Covers for Sunday - The Velvet Underground edition

Before we begin there's a chance that you're not that familiar with The Velvet Underground. Maybe you've heard of them or you've heard Lou Reed's solo work or you have their first album or maybe even you're aware of them because I posted something by Mo Tucker last week. Maybe you don't know that this blog takes it's name from a Velvet Underground lyric. anyway. Back when this blog was new I did three posts about The Velvet Underground which I think serve a pretty decent introduction to them and to their music. So go and check them out:

The Velvet Underground part 1
The Velvet Underground part 2
The Velvet Underground part 3



I knew it'd be easier to do this than The Strokes' version from last week, but I wasn't really prepared for how many covers of The Velvet Underground I'd be able to find. I've been working on this through the week so it's only really now as I'm just about to post it that I realise just how many covers I've acumulated. There's got to be several somethings here for everyone, the covers range from heavy rock and metal to poppy, from huge bands to cult bands to bands that almost no-one has heard of. The influence of The Velvet Underground is immense, of course it goes far beyond just the covers but I think this is a really good snapshot of how they have and still do influence music.



So let's start with covers that I've featured before. There arn't many, which I find odd because they are my favourite band. anyway, there may only be four covers but each one of them is a slice of great music.

I'm Sticking with You - Mo Tucker and Jonathan Richman. On the original version Mo Tucker shares the vocals with Lou Reed. This time around she duets with Jonathan Richman, fan of The Velvet Underground, writer of a song called Velvet Underground (as well as Road Runner) and one of my favourite artists. You can hear his tribute song "Velvet Underground" here.

Temptation Inside Your Heart - The Morning Benders. A brilliant cover of a lesser known Velvet Underground song.

Candy Says - Anthony and the Johnsons. Anthony's voice is so haunting, it really suits this song.

Waiting For The Man - Belle and Sebastian. A nice, fun romp through the song, I have no idea who the vocalist is.



Now, onto the new covers. I've tried to get a good mix of songs, so it's not all the well known songs and there aren't dozens of covers of Sweet Jane. Of course some songs are covered more than others so there are a few versions of Venus In Furs, Femme Fatale & After Hours as well as Sweet Jane. But there's also covers of Foggy Notion and She's My Best Friend. All of Beck's Record Club covers are here as well at the end of the post.

As I've said there are lots of really well known musicians featured here, a quick list is The White Stripes, Joy Division, Of Montreal, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith, Alex Chilton and Y La Tengo, Edwyn Collins & Paul Quinn, Jeff Buckley, Teenage Fanclub, The Black Crowes, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, My Morning Jacket, Thom Yorke, The Decemberists, Nirvana, David Bowie, REM and Billy Corgan. There are plenty of lesser known bands as well, but I've listed those to give you an idea of the variety of music contained in the covers below. That's enough from me, enjoy the music:

After Hours (live) - The White Stripes. Vocals, somewhat nervous, from Meg White.

Femme Fatale (live) - Alex Chilton & Yo La Tengo. Alex Chilton covering The Velvets, it doesn't get much better than that.

Sister Ray - Joy Division. Although, maybe this is better.

All Tomorrow's Parties (live radio session) - Jeff Buckley

Candy Says - Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man

Sunday Morning - Clinker

Foggy Notion - Ted Kedylon. Covered on the ukulele, this is lovely.

Venus In Furs - John Cale. Normally I don't like doing this sort of thing. But I allowed myself to use this as a cover because John Cale didn't sing the original recording so it's different enough to qualify as a cover and because it's really, really good. So good in fact here's the video:



Venus In Furs - Krieg

She's My Best Friend - Of Montreal

Pale Blue Eyes - Edwyn Collins & Paul Quinn

We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together - Patti Smith

After Hours - Red Hot Chili Peppers

New Age - Ride

Sunday Morning - Strawberry Switchblade

Sister Ray - Suicide

Femme Fatale - Teenage Fanclub

What Goes On - The Attic Boys

Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - The Black Crowes

What Goes On - The Feelies

Rock and Roll - The Psychedelic Rake

Heroin - High Delta

Who Loves The Sun (live acoustic session) - Kasabian

Venus In Furs - DeVotchKa

What Goes On - Ted Leo

Foggy Notion - Psychic TV

Here She Comes Now - Nirvana

I'm Set Free - Thom Yorke and Beck

Waiting For The Man - David Bowie feat Lou Reed. I thought as I've got a cover with John Cale and one with Mo Tucker it'd be only fair to have one with Lour Reed as well. Nothing with Stirling Morrison though, sorry.

Stephanie Says - Lady and Bird

Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies. You'll probably have heard this from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. This is one of my personal favourites in terms of Velvet Underground covers.

All Tomorrow's Parties - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Proving once again that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds can make anything sound sinister and brilliant at the same time.

All Tomorrow’s Parties - Calexico and Iron & Wine. Exactly as gorgeous as you'd think.

Stephanie Says - Emiliana Torrini

Sweet Jane - Low Sea

Pale Blue Eyes (live) - REM. There's about a minute of this before the actual song starts, but it's well worth the wait.

There She Goes Again - REM. This is from Dead Letter Office which is a b-sides and rarities REM compilation which I bought exactly one year before I bought The Velvet Underground & Nico]

Femme Fatale - Elisa. This isn't the greatest cover, but there's some really interesting steel drum sounds in it which make it worth listening to. I've included this as an example as just how much The Velvet Underground's influence different types of musicians.

Pale Blue Eyes - Hole

I'm Set Free - The Kills

I Heard Her Call My Name - The Dirtbombs

Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - My Morning Jacket

Sweet Jane and Beast Of Burden - The Kooks

I Can't Stand It - The Laureates

Venus In Furs - The Kills

Candy Says - Kathryn Williams

Lady Godiva's Operation - Fatima Mansions

I'm Sticking With You - The Decembrists

What Goes On - The Decembrists

I Found A Reason - Cat Power

Run Run Run - Capsula

Femme Fatale (live 31st August 2009) - Billy Corgan with Spirits In The Sky

Who Loves The Sun - Hafdis Huld

White Light, White Heat - David Bowie

White Light, White Heat (BBC Session version) - David Bowie

I promised you Beck's Record Club covers and here they are:

Sunday Morning
I'm Waiting for the Man
Femme Fatale
Venus in Furs
Run Run Run
All Tomorrow's Parties
Heroin
Heroin (alternative take) This feature vocals by Beck, both versions are great.
There She Goes Again
I'll Be Your Mirror
The Black Angel's Death Song
European Son

Uncovered on Saturday

Uncovered on Saturday is like the less attractive sibling of Covers on Sunday. It gets less visitors, less comments and e-mails and is generally less popular. One of the best things about Uncovered is that it can throw up some really random combinations of artists and songs. Because an artist can only ever be featured once on Uncovered it's not uncommon that the artists of two or even three Covers for Sunday posts are brought together. And of course you have bands I'd never ever normally feature, like last week's Judas Priest and Placebo, and that makes things more interesting. For me anyway, and I guess for the people that read this. Judas Priest were the second most popular of last weeks tracks so it seems plenty of you liked the song. Placebo's song was the least popular track I've ever posted here. Works all ways I guess. Anyway, the point of this intro is that I feel this week there's an exceptionally eclectic mix of music, it's the sort of week that really shows the worth of Uncovered on Saturday.

A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley. It's hard to choose an Elvis song just because there are so many of them. But I went for this because the JXL remix of this got to Number One of the back of a Nike advertising campaign for the 2002 World Cup. This is the original Elvis version and very good it is too.

Sliver - Nirvana. Originally released without being part of an album it was later included on the compilation Insecticide. Yet it's still one of the most well known Nirvana tracks, very easily recognisable.

Getting Better - The Beatles. The same problem with The Beatles as with Elvis, there are just so many songs to choose from. In the end I chose this because it's not massively well known, although it's certainly not ultra-obscure, and I wanted something that not everyone had already heard over and over again.

Kinky Afro - Happy Mondays. Just the best Happy Mondays song ever.

Hateful - The Clash. London's Calling is a great album and this is my favourite song from it, it almost makes me smile.

Past Mistake (live session version) - Tricky. I think because Maxinquaye is so good and it set expectations for subsequent albums it's far too easy to consider Tricky's non-Maxinquaye output as disappointing and that's just absurd. He may not have done anything like Maxinquaye since but he's still produced plenty of great music.

On Shuffle

I haven't been doing much blogging this week. That's because most of the time that I normally use to blog has been put aside for my search for Velvet Underground covers. So just to let you all know I'm still around and not neglecting you totally here's some music for you.

I Will Always Be Beat Down - John Frusciante. From the self-released download only album From The Sounds Inside. Today this is my favourite Frusciante track, today it'll probably be different. His solo work is very varied, not just from his playing for the Red Hot Chili Peppers but from album to album his music is very versatile and well worth investigating.

Theologians (live) - Jeff Tweedy. One of my favourite Wilco tracks, done her with just vocals and an acoustic guitar. I like this song so much that I can even forgive it for misrepresenting what theology is about.

Norway - Beach House. You've probably already heard this but if you haven't take the time to listen to it now. Gorgeous, ambient, indie pop, very listenable too. Which isn't the same as Easy Listening.

That's it, see you tomorrow.

Live - Defiance, Ohio

I featured The List by Defiance, Ohio and because it was pretty popular and because I think more people should listen to them I decided to post some more of their music for you to here.

And because I'm far too good to you/I couldn't choose here are two live tracks.

First here's Condition 11:11:

Condition 11:11 (mp3) - Defiance, Ohio (live at The Fest VI)



and next is Hair Pool:

Hair Pool (mp3) - Defiance, Ohio (Pink Couch Session)



I hope you'll enjoy them both.

On Shuffle

It's very late and I have to be up very early so it's pretty much just the music tonight.

National Anthem (live in Tokyo) - Radiohead. A great live version of a great song.

Todas las cosas se van - Reid Anderson. You've already heard Reid Anderson here as part of tthe Bad Plus. This is some of his other work, different but still very, very good.

Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr. An absolute classic, one of my earliest favourite songs when I started really getting into music. I came across Dinosaur Jr because I was lucky enough to have a brother 9 years older than me with great taste in music. Except for his Kids from Fame tapes, what were they about?

Covers for Sunday

Last weeks Covers for Sunday when I focused exclusively on covers by The Strokes and covers of The Strokes songs went down really well, but this week we're back to the normal format.

I will do more Covers for Sunday focusing on one band, but I'll probably limit it to once a month after next week. Next Sunday will see Covers for Sunday based entirely on The Velvet Underground. Until then here are your covers for this week to tide you over.

True Colors by Leatherface (originally by Cyndi Lauper). Another punk cover of Cyndi Lauper, this time from one of England's great under-appreciated punk bands.




New Pony by The Dead Weather (originally by Bob Dylan). Different from any other cover of Bob Dylan by a Jack White band you've ever heard.

Kennel District by Broken Social Scene (originally by Pavement). I've only recently gotten into Pavement, I didn't like them much first time around but now I see the error of my ways. I wasn't that keen on Broken Social Scene either, but on the basis of this cover I'm giving them another try.

A Change Is Gonna Come by Ben Sollee (originally by Sam Cooke). This makes me wonder, how far can a song change before it's no longer a cover and is just a different song with quite a few similarities. I think, obviously, this one stays on the right side of the line to still be a cover.

Manic Monday by Ephemera (originally by The Bangles). Pretty much exactly how you'd expect it to sound. Good if not spectacular, a nice low-key cover, well worth a listen.

The End by Nirvana (originally by The Doors). I chose this, and every other song for this weeks covers, early this morning, uploaded it to mediafire and went off to watch the football. Now when I come to publish it I see it's on music induced euphoria's Sunday Morning Covers. I just thought I'd share that coincidence with you.

Uncovered on Sunday

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - The Arcade Fire. The first track from their first album, Funeral. I know it's unlikely that anyone reading this hasn't got this album but if you haven't listen to this. The rest of the album is just as good, a really consistently good album, you should buy it immediately.

Work - Mo Tucker. From the album Life In Exile After Abdication. That's such a great album name for an ex-member of The Velvet Underground. It's a shame that Mo Tucker's solo work is so over-looked. Of course it's hard to make something when you'll be compared to Lou Reed and John Cale's solo work as well as The Velvet Underground. But it is a shame because her first three solo albums (Playin' Possum, Life in Exile After Abdication and I Spent a Week There the Other Night) are all pretty much essential purchases.

Seether - Veruca Salt. The first single released by Veruca Salt, it was a pretty big hit at the time in the US, but didn't really trouble the charts in the UK. John Peel was a pretty big fan of it though and if it's good enough for him it's good enough for me and for you.

Chickamauga - Uncle Tupelo. From Uncle Tupelo's last album, Anodyne. If you've never really listened to Uncle Tupelo you're probably expecting this to be an alt-country song. Not at all, it's a pure rock song and a very good one.

Living After Midnight - Judas Priest. So, one of my closest friends is a huge fan of Judas Priest. I came across a cover of Johnny B. Goode and played it for him. He loved it of course and I thought it was pretty good. So I posted it on Covers for Sunday without really thinking about this. This is one of the few songs by them I know, so this is it. I'm sure there are plenty of better choices, but I don't really have the willpower for an in depth conversation with my friend about their discography. This, in case you're interested, was on the album British Steel. Once upon a time British Steel was a real thing, but not anymore. Thanks Maggie,

Battle For The Sun - Placebo. From the album of the same name. It's Placebo, you know exactly what you're going to get. If you like Placebo you'll love this and if you don't then, you won't.

On Shuffle

Some more music for you all.

E's Flat Ah's Flat Too - Charles Mingus. One of the main inspirations behind Kid A this is one of Charles Mingus' finest pieces of work. The more of his music you've heard the more you'll understand what a compliment I intend that to be. I think this track gets over-looked because if people have one Charles Mingus album it's more likely Mingus Ah Um than Blues & Roots. The solution is to buy them both. Add in Mingus Dynasty and you have three phenomenal albums, all recorded in 1959. Has a musician had a more prolific year? Anyway, I'm straying off the point which is: This is a fantastic track, listen to it you won't be disappointed.

21st Century Man (live) - Luke Haines. This is the song I wanted to share last week but mediafire wouldn't upload it. It's co-operating now though, so if you've never listened to Luke Haines take the opportunity to introduce yourself to one of the greatest song-writers around.

The List - Defiance, Ohio. A band that should be much more well known, I don't understand how they aren't much bigger. They're a punk band that use all sorts of instruments: banjo, violin, contrabass and cello. I can understand why they're under-appreciated in terms of mainstream recognition, but they should be huge with bloggers and they aren't. It's a pity.

That's your lot, it's a nice mixed bag so I'm sure at least one of them will be for you.

On Shuffle

It's a lovely sunny day today. It as yesterday as well, so I guess it's going to rain tomorrow. I grew up in a place not exactly known for its sunny weather so I'm always slightly suspicious of consecutive sunny days. Here's some music to enjoy, I hope it's sunny where you are:


When I'm With You - Best Coast

Mexico - Soft Pack

Song Against Sex - Neutral Milk Hotel

Live - Take It Or Leave It

Moving on from all those covers of The Strokes I thought maybe you'd like some of the real thing.

Take It Or Leave It (mp3) - The Strokes, live at the Isle of White Festival, 12th June 2010.

Covers for Sunday - The Strokes edition

I decided earlier this week that I'd like to do Covers for Sunday with just covers of The Strokes songs. There one of my favourite bands and as they're starting to tour again I thought it'd be a pretty good time to do it. Of course I only actually started working on it tonight, because I hate getting to bed at a reasonable time I guess.

Anyway, I've decided to include songs covered by The Strokes as well as covers of The Strokes songs. Here they are.

Walk On The Wildside (originally by Lou Reed) I wish The Strokes would do more Lou Reed covers, that'd be pretty perfect.

Life Is A Gas (originally by The Ramones)

It's Not My Place (originally by The Ramones). I know the sound quality is pretty subpar on this but it's the only version I have and I can't find a better one. If anyone has a version with better sound quality send me an e-mail.

Clampdown (originally by The Clash). This is just absolutely phenomenal.

So, here we go. Varying quality and styles of music, there should be something for everyone here. Not just in terms of what musical genres you like, but I think there should be at least one song here that is new to every reader. Of course it will probably be a different song to every reader.

The End Has No End - Metric. I'm surprised this wasn't posted before, it's one of my favourite covers of The Strokes and one of my favourite Metric tracks.

Last Nite (live) - Ryan Adams

Last Nite (live) - Ryan Adams. The first 1:20 or so of this is actually a cover of Like A Virgin. Yeah, the Madonna song.

Last Nite - Yellowdogs

The Modern Age - The Tetris

Someday - Elliott Sussman. A solo banjo cover, well worth listening too.

Last Nite - Seven Eleven

Take It Or Leave It - Primatas Modernos

Last Nite - Pixie Lott. Because I know some people like Pixie Lott's music, even if I don't know why.

Last Nite - Jumbonics. Just brilliant. Takes a few seconds to kick in but is, well, just brilliant from there until the end.

I'll Try Anything Once - Alex Montanez

12:51 - Luc & Noé. If you ever wondered how it would sound if 12:51 was covered by a singer channeling John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats backed by a violin this is the track for you. This is a pretty good cover, but it takes a couple of listens.

Someday - Built To Spill. A fairly straight-forward cover. That's not a criticism of course.

Someday - Basia Bulat. A lovely folky female vocal cover, of not for the chatter.

I've featured covers of The Strokes before, so just in case you missed them here they are again.

Reptilia - Punch Brothers. This is one of the most popular covers I've hosted, so the chances are you did catch this first time around. If not, it's a bluegrass kind of cover, recorded live with some great mandolin playing.

Last Nite - Ryan Adams. Different from the Ryan Adams cover above.

Take It Or Leave It - Arctic Monkeys.

Last Nite - Detroit Cobras

Now on to mash-ups. You're either gonna love them or hate them and there's no way to tell until you listen to them.

A Stroke Of Genius (Hard To Explain and Genie In A Bottle by Christina Aguilera) The Freelance Hellraiser. This was one of the first big mash-ups in the UK.

Jus' A Reptilian (Reptilia and Jus' A Rascal by Dizzee Rascal). I have no idea who this is by, sorry.

Taking On Reptiles (Reptilia and Take On Me by Aha) Mike Devine. If you read the post on Blade, this is the same guy who has a mash-up on there. You all seem to have enjoyed that, so I hope you'll enjoy this.

I Get The Hang Of It (Julian Casablancas River Of Brakelights and I Get It In by Omarion feat Gucci Mane) DJ STV SLV. Alright, I know technically this isn't a mash-up of The Strokes, but it fits too well with this category not to include it.

That's it. Enjoy the music and if you have any different cover of or by The Strokes that aren't featured here feel free to e-mail me. Of course you don't have to have different covers to e-mail me, just send me an e-mail if you feel like it. Unless you're a spambot, in which case don't bother.

Uncovered on Saturday

We had a family picnic today and I spent several pleasant hours playing football with the kids. It's good to remember football can at least give my some pleasure today.

In The Sun - She & Him. The first of the two tracks mediafire wouldn't upload last week. I know I've mentioned this lots of times before, but I really like M Ward. The video to this is one of my favourites as well.



Reflection Of The Television - The Twilight Sad. The second of the tracks held over from last week.

Mista Mista - The Fugees. I decided not to go for one of The Fugees' songs that everyone has heard, so I chose thise, just to be contrary really. It's totally different from everything else I've ever posted on this blog.

Fly Away (live acoustic) - Lenny Kravitz. This song (the non-acoustic version) was featured on a car advert, Peugeot I think, and ended up at #1 in the UK on the back of that. It's his only UK #1.

Loved You Tonight - John West. It's a nice enough song, although not exactly the sort of thing I'll listen to again. I'm sure some of you will like it though, it's the sort of song that becomes a couple's "song"

That's Entertainment - The Jam. I love this song, it is a perfect slice of Englishness. It's also the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar.

I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles. Fitting that Ann Peebles should turn up today. I just bought Juiliet, Naked by Nick Hornby today and I first got into her after seeing her mentioned in High Fidelity.

I Wanna Make It Wit Chu (live) - Queens Of The Stone Age. Josh Homme: "Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls." This isn't heavy, but it is kinda sweet. Good enough for boys & girls.

My Favourite Artists - Blade

Back in January I mentioned that there wasn't much hip-hop on this blog and five months later I've decided to do something about it.

Several of my friends are very snobby about rap. They say they don't like it, which is fine, everyone has different tastes. But for some reason when people don't like rap they feel the need to try and belittle and demean it. That's an attitude I don't understand, these people never act the same way when they tell me they don't like free jazz.

I suspect part of the distaste they have for rap is down to the sort of rap they here on the radio and see on music channels. But really most music that's played on mainstream commercial radio now is pretty terrible, but it's only in rap that the entire genre is judged on such a small selection.

All of which is a very long-winded way of posting some music by Blade, probably my favourite UK rapper. Blade retired from making music after the release of his album Guerrilla Tactics in 2006. His (and his labels) website is no longer active, but there's plenty of his music available on Amazon.

If you've heard of Blade it's almost certainly this song:



Ya Don't See The Sign (Grant Nicholls remix) from his album with Mark B called The Unknown.



I'm not going to spend lots of time writing about how important Blade has been to UK hip-hop from the very start of the genre and how much I wish he'd make more music. Even though both of those things are true I hope he's enjoying his retirement.

Here's some mp3s for you:

Lyrical Maniac - Blade (his first ever release)

The Coming Is Near - Blade

You Better Go For Yours - Blade

Mind Of An Ordinary Citizen - Blade

Fade Em Out - Blade

Mumps - Blade

Ya Don't See The Sings (Phi Life Cypher remix) - Mark B & Blade feat Life and Si Philli

Just An Unknown - Mark Devine's Mash-up of The Unknown by Mark B & Blade and Just by Mark Ronson.

Four Walls - Blade (from his last album)

There are three albums (his last three) available from Amazon, all available at ridiculously low prices, so buy them:

The Unknown - Mark B & Blade

Storms Are Brewing - Blade

Guerrilla Tactics - Blade

That's it. Enjoy the music and buy the albums.

On Shuffle

This should of been posted last night. In fact it would have been posted last night if not for mediafire playing up. The plan was to have Luke Haines' 21st Century Man posted, but mediafire's still refusing to host it. The whole point of On Shuffle is that the songs are what come up while I've got iTunes on shuffle, so I used that to choose a replacement.

Sorry for my incoherence this morning, but I am exhausted. Anyway, on to the music.

Coming Home - Murder By Death. Rock songs with a cello AND a singer that sounds not too disimilar to Nick Cave, what more do you want? Murder By Death are one of those bands that sound nothing like you'd imagine from their band name.

Answer To Yourself - The Soft Pack. After the brilliance of their EPs and the hype that had built up I was a bit worried that The Soft Pack's debut album wouldn't live up to expectations. As soon as I heard this single I knew there was no need to worry.

Adair - The Mountain Goats This is the song that iTunes picked at random to replace 21st Century Man. Of course The Mountain Goats and Luke Haines have little in common. Both produce great songs with exceptionally well-written lyrics, that's enough for me.

Live - Childish

I'm sure we all know some-one who fits the description offered in this song to a tee.

Childish (mp3) - Damien Rice

Covers for Sunday

EDIT: Annoyingly two of the tracks in this weels Covers for Sunday were deleted by mediafire. Why is this annoying? The two tracks in question, Misstress by Snow & Voices and Ain't No Sunshine by Melissa Bel, were both provided by representatives of the artists in question who sent me the songs in mp3 form and asked me to post them.

It's that time of week again, here are your covers, hope you enjoy them all.

Crazy Train by Jason Heath & the Greedy Souls feat Kid Lightning (originally by Ozzy Osbourne). A countrified cover of a metal classic, this works really well. The musicianship in particular is great on this track.

Mistress by Snow & Voices (originally by Mark Kozelek). From the album Anything That Moves, this is just a gorgeous laid back cover, one of the best female vocal performances I've heard in a long time. (You can buy the album from iTunes here)

Ain't No Sunshine by Melissa Bel (originally by Bill Withers). Another great female vocal, this time more of a straight up cover, Melissa Bel's voice dominates the song, and she has a great voice.

Firestarter by Sneaker Pimps (originally by The Prodigy). Hartlepool's finest trip-hop band, this is so different from the original, another laid back female vocal, this works because it's so different from the original it's more a re-interpratation than a cover.

All The Things She Said by The BossHoss (originally by T.A.T.U.). I really dislike the original song, but this is a pure country cover and it's very good.

Tattoo by Petra Haden (originally by The Who). The daughter of the greatest jazz bassist of all time (Charlie Haden, on the off chance you think she's Charles Mingus' daughter) covered the entire The Who Sell Out, a cappella. The whole album is as great as this track. This is what Pete Townshend had to say about the album:

I was a little embarrassed to realize I was enjoying my own music so much, for in a way it was like hearing it for the first time. What Petra does with her voice, which is not so easy to do, is challenge the entire rock framework ... When she does depart from the original music she does it purely to bring a little piece of herself -- and when she appears she is so very welcome. I felt like I'd received something better than a Grammy.

Uncovered on Saturday

Normally Uncovered on Saturday features six songs but for the last few hours mediafire has steadfastly refused to upload two of the songs I had planned, so there are only four this week. If I can get them uploaded tomorrow I'll edit them in, otherwise there'll be eight songs next week.

Big Gay Heart (Demo) - The Lemonheads. A gorgeous song, the video for this is rather good, but it's disappeared from YouTube. This demo isn't too different from the album version, both are great songs.

Sexx Laws - Beck. Gloriously over the top, this is the song that made me fall in love with Beck. He also does a pretty good Marc Bolan impersonation in parts of the song.

Let The Distance Keep Us Together - Britt Daniel and Bright Eyes. It was almost impossible to find something with just Britt Daniel that wasn't a cover. I didn't want to just put a Spoon song in, great though they are, so instead I chose this. I think it's a pretty good choice.

Cosmic Love (live on BBC Radio 2) - Florence & The Machine. Sometimes I find Florence's singing off-putting, too full of audio gymnastics. This is an example of her, more or less, keeping her voice under control and it is great.

Live - Ecstasy

Ecstasy is one of those words that even when spelled correctly looks misspelled to me. So does misspelled for that matter.

Anyway. Ecxtasy comes from Lou Reed's album, also called Ecstasy, that was released in 2000. I love this album because it's a grown-up album. Nothing annoys me in the same way as bands full of teenagers/early twenties singing about love. When Lou Reed sings about it it's clear he knows what he's singing about.

The title track fits that description well. It's a love song, mostly it's about loss and regret. It's still a love song. This version was performed live on US TV. It's got slightly different instruments and arrangement from the album.

If you need any further encouragement to watch the video there's even a guy playing body percussion which is both excellent and amusing at the same time.

Ecstasy mp3 - Lou Reed, live on US TV

On Shuffle

Another selection of songs that pop up when iTunes is on shuffle.

The Red, The White, The Black, The Blue - Hope of the States. This got to 15 on the UK singles chart, there best placing. A rock band that seemed poised to make it but success just seemed to elude them. They broke up in 2006 after playing the Leeds/Reading Festival, maybe it happened for them after that. Either way, this is an excellent rock song.

Precedents - Icarus Himself. A fantastic band name. Nice lo-fi, funny, cynical, sarcastic indie rock. Pretty much the opposite of Hope Of The States. Both very enjoyable though.

See My Friend - The Kinks. It's The Kinks, what more do you need to know?

Live - Everlong

Although this is a Foo Fighters song at a Foo Fighters concert it's really an acoustic David Grohl solo performance. Being acoustic it is of course much more stripped back than the version and because of that it's a very sincere performance. It's absolutely lovely, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Everlong mp3 - Foo Fighters