Some covers for Friday

crunchie

OK, just what it says on the tin.

Badly Drawn Boy -‘Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen cover).’ mp3

Bruce Springsteen -‘Dream Baby Dream (Suicide cover).’ mp3

Lemonheads -‘Different Drum (Michael Nesmith cover).’ mp3

Franz Ferdinand -‘Womanizer (Britney Spears cover).’ mp3

Wedding Present -‘Back For Good (Take That cover).’ mp3

Pop Will Eat Itself -‘Love Missile F1-11 (Sigue Sigue Sputnik cover).’ mp3

Joy Zipper -‘Wave Of Mutilation (Pixies cover).’ mp3

Killers -‘Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself? (Morrissey cover).’ mp3

…and two covers by the Ukrainians of Smiths songs. but which ones…

Ukrainians-‘Batyar.’ mp3

Ukrainians -‘ Koroleva ne polerma.’ mp3

Some covers for Friday

crunchie

Just what it says on the tin, folks. The plan is to get into doing these on a more regular basis, so I’m going to kick off with these:

Jesus and Mary Chain -‘Vegetable Man (Syd Barrett cover).’ mp3

Pop Will Eat Itself -‘Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel cover).’ mp3

Motorcycle Boy -‘His Latest Flame (Elvis cover).’ mp3

Ash -‘Does Your mother Know? (Abba cover).’ mp3

Buffalo Tom -‘Going Underground (The Jam cover).’ mp3

Now, these aren’t mp3s but I thought they might appeal…

Back in 1993, Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream was my favourite album of the year. The Big Pink recorded a version of it for the BBC just before Christmas which you can stream here:

The Big Pink – Mayonaise (The Smashing Pumpkins Cover) by ErnestimesBlog

I have been slowly won round to Lana Del Rey. Not because of the fact that I had a problem with the way that she looks, but more to do with the excessive hype, and yet ‘Video Games’ and other tracks have won me round. This is a version by a band called Silver Swans, who do an excellent take on it.

Over the last few days, I have become increasingly obsessed with Belgian-Australian artist Gotye (pronounced like Gautier) whose track ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ looks like it might be a huge hit. I hope so. This is a version by a band called Walk Off The Earth.

Walk off the Earth – Somebody that i used to know (Gotye Cover) by Arygo

There’s numerous covers of songs by Frightened Rabbit around, but this is a version of a Frabbits song, as perfomred by John Stotz. The song is originally from their second album The Midnight Organ Fight.

Another track from my inbox, this is a Steely Dan song, performed by The Darcys:

The Darcys – Josie by Arts & Crafts

Some Covers For Sunday I

Well, yesterday’s covers post seemed to have been a hit and I thought I’d repost some tracks I’d been asked to, as well as a few I haven’t posted here before.

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

Jeff Buckley -‘Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover).’ mp3

Breeders -‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun (The Beatles cover).’ mp3

CSS – ‘One Way Or Another (Blondie cover).’ mp3

Pop Will Eat Itself -‘Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel cover).’ mp3

Sia -‘I Go To Sleep (The Kinks cover).’ mp3

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

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

Schneider TM -‘The Light 3000 (cover of The Smiths There Is A Light That Never Goes Out).’ mp3

This Mortal Coil -‘Song To the Siren (Tim Buckley cover).’ mp3

For what it’s worth, I genuinely hold The Slits, Schneider TM, The Raincoats, This Mortal Coil and Jeff Buckley to be amongst the finest cover versions ever done. In the unlikely event of any list of best ever cover versions NOT including these, I think I would have to have a word. They reinvent the songs concerned, and that’s what a cover version should do.

Some Covers For Friday Part III

Hey, it’s Friday, it’s been a good week, and I’m in the mood for sharing so here are some fantastic covers for you all.

First up, I heard Camera Obscura doing this live earlier this year, and it blew me away. They really DO make this their own song.

Camera Obscura -‘Super Trooper (Abba cover).’ mp3

Electric Light Orchestra are one of those bands that seem to be considered beyond naff, and yet…there’s something quite nice about their songs in small doses. Or in this case, in the hands of the much-missed Delgados (RIP).

The Delgados -‘Mr. Blue Sky (ELO cover).’ mp3

I know very little about this cover, exvcept that The archies were a TV show before I was born, and this was no.1 back in about 1969 -but it’s kinda cool, and I’d love to know where I can hear Mary Lou Lord’s cover of the Bevis Frond’s Lights Are Changing, too.

Mary Lou Lord -‘Sugar Sugar [from the Archies].’ mp3

You get to hear a lot of music when you write a blog. You also get the chance to hear a lot of stuff that you’ve been searching for for ages. These two songs were things I had put out pleas for-and ended up in my inbox extremely quickly. Thanks. These were originally recorded for an album for Northern Ireland called ‘Peace Together’ when the province was a lot more troubled. I love the Peter Gabriel original and also really like Pop Will Eat Itself’s take on it (Gabriel’s stuff with Genesis was mince though). While I quite like a lot of the Police’s stuff (though their solo stuff leaves much to be desired in a certain case, Mr. Sumner) I was never a big fan of this song, until I heard Therapy? do it.

Pop Will Eat Itself -‘Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel cover).’ mp3

Therapy? -‘Invisible Sun (The Police cover).’ mp3

There are some great Arcade Fire covers dowing the rounds, I posted their version of Guns Of Brixton earlier this year. This is their take on Bowie’s Five Years.

Arcade Fire -‘Five Years (David Bowie cover).’ mp3

Morrissey was quite passionate about many bands over the years, and famously covered Suede’s early b-side ‘My Insatiable One’ (again, if you know where I can get hold of this, please get in touch) before most people had even heard of Suede. He also bigged up James years before they broke big (although it’s long been rumoured that ‘We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful’ was a dig at them). This song -the b-sde to his ‘Pregnant For The Last Time’ single -was a cover of a Bradford song.

Morrissey -‘Skin Storm (Bradford cover).’ mp3

Speaking of seeking out covers…I’d made a plea for this earlier this week and got this, plus another Tori cover into the bargain..

Tori Amos -‘Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover).’ mp3

Tori Amos -‘Happpiness Is A Warm Gun (The Beatles cover).’ mp3

Finally. This song (and if I really, really need to spell it out it’s ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’) is possibly my very favourite cover version ever. I’ve no idea what Morrissey -or indeed any of The Smiths think of it – but it’s fab in my eyes (or should that be ears?)

Schneider TM -‘The Light 3000.’ mp3

As always, if you like what you hear, please go and seek it out (it should go without saying that I do not hold the copyright and these are here for sampling only) by supporting the artists involved, preferably through your local record shop!