Sunday, March 4th, 2012

"Heroes"

The Magnetic Fields cover David Bowie

image via Rateyourmusicrateyourmusic.comWith the release of their tenth album Love At The Bottom Of The Sea upon us this week, I figured that I should have a wealth of Magnetic Fields covers to choose from this week. After all, Stephin Merritt is one of the great pop songwriters of our day and he’s released no shortage of songs rich with melodic and lyrical gems that are ripe for reinterpretation. And no question, there are covers out there but not nearly as many as you’d expect – or I’d expect, at least – and most of the good ones, I think I’ve already posted. That there’s not been a good tribute album to Stephin Merritt’s many projects bewilders me.

So I figured if I was going to post something that’s gone up before, I may as well go with an especially good one – as I think this track from a 1996 David Bowie tribute entitled Crash Course For The Ravers is, remaining faithful to the greatness of the original whilst enfolding it completely within the Magnetic Fields aesthetic. And it last went up over four years ago, which I think puts it beyond any statute of limitations for repeat covers. So says I.

Love At The Bottom Of The Sea is out on Tuesday, March 6, and they are in town at The Sound Academy on March 30; Tiny Mix Tapes, Chronogam, and The Skinny have interviews with Stephin Merritt. All David Bowie has done this year is turn 65, but you can be sure that he did it awesomely.

MP3: The Magnetic Fields – “Heroes”
Video: David Bowie – “Heroes”

By : Frank Yang at 10:08 am
Category: Chromewaves Radio

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