Sunday 20 March 2011

Covers for Sunday

Heartbreak Hotel by John Cale (originally by  Elvis Presley) Described as a Michelin starred chef working in a hamburger grill, this particular version is a live recording from 1981.

Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy (traditional Irish folk song) The first known recording of this I can find is Seamus Ennis in 1951, although the songs origins are obviously much before this. The song first became famous through the The Dubliners playing it, it has now been covered dozens of times.

Because The Night by 10,000 Maniacs (originally by the Patti Smith Group) This was recorded for MTV Unplugged and became 10,000 Maniacs' biggest hit in a few countries.

I Know It's Over by Jeff Buckley (originally by The Smiths) I'm not a huge fan of Jeff Buckley, of course I like him, but I've never felt about his music the way a lot of people do, never quite 'got' him, but this track, I get.

Chelsea Hotel #2 by Regina Spektor (originally by Leonard Cohen) Covers by John Cale and Jeff Buckley, the H word is the elephant in the room. Maybe another time. For now here's another Leonard Cohen song being covered.

Respect by Aretha Franklin (originally by Otis Redding) We'll end with one of the all time greats, it's hard to improve on Otis Redding but Aretha Franklin certainly does it here.

Friday 18 March 2011

Making amends

Yesterday I claimed, lightheartedly, that Arcade Fire were the best thing to come out of Montreal since Jean Béliveau. Obviously none of my selections were meant to be taken too seriously but I did forget that Leonard Cohen is from Montreal. So here's some Leonard Cohen to make amends for the omission.

You Know Who I Am live at The Isle Of Wight in 1970

Chelsea Hotel [#1] live in Israel 1972

First We Take Manhattan from I'm Your Man.

Thursday 17 March 2011

On Shuffle

You'll have noticed, I haven't had much time for blogging lately, and I haven't had much more inclination. So here's some music to tide you over, things I've been listening to as well as the new Radiohead REM and The Strokes albums. Enjoy.

Pepper by The Butthole Surfers, the best thing to come out of San Antonio since Pola Negri.

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, the best thing to come out of Montreal since Jean Béliveau.

Terrible Love by The National, the best thing to come out of Brooklyn since Peggy Olsen.

Thursday 3 March 2011

A little jazz

I know it seems I've been neglecting you this week, but that's only because one of my blogs was deleted after a DMCA complaint. It was the new song by The Strokes, You're So Right, if you're interested. There are plenty of blogs that still have the song, so hunt it down. It sounds like The Strokes crossed with Kid A era Radiohead, it's well worth the effort.

On to today's posting, here are two jazz tracks for you. They're very different, from different eras of jazz and I think they give a pretty good indication of some of the variety that exists in jazz and some of the ways jazz has changed.

Brewery Of Beggars by Esbjörn Svensson Trio. From the album Tuesday Wonderland, released in 2006. The musicians are:

Esbjörn Svensson - piano
Dan Berglund - contrabass
Magnus Öström - drums

Black Bottom Stomp by Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers. Released in 1925 this is a perfect example of early hot jazz. Morton is sometimes disregarded to a degree because he exaggerated his contributions to early jazz, more or less claiming to invent it. While that's almost certainly not true he was a pivotal figure in the development of jazz, and may well be the first true jazz arranger. Certainly he was an exceptional pianist and band leader. The musicians playing on this are:

Jelly Roll Morton - piano
Clarinet: Omer Simeon - clarinet
Trumpet: George Mitchell - trumpet
Trombone: Kid Ory - trombone
Johnny St. Cyr - banjo
John Lindsay - contrabass
Andrew Hilaire - drums