Covers for Sunday

All of the songs, bar one, in today's blog are covers that have been sent to me by bands and agents. I have now, I think, finally caught up with my e-mails. If you've e-mailed me and haven't got a reply just resend your original or e-mail me again and I'll get back to you. Sorry for all the delays.



Unbelievable by The Last Royals (originally by EMF). It's hard to pin down exactly, but I get a vibe of The Cure in this cover. I've mentioned before that I particularly enjoy listening to duos, to see how they overcome the limitations caused by the lack of band numbers. These New Yorkers do it by making their music catchy and full of hooks.



Don't Fear The Reaper by Bobtown (originally by Blue Oyster Cult). Bobtown play traditional Americana folkand still make it sound fresh and new with an original take on an old genre, the perfect soundtrack to Southern Gothic.



California Gurls by Lloyd's Garage (originally by Katy Perry). It goes without saying that I'm not a fan of the original version of this, because I have a 10 year old daughter I've heard it a few times. This version is very good, another duo more than making up for the lack of members. In the week when the White Stripes officially called it quits it's lazy but not necessarily unreasonable to look to Lloyd's Garage as a spiritual successor.



So Freely by Snow and Voices (originally by Tir Na Nog). Snow And Voices have been featured before, back in June 2010 with there cover of Mistress by Mark Kozelek (here) and as much as I enjoyed that I think this track, especially Lauri Kranz's vocal, is even better.



Jealous Guy by The PepTides (originally by John Lennon). Last week it was Okkervil River covering this song, now we have Canadian duo The PepTides. Even though it's the same song the two covers are very different, where Okkervil River's cover was very heartfelt and down to earth there's something grand about this.



Toxic by Yaron Herman (originally by Britney Spears). This is the only cover that wasn't sent to me, sadly I don't live in a universe where jazz musicians of the calibre of Yaron Herman e-mail me. One day though.