Each week I'm posting a random or not-so-random cover song. Only the current week's track will be available but if you see a past one you'd like, contact me and we'll make arrangements.
If you are the copyright holder of the current track and wish it to be taken down please contact me to do so.
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
The Wedding Present covers The Monkees
rateyourmusic.comI had actually intended for some time to post this cover today, but the untimely passing of Davy Jones sadly made it all the more timely.
It was going to go up because the new Wedding Present album Valentina comes out this week and the band are in town to perform it at The Horseshoe next Sunday, March 25. And though they’ll be marking the 20th anniversary of Seamonsters by playing it in its entirety at that show, it actually came out in 1991. 1992 was the year of their Hit Parade singles series, which saw them release a new 7″ every month of the year, all of which entered the UK top 30 and each of which was b-sided by a cover. For May 1992, it was “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by The Monkees.
And yes, I know that Jones didn’t sing lead on the original version of the song – that was a Mickey Dolenz tune – but as the video below shows, he included it as part of his own solo shows and did a pretty good job of it. Rest in peace, Davy Jones.
MP3: The Wedding Present – “Pleasant Valley Sunday”
Video: The Monkees – “Pleasant Valley Sunday”
Video: The Davy Jones Band – “Pleasant Valley Sunday”
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
Fanfarlo covers The Smashing Pumpkins
iTunesBack in high school, like many others, I was a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. Siamese Dream was the jam. Played the cassette to death, eventually replaced it with a CD and if it were possible, the laser in my discman would have burned right through it. And yet, I didn’t take to Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness at all – too many reasons to get into here, but they’re probably the obvious ones. In fact, I think I listened to the whole thing maybe once, ever, and cherry-picked the songs I liked onto mix tapes before falling off of the Pumpkins bandwagon completely.
All of which is to say that I have no recollection of the existence of the song, “We Only Come Out At Night” whatsoever. It wasn’t a single, so it wouldn’t have been inescapable on MuchMusic and the radio and whatnot, and yet the jaunty little tune seems to have become enough of a favourite that it was the band’s encore closer around 2008 – maybe they even closed their V Fest 2007 appearance with it, I don’t know, I’d left by that point – and spawned countless amateur covers on YouTube. And also this one by Anglo-Swedish pop outfit Fanfarlo. They recorded it for a 2010 iTunes session and, while on paper the idea of a pop band such as they covering an ’90s-alt band such as the Pumpkins would seem irreconcilable, this one quite suits their sound. See above about “jaunty”.
Fanfarlo released their second album Rooms Filled With Light last week and will be in town at The Mod Club next Saturday – March 25 – as part of Canadian Musicfest. Smashing Pumpkins – that is to say Billy Corgan and whomever is playing with him at the moment – have been busy both releasing new music – Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is an ongoing 44-song series/album that’s being made available free to subscribers – and an album comprised of songs from that series entitled Oceania is supposed to be due out this Spring. Oh, and both Siamese Dream and Gish were reissued in fancy deluxe formats last year… I think I may have to get that Siamese Dream one. High school me would have loved it.
MP3: Fanfarlo – “We Only Come Out At Night”
Video: The Smashing Pumpkins – “We Only Come Out At Night” (live in New York – June 11, 2008)
Sunday, March 4th, 2012
The Magnetic Fields cover David Bowie
rateyourmusic.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”
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
Lambchop covers American Music Club
Rateyourmusic.comA lot of folks were surprised when Nashville’s Lambchop returned with their new record Mr. M last week. Not because it was great – that’s pretty much the baseline for anything that Kurt Wagner and cohort release – but that it happened at all, many assuming they’d quietly called it a day after 2008′s OH (Ohio).
But as surprise comebacks go, it doesn’t hold a candle to the return of San Francisco’s American Music Club, who against all expectation reformed in 2003 after a decade apart and with frontman Mark Eitzel having cultivated a relatively fruitful solo career. The AMC reunion yielded two very good albums – Love Songs For Patriots and The Golden Age and a goodly amount of touring before apparently being put back into mothballs. Alas.
In the midst of their first hiatus, American Music Club got what all revered yet underappreciated bands get and that’s a tribute album – Come On Beautiful: The Songs Of American Music Club collected a bevy of artists who may have been small names circa 2001, but would go on to much larger things – including Lambchop. Kurt Wagner, on the band’s artist page on the compilation website (still up!) talks about how he initially didn’t care for AMC but came around on them. And in the present day, he talks to The AV Club about Mr. M.
MP3: Lambchop – “Why Won’t You Stay”
Video: American Music Club – “Why Won’t You Stay” (live in Ireland, 2004)
Sunday, February 19th, 2012
Slow Club covers Chad VanGaalen
Frank YangUsually when it comes time to post one of these weekly covers – which would be every week – at least half of the equation is a famous or at least notable artist with a significant backstory to them. That that is not so much the case this week should not take anything away from either the coverer or coveree – I actually think it makes it more interesting. I mean, how often does an English band working their first album opt to record and release as a b-side a cover of an active, underground, eccentric Canadian singer-songwriter-animator? Probably exactly once.
And that was when Sheffield Slow Club released their “Giving Up On Love” single in Spring of 2010, taken from their debut Yeah So, recorded their take on a song from Chad VanGaalen’s 2008 album Soft Airplane. Pretty random, but also pretty charming. This recording isn’t the actual b-side – that’s more fully-produced sounding – but a live version recorded, as the note implies, in a hotel room somewhere. Also charming.
Slow Club are currently on tour in support of last year’s sophomore effort Paradise and are at The Rivoli in Toronto tonight. Chad VanGaalen released his latest album Diaper Island last Spring; as part of a Valentine’s Day feature, he told The National Post how he met his wife Sara.
MP3: Slow Club – “Willow Tree” (hotel room recording)
Video: Slow Club – “Willow Tree” (live at Hampton Court fairground, March 2010)
MP3: Chad VanGaalen – “Willow Tree”
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