Ruby Isle "Teen Age Riot" (Sonic Youth cover) How cute and poppy is that intro? I'm hoping to post an all-Sonic Youth post soon to celebrate that my best friend Ryan is visiting me next month and taking me to see Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation at the Pitchfork fest. I've inexplicably never seen Sonic youth live before, but I figure that's the thing to see... even if it means I have to be outside for a few hours in a dusty field full of hipsters during sweltering mid-July.
Geoff Keezer "Lose My Breath" (My Bloody Valentine cover) You know that imaginary coffee shop of mine? Jazz piano versions of shoegaze classics will definitely be on the menu.
Axton Kincaid "I Wanna Be Adored" (The Stone Roses cover) One of the few Stone Roses covers that didn't make it into my Brit Pop-themed posts a few months back. And another twee bluegrass cover, since apparently that's what the kids are craving.
Brother Love Canal "Gigantic" (The Pixies cover) This is my homage to the soon approaching Pride festivities here in the city. I can totally see most people, especially die-hard Pixies fans, loathing this, but I have to admit it makes me laugh and I'd totally dance to its chill Vengaboysian rhythms. (This marks the third time in the blog's history that I've described a song as Vengaboysian, and I'm certain all the kids are eventually going to allow it to permeate their lexicon. Watch your etymological back, Rachael Ray!!!)
Dirt Bike Annie "Are you Ready for the Summer" (Meatballs theme, comp. Bernstein/Gimbel) Okay, this isn't an indie staple. It's just my way for saying Happy Summer to everyone out there who, unlike me, actually likes it and wants to celebrate it. And because Meatballs rules. Chris Makepeace, I miss you!!!
I hope this doesn't come off bitchy or anything, but I'd really appreciate it if those of you sending MP3s to my inbox would check to see whether or not I've already posted the tracks first. There is a search bar in the upper left corner of the site that should assist you in said endeavor. Granted, chances are good that even if I've not posted it, I already have it, but at least there's a chance I haven't.
Similarly, all of you bands and PR people who tell me you "love my site" and want me to "review" your work? I'm calling bullshit because almost NONE of you seem to realize I ONLY POST COVER SONGS.
Now to offset how cranky I am right now, reader K2 alerted me to this and I think I like it better than any of the tons of other covers of this track out there right now:
Lately I've revisited what I thought was a long-gone obsession with Yazoo's Upstairs at Eric's album. It's generally the first LP I think to throw on the turntable when I'm doing housework. And it's as awesome as ever. Here's a little tribute:
01 Terminal Choice "Don't Go" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
02 Blind Before Dawn "Too Pieces" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
03 The Hi-Fives "Bad Connection" (Yaz/Yazoo cover) This is my favorite of the lot. It makes me very happy.
04 Marianne Nowottny "I Before E Except After C" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
05 Steve Adam "Midnight" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
06 Soviet "In My Room" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
07 Even in Blackouts "Only You" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
08 Suspiria "Goodbye Seventies" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
09 Tom Jones "Situation" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
10 Gold Chains & Jillian Eva "Winter Kills" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
And to make up for the fact that I was unable to locate evidence of anyone having covered the last track of the U@E album—"Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)"—here are a few extra Yazoo-related tracks:
Garbo and Telepong "Nobody's Diary" (Yaz/Yazoo cover)
Just when the original managed to escape the constant playlist in my head, here comes a cover that puts it right back there. Thanks to reader Jill who pointed me in the direction of a guy named D and his cover of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," which you can download over at his MySpace page. I'm loving it.
It just occurred to me that I've been blogging covers for more than three years, so to celebrate I've decided to do what I rarely do and revisit some gems from the past. Below are tracks I posted in 2004 that are either reader or personal faves (and, in a few cases, just weird/bad tracks that amuse me). I know a lot of readers didn't know about me back then. I believe I timed these so that they could be burned to audio disc for posterity, should you be so inclined. Enjoy!
Copy, Right's Best Posts of 2004 (and one accidentally from 2005) Revisited
01 The Frogs "Vacation" (Go-Go's cover) Originally posted October 12, 2004.
02 Jason Falkner "Photograph" (Def Leppard cover) Originally posted November 2, 2004.
03 The Quakes "The Killing Moon" (Echo & the Bunnymen cover) Originally posted November 2, 2004.
04 The Deldagos "Mr. Blue Sky" (ELO cover) Originally posted June 29, 2004.
05 Aroah "Cupid Come" (My Bloody Valentine cover) Originally posted April 7, 2004.
06 Jamelia "Numb" (Linkin Park cover) Originally posted September 7, 2004. (Actually, this is not the studio version that was in that post but a later live recording because I couldn't readily find the studio track in my millions of back-up discs. You get the gist.)
06 Hikashu "The Model" (Kraftwerk cover) Originally posted July 16, 2004.
08 The Notwist "Johnny & Mary" (Robert Palmer cover) Originally posted March 14, 2005. (D'oh! I thought it was 2004. Whatever.)
09 Pixels "Gigamuffin" (Pixies cover, sort of) Originally posted November 22, 2004.
10 Low IQ 01 feat. Yukari Fresh "Anarchy in the UK" (Sex Pistols cover) Originally posted July 22, 2004.
11 The Softies "Together Forever" (Rick Astley cover) Originally posted March 29, 2004.
12 My Chemical Romance "All I Want for Christmas is You" (Mariah Carey cover) Originally posted December 19, 2004.
13 Solex "Shady Lane" (Pavement cover) Originally posted March 9, 2004.
14 The Balenescu Quartet "Pocket Calculator" (Kraftwerk cover) Originally posted June 18, 2004.
15 Cinerama "All the Things She Said" (t.A.T.u. cover) Originally posted March 29, 2004.
16 Macha & Bedhead "Believe" (Cher cover) Originally posted March 9, 2004.
<17 Mogwai "Don't Cry" (Guns N' Roses cover) Originally posted October 26, 2004.
18 Sobaki Tobaka! "In Your Room" (Depeche Mode cover) Originally posted June 2, 2004.
19 Class "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" (Jermaine Stewart cover) Originally posted May 27, 2004.
20 Clem Snide "Beautiful" (Christina Aguilera cover) Originally posted March 5, 2004.
I want to blog about a few of these (aka warn you about some of them), but I have a friend visiting from out of town and I don't have the time. Sorry, yo.
Edit, Thurs. May 24, 7:35 AM Central Time: One of my web hosts has been having intermittent DNS issues and is working to fix it. If you've had difficulty downloading these tracks, my apologies. I just uploaded them to a different host so they should be working momentarily. Please give it a moment and refresh your browser and try again.
Bob Nanna "Emperor's New Clothes" (Sinead O'Connor cover)
Beat Crusaders "New Song" (Howard Jones cover)
Gazzara "Turn it on Again" (Genesis cover)
Graveworm "Holding Out for a Hero" (Bonnie Tyler cover)
Kaiser Chiefs "What Time is Love?" (The KLF cover)
Len "Cool it Now" (New Edition cover)
Rosa "Let the River Run" (Carly Simon cover)
Shizuka "If you Need Someone" (The Field Mice cover)
Siela "Plainsong" (The Cure cover)
Sunshiners "Shake the Disease" (Depeche Mode cover)
Happy Mother's Day to all you crazy moms reading. As promised, here are a few mom-themed tracks. I barely managed to post this in a timely fashion, but am proud that I have. Now if I can get it completed before the Survivor finale, we'll all win! That means I can only give comments on a few tracks—which, let's face it, are always more about me than the songs anyhow—so I'm sure you'll live.
Sadly, most songs about or referencing mothers or mamas or moms are not always the most sentimental or forgiving, and I apologize for that. Still, I think I managed to find a decent balance. Sure, it was difficult to narrow it down so that only one track mentions a desire to kill a mother and have sex with her corpse, but somehow I did.
Dana & Karen Kletter "Your Mother Wants to Know" (Scrawl cover) I've previously mentioned my former Scrawl obsession, and this song is the one that really sealed the deal for me. I was so excited to learn that it's been covered, and I think this version adds a new dimension to it. The original, obviously, delivers the same message lyrically, but does so with a jaded tone I so related to at the time I first heard it. Not that the delivery can't be bitter AND sentimental, of course, but this cover makes me feel sadder for the mother than the protagonist, and the original does the opposite.
Bongwater "Julia" (Beatles cover) John Lennon loved his mom. When he wrote this, anyhow.
Neutral Milk Hotel feat. Chris Knox "Mother" (John Lennon cover) As you might imagine, it gets pretty screamy at the end. Be prepared to turn the volume down a bit unless you're into that.
Old 97's "Mama Tried" (Merle Haggard cover) Speaking of mothers and Merle Haggard, when I was about 8-10 years old, my mother took me to a Merle Haggard concert at the Holiday Star Plaza. During the intermission (weird that there was an intermission at a concert), an old woman passed out on the floor and started vomiting, which mildly traumatized me. I could think of nothing else for the duration of the show. Not even during "Okie from Muskogee."
Pioneers "Mother and Child Reunion" (Paul Simon cover) I'm not a big reggae fan, which is a shame considering the multitudes of reggae covers that exist. This track, however, makes me very happy.
The Section Quartet "I Wanna Get A Mohawk (But Mom Won't Let Me Get One)" (AFI cover) Sometimes mothers are right, kid.
Stone 588 "Dream for Mother" (Christian Death cover) The aforementioned sexist, matricidal, necrophiliac Mother's Day classic.
The Hydes "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby (Standing in the Shadow)?" (Rolling Stones cover)
Satirine "Mama's Boy" (Ramones cover)
Bouncing Souls "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?" (Misfits cover)
Glen Meadmore "There's No One Like Mother to Me" (Carter Family cover)
Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen "Your Mother Should Know" (Beatles cover)
Awesome local music blog Radio Free Chicago has an all-cover podcast available for your listening pleasure here. I will respectively disagree with the writer's assertion that Nick Cave's cover of Pulp's "Disco 2000" is particularly genius, as I've long found it surprisingly and disappointingly tedious, but to each his or her own, yes? (Particularly considering some of the cheesy or otherwise questionable covers I actually like, no?) Still, you might hear covers there you've never heard and you might love the Nick Cave track, so what are you waiting for?
Okay, when I make a mistake I admit it. Had I known years ago that the Internet would become what it has become, I might have actually tried a little harder to sustain a committed relationship beyond a few weeks and perhaps might have revised my plans to never have a child. But how could we have ever predicted that we would eventually live in a world where we could record our young children singing karaoke versions of My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade" for all the world to hear?
As you all know, YouTube is rife with covers by people no one has ever heard of who happen to have webcams, but every now and again you'll stumble on something/someone who isn't total crap and is just plain charming and cute. It doesn't seem remotely possible that it would be legal for me to find someone born in 1987 so damned adorable, but it is. I cannot believe 1987 was 20 years ago.
Anthony Hill covers Pulp and Lily Allen, respectively:
It's amazing how long it takes to perform everyday tasks when the scroll wheel on your mouse suddenly stops working. I practically feel as if I'm Laura Ingalls (and her numerous siblings) having to do homework with chalk on a small personal slate. I'm working on posting a mom-themed post before Sunday. We'll see how long it actually takes me.
Hmm. I think I've hit a mid-entry change of heart and have decided to post a few tracks before the mom post. I did it quick, so the tags might not be as detailed as I generally like them to be. Here goes:
Mollycuddle "U Mass" (Pixies cover) Mollycuddle is a sickeningly cute name for a band. Or a child carrier.
De Saloon & Denisse Malabrán (of Chilean group Saiko) "Erase/Rewind" (Cardigans cover) In this cover, Denisse Malabrán's sounds a bit like my friend Ami's, though not quite as good. Lo, I like seeing people cover Cardigans songs besides "Lovefool," paricularly with south American accents, so it's all good to me.
S.H.E "Bie Shuo Dui Bu Qi (Everytime)" (Britney Spears cover in Chinese, I think) I'm too lazy sans functioning scroll wheel to talk about S.H.E, so I'll let Wikipedia do it for me. They've done a lot of covers.
DJ Goldfinger feat. Felisha "Runaway (Goldfinger's NRG Single Edit)" (Bon Jovi cover) It's just your standard cheesy dance cover, yet still somehow a million times better than any of the crappy performances by American Idol contestants on Bon Jovi night. I know, I know. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up in the first place. (Aside: I hate Blake sooooooooo much.)
[spunge] "Circle in the Sand" (Belinda Carlisle cover) A band whose name includes pointless brackets would generally fall off my radar just on principle, but for a dime-a-dozen ska/punk cover, it could certainly be much worse.
Just in case you're not obsessively checking what I add to my blog roll, I feel I need to point you in the direction of Absonderpop—as well as its German-language counterpart, should that interest you—where you can download originals, remixes and many many covers of whatever song is featured each entry. Seriously, if you like what I do and enjoy collecting as many covers as possible in a range of genres, you'd be remiss not to check it early and often.
Lambchop "This Corrosion" (Sisters of Mercy cover) It's a genre I never got too obsessed with, this dark alt-country-meets-chamber-pop stuff, and I'm not sure why since I actually quite like it. Well, I was once temporarily obsessed with 16 Horsepower, but that was about a decade ago. Anyhow, I'm revisiting it, and find that I love it when these type of outfits cover goth staples.
Speaking of 16HP, for your viewing & listening pleasure, allegedly they chose Joy Division's "Heart and Soul" as their final live song ever:
If you're looking for a great way to kill just over an hour, one of the charming Drunk Country fellows has a delightful, informative covers-themed podcast currently available for listening/downloading here. Highly recommended.
Usually when I get form-letter mass e-mails from bands or their record companies, they do not contain any information relating to covers. In fact, most of the "I'm a big fan of your blog and you might want to review my band/a band represented by the label I work for" do not contain information relating to covers. Some "big fans" they are, huh? Aaaaaaaanyhooo, today's Minty Fresh mass e-mail actually delivered in the form of a very pretty cover of the Killers' "When You Were Young" as performed by Astrid Swan, whose album drops May 22. You can download it here.
Scala and Kolacny Bros., the wildly popular choir whose covers have been featured here three or four times, is attempting to create the world's longest canon. If you're interested in adding to the project by videotaping yourself singing a snippet of Kylie Minogue's "I Believe in You" (and subsequently being entered in a contest to win a Wii, among other things), visit the Scala and Kolacny Bros. canon site.
One of my favorite so so so so wrong songs ever as performed by the pretty pretty pretty pretty boys of Grizzly Bear. They've covered this a lot while touring and this video recording, although cut off just before the end, is pretty awesome.
Five years (get it?) later I finally deliver the Bowie covers. I'll spare you the tedious details of my life that led to the gap in posts, but know I've been thinking of you. The following tracks span many genres, hopefully you'll enjoy (or be otherwise amused by) at least a few.
Ozzy Osbourne "All the Young Dudes" (Mott the Hoople cover, comp. David Bowie)
Lady Besery's Garden "Andy Warhol" (David Bowie cover)
I'm probably going to throw up (?) a handful of Bowie covers tomorrow, but until I do, you can get a pretty decent cover of "Starman" from Austin singer-songwriter Justin Wiles's Music Page. I also recommend that fans of Elliott Smith, Nilsson, Donovan, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Simon & Garfunkel, Jose Gonzalez, Dear 23-era Posies, etc. check out the slew of original stuff there as well. Some of the songs—including but not limited to "Triple Hotel" and "Expecting a Song"—kind of freak me out because they sound like Elliott Smith came back and collaborated with him. And, if you're in Austin, you can see him play at the showcase on Tuesday the 17th at B.B. Rovers. No, he's not a friend of mine or anything. He's just a cute talented young artist I stumbled on recently whose work impressed me far more than that of a lot of signed artists in the same genre. It's very rare for me to randomly find artists on the Internet sharing nearly 50 of their songs for free that are actually worth listening to.
I know lots of people who won't shut up about Amy Winehouse being the best thing since sliced bread. But let's face it: Sliced bread isn't that fucking amazing either. Gear up for one of the biggest train-wreck covers of all time:
Jesus shouted me out in his Easter post and now He gets His comeuppance via three of the most annoying covers of "Jesus Loves Me" I have on my hard drive right now. Thanks, Yo!
Baby Lu-Lu "Jesus Loves Me" (Traditional, sort of) The 365 Days Project/Ubuweb classic. Nothing creepier than a grown woman singing religious tunes as a 3-year-old.
Mike Freund "Jesus Loves Me" (Traditional, sort of) Just a hardcore-lovin' boy with the Son of God on his side.
Placebo "Jesus Loves Me" (Traditional, sort of) I've tried several times to sincerely like Placebo—even going so far as to meet Brian Molko a couple of times at lame record label-sponsored "meet and greets"—but his creepy nephew-of-Kermit-the-frog voice always gets in the way. My Spidey senses say Jesus merely tolerates him.
First a note to say that, as of tomorrow, my domain and web issues will have been resolved, thanks to donations from readers like you. Thanks! In addition to my being able to afford to host my own stuff, my longtime Internet pal Mikey has also offered me some of his space/bandwidth, which may afford me the luxury of posting more frequently. Today's songs are on his server as a test to make sure he can handle the mighty power of the Copy, Right? downloaders. Mwahahahahaha!
Komeda "Mushroom" (Can cover) I was late on the Can bandwagon. Admittedly, this was partially because a slew of pretentious, music-snob types I knew would stand around at parties clamoring on and on about them and how music today sucks and I didn't want to have anything in common with those assholes. But good music is good music and sometimes music snobs are right, albeit narrow-minded and incapable of embracing the future. I first started obsessing about Ege Bamyasi and Tago Mago in 1996 around the same time I was obsessing about Komeda's The Genius of Komeda. Little did I know at the time that a mere two years later these two great tastes would taste great together in B-Side form. Or did I create that reality? Time will tell.
Ergo Phizmiz and His Orchestra "Hollaback Girl" (Gwen Stefani cover) God, what I would have given to exchange this sort of surreal Klezmeresque sound for that of Gwen and Eve's "Rich Girl." Gwen tries to play it off as if she's eclectic, but come on.
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra "Sesame Street" (TV theme song) It's always a funky jam, isn't it?
Alyssa Milano "Da Doo Ron Ron" (The Crystals cover/Comp. Phil Spector) It kills me a little to know that the man responsible for the hits of my favorite girl group ever, The Crystals, is such a violent, murderous nut now, but not nearly as much as it kills me to hear Alyssa Milano "singing" this song. Makes the Shaun Cassidy version seem brilliant. I hate sax solos.
The Mini Pops "Video Killed the Radio Star" (The Buggles cover) Well before Kidz Bop, the Mini Pops destroyed then-modern pop hits. Unlike the Kidz Bop overlords, whoever was in charge of the Mini Pops actually let the kids sing the main vocals as well as the background vocals. And, I'm guessing from a few of the really bad notes, perhaps allowed them near the synthesizers as well. (Brady, I bet you're regretting sending me those free iTunes downloads now that you see this is the type of crap I got!)
Gun "Word Up" (Cameo cover) This sounds to me what it might sound like if INXS were to have played a hard rock bar band in a really bad '80s movie with which I probably would have become mildly obsessed.
The Associates "Love Hangover" (Diana Ross cover) For every Bronski Beat, Spandau Ballet or Soft Cell that had a hit or two in the States with some '80s New Romantic anthem, there is a band like the Associates who were as good or better but never caught on here. This is one of my favorite covers of the genre and the era.
The Drones "Downbound Train" (Chuck Berry cover) Blues rock has never really been my thing, even when coming from bands who dabble in noise rock as well, but I have a friend who is absolutely obsessed with the Drones. This is for him.
Captain Smartypants "Xanadu" (Olivia Newton-John/ELO cover) There have been many times in my life I've wished to be a gay man, most of which involved having sex with my gay male friends. But I would also have made an awesome drag queen. And have excelled in a gay men's chorus. Especially singing this.
Frank Rogala "Fuck and Run" (Liz Phair cover) Speaking of the gays, here's another thing I would do: Cover songs women wrote about men without needing to change the gender of the subject. In fact, if I were a gay man, I might become a one-man Liz Phair tribute artist, covering every song she's ever done. Well, from the good albums anyhow.
Patrick & Eugene "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" (Simon & Garfunkel cover) Earlier the sun was out and I was cleaning and this hit the shuffle and I was, oh, so happy.
Vivane Serval "Une Femme Amoureuse (A Woman in Love)" (French Barbra Streisand cover, comp. the Bee Gees) A few of today's songs are France- or French-related. The other night I had a dream that I was an American Idol contestant and got to meet Barbra Streisand and was the only contestant who'd ever heard of her. I asked her if Robert Redford was a good kisser. She said no, but that he was better at it than Sanjaya. My response? "No duh!" This dream is far less disturbing than the one in which I got drunk at a bar, met Steve-O, brought him home with me, had sex with him and wound up getting pregnant. Or maybe not.
Dorina Galambos "Bathwater" (No Doubt cover) Speaking of TV talent competitions and Sanjaya, here is a contestant from Hungary's Megasztár singing the song Sanjaya butchered last week. I'm not saying it's awesome or anything, but I will say the standards are obviously slightly higher in my homeland. I'm actually Romanian and Croatian, but my maternal grandfather was born in Hungary and Transylvania used to be part of Hungary and blah blah blah. The bottom line is that Southern European sluts gals like Dorina and myself rule. At least more than Sanjaya does. And why doesn't American Idol let contestants sing cool songs like this and have judges with such emotive faces? And is anyone else grossed out by the idea of bathing in someone else's bathwater?
Future Kings of Spain "Love of the Common Man" (Todd Rundgren cover) Here's the J. Mascis-esque cover I promised the other day. (BTW, what is up with the Dinosaur Jr. Nikes? I think they're so ridiculous and ugly that I almost want a pair 'cause I'm all ironic and shit, but I'd never spend hundreds of dollars on a shoe, let alone a Nike.)
Fionn Regan "Getting Better" (Beatles cover) Fionn is a dreamy folk singer that has a couple of really cool videos for really pretty songs: examples one and two.
Happy Flowers "Mrs. Lennon" (Yoko Ono cover) Possibly the only Happy Flowers track that I can listen to all the way through.
Maggie Gyllenhaal "How Lucky Am I" (Sign of the Fox cover) I'll tell you how lucky you are, Maggie: You are the mother of the child of my longtime dream actor boyfriend Peter Sarsgaard. And you get to act in cute little indie romantic comedies like Happy Endings, in which you get to sing pretty, somber remakes of power-pop songs. Bitch.
Yeti Girls "Don't Bring Me Down" (ELO cover) I listen to Electric Light Orchestra all the time because they are genius.
Cinerama "Yesterday Once More" (Carpenters cover) Not as tasty as their cover of t.A.T.u.'s "All the Thing She Said," but I was in a Carpenters-cover mood and this hit the spot just fine.
Monsieur Blumenberg (of Montefiori Cocktail) "Can't Get you Out of My Head" (Kylie Minogue cover) La la la la la la la la. La la la la la la la la.
I don't think I've hated an "artist" more than I hate Fergie, and I once went through a similar phase with Alanis Morissette, although I've cut her some slack since the early/mid-'90s when I automatically hated anything that hit the mainstream and was heralded as edgy but really wasn't. Reader Emily pointed out this sorta horrifying/sorta delicious video to me, and I feel it's my duty to share.
I'm suddenly strangely addicted to the avant-garde reworkings of French Catalan composer Pascal Comelade, as well as his original work. I'm kind of a sucker for toy instruments and carnivalesque arrangements, and in this rare case, I enjoy when a cover sounds familiar but you can't readily place it. If you're looking for note-for-note covers, don't download these. If you, like me, have fantasies about opening a coffee shop just so you can play unique rock-inspired jazz in the background, go for it.
Update: If the tracks aren't downloading, refresh and try again.
Pascal Comelade "Brand New Cadillac" (Vince Taylor/The Clash cover)
Just a quick entry to direct you to what is currently my favorite downloadable-on-MySpace cover, Janet Jackson's "Let's Wait A While" by Dublin band the Future Kings of Spain. The original holds a special place in my heart because I danced to it with a dorky boy I liked at a school dance my freshman year of high school and he kissed me. Of course, all of my giddy glee about it was ruined months later (after he and I had made out) and he started dating one of my best friends. Of course, he had been dating another of my best friends before he and I hooked up, so I guess what goes around comes around. In retrospect it all seems ridiculous that any of us would have ever liked him at all in the first place. That he's since become a cop does not help. (Note to any cop who might be reading: I'm sure you're one of the cool ones.)
As for the Future Kings of Spain, I'm digging them. I learned of them via another cover they did, a unique J. Mascis-esque version of Todd Rundgren's "Love of the Common Man," which I'll likely post in my next entry later today or tomorrow.
Here's a random-as-ever post. Sorry for the gap between posts, but it's difficult to be inspired to post here when I'm emotionally and financially down and out concerning the fact that I've been looking for work for nearly 8 months to no avail. I'd heard from friends in the past few years how god-awful the job market is now, and now I'm soaking in it. I'm hoping to get over the feeling that I should abandon this blog altogether until I'm gainfully employed, but I must admit it's a thought that occurs to me regularly. When I can barely pay my bills, it seems silly to pay for web hosting, you know?
Heh. I'll try to be less depressing next time.
The Wonderstuff "That's Entertainment" (The Jam cover)
Royal City "Is this It" (The Strokes cover)
The Pernice Brothers "Talk of the Town" (The Pretenders cover)
The Mr. T Experience "Crash" (The Primitives cover)
Guild of Ages "Hungry Like the Wolf" (Duran Duran cover)
Frenzal Rhomb "We Built This City" (Starship cover)
The Fiery Furnaces "Winter" (The Fall cover)
Eva Luna "Little Lies" (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Colony 5 "The Great Commandment" (Camouflage cover)
Of Montreal cover Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," as it is now a requirement for all hipster indie acts to do so:
I've long been aware of Of Montreal and enjoyed their albums well enough, but I was nowhere near prepared for the purity of the love I have for the deliciously poppy, new-wavey, angry-and-depressed-but-ultimately-uplifting new album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? I can't remember the last time I repeatedly listened to an album over and over—as well proved, I'm certain, by my Last.fm profile—to this degree. I'm thinking it was either Super Trouper, Beauty and the Beat or Louder than Bombs. I can't even pick a favorite track. "Suffer for Fashion"? "She's a Rejecter"? "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"? "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger"? I'm torn. Then I go to YouTube and watch a slew of their live performances and fall deeper into the abyss of OM obsession. Of course, my new lust for OM has hit its apex three days before they play a sold-out show about a mile from where I live. Isn't that always the way?
Of Montreal "Spanish Dance Troupe" (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci cover)
Catherine Wheel "Willing to Wait" (Sebadoh cover) Reader Zack asked me if I had this and I tried to send it his way, but my e-mail bounced back because it his e-mail host deemed the file too large. That's cool, though, as now we all can revel in this rarity.
Lounge-O-Leers "Flagpole Sitta" (Harvey Danger cover) I kind of used to hate the original version of this song, but then it became the theme song of Peep Show, one of my favorite BBC comedies, and it grew on me.
Ben O'Sullivan "Freelove Freeway" (Ricky Gervais as David Brent cover) Speaking of my favorite BBC comedies, whenever I need a good laugh, I can always count on the training episode of The Office. (Series One, Episode Four). Gareth and Tim's accompaniment to David Brent's rocking tune never fails to amuse. And I love that people are covering it. It's better than most songs of that ilk that actually get airplay.
Kevin Rowland "Thunder Road" (Bruce Springsteen cover) I'm still on my BBC comedy-related kick. This track by the former Dexy's Midgnight Runners' front man reminds me of Brian's hilarious Dexy's flashback on Spaced. I can't believe how long we in the States have to wait (end of April!) for the release of Hot Fuzz. Thankfully, I live in a major city and probably won't have to wait as long as those who don't.
Bonnie Pink "Origin of Love" (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, comp. Stephen Trask) There are few things on this earth as pure as my love for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I remember seeing a local live production and thinking, "Holy shit. I think this play was written explicitly so I could sit in the audience and get the jokes no one else seems to be laughing at." When I heard the creator, John Cameron Mitchell, was making it into a movie as well, I feared the worst. How could the humor and passion of the live play translate adequately to the screen? Of course, his genius made it work and now everyone can bask in its glow. I overheard an acquaintance once say he didn't like Hedwig at all, and I knew not to waste my time getting to know him. I like having my own pop culture touchstones and knowing that the people I meet who don't "get" them need to just leave me alone. Therefore, anyone who covers Hedwig songs is automatically OK in my book, especially if they're cute and Japanese.
Kevin Cavanaugh "William, It Was Really Nothing" (The Smiths cover) Speaking of pop-culture touchstones, I'm often reminded of one of my favorite things my best pal Lisa said to me early in our friendship. She was discussing a date she'd had and the guy mentioned hating the Smiths. She said to me, "You know, I can never fully trust someone who never had a Smiths phase." I wholeheartedly agreed and have since made it one of my many mottos. Aaaanyhow, this Kevin Cavanaugh character was actually on the god-awful America's Got Talent show a while back with his loungey '60s throwback act Blue Velvet. Seriously, why would anyone let Hasselhoff—aka the man who actually cried when Taylor Hicks won Idol and sang that hideous song they made him sing—judge a talent competition? And, yeah, maybe we don't need more throwback lounge covers, but when they're as earnest and orchestral as this and are versions of one my favorite Smiths songs, I say we give them a shot.
Kill Hannah "Under the Milky Way" (The Church cover) Like Skid Row, this is one of the only bands I've seen many times (thanks to the fact that they opened for bands I liked) that I had no real desire to see. And it's not that I hated local darlings, Kill Hannah, or anything. Every time I saw them I'd always think to myself, "You know, if this group got together when I was about 17, I'd probably have really gotten into them." It's hard to believe they've been around since 1995 and still going strong, mostly because it makes me feel even older than I did in 1995 when I thought I was too old to enjoy them. Funny, that.
Liberator "Does Your Mother Know" (Abba cover) I have to be in a really specific mood for third-wave ska,and today I am. Of course, it also helps when the ska band is Swedish and the band they're covering is Swedish. May my love of nearly all things Scandinavian never end!
'N Sync "More Than a Feeling" (Boston cover) I listen to a lot of Boston, Asia, REO Speedwagon, ELO and the like when I'm doing dishes and whatnot, which made me think, "What Boston covers happen to be on my hard drive right now?" Well, here's the sad answer. Not that I have any real issues with 'N Sync. In fact, I like a lot of their songs and have a Joey Fatone bobblehead that resides atop my TV. But a big fan of most a capella-flavored tracks, I'm not.
Tom Racer "If You Leave" (OMD cover) When you're as bored and nostalgia-obsessed as I tend to be (seriously, I'm in the process of scanning and uploading tons of old concert tickets and high school- and college-era pictures, much to the detriment of a normal sleep schedule), often the most seemingly random thoughts pop into your head on a regular basis. This track comes courtesy of a thought I had earlier when I remembered I had a box of Molly Ringwald-esque red hair dye in my bathroom aching to be used, which was: "I know Andrew McCarthy was contrite and dreamy and all, but I still can't believe Molly let her handmade purse that matched her prom dress fall to the ground when she kissed him in the rain as OMD played. I bet it got all gross." Um, yeah. And that, ladies and gentleman, is how scary and lame (yet kind of cool) it is to be me.
Some Girls "He's On Drugs Again" (Sardina cover) Years ago, I posted a live version of this cover that was cut off at the end. At last, a studio version now exists and I'm happy to share it. To read about who Sardina, the original artist, is, check that old entry. Beware, however, as the links are likely now defunct. Luckily, the awesome Musical Family Tree has tons of Sardina tracks available for free download, including the entire Presents album, from which the original comes. Seriously, it's a brilliant pop album and you should download it now.
Lulu "He's Sure the Boy I Love" (The Crystals cover) I love the Crystals so much I can't believe more people haven't covered this song. It's my favorite.
Groove da Praia "Used to Love Her" (Guns N' Roses cover) Thanks (or blame) goes to the Bossa n' series for Bossa n' Roses comp. Because we totally needed jazz-lounge songs about drugs, murder and other politically incorrect things.
Coil "All the Pretty Little Horses" (Traditional) Possibly a little too bleak and ominous for a lullaby, but it's Coil. What would you expect?
Academic Village People (AVP) "Policy of Truth" (Depeche Mode cover) You love college a cappella and you know it. Unless, like me, it kind of creeps you out more than the Coil lullaby.
Mathilde Santing "Oblivious" (Aztec Camera cover) Another song I can't believe hasn't been covered more frequently. This is the new-wave jam!
Moonshine Willy "Complicated Game" (XTC cover) It's unclear to me why the track listing on the album from which this comes lists the title as the plural "Complicated Games," but it's obviously the XTC song "Complicated Game." And it's quite a fun alt-country version.
Bohemian Vendetta "Satisfaction" (Rolling Stones cover) I think a reader sent me this '60s psych gem a while back. My apologies for not remembering who, particularly since I love it.
Trio "Wake Up" (Yoko Ono cover) I must admit hating "Da Da Da" with a passion, but my love for Yoko and anyone who covers her songs erases that hatred somewhat.
David Miller "Narrow Your Eyes" (They Might Be Giants cover) I might be the only TMBG fan who lists "Narrow Your Eyes" among her favorites, but I do. And this power-poppy version doesn't make me retch, so hooray!
I'm in the middle of a huge pre-spring decluttering project so I'm posting quickly and not taking any time to talk about anything. Sorry.
(Photos of things I'm keeping can be seen here and things I'm discarding—read: donating to Goodwill—can be seen here, if you're interested. Both sets will likely grow over the next week or so. What can I say? Oprah says this is the year to do it! Heh.)
The Zippers "He's a Rebel" (The Crystals cover)
The Be Good Tanyas "When Doves Cry" (Prince cover)
Kate the Cat "I Was Made for Lovin' You" (Kiss cover)
Frank Bard "Coal Miner's Daughter" (Instrumental harmonica Loretta Lynn cover)
Emm Gryner "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (Def Leppard cover)
DM Bob and the Deficits "Jeepster" (T. Rex cover)
Les Coquettes "Jimmy Mack" (Martha and the Vandellas cover in French)
It's not often I don't know a song or can't find its artist. I have an earworm ever since watching the fashion documentary Seamless the other day on the Sundance Channel. It's very familiar, as it's a song I've heard before in the background of other movies or TV shows or commercials. The lyrics are along the lines of: "London's swinging/ And London's burning/ And the phone stopped ringing/ And the world keeps turning"
Strangely, Google isn't helping me, as it only leads me to a Lost fan's post in a forum in which he or she asks if anyone knows what it is. No one has answered.
The song has a female vocalist whose voice sort of sounds like Beth Orton's. It's not that I absolutely love or hate the song or anything, but it just doesn't seem right having a song in your head for days if you don't know to whom to attribute your earworm distress.
Anyone?
Edit: I've since been notified that it's "London" by Noonday Underground. Hooray for Internet friends!
Now, in the interest of giving you something while I ask for something, I'm going to cut and paste (and slightly modify) something from an e-mail I recently sent to a reader who was asking for help locating cover songs by a particular artist. I've been meaning to do a "How does Liza find so many crazy covers" post for a while, and while not exhaustive, this hits on a few tips of the cover-hunting trade:
1. One of the first things I do when looking for a cover of a specific song is to head over to All Music Guide and perform a song title search. This will bring you a list of artists who have songs with that title. Of course, sometimes there is more than one song with a specific title, so the best thing to do is to find the original and look at the composer info and then sort the list by composer. AMG is a good resource, but it is not all-inclusive or 100% correct, as it focuses mostly on American releases and more mainstream artists and sometimes automatically lists the artist as the composer on tracks from lesser-known artists, but every now and again, you can find some weirdo thing there. And if the track has a little stereo symbol next to it, you can hear a snippet of the song. Unfortunately, I've found that this only seems to work about half of the time since sometimes the songs are wrong and other times the player just buffers and freezes.
2. You can also try music download shops like the iTunes store and eMusic and the like. These are particularly helpful because they let you hear snippets of the tracks. Just type in a song title and see what comes up. Preview the song to see if A) it's actually a cover and B) you like the way it sounds. Then, of course, if you like what you hear, you can purchase it for download. I particularly enjoy eMusic because you'll often find foreign or indie covers from artists you've never heard of. You can also search album titles for the word "tribute," which might lead you to tribute albums of which you were previously unaware."
3. Another favorite resource of mine (perhaps my most favorite) is the German site Coverinfo. Just go there and type the name of the artist whose covers you're hunting in the search field on the left of the page and you'll get a list both of songs they've covered or sampled and songs others have covered or sampled. I really like this site because, again although not all-inclusive or 100% accurate, it usually yields obscure foreign tracks, which I tend to like. Unfortunately, these are often difficult or impossible to locate, but I have pretty good luck at times.
4. Speaking of locating songs, those of you using P2P file-sharing programs likely are already hip to this, but sometimes just typing in a specific song title and seeing if anyone else has done it. Of course, this gets tricky because lots of songs have the same title as other unrelated songs. The most popular method of cover searchers, then, would be to search the word "cover" along with an artist's name and watching what comes up. This can lead you to things you didn't know were out there. Again, the caveat is that you can't always trust people to label files correctly and the next thing you know a million people think the Gourds' cover of "Gin and Juice" is actually by Phish, which simply isn't the case. If you're hunting for foreign covers, sometimes it helps to learn the word for "cover" in the language you seek. For instance, reprise/s in French and coverversion/en in German. Of course, often simply typing "French cover" or "Spanish cover," etc. will bring things up as well.
Another P2P trick is, upon stumbling on a particularly rare or foreign cover from a particular user, to browse said user's files and hunt for similar items. (I know SoulSeek allows this, I'm unsure about other P2Ps). Many is the night I've spent awake browsing a Thai or Japanese or German or [insert every other nationality] user's every file in the hopes of stumbling on an English-title track that sounds familiar. (Note: Only about 1/4 of these usually turn out to be covers. Heh. In fact, I've been thinking of starting a "Copy? Wrong!" site dedicated to interesting/horrifying songs I thought might be covers but weren't.)
5. There are other cover database sites out there, such as Second Hand Songs, but that one in particular is relatively new and not very thorough at this point. And, of course, there's the ever-popular Covers Project, which I'm sorry to say just isn't what it used to be. Even back when it was more user friendly, it was often inaccurate since anyone could submit suggestions. Now it is just seems really weird and limited. for instance, a search of "Celine Dion" returns zero results, despite the fact that there are at least a zillion versions of "My Heart Will Go On"
6. And, last but not least (for today's purposes anyhow), is trusty ol' Google. Key search phrases in quotes will often yield articles, blog posts, forum logs or artist sites featuring such items. Sometimes you can find out about things this way that you haven't found elsewhere. Here's a quick list of typical searches I might perform on any given day (obviously, don't use brackets, simply substitute what you're looking for where the bracketed words are):
"[artist] cover" "cover of [artist]'s" "covering [artist]" "covered [artist]" "covered [artist]'s" "[foreign language] [artist] cover" "[artist] cover in [foreign language]" "[artist] tribute" "tribute to [artist]"
Et cetera.
Anyone else who has any specific resources or tricks or who knows lots of foreign words for "cover," feel free to share via comments. I hope some or all of you found the above information helpful.
Now, for no real reasons except that I'm single and and kind of think Valentine's Day is silly, here is one of my pal Wendy's popular Photoshopped "Single Girl Valentines," which I love:
Here's a special thanks to my always loud-as-hell neighbor. For, if it weren't for her predilection toward having blaring sex entailing vocalizations so worthy of porn I have a difficult time believing there's any real pleasure involved, I wouldn't have been woken up from my first sound sleep of the week to bring you this post. But I must admit, despite once actually liking the band, I'd rather hear her moaning than have to endure the Cocteau Twins albums she constantly plays. Or the infernal monotonous whistling of her boyfriend. I'm really starting to hate this chick.
The Distants "She Sells Sanctuary" (The Cult cover)
Bow Wow Wow "Fools Rush In" (comp. Bloom/Mercer)
Jeronimo "J'ai Peur des Americains (I'm Afraid of Americans)" (David Bowie cover)
Pyeng Threadgill "Close to Me" (The Cure cover)
This Bike is a Pipe Bomb "John Henry" (Traditional)
The Meat Purveyors "Fist City" (Loretta Lynn cover)
Scrawl "Rocky Top" (comp. Bryant & Bryant) Quick story: When I was 15, I went with my best friend Julie (aka the artist responsible for one of my favorite works of art) dragged me along with her to her friend Sean's family Christmas party. It was weird enough being a jaded, big-haired weirdo in the presence of a bunch of moms and dads grandparents and aunts and uncles and kids we didn't know, but it only got weirder for us when one of said uncles pulled out his guitar and started playing and singing songs. We, of course, had been sneaking liquor into our drinks all night and, by the time the singing started, could barely control our outbursts. When he'd finish singing a song, he'd ask for requests, and ours was always the same: "Rocky Top." Every time we'd request it, he'd tell us he didn't know how to play it. Regardless, we requested it again and again to the point that he started yelling at us and we were asked to leave the basement. When we left the basement, we headed to Sean's room where a few of his young cousins were playing. One of the toys they had was a Santa Claus Pez dispenser. I picked it up, popped off the plastic beard and hat and happily displayed the bare, squinty old man beneath the disguise to all in the room. A few minutes later, when I was in the kitchen getting a soda, Sean's dad (who was a dead ringer for Captain Lou Albano sans rubberbands, BTW), pulled me aside and started berating me, saying, "Why in a million years would you think it's appropriate to unmask Santa in front of children?" I somehow stammered out an apology before running back to Sean's room and collapsing in giggles. And that delightful admonishment could not have occurred were it not for our bizarre "Rocky Top" fixation.
The inspiration for today's post comes from one of those lame "use your shuffle play to create a soundtrack for your life" memes. So, I took the first 18 covers to hit my shuffle play and plugged them in as appropriately as I could. Or something. I quite frequently use my shuffle play to decide my posts, so it's not really that exciting. Enjoy!
Opening Credits: "These Boots Were Made for Walking" - Little Jimmy Dempsey (Nancy Sinatra cover)
Waking Up: "Good Day Sunshine" - Hideki (Beatles cover)
First Day At School: "Schön in Rosa und Rot (Pretty in Pink)" - Le Kanin (Psychedelic Furs)
Falling In Love: If You Rescue Me (Chanson des Chats) - Gael Garcia Bernal, Sacha Bourdo, Alain Chabat, Aurelia Petit (Velvet Underground cover: "After Hours," sort of)
Fight Song: "Sabotage" - The BossHoss (Beastie Boys cover)
Breaking Up: "Caring is Creepy" - Bluegrass Tribute to the Shins (Shins cover)
Prom: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" - Lash (Beach Boys cover, with a snippet of that song from Freaky Friday thrown in for some reason)
Life: "Town Called Malice" - Okano Kaori (The Jam cover)
Mental Breakdown: "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" - The Poodles (Ultravox cover)
Driving: "...And Justice for All" - Rockabye Baby (Metallica cover)
Flashback: "Ashes to Ashes" - Danny Michel (David Bowie cover)
Getting Back Together: "Ask" - Blue Flame Combo (Smiths cover)
Wedding: "Play the Game" - Jon Brion (Queen cover)
Birth of Child: "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" - Ed McMahon (comp. Lerner and Loewe)
Hey, I'm back! I started writing this entry about eight days ago and only finished today. That's illness for you. But I'm feeling better. But you know who isn't? My friend's roommate's cat Tigger. [Warning: Sad news and request for donations forthcoming.] He needs a leg amputation to keep his cancer from spreading. If you can/want to spare a few dollars to help her afford his surgery, please read his story and donate here. Sorry to get all serious and beggy for a second there, especially when I've been gone so long, but I thought a few fellow spinsters/animal lovers out there might be able to help and it would be worth my while.
Now back to your regularly scheduled (as if!) selection of covers.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow "Game of Pricks" (Guided by Voices cover) Before I got crazy sick, I went to see Textbook Committee (a local GBV tribute band) at the Beat Kitchen. Good times. It reminded me that I'd been meaning to post this interesting little take on one of GBV's most covered songs.
Portastatic "Echos Myron" (Guided by Voices cover) A little straightforward for my cover tastes, but I love Mac McCaughan and I love GBV and I felt I should post two covers. If only I were rich (or even simply employed), I could continue today's GBV love with the purchase of this Holy Grail of GBV posters, whose sale commences in about 13 hours. Alas, it's not meant to be.
Tullycraft "Girl About Town" (Helen Love cover) In addition to that of GBV, I've been revisiting my guilty pop-punk pleasure in the band Helen Love. And since it's unclear whether this supposedly forthcoming tribute album will come to exist, this and the following track will tide me over a bit.
Ash "Punk Boy" (Helen Love cover) BTW, have I mentioned how much I want to make out with Ash? Oh yeah, I have.
Creme 21 "Traumfrau (Show Girl)" (German Auteurs cover) A leftover I forgot to include in my Brit-pop posts.
Bombones "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" (Cyndi Lauper cover) Because the Goonies 'R' good enough, dammit! Is that long-rumored sequel ever happening? 'Cause I'm in. Especially if they bring back Steve Antin. Heh. That's an inside joke I have with myself. So it's very inside.
A.P.P.L.E. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (Pete Seeger cover) I've never understood the long-standing "punks hate hippies" stereotype. I think the punks and hippies at my high school definitely hung out with each other. Punks and hippies have more in common with each other than they do with most people in America. A.P.P.L.E. seems to get this. Maybe.
James Eric "Sexyback" (Justin Timberlake cover) Sent to me a while back by reader Annie who heard it on 107.1 in New York. What's weird about this is that this Chicago-area James Eric character has been in my periphery for quite some time. I think he's actually from Northwest Indiana, as I reluctantly will admit that I am, and a journalist and photographer and performer. I think I stumbled on some article he wrote a few years back and he's blipped on my radar a few times since. He's one of those "I totally know who you're talking about and I'm surprised I've never met him" types. I know we have mutual friends (Jessica, maybe?) and acquaintances but have apparently never been in the same place at the same time. Perhaps he's the Bizarro version of me. You know, a guy motivated enough to record the music he writes/covers and has somehow managed to use his journalism degree to actually work in the field of journalism? Good for that guy.
Rita Eriksen "I Guess Things Happen that Way" (Johnny Cash cover) So a slew of Norwegian artists got together one night in an Oslo prison and recorded a Johnny Cash tribute concert and called the resulting recording We Walk the Line. I'm so moving to Scandinavia.
Timo Räisänen "Didn't We Almost Have it All" (Whitney Houston cover) Speaking of moving to Scandinavia, here is my new Swedish emo (Swemo?) boyfriend Timo Räisänen singing a classic song of love and loss. Sigh. He can even make me want to dance around like an idiot while hating myself for things my government has chosen to do. Not an easy feat to accomplish, to be sure.
The Czars "Where the Boys Are" (Connie Francis cover) I can't express how much I love this cover. An earnest, deep-voiced alt-country male vocal that doesn't change "boys" to "girls"? Sigh. I'm in love! From their all-cover tribute album, Sorry I Made You Cry.
Tiziano Ferro "Stop! Dimentica" (Kelly Osbourne cover) Perhaps not a true cover, but who can tell? See, Kelly Osbourne sang a song Linda Perry "wrote" that sounds just like Visage's "Fade to Grey." Eventually, this resulted in Perry agreeing to give Billy Currie, Christopher Payne and Midge Ure all the profits of the single. Or at least I think I read that somewhere. (Stereogum, maybe?) So, what happens when an Italian pop singer also "samples" Visage's "Fade to Grey" records a song that sounds almost identical (and with quite similar lyrics, if my Italian is even close to par) to Osbourne's "One Word" with a title that loosely translate to "Stop! You/he/she/it forget/s!"? I don't know, but here it is.
Ida "Little Sack of Sugar" (Woody Guthrie) Aw. I love Ida. Edit: More specifically, this is from Elizabeth Mitchell from Ida and comes from her children's album You Are My Flower.
Edward Furlong "People are Strange" (The Doors cover) One of the wrongest songs that exists.
1. MP3s on this blog are available for a short time and are here for sampling purposes only. My only goal is to share my love/hate relationship with cover songs and to turn readers on to artists of whom they might not have otherwise been aware. If you are the creator or copyright owner of a song or anything else that might be posted here, please CONTACT ME by sending an e-mail (see above) if you wish to have it removed.
2. PLEASE don't direct link to any individual tracks. If you like an artist you hear here (either the original artist or the one performing the cover), you should definitely do your best to take the knowledge you gain here and go out and BUY THEIR ALBUMS.
3. I very rarely, if ever, repost songs. If you missed something, I apologize, but I get lots of e-mails from people asking me to repost things. If I actually reposted all the tracks people wanted me to, I'd never get a chance to post anything new. That said, if there is A TRACK OR TWO you feel you desperately need, feel free to drop me a line at liza.copyright @ gmail.com (sans spaces) and I'll do my best to get it to you. But please keep in mind that it might not be instantaneous, as I get approximately 600 e-mails a week.
4. If you read my updates via an RSS feed aggregator or via a LiveJournal feed, there will be times when old posts will suddenly appear with non-working links, which happens as a result of my going back to an older entry to remove the links or to update or edit the post in any way. Again, I apologize if you missed these posts initially, but I cannot repost the songs. Lately I've been keeping songs up for two weeks to a month and I feel that should be plenty of time for you to get the songs. If you don't read your feeds often and regularly miss tracks, I suggest you bookmark the site and check it once a week or so.
5. I do not generally take requests nor do I guarantee that songs submitted to me will appear here. You're welcome to send me a track or two, but it might not hit the blog. Also, I get LOTS of e-mail so submissions sent via sites like YouSendIt or Dropload.com often expire by the time I get to them. Please attach your files to the actual e-mail if you want to ensure I get it. Similarly, I'd really appreciate it if those of you sending MP3s to my inbox would check to see whether or not I've already posted the tracks first. There is a search bar in the upper left corner of the site that should assist you in said endeavor. Granted, chances are good that even if I've not posted it, I already have it, but at least there's a chance I don't.
6. If you're looking for a few suggestions on beginning your own cover hunts, here is an old entry that might prove helpful.
7. If you are a member or agent of a band, please keep in mind that I ONLY POST COVER SONGS. Similarly, I do not "review" albums. I will most likely delete and ignore any communication from you that shows you do not understand this.
