Covers for Sunday

Walking The Dog - John Cale (originally by Rufus Thomas) This cover comes from Sabotage, which should have a place in every collection. It's one of the great live albums.

Run On - Elvis Presley (Traditional). The versions by Moby and Johnny Cash are probably the two most famous covers of this song. I only heard this version for the first time last week. This is the first Elvis song I've ever featured on the blog.

Running Up That Hill - Placebo (originally by Kate Bush). A nice dark, brooding cover, especially towards the end.

Johnny B. Goode - Judas Priest (originally by Chuck Berry). I'm sure you're sceptical about this, but it's a pretty decent cover, albeit in a cockrock sort of way.

I Wanna Be Your Dog - Uncle Tupelo (Originally by Iggy Pop & The Stooges). Before Son Volt and Wilco there was Uncle Tupelo. I didn't think a country cover of this song would work, but it does. It's not a patch on the original though.

Gentle On My Mind - R.E.M. (originally by John Hartford). This is another nice song, and normally I dislike it, but for some reason this version is just, well, nice to listen to.

Uncovered

The Christmas and New Year period always leaves me slightly disorientated. Too many days off work (well, not enough but you know what I mean( and it all starts to merge into one long weekend. So I've had this vague sort of nagging feeling that I'd missed a post or two here and that I have to go into work tomorrow. Thankfully neither is true. I'm on time with Uncovered and I can enj0oy another day off work tomorrow.

The Gun - John Cale

Do You Realize - The Flaming Lips

Ivory - Calico Horse

Bury This - Amy Millan

No Surprises (early live version) - Radiohead

Let's Dance To Joy Division - The Wombats

Merry Christmas

I am generally a pretty grumpy guy. This is balanced somewhat by the fact my wife is possibly the least grumpy person in the world. I do love Christmas though, with all its flaws. Except one. Christmas music. The sound of the same old (or in some cases new, yes I'm looking at you Peter Kay) retarded songs every year annoy me intensely. There's no need for it, there are plenty of good Christmas songs.

Here I present to you a collection of Christmas songs. They cover all sorts of genres; traditional, jazz, reggae, indie (I know that's not really a genre, rock and soul, old and new, as well as more traditional Christmas songs. I've tried to avoid repeating artists, although there are 3 Sufjan Stevens songs, and there is no repeating of songs by different artists.

Anyway, enjoy the Christmas songs, 100% Roy Wood and Noddy Holder free.

Merry Christmas.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today - Julian Casablancas

O Holy Night - Sufjan Stevens

Star Of Wonder - Sufjan Stevens

Did I Make You Cry On Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!) - Sufjan Stevens

Santa Claus - Lee Scratch Perry

The First Noel - Chet Baker

Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn - Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers

Father Christmas - The Kinks

Christmas In New Orleans - Louis Armstrong

Everything's Going To Be Cool This Christmas - Eels

My Favorite Christmas (In A Hundred Words Or Less) - Of Montreal

Silent Night - Sinéad O'Connor

Are You Coming Over for Christmas - Belle and Sebastian

Christmas Eve - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

White Christmas - Otis Redding

Covers for Sunday

Back to the normal format of Covers for Sunday this week.

It's a happy house here today. We've had a couple of days snow and have the first decent coverage of snow either of the kids can remember (they're 11 and 9). Hopefully we'll have a bit more snow and we can make a snowman tomorrow.

Even better, from my son's point of view, due to the snow his school has closed early so he's on holiday until next year now. He's very, very happy.

Anyway, here are the covers for this week.

My Sharona - Veruca Salt (originally by The Knack). A very laid back cover, very different from the original but still faithful to it. I know, that sounds like pretentious bollocks. Just listen to it and hear for yourself.

I'm Sticking With You - Moe Tucker featuring Jonathan Richman (originally by The Velvet Underground). I only recently came across this. There are a couple of different versions by The Velvet Underground, but I didn't know Mo Tucker had covered this in her solo career. The inclusion of Jonathan Richman is the icing on the cake.

A Change Is Gonna Come - Arcade Fire (originally by Sam Cooke). I was skeptical when I first listened to this. The original (and the Otis Redding cover) is such a great tune, and Cooke has such a superb voice I didn't think they'd be able to do it justice. I was very wrong.

Free Man In Paris - Sufjan Stevens (originally by Joni Mitchell). Truth be told I'm not really a fan of Joni Mitchell. This is one of a few covers of hers that I like, so I'm not really sure why I don't like the originals.

Umbrella - John West (originally by Rihanna). I thought I'd posted this before, but checking back I haven't. I absolutely detest the original but this cover is pretty decent, especially the cello.

Everybody's Going To Be Happy - Queens Of The Stone Age (originally by The Kinks). If you're a regular reader you'll know how highly I rate The Kinks. You'll also know that covers of The Kinks feature fairly often. Here's another excellent one.

Montréal Déchainée

Looking through the songs on my hard drive I noticed how many songs there were by artists connected with Montreal. Either artists that are based in/are from Montreal or artists that used to be. The second thing I noticed is that they are all English language bands.

So here's a sample. If you've read the blog before you'll probably have seen at least some of these bands before. I'm pretty sure none if these songs have been posted before. If they have, sorry. At some point I will do a post with some French speaking music from Montreal.

(In case you're wondering the title means Montreal unleashed. Don't be fooled though, I don't speak French.)


Won't Bring You Back - The Spaceshits

Spinning Ceiling - Mark Sultan

Welfare Bread - King Khan & The Shrines

In The Radio's Hot Sun - Handsome Furs

I Was Born A Unicorn - The Unicorns

I Feel Evil (Creeping In) - Islands

Lenin - Arcade Fire

Perfect Fit - Apostle Of Hustle

Tired of Talking - Jason Bajada

Language City - Wolf Parade

Feedback In The Field - Plants and Animals

Retour A Vega - The Stills

Covers for Sunday

Covers for Sunday is somewhat strange. It features covers old and new yet it never features really famous covers. Covers so famous that when you here the name of the track you think of the cover before the original. I realise that this is different for everybody. While I may think of Hendrix's cover when I hear the name All Along The Watchtower other may well think of the original by Bob Dylan. None of this means I'm trying to say the cover is better than the original though.

So this week, and at another couple of times in the future, I'm going to feature songs that when I here the song title I think of the original first.

I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down by Ann Peebles (This is in fact originally by Ann Peebles. I had always thought it was, but a few years ago I was informed it was in fact originally sung by Paul Young. I assumed that was true and posted it here on that basis. But I was reading about Ann Peebles again today and noticed that she was the first artist to release this and Paul Young's cover was released 12 years later in 1985. But it is far too good a song to remove so cover or not it stays).
I first heard of Ann Peebles in the book High Fidelity. I bought a best of, all the A and B sides from her singles released on the Hi Records label. I normally don't like buying best of albums, especially when it's the first album I own of someone but there was no alternative. The only albums I could find where best of ones. Anyway. I bought it, listened to it and fell in love with the voice. She has the perfect soul voice. It wasn't until a few years later I found out that this was originally by Paul Young. That was a rare occasion I was proud of my ignorance.

David Watts by The Jam (originally by The Kinks). This came from a best of as well, the first album by The Jam I owned, it was a present given to me just after I'd sat my GCSE's. I found out from obsessively reading the liner notes (I was 16) that this was written by Ray Davis. Because I'd be raised properly (thanks dad) I knew Ray Davies was from The Kinks. I like the cover and original pretty much equally but this is the one that comes to mind first.

All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix (originally by Bob Dylan). There's not much to say about this. One well known and respected artist covers another well known and respected artist. They're both huge, huge stars. This may be the most famous cover ever.

American Woman - Lenny Kravitz (originally by The Guess Who). I'm not a huge fan of Lenny Kravitz, but I don't hate him the way some of my friends do. I don't know why they do, he's not the greatest musician in the world but he has some good stuff. This is one of them. I always thought this was a cover of a Simon & Garfunkel song, so I guess that's another reason the cover comes to mind before the original. Also, The Butthole Surfers cover of this is excellent.

Mrs Robinson - The Lemonheads. I first heard this on a late night TV programme called The Word. Not long afterwards my brother bought the album this is on, It's A Shame About Ray, and I liberated and taped it.

Killing Me Softly - The Fugees (Roberta Flack). The Fugees were huge when I was at college and, sadly, nobody had heard of Roberta Flack. The Fugees disintegrated after one album and haven't really had the solo careers that were expected of them. Still, this is one of my favourite ever covers and it seems fitting to enjoy the post here.

Enjoy the songs, we're back to a more 'normal' Covers for Sunday next week.

Uncovered on Saturday

I've decided to stop the live track posts for a while, or maybe permanently. It's not been as enjoyable lately, and having three series that need posting on the weekend isn't always practical. So instead we'll have Uncovered on Friday or Saturday (but I guess mostly Friday) and Covers on Sunday. I'm gonna try and make more 'random' non-series posts and, sometime soon, start a Wednesday series. More details to come on that, hopefully soon.

Anyway, the uncovered tracks.

Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. This was a hard song to choose. Johnny Cash recorded for nearly 50 years. I was undecided, should I post one of his more famous songs or one of my personal favourites? Maybe a more obscure song, so there'd be more chance of people finding something they hadn't heard before. However I couldn't get past Folsom Prison Blues. Possibly my favourite Johnny Cash song and certainly one of his most well known, when there's an opportunity to post a song this good it's hard to turn down.

Fatalist Palmistry by Why? My first choice for Why? was These Few Presidents, but checking back I see I've posted it before. Which left a bit of a conundrum. These Few Presidents is far and away my favourite Why? song but I don't really have a second favourite, except perhaps the cover of Close To Me which I posted back in July. That's not to say I don't like this song, I do. There are just a bunch of really good songs and I found it hard to choose a particular favourite. So this was chosen basically at random. I'm sure you'll enjoy it anyway.

Better Together by Jack Johnson. It's such a nice song, and he seems such a nice guy but really this isn't my cup of tea at all. It's the sort of thing my wife will occasionally listen to and I'm happy to listen to it with her.

Housewife by Jay Brannan. Outside of his cover of Zombie I didn't really know much about Jay Brannan. I listened to some more of his music to prepare for this post and I'm still not sure. I like this, but I'm not sure if I'll remember it in a week or so. Perhaps so. Anyway, the cello in this is well worth listening to.

Boy With A Coin by Iron and Wine. The thing I like most in this is the handclap style percussion. It fits perfectly with the song. I can't think of anything else to say except I think this song is really, really good.

Sax Rohmer #1 by The Mountain Goats. Another difficult choice because so much of The Mountain Goats stuff is so good. I'll be doing a post on them soon, so all you disbelievers can be converted then.

Enjoy the tracks.

Just some songs

that I've been listening to recently. There's no particular thread to connect them.

Dimmer - Bishop Allen. This is one of those songs that gets stuck in my head for days at a time. It's strange because I think the rest of the album, Grrr, is pretty dull.

I Wanna - Matt & Kim. I've previously mentioned that I like bands with two members, this is another example of that.

Set Me Free - The Kinks. I don't think there needs to be a reason for listening to The Kinks, so I'm not going to give you one.

Does This Mean You're Moving On - The Airborne Toxic Event. I kinda feel that this is a song that I like even though I shouldn't.

The Guns of Brixton - The Clash. This is the perfect punk reggae song for me.

Where It's At - Beck. Random trivia. The video for this was the first video shown on MTV2.

That's it, enjoy the tracks.

Covers for Sunday

I know it's late, sorry about that. I'd love to stay and chat but I'll be late for work if I do. So just enjoy the covers.

Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye by The Lemonheads feat. Liv Tyler (originally by Leonard Cohen)

Modern World by Britt Daniel (originally by Wolf Parade)

Boys Don't Cry by Grant Lee Phillips (originally by The Cure)

Mr. Grieves by TV on the Radio (originally by The Pixies)

Do You Realize by Beck (originally by Flaming Lips)

Twenty Four Hours by The Twilight Sad (originally by Joy Division)

Uncovered for Friday...on Saturday

There was a full post with these songs, but then blogger ate it and I can't bring myself to type it again. So just assume it was utterly brilliant and we'll all be happy. There's no Live and let live this week, but it'll be back next Saturday, Covers for Sunday will be here as normal tomorrow and, time permitting, I'll get a couple of midweek posts done.


Rules & Regulations - Rufus Wainwright
Second Lover - Noah and the Whale
An End Has A Start - The Editors
Hello Cruel World - E
I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie
Cousins - Vampire Weekend. Love this, perfect pop.

Covers for Sunday...well Friday

Here's the long awaited double edition covers post. Well, maybe not long awaited. I only mentioned it yesterday after all. But nevermind. To make up for being late with these last few posts this is going to be a double edition. 6 artists, 2 tracks of each.

The Arctic Monkeys. Alex Turner has a really distinctive voice and I don't think it always works well with covers. On these two covers I think it fits really well, especially on Red Right Hand despite it being so different from Nick Cave's.
The Lovers, originally by Rod McKuen.
Red Right Hand, originally by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

The Sarcastic Dharma Society. I've featured the cover of Our House before, which went down really well. So I was surprised that the song I posted a week or so ago, The End, has had so few downloads. I guess I didn't talk enough about how really fantastic the song was. To make up for that The Sarcastic Dharma Society are featured today.
Simeon's Dilemma, originally by Why?
Bad Bad Things, originally by Andrew Jackson Jihad.

She & Him. I've mentioned a few times I'm a fan of M. Ward and that extends to She & Him. Two very understated, almost simple, covers.
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, originally by The Smiths
You Really Got A Hold On Me, originally by William Robinson Jr.

The Morning Benders. I've featured them here before, covering the Velvet's Temptation Inside Your Heart and Roy Orbison's Crying. The first song is a Kinks cover, and I try and include Kinks covers whenever I can. The Fleetwood Mac cover does the trick of taking a song I dislike by a band I dislike and make it into something I really enjoy. For me that's the mark of a good cover.
Nothin' In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl, originally by The Kinks
Dreams, originally by Fleetwood Mac.

Spoon. A band often featured with Kinks covers, this time I decided to put up some of there other covers, of which there are plenty. To give you an idea of the range of songs these guys cover I've chosen one by Sam Cooke and one by Destroyer, two acts totally different from each other and pretty different from The Kinks as well.
Bring It On Home To Me, originally by Sam Cooke
It's Gonna Take An Airplane, originally by Destroyer

The Bad Plus. I thought I'd featured more of there tracks than I actually have. If nothing else this post is a good opportunity to put that right.
Smells Like Teen Spirit, originally by Nirvana. Download it and play it a few times, you'll love it. Trust me.
Comfortably Numb, originally by Pink Floyd. This features Wendy Lewis and Ethan Iverson on vocals. The bass work in this is astounding, it's easily one of the best covers I've ever heard. It re-interprets the original, gives it more layers and depth but never totally strays away from the original.

Live and let live

Well, so much for having this and the cover post up for Tuesday. Never mind this is, obviously, up now and the covers post will be tomorrow. As a sort of apology for keeping you all waiting I'll make it a double post, so there'll be 12 covers instead of the usual 6.

But that's for tomorrow. First, here are your six live tracks.

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd, live at Live 8. Easily one of my favourite live performances the live set by Pink Floyd was immense. It's a shame Live 8 was spoiled by ending it with Robbie Williams.

Someday - The Strokes, live on Conan O'Brien. Not literally on Conan O'Brien of course. I've posted this to celebrate their upcoming headline slot at the Isle of Wight festival.

Lump - Presidents of the United States. One of my favourite bands at college recorded a Daytrotter session in 2007, which this track comes from.

Petrol - Ash. Suprisingly, to me at least, Ash's cover of Does Your Mother Know is one of the most popular songs I've hosted on this blog. Hopefully you'll enjoy this just as much.

Living With You Now - Aidan Moffat & The Best-Ofs, live at The ABC in Glasgow. AKA What the lead singer from Arab Strap did next. On the off chance you haven't heard Arab Strap, or think it's just an amusing Belle & Sebastian album title, shame on you.

Going Up To The Country And Paint My Mailbox Blue - Taj Mahal. I've been a fan of blues music since I was 17, but this is the first blues track I've posted on this blog. Shame on me.

See you tomorrow for the double covers post.