All hands on the good ones.

Just a quick heads-up that Blog Soup is currently hosting a handful of live covers by Sleater-Kinney. You know you wanna!

A million lights are dancing and there you are.

Frente "Hounds of Love" (Kate Bush cover)
I was never a really big fan of Frente's covers of "Bizarre Love Triangle," probably because I grew completely sick of that song in the late '80s and because I found it too syrupy, but I really like this.

The Puppini Sisters "Wuthering Heights" (Kate Bush cover)
You knew it was just a matter of time before there were Andrews Sisters-style cover bands, didn't you? Quite adorable.

Negazione "I Think I See the Light" (Cat Stevens cover)
Not exactly the song I'd expect an Italian punk band to cover, but it works.

The Mekons "Alone and Forsaken" (Hank Williams cover)
I love this cover and thought of it last week while watching the 1964 film Your Cheatin' Heart starring George Hamilton as Hank Williams. While the casting confused me a bit and it was quite historically inaccurate, it was great to be reminded of how talented Williams truly was.

18th Dye "Trains and Boats and Planes" (comp. Burt Bacharach)
there was a time in the mid-1990s when I was obsessed with droning, fuzzy guitars and fell in love with German band's 18th Dye's Tribute to a Bus album. I just learned of this cover the other day and was ecstatic in the geekiest way, as I am also a huge Bacharach fan.

Angtoria "Confide In Me" (Kylie Minogue cover)
I'm not the biggest fan of orchestral metal, but I don't hate this. And this chick could totally kick Amy Lee's ass, an idea that appeals to me.

Javier Alvarez "Xanadu" (Olivia Newton-John/ELO cover)
A strange, slow doo-wop/R&B/electronic take on the ONJ/ELO classic, with which I've been obsessed the past few weeks. Thanks to unemployment and insomnia, I've been scouring YouTube for all thing ONJ and happily discovered the Making Xanadu documentary I remember seeing as a child on Channel 32. Heaven, I tell you:
    *Making Xanadu (Part 1)
    *Making Xanadu (Part 2)
    *Making Xanadu (Part 3)
    *Making Xanadu (Part 4)

    *Also on YouTube: Check out Abba, ONJ and Andy Gibb jamming out some Beach Boys songs. A kitsch orgasm, to be sure.

The Popdudes "Waterloo" (Abba cover)
Speaking of Abba, here's a cover by a power-pop supergroup sent in by reader Pete. I'd like it to be a little faster and poppier, but whatever.

And when you wake up it's a new mornin'—the sun is shinin' it's a new morning.

Big Heavy Stuff "Hyper-Ballad" (Bjork cover)
Pretty Australian cover #1.

Martin White "Army of Me" (Bjork cover)
Of course, I have to follow the nice, laid-back Bjork cover with a crazy accordion Bjork cover. You know how I roll.

Foo Fighters "Baker Street" (Gerry Rafferty cover)
When I was a kid, the sax solo from "Baker Street" was one of those earworms that I could never get out of my head. Even if I'd gone months or years without hearing the actual song, the solo would pop into my head on at least a weekly basis. Therefore, I grew to loathe the song. But my respect for soft '70s schmaltz has returned since then, and I can finally handle it.

The Brown U. Derbies "Karma Police" (Radiohead cover)
It's been a while since I've creeped myself (and others?) out with an a cappella track, so here's a new one. (For my inadequate description of my horror/fascination with a cappella, see this super-old post.)

Kasey Chambers "Better Be Home Soon" (Crowded House cover)
Pretty Australian cover #2.

Missy Higgins "Moses" (Patty Griffin cover)
Pretty Australian cover #3.

Luther Wright & the Wrongs "Is There Anybody Out There?" (Pink Floyd cover)
From the LW&TW's country/western/bluegrass/punk Rebuild the Wall album, which is exactly what the title infers: a song-for-song tribute to The Wall. Somebody had to do it, right? Right?

Susperia "The Sun Always Shines on TV" (A-Ha cover)
Most covers of this song—aka one of my favorite songs EVER—fall in either the Hi-NRG techno/trance genre or the Death Metal genre. I'm not sure what's up with that, but this cover is definitely part of the latter.

Emery "Holding Out for a Hero" (Bonnie Tyler cover)
Meh. I'm neither her nor there on soft emo punk covers in general, but I love the original a lot (I recently performed quite a rousing version of my own at karaoke) and this version didn't make me want to hurt anyone or anything.

Because I think some might be interested:

Three pages of KISS covers here.

Lots of Muppet albums available for download here.

The livin' is easy.

Apropos of nothing, I just wanted to say that I really screwed up by not trying out for the World Series of Pop Culture when tryouts were in town. Especially since, as of last week, I'm unemployed and could use the prize money. Whatever, right? Just gives me more time for random cover smatterings, yes?

Montefiori Cocktail "Sunny" (comp. Bobby Hebb)

Friends of Dean Martinez "Summertime" (comp. George Gershwin, from Porgy and Bess)

Claudine Longet "End of the World" (comp. Sylvia Dee/Arthur Kent, most popularly performed by the Carpenters)

Nina Persson (of The Cardigans) "The Bluest Eyes in Texas" (Restless Heart cover)

Richard Cheese "The Rockafellar Skank" (Fatboy Slim cover)

Area 7 "I Want to Break Free" (Queen cover)

Remember when you were young? You shone like the sun.

 

Syd Barrett's "Vegetable Man" as performed by:

Baby Robots (USA)

Bugo (Italy)

Enzima (Italy

Kech (Italy)

Les Little Searchers (France)

Kawabata Makoto (Japan)

Swedish Whistler (Sweden)

Larsen (Italy)

Mandog (Japan)

Tirlindana (Italy)