The Wire magazine remains the greatest print music magazine out there as far as I’m concerned, doing the job that lesser magazines can only dream of.

This month’s issue features someone I hadn’t come across before on the cover (see, when was the last time you could say that about Q or Mojo or NME? Exactly), a german artist by the name of Felix Kubin. I’m about to begin investigating his back catalogue but as I do, I have to share with you the bizarre and wonderful cover he did of Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello.’

Now I don’t know about you but I find the original turgid and bland, and the video bordering on the crass. But by the simple expedient of changing ‘you’ to ‘I’ in the song it becomes an excellent idea song about alienation. And musically it makes the Schneider TM’s take on The Smiths ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ seem tame by comparison…

see what you think:

Felix Kubin -‘Hello (Lionel Richie cover).’ mp3