Covers in honour of Glastonbury

beyonce

OK folks…

this is not all Glasto-related, but unless you’ve been under a rock for the last six months, you will know that Beyonce is headlining Sunday night at Glastonbury this year.

There are people who think a pop act has no place at Glastonbury -they’re wrong. And three years ago, Mr. Beyonce, Jay-Z proved that he could blow the minds of the people at Glastonbury. I haven’t been in over a decade, but I enjoyed acts as diverse as Asian Dub Foundation, David Bowie, The Pet Shop Boys, Spearhead, Pulp, The Cure and Radiohead, to name but seven.

And if I was going this weekend, I’d be looking forward to Beyonce as much as Morrissey.

I hadn’t heard of Heike Has the Giggles until this morning, when their cover of Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’ appeared in my inbox:

Heike Has The Giggles – Crazy In Love (BeyoncĂ© cover) by Foolica Records

Download it here

Biffy Clyro -‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

Manic Street Preachers -‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

(Seriously, Glastonbury should get Rihanna one year)

The Streets -‘Your Song (Elton John cover).’ mp3

Carter USM -‘Rent (Pet Shop Boys cover).’ mp3

Sons & Daughters -‘Killer (Adamski/Seal cover).’ mp3

James -‘China Girl (David Bowie/Iggy Pop Cover).’ mp3

Kaiser Chiefs-‘Golden Skans (Klaxons cover).’ mp3

Katzenjammers -‘Cars (Gary Numan cover).’ mp3

Death Cab For Cutie -‘World Shut Your Mouth (Julian Cope cover).’ mp3

Susanna -‘Lay All Your Love On Me (Abba cover).’ mp3

Thank crunchie it’s Friday

crunchie

…does there have to be a reason? Just fancied posting some great covers, frankly.

New Age Steppers -‘Fade Away (Junior Byles cover).’ mp3

Schneider TM -‘The Light 3000 (The Smiths cover).’ mp3

Teenage Fanclub -‘Nothing To be Done (Pastels cover).’ mp3

X-Lion Tamer -‘Starsign (Teenage Fanclub cover).’ mp3

Biffy Clyro-‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

Cud -‘You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate cover).’ mp3

Voxtrot -‘Love Vigilantes (New Order cover).’mp3

Kaiser Chiefs -‘Golden Skans (Klaxons cover).’ mp3

The Streets -‘Your Song (Elton John cover).’ mp3

My Bloody Valentine -‘We Have All The Time In the World (Louis Armstrong cover).’ mp3

Enjoy!

x

Some covers for Sunday night

manic_street_preachers_narrowweb__300x3690

Yup, a quick fun post of cover versions…

First up, posted these before but two great and very different versions of one of the best songs of the decade:

Manic Street Preachers -‘Umbrella.’ mp3

Biffy Clyro -‘Umbrella.’ mp3

Meanwhile…I posted Voxtrot’s cover version of ‘Love Vigilantes’ by New Order a couple of weeks ago; here are two other takes:

Hungry Lucy -‘Love Vigilantes (New Order cover).’ mp3

Laura Cantrell -‘Love Vigilantes (New Order cover).’ mp3

And almost New Order…three takes on foreerunner Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by two different acts…

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra -‘Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover).’ mp3

Swans -‘Love Will Tear Us Apart (Jarboe vocal).’ mp3

Swans -‘Love Will Tear Us Apart (Gira vocal).’ mp3

Finally, let’s finish off with some Kate Bush covers…

Placebo -‘Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush cover).’ mp3

Swimmer One -‘Cloudbusting (Kate Bush cover).’ mp3

The Futureheads -‘The Hounds Of Love (Kate Bush cover).’ mp3

China Drum -‘Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush cover).’ mp3

One of my favourite cover versions at the moment is X-Lion Tamer’s take on ‘Tugboat’ by Galaxie 500, available from all good download stores now…

Album Review: Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro -‘Singles 2001-2005’ (Beggars Banquet)

Last year, Biffy Clyro’s fourth studio album Puzzle took them into the big-time with a higher profile than they had ever had before. Yet this collection of singles from their time with Beggars Banquet gives an excellent insight into their earlier days.

To read their Beggars Banquet website is to be reminded of already how long Biffy Clyro have been around and how they have gradually grown while many of those that they toured with half a decade ago have long since fallen away (wherefore art thou now Llama Farmers, Haven, Hell Is for Heroes?) I first saw them live in January 2002 at Edinburgh’s La Belle Angele (a fantastic venue that burnt down later that year), supporting the late but fantastic Cooper Temple Clause. Biffy were great that night, though I had barely heard their music at the time, so I couldn’t tell you what they played. But they made an impression; of the twelve tracks on here, I bought seven of them as 7″ singles (as well as the three albums Blackened Sky, The Vertigo Of Bliss, and Infinity Land, all of which I bought on vinyl, natch).

How to describe Biffy Clyro’s sound? Like they admitted themselves, they’d loved Nirvana and Weezer, but the band, who grew up in Ayr and Kilmarnock before relocating to Glasgow were more than derivative. Listening to this compilation, I also hear hints of Husker Du and Shellac. Not forgetting their homeland, echoes of Scots contemporaries like Mogwai, Idlewild and Aereogramme (R.I.P) can be heard here. Biffy also made use of varying tempos and volume in their song, the scots indie idea of ‘quietquietquietVERYBLOODYLOUDQUIETISAIDQUIETquietthat’sbetter,’ often packing many ideas into one song that some artists cannot do in the space of an entire album.

If you haven’t heard songs like ’57’ ‘Justboy’ and ‘Questions and Answers’ then you really need to. Whilst there has been much sniping at their old record company from fans, see this as an introduction to this era. A ‘Greatest Hits’ this is not, ‘mon the Biffy!’ shout their fans, and indeed they continue to rise.

****1/2

Singles 2001-2005 is out now on Beggars Banquet.

Biffy Clyro’s official website is here and their MySpace is here

Some more covers for you all

Well, I know these have been posted before, but I figure that you might like to hear these if you haven’t before…

First up, my support of Lightspeed Champion this year annoyed a few folks, but I stand by it, especially when he does covers as good as these…

Lightspeed Champion -Back To Black (Amy Winehouse cover).’ mp3

Lightspeed Champion -‘Xanadu (Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra cover).’ mp3

Endearingly shambolic, and a wonderful version:

Raincoats -‘Lola (The Kinks cover).’ mp3

I was passed this cover by the record company, proof that some record companies areaware of the support provided by blogs.

Alabama 3 -‘Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover).’ mp3

Another cover of a post-punk era song:

Belle and Sebastian -‘Final Day (Young Marble Giants cover).’ mp3

I spent ages trying to track this down. Cheers to Steve at Teenage Kicks, hope your blog is up and running again soon, mate!

Cud -‘You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate cover).’ mp3

Proof that great songs DO get to no.1, Rihanna’s Umbrella topped the UK charts last year for ten weeks, spawning these two covers. If anyone has an mp3 of her collaborating with the Klaxons doing a mash-up of ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Golden Skans’ please email me and I will post it here.

Biffy Clyro -‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

Manic Street Preachers -‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

The greatest ever Scots band take on one of America’s greatest bands, and do them justice.

Delgados -‘California Uber Alles (Dead Kennedys cover).’ mp3

There are apparently folk who do not like this cover. They are idiots. That is a fact, not an opinion:

Slits -‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine(Marvin Gaye cover).’ mp3

Yeah!

Finally feeling a little more upbeat this morning, if not drastically improved. If the image for yesterday’s post was a sunset (a reflection of my state of mind) then today’s is that of reaching towards the sun (more for Vitamin D than anything else, mind). The first track below may have helped.

Usher -‘Yeah.’ mp3

Seriously, I love much of the American R&B of this decade. I couldn’t get into the whole New Jack Swing stuff that I heard in the 90s (R.Kelly, Boys II Men, etc) but the impact of the Neptunes and Timbaland has created something that I am a total sucker for. This is a cover by Biffy Clyro of one of this year’s finest singles -‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna

Biffy Clyro -‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

And talking of covers, who is the king of the cover version? Mark Ronson or Jose Gonzalez? I like the Mark Ronson stuff I have heard this year -but Jose’s versions of these tracks really hit the spot:

Jose Gonzalez -‘Hand On Your Heart (Kylie Minogue cover).’ mp3

Jose Gonzalez -‘Teardrop (Massive Attack cover).’ mp3

These will be up for a week. Enjoy, and if you like the tracks concerned, support the artists.

See you soon…