Between Thought and Expression

Covers for Sunday

2011-03-20T19:04:00.001Z

Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley (originally by John Cale) 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.

Making amends

2011-03-18T16:49:00.003Z

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.

On Shuffle

2011-03-17T15:23:00.002Z

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.

A little jazz

2011-03-03T11:24:00.001Z

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

Covers for Sunday...a day late.

2011-02-28T17:51:00.001Z

We're a day late with Covers for Sunday this week because some moron decided it would be a good idea if I went in to work at 4am today. Consequently I was in bed very early, so I didn't have time to do this yesterday. I'd complain, but the aforementioned moron was me, so I don't really have the right.

A Change Is Gonna Come by Otis Redding (originally by Sam Cooke) One of the very best covers ever, I've featured the Sam Cooke original and Ben Sollee's and Arcade Fire's covers of this song. Otis Redding's and Sam Cooke's versions of this are both superb, I find it impossible to choose which is better. I think this is the best soul song ever, it's certainly my favourite. I once used this song and the Robert Frost poem, Mending Wall, as the basis for a piece of work in an English literature class 15 years ago. I loved the song then, I still love it now.

Reckoner by Gnarls Barkley (originally by Radiohead). Gnarls Barkley covering Radiohead live, it's as good as you'd imagine it to be.

Dreams the band in Heaven (originally by The Cranberries). One of last weeks most popular bands with their cover of Goodbye Horses the Florida duo are back with a Cranberries cover.

When Doves Cry by Brett Anderson (originally by Prince). Yes, the same Brett Anderson who is Suede's lead singer.

Such Great Heights by Fort deClare (originally by The Postal Service). I know this song has been covered lots and lots of times, but this version has a kazoo. You owe it to yourself to listen to it.

Fortunate Son by Todd Snider feat. Patty Griffin (originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival). To finish us of this lovely folky cover of CRR.

Live - Idioteque

2011-02-26T15:00:00.002Z

Idioteque (mp3) by Radiohead, live in 2003.

One of my favourite Radiohead songs, in fact one of my favourite songs regardless of artist and this is an excellent live version.

A bit of hip hop.

2011-02-24T16:00:00.001Z

Periodically I realise that I don't actually post much hip hop here and resolve to do something about. Then I'll post a little bit, get distracted and repeat the cycle a few months later. So, here's some hip hop and hopefully I won't forget, but I'm not counting on it.

Plenty of my friends, even those interested in music say they don't like hip hop. It seems though that what they actually mean is, they don't like the sort of hip hop they hear on the radio. Neither do I. Sure there are some exceptions, but for every genre except classical, I don't like what is played on mainstream radio stations. So here's some hip hop that you won't hear on mainstream radio.

Masters Of The Universe by Binary Star. It took me a long time to find this album, when I finally managed to find it I ended up paying more for it than any other album before or since. It was money well spent.

Deathbed Doctrine by Jedi Mind Tricks. Maybe the most famous non-famous hip hop act JMT have a new album, Violence Begets Violence, due out sometime this year.

Dream Seasons by Blackalicious. There have been no Blackalicious albums since 2005 but they are also working on an album due out this year.

Live - Books From Boxes

2011-02-21T14:01:00.003Z

The second single from the second album, Our Earthly Pleasures. If you don't already own that album you should do, and you can pick up Paul Smith's solo album Margins at the same time.

Books From Boxes (mp3) by Maximo Park, live on The Culture Show

Covers for Sunday

2011-02-20T17:00:00.001Z

Nothing Compares 2 U by The Last Royals (originally by Prince). More cover goodness from The Last Royals after their version of EMF's Unbelievable of a fortnight ago.

Unravel by Radiohead (originally by Björk). This is performed by Thom Yorke during a Radiohead webcast and is his favourite song.

Goodbye Horses by The Band In Heaven (originally by Q Lazzarus). This is the song Buffalo Bill is playing and signing along with in Silence Of The Lambs. This is a very nice shoegazing cover, a bit like a dreampop but harder. And very good.

Courting Blues by Lisa Hannigan (originally by Bert Jansch). Lisa Hannigan was Damien Rice's backing vocalist for a while, her excellent cover of Personal Jesus was featured here before. This sounds like a mix of drone music and folk music, obviously it's very good.

My Funny Valentine by Hawk (originally by Mitzi Green) Hawk is the frontman of The Plastic Pals, who I've featured before here and have a new album due soon. Mitzi Green played Billie Smith in Babes On Arms in 1937 and so was, as far as I can tell, the original vocalist for My Funny Valentine.

Fuck You by Anjulie (originally by Cee-Lo). By a female vocalist so some of the vocals are re-written. My favourite being "I guess I'm like Dora, she's a Malibu Barbie".

New Radiohead song and album stream

2011-02-19T11:00:00.005Z

As you'll almost certainly know by now the new Radiohead album, King Of Limbs, was released yesterday, including the song Lotus Flower.

Lotus Flower by Radiohead.

The following video was released for Lotus Flower, it seems Thom Yorke stole Paul Smith's hat:

On the first couple of listens the album is very good with lots of dubstep influences. So far Codex is the standout track for me, I think it compares well with anything Radiohead have ever done. I suspect we'll be seeing another, companion, album to this sometime soon. You can buy the download album now from Radiohead here and if you're unsure, you can stream it from here.

The Last Royals - review

2011-02-16T21:53:00.001Z

Update: The EP is available free on noisetrade for this week, go download it.

You'll remember The Last Royals from their cover of EMF's Unbelievable I posted just over a week ago.

Signed to Ooh La La Recordings The Last Royals are Eric James on vocals, synths and guitar and Mason Ingram on drums, percussion and samples. I described the Brooklyn based duo as producing catchy music that's full of hooks. That's not just true of their cover but of their EP.

Catchy indie pop at it's best, The Last Royals craft songs that spend all day stuck in your head. Backseat Lovers sound like an exceptionally talented updated take on late 90's indie. Obviously all band have influences, but that's not to say The Last Royals are solely derivative and offer nothing on their own merits. Crystal Vase is just full and bouncy and fun and catchy and about the desperation, isolation and discord that happens in the aftermath of a marriage breaking up. It's not exactly easy to write a song that combines those elements. Always, To Belong is again steeped in late 90's indie, but much better. Had the indie scene actually been this good in the late 90's bands like The Strokes wouldn't have seemed so necessary. Come Take My Hand is a demo that certainly doesn't sound in anyway unfinished or under-produced. Backseat Lovers (Crayon Remix) sounds less like a remix and more like a complete re-imagining of the original, with a large serving of tenderness.

The track listing for the EP is:

Backseat Lovers
Crystal Vases
Always, To Belong
Come Take My Hand (Demo)
Backseat Lovers (Crayon Remix)

On the off chance you missed their cover of Unbelievable here it is again:

Unbelievable by The Last Royals (originally by EMF)

and you can download Backseat Lovers (Crayon Remix) here:

and listen to Crystal Vase here:

You can visit The Last Royals myspace and youtube

And then you can, and should, go and buy the EP. It's only $2.99 and you can get it from bandcamp and The Last Royals webstore. I've got no vested interest in you buying the EP, I just think you might fall in love with it like I have.

Covers for Sunday - Jazz Edition

2011-02-13T16:09:00.000Z

It's been a while since we had a jazz edition of Covers for Sunday so here we are. Of course it wouldn't be a jazz edition if The Bad Plus and Brad Mehldau weren't included. Mehldau is on his own this time and The Bad Plus are as fantastic as always. James Carter, who was featured before covering Pavement, is back with Joshua Redman ripping through a Count Basie composition. There are also three first time artists, Stanley Clarke Trio's cover of Under The Bridge is especially good. Jazz Against The Machine cover Soundgarden and Jazzkantine finish with a superb cover of Van Halen, the only song from today with vocals.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World by The Bad Plus (originally by Tears For Fear)

Under The Bridge by Stanley Clarke Trio (originally by Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Bottle Up And Explode by Brad Mehldau (originally by Elliott Smith)

Blues In The Dark by James Carter and Joshua Redman (originally by Count Basie)

Spoonman by Jazz Against The Machine (originally by Soundgarden)

Ain't Talking About Love by Jazzkantine (originally by Van Halen)

Live - If You Wanna

2011-02-12T20:26:00.003Z

The Vaccines have their debut album coming out 21st of March. I could go on about them, but they're so hyped I'm sure you've heard it all before and anyway, I'm pushed for time.

If You Wanna (mp3) by The Vaccines live on Later with Jools Holland.

New song by The Strokes - Under Cover Of Darkness

2011-02-10T09:09:00.002Z

Under Cover Of Darkness by The Strokes.

As you'll almost certainly know The Strokes have a new album out on the 21st/22nd of March. The first single from it is Under Cover Of Darkness and you can download it now. Enjoy.

Some trumpet music

2011-02-07T21:28:00.001Z

Green Bee by Al Hirt. Or at least Al hirt is playing the trumpet on this, but the composition is by Billy May and the orchestra is conducted by Lionel Newman. In 1966 The Green Hornet TV series (the one with Bruce Lee as Kato) was produced. The radio series had Flight Of The Bumblebee as the theme tune and that was rearranged into a jazz version that became this. The song is sometimes known as The Green Hornet.

Rise, Sally Rise by Nat Adderley. You've probably heard of Cannonball Adderley, Nat's brother, rather than Nat himself. But if you've got any of Cannonball's music chances are Nat's playing on it too. Nat played in both Cannonball Adderley Quintets as well as with Ray Charles, Philly Joe Jones, Wynton Kelly, JJ Johnson and Sonny Rollins as well as recording over 30 albums as a band leader. This is from the album The Scavenger and was sampled by Eric B & Rakim on Know The Ledge.

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down by Miles Davis. I couldn't not include any Miles Davis. Duke Ellington once referred to him as "The Picasso of jazz" and I think that sums this up pretty well. It comes from the album Bitches Brew which followed on from In A Silent Way, those two albums together being the creation of fusion jazz. Interestingly because these albums feature long tracks they are ridiculously cheap to buy in mp3, for instance you can go and buy In A Silent Way from Amazon for under £1.40/$2.

Covers for Sunday

2011-02-06T20:04:00.001Z

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.

Afrobeat

2011-02-05T20:30:00.001Z

Everybody should know Fela Kuti, and I guess most people who're into music do know of him. He's one of my favourite artists so I want to share some more of his music here. He's the pioneer of afrobeat, but there's more to afrobeat than just his music, I've been spending some time lately listening to more of the genre and I decided

Zombie by Fela Kuti.

If you haven't heard any of Fela Kuti's music before this may very well be the best place to start. From the album of the same name this song, and the rest of the album, is directed at the military government of Nigeria. In the aftermath of this song's release and huge popularity in Nigeria Fela Kuti's home/commune was attacked and destroyed, his mother killed and many residents beaten, Fela Kuti included. He sent his mother's coffin to the main military base in Lagos and wrote two songs about it, Coffin For Head Of State and Unknown Soldier. In next year, 1978, Fela Kuti played this during a concert in Accra when riots broke out and he was subsequently banned from the country.

Truth Don Die by Femi Kuti.

Femi Kuti is Fela Kuti's eldest son, but I've no real interest in comparing the two. Femi Kuti's music stands out for it's quality on it's own merits and should be judged by that. Femi Kuti has been recording and releasing as a band leader since 1989. This track comes from Shoki Shoki which, along with Day By Day, are good starting points into his music.

Beaten Metal by Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.

From New York rather than Nigeria Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra have a heavy debt to Fela Kuti. This track comes from the album Security, their third, where they start to move away from pure afrobeat and introduce a few sounds from other genres. This is still afrobeat, it's just an evolution of it. Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra are responsible for the arrangement and playing of the Fela Kuti music used as the soundtrack for the Broadway show Fela!

The Bad Plus - side projects.

2011-02-03T18:32:00.001Z

This isn't meant to be in anyway an exhaustive look at the recordings Reid Anderson, Dave King and Ethan Iverson have made away from The Bad Plus. It's just one track from each of them away from The Bad Plus that I think you'll enjoy.

Not Sentimental by Reid Anderson Quartet. From Reid Anderson's debut album from 1997, Dirty Show Tunes. This features Reid Anderson on contrabass, Ethan Iverson on piano, Mark Turner on tenor saxophone and Jordi Rossy on drums.

Very Small Rock by Happy Apple. From Dave King's other trio, this band feature Dave King on percussion, Michael Lewis on saxophone, contrabass and keyboard and Erik Fratzke on fender bass and guitar. This track is from their 7th studio album Happy Apple Back on Top.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Ethan Iverson Trio. From Ethan Iverson's album of standards, Deconstruction Zone, released in 1998. This features essentially the same personnel as Dirty Show Tunes. With Ethan Iverson is on piano, Reid Anderson on contrabass and Jorge Rossy on drums, it's worth remembering that this and Not Sentimental were both recorded prior to The Bad Plus forming in 2000.

New Fleet Foxes song

2011-02-02T09:25:00.002Z

It was released a couple of days ago so chances are you've already heard it, but if not you can get it here:

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes.

It's from the album of the same name which will have 12 tracks altogether. There's no official track listing yet but the following songs seem pretty likely to be included:

Blue Spotted Tail
Bedouin Dress
I Feel the Same
Midnight Feeder
Tripolee
Sim Sala Bim
Battery Kinzie
Montezuma

as well as Helplessness Blues.

Live - Naima

2011-02-01T19:03:00.002Z

One of John Coltrane's most famous compositions he wrote this in 1959 and named it after his first wife, Juanita Naima Grubbs.

This performance comes from Antibes in 1965. Antibes is in southern France, home of the outdoor festival Jazz à Juan as well as an Absinthe Museum.

Naima (mp3) by the John Coltrane Quartet live in Antibes, 27th July, 1965.

The musicians on this recording are:

John Coltrane - Saxophone
McCoy Tyner - Piano
Jimmy Garrison - Bass
Elvin Jones - Drums

Covers for Sunday

2011-01-30T20:15:00.001Z

Jealous Guy by Okkervil River (originally by John Lennon). It's a live version so the sound quality isn't great but this is one of my favourite covers and I think it's well worth listening to. It's one of those songs that I was genuinely surprised when I saw I hadn't already posted it.

Dream A Little Dream Of Me by Dala (originally by Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra). One of the most covered songs in history, this isn't my favourite version (that's Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald) but it is really good.

God Only Knows by Ben Kweller (originally by The Beach Boys). Two Beach Boys covers in two weeks, it's nothing mire than coincidence.

Everybody Knows by Elizabeth and The Catapult (originally by Leonard Cohen). Maybe one day I'll do a Covers for Sunday - Leonard Cohen edition but until then you can enjoy this.

Mansard Roof by Canadian Invasion (originally by Vampire Weekend). Canadian Invasion are a band from Philadelphia so either the US is safe from Canadian invasion or they've already started.

Play The Game by Beach House (originally by Queen). The sleeve for Play The Game was the first one to feature Freddie Mercury with a moustache.

On Shuffle

2011-01-29T20:01:00.001Z

The point of the On Shuffle posts is to feature music that just pops up on iTunes. Maybe it's something that's been sitting their unheard for a while, maybe it's just under-appreciated. Of course sometimes at least one of the songs is something I want to blog about and the rest of the songs are then chosen at random. But not this time, all of these songs were chosen randomly from shuffle, just like they should be.

Unconscious by The Silencers. A rather excellent but unheard of Scottish band that have been around going on 25 years now. This song is excellent, and not just because it features bagpipes.

Sunday Morning by The Blackhawks. This is lovely, dreamy music, not too far away from a mix of Girls and Beach House. Sadly it's almost impossible to find any concrete information about the band because they share the same name as a war, a long-standing country band and a professional sports team. Still, they're good and worth the effort.

Broken Arrow by Brandi Emma. Something that turned up in my inbox that I didn't really know how to describe. And I still don't. It's very laid back and she has a lovely voice. But there's more too it than that. Guess you'll just have to listen and make your own mind up.

Radiohead and all that jazz

2011-01-28T22:12:00.003Z

It's generally accepted that Radiohead take influences from different genres. Unless this is your first time reading this blog you probably already know I'm going to talk about jazz.

Life In A Glass House (Full Length Version) by Radiohead feat. Humphrey Lyttelton. This is the version from the B Side to Knives Out and is probably as close to outright jazz that Radiohead have ever got in the studio. They worked with veteran trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band to add a trad jazz sound to the song.

Humphrey Lyttelton had one chart hit in the UK, Bad Penny Blues made the Top-20 in the UK and stayed for six weeks.

Bad Penny Blues by Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton - trumpet
Johnny Parker - piano
Jim Bray - contrabass
Stan Greig - drums

Humphrey Lyttelton had a pretty full life. The descendant of one of Guy Fawkes' co-conspirators he was a performing musician from demobbing (he had served in the Grenadier Guards) in 1945 until his death in 2008 and also found time to work as a cartoonist for The Daily Mail, presented The Best Of Jazz on Radio 2, hosted I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (a comedy show) on Radio 4 and served as the president of The Society for Italic Handwriting. From landing in Italy to calligraphy via jazz.

Humphrey Lyttelton was inspired by Louis Armstrong and Nat Gonella. Louis Armstrong you'll already know as the first superstar of jazz. Nat Gonella was an English trumpeter and singer and was himself heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong with whom he later became close friends.

Hesitation Blues by Nat Gonella

Tiger Rag by Louis Armstrong

Of course Louis Armstrong influenced countless musicians but he wasn't without influences himself, notably Joe Oliver. Best known as King Oliver, he invited Louis Armstrong to Chicago to play in his Creole Jazz Band. Louis Armstrong played with King Oliver from 1922 until 1924.

Riverside Blues by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band.

King Oliver - cornet
Louis Armstrong - cornet
Johnny Dodds - clarinet
Kid Ory - trombone
Johnny St. Cyr - banjo
Lil Hardin - piano (later Louis Armstrong's second wife and sometimes referred to as Lil Hardin Armstrong)

King Oliver was influenced by Buddy Bolden, the band leader who invented jazz, if anyone person did. Sadly no recordings of Buddy Bolden survive so instead I'll finish with another jazz musician that has influenced Radiohead, Charles Mingus.

Freedom Part 2 (Clark In The Dark) by Charles Mingus.

There are well over 30 musicians on the album this comes from, The Complete Town Hall Concert, and I'm not going to list them all here. If you're interested you can see the list here. I'm just going to identify Eric Dolphy, who plays the saxophone solo, and of course Charles Mingus on contrabass.

The Strokes - Angles

2011-01-26T22:48:00.002Z

I'm guessing that most of you will already know about The Strokes new album, but just in case you don't here are the details.

The album will be called Angles, has 10 tracks and is due to be released on 21st of March in the UK and most of the rest of Europe, March 22nd in North America and 23rd of March in Japan. The first single will be Under Cover Of Darkness, rumoured to be released 9th of February.

Rolling Stone seems to like it a lot, but I haven't read an issue of that in well over a decade, so I'm not taking anything from that. They say, amongst other things, that

Angles is the best album the Strokes have made since Is This It because of the stylistic depth and progressive excitement in those crisscross guitars, the tightly wound rhythms and Casablancas’ dry trademark croon.

It wasn't my plan to not post earlier this week, but I've just been too busy. If you've e-mailed me I'm sorry I haven't replied yet, but I will very soon.

As part apology for my lack of posts this week here is The National playing Bloodbuzz Ohio live on Jools Holland. This song comes from the album High Violet which I have absolutely fallen in love with in a way that I very rarely do with an album. So if you don't own it I strongly recommend that you buy it at the first opportunity.

Bloodbuzz Ohio (mp3) - The National, love on The Jools Holland Show.

Covers for Sunday - The Kinks edition

2010-07-26T00:02:00.004+01:00

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Covers for Sunday with a featured band. This time around I'm featuring The Kinks.

The first time around it was The Strokes. The amount of covers of The Strokes I had suggested the idea to me, so it seemed natural I feature them first. Next Up were The Velvet Underground. My favourite band and a hugely influential band to all sorts of musicians they seemed the perfect choice for the next edition.

And now, The Kinks. One of my very favourite bands, when I first started reading blogs it surprised me how many American bloggers liked The Kinks and how many American bands admired them and covered them. I know they had a lot of success in the US as part of the British Invasion and I wasn't really surprised by people liking You Really Got Me, All Day And All of The Night and Lola, they are great songs that sold well in the US.

But songs like Waterloo Sunset, Dead End Street, Autumn Almanac and Days surprised me with their popularity. These songs, and plenty of others, seem to me to be quintessentially English songs, everything from the music hall influences to the lyrics seem rooted in Englishness. I know it's possible to like music that comes from a different culture, but The Kinks are more than that I think. So I guess it's a tribute to the lyrics of Ray Davies more than anything that these songs became so popular to people who have no experience of what they're about. That's not to anyway attempt to diminish the brilliance of Dave Davies guitar playing and general musicianship. Here's a nice quote from Pete Townshend:

"The Kinks were ... quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should one day be poet laureate. He invented a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning."

Let's start with the video for Dead End Street. This is one of the first music videos and it, and the song, were pretty much ripped off wholesale by Oasis for The Importance Of being Idle.

Now, onto the covers. Covers by The Kinks first, of which there aren't many. I know they covered Dancing In The Streets, but I don't have a copy of it.

Louie, Louie by The Kinks (originally by Richard Berry and The Pharaohs). Apparently it was while trying to figure out the chords to this that Ray Davis wrote You Really Got Me.

And now I'm going to cheat a bit. The next three songs were all written by Ray Davies but were first performed by other artists. So they may not be covers in the strictest sense, but it's a good excuse to have more songs by The Kinks here.

I Go To Sleep (Demo) by The Kinks (originally recorded by Peggy Lee)

Dandy by The Kinks (originally recorded by Herman's Hermits)

A House In The Country by The Kinks (originally recorded by The Pretty Things) The Pretty Things got to number 50 in the UK with this, the last time they troubled the chart compliers.

These covers have all been featured before on Covers for Sunday:

Everybody's Going To Be Happy by Queens Of The Stone Age. One of my favourite covers of The Kinks, it's very close to the original and shows Queens Of The Stone Age's range very well.

David Watts by The Jam. The first cover of The Kinks I ever heard. The lead vocals on this are done by Bruce Foxton rather than Paul Weller.

Moments by Spoon
Set Me Free by Spoon. I've said it before, I'd gladly by a double album by Spoon with just covers of The Kinks on it.

Nothin' In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl by The Morning Benders.

Tell Me Now So I Know by Holly Golightly

Now, finally, here are your Covers for Sunday, featuring the songs of The Kinks:

Waterloo Sunset by Cornershop. This captures the song perfectly I think, the Indian instruments fit very well with the overall feel of the song.

Waterloo Sunset by David Bowie.

Better Things by Dar Williams

Victoria by The Kooks.

Days by Of Montreal.

Lola by The Raincoats

You Really Got Me by Bruce Springsteen. The sound quality on this is a little shaky at first, but it's fine once the song starts. This is a great live cover.

I Go To Sleep by Soulwax. Some covers change almost everything about the original but still sound great, like an evolution of the original. Soulwax do that here, they make the song their own without losing anything of the original's charm.

I Go To Sleep by The Pretenders. Maybe the most famous cover of a song by The Kinks and probably one of The Pretenders five most famous songs.

Strangers by Jason Bajada (feat: Anna Ruddick & Maia Davies from Ladies of The Canyon). I've featured Jason Bajada before, covering Wolf Parade. This live cover isn't up to those, admittedly high, standards, but it is still good.

Too Much On My Mind by Glenn Page

Til The End Of The Day by Christopher Allan Diadora

You Really Got Me by Van Halen. This seems to be a famous cover, but I had no idea it existed until I started researching this post.

I Go To Sleep by Sia

Dead End Street by Backyard Tire Fire

Waterloo Sunset by Elliott Smith
Dead End Street by Elliott Smith

Chances are you've heard both of these Elliott Smith covers before, if not you've been missing out. I think Elliott Smith would be a great musician for a future Covers for Sunday edition like this.

Strangers by Norah Jones. If you're like me you're probably not a fan of Norah Jones. This may not change your mind, it hasn't changed mine, but it remains an excellent cover.

Strangers by Portugal The Man

This Is Where I Belong by Ron Sexsmith. Strange coincidence, yesterday I finished reading Speaking With the Angel, a collection of short stories edited by Nick Hornby and named after a Ron Sexsmith song. Well worth buying & reading as well.

Days by Guster

Waterloo Sunset by Robyn Hitchcock

Act Nice And Gentle by The Black Keys

Victoria by Ema And The Ghosts

Nothin' In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl by Feist

Art Lover by Holly Ramos

The Village Green Preservation Society by Kate Rusby

Days by Kirsty MacColl

Nothin' In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl by Mark Lanegan

Situation Vacant by Spoon. More Spoon goodness, a great cover of a lesser known song.

Come Dancing by The Walkmen. I love The Walkmen, Canadian Girl is a favourite of mine. Come Dancing was The Kinks first single to reach the Top-20 of the UK charts in 10 and a half years.

Tired Of Waiting by Green Day. I had no idea Green Day had covered The Kinks, and if I'd been told I doubt I'd have guessed this was the song they'd covered. It is a good cover though.

Dead End Street by The Jam. As the first cover of The Kinks I ever heard was by The Jam this will be the last song for tonight.

Uncovered on Saturday

2010-07-24T23:07:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I've done an uncovered post, the plan is still to do one every Saturday.

Lazy Bird by John Coltrane. It's my belief that John Coltrane is the greatest musician that ever lived. I rarely post his music here, this is only the third time I've done so and it's the first time I've featured an original Coltrane composition. You should then have already guessed that it wasn't easy for me to choose a track for this from all of his recordings. In the end I went with this hard-bop track from the album Blue Train, Coltrane's first real album as leader. Recorded in 1957 this was the last track from the album. The musicians on it are:

John Coltrane (tenor saxophone)
Lee Morgan (trumpet)
Curtis Fuller (trombone)
Kenny Drew (piano)
Paul Chambers (contrabass)
Philly Lee Jones (drums)

All are exceptional on this, although Coltrane's playing towers over them. I really enjoy Lee Morgan's playing on this, incredible to think he was only 19 and already playing so well. Paul Chambers solo is very enjoyable as well, he plays most of the bass on this track by plucking but uses a bow for the solo which is followed by a great solo from Philly Jones Lee.
Anyway. I chose this track because it's great, obviously, but also because it's easy to listen to if it's your first exposure to jazz or you're already a veteran listener.

This Love by Pantera. A rather large difference between the first and second tracks I'm sure you'll agree. Apart from their cover of Cat Scratch Fever the only Pantera songs I own are from a magazine giveaway compilation from, I think, 1997. So I listened to them both and chose this.

Every Little Earthquake by Little Boots. You might be wondering why Little Boots is on this blog, it's not exactly the sort of thing I normally post after all. Nor is it the sort of music I normally listen to. But I did like her cover of Rich Girls by The Virgins, (her cover was called Rich Boys), so that's why there's a Little Boots song here. I know nothing about Little Boots really, but apparently it was also Caligula's nick-name. I do know a few things about Caligula, so here's a random fact for you all. He was the son of the nephew of the adopted son of the adopted son of Julius Caesar.

Electro Snake by Ryan Adams. Just on the off chance you missed this when it was on more or less every blog a couple of months ago.

Deep Dark Truthful Mirror by Elvis Costello. Obviously there are loads of songs too choose from with this Elvis as well. I went with this rather than one of the usual songs that are associated with him. Not to be obscure but because it's a great song, the drums and horns are particularly good.

A New England by Billy Bragg. And this time I decided to go with the obvious choice, just to be contrary. I love this song, "It's wrong to wish on space hardware" is one of my favourite lyrics.

Live - Some Kind Of Nature

2010-07-21T06:04:00.002+01:00

It's early, I've just woken up and I have to go to work soon. So, no words, just music.

Some Kind Of Nature (mp3) - Gorillaz feat Lou Reed, live at Glastonbury 2010.

Live - Lord Help My Poor Soul

2010-07-20T01:17:00.001+01:00

I'm going to take an educated guess here and say that you probably know Fionn Regan for his fantastic Mercury Nominated debut album The End Of History.

Or perhaps you know him as the possessor of the greatest bowl haircut since Luke Skywalker.

Either way, you probably haven't heard as much of his more electric guitar based music which can be found on his second album The Shadow of an Empire. The album has altogether more of a rock feel than his debut, which sits firmly in the acoustic singer-songwriter tradition.

Predictably there was plenty of criticism at his change of direction. I fail to see why this happens so much. Why do we expect musicians to make record after record sound the same. Don't we like these people because they are creative? To then complain when they don't just create slightly different versions of the same thing over and over seems to me to be fairly idiotic. If the new direction results in poor music then I can almost understand the criticism. But that's certainly not the case here. I think this song shows off the quality of his new material and, in particular, his guitar playing.

Lord Help My Poor Soul (mp3) - Fionn Regan (live at Dolan's, Limerick 6th March 2010)

Covers for Sunday

2010-07-19T00:17:00.000+01:00

No posts at all this week. I decided at pretty short notice to take a week off work, so I thought I'd take a week's holiday from blogging as well. I'll make it up to you though.

Here's this week's covers, next week's Covers will be the third Covers for Sunday that focuses on one band. The first two posts, featuring The Strokes & The Velvet Underground, were really popular, next week it'll be the turn of The Kinks.

When by Maximo Park (originally by Vincent Gallo). Very, very different from the original. Pretty far away from most of Maximo Park's music as well. In fact, and this isn't a comparison I make lightly, it doesn't sound too far away from Joy Division.

The Devil Went Down To Georgia by Blues Traveller (originally by The Charlie Daniels Band). A live country rock cover, full of energy, excellent fiddle playing and some really good, drone-esque, guitar playing during the long fiddle solo.

Day n Nite by Chaingang (originally by Kid Cudi). I detest the original version of this. It's one of the songs my kids like and I just can't understand why.

Time Is Running Out by Alex Cornell (originally by Muse). Strips out the bombast of the original without diminishing it at all and compliments Muse's version pretty perfectly.

Romeo and Juliet by Matt Ryd (originally by Dire Straits). I started listening to this and liked it, but I'd managed to change my opinion by the time I reached the end of the song I'd changed my mind. It just goes on for too long. I'm not exactly a Dire Straits fan, quite the opposite, ao I may not be the best person to judge this.

Diamond Sea by Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs (originally by Sonic Youth). Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs seem to be a bit of a love or hate band amongst people I know. There are however some songs almost everyone enjoys. This is one of them.

Covers for Sunday

2010-07-12T01:32:00.001+01:00

I haven't been posting as much lately, so apologies for that. Hopefully I'll be back on track this week. And if I'm not you'll still have these six covers to comfort you.

Feel Good Inc by Editors (originally by Gorillaz). This works so much better than I'd imagined. Tom Smith has such a dense heavy voice, this song sounds like it's part of the soundtrack to the end of the world.

No Love Lost by LCD Soundsystem (originally by Joy Division). And so does this. Obviously I don't think that the end of the world would be in anyway a good thing, but at least the soundtrack will be pretty good. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that.

Crossroad Blues by Tom Hanway (originally by Robert Johnson). Crossroad Blues is one of the great early blues recordings, something everyone should have in their collection. This is a bluegrass cover, it's well done and gives a new different look at a very familiar song.

First Of The Gang To Die by Zee Avi (originally by Morrissey). This'd be a lot better if it finished 30 seconds or so earlier, but it's still a good cover. Drawn-out and fragile while the original is punchy and compact this is a nice compliment to Morrissey's recording.

Here Comes Your Man by Meaghan Smith (originally by The Pixies). I'm not sure what to make of this, it seems both similar and different to the original. It's really enjoyable to listen to, either way.

When Love Comes To Town by Declan O'Rourke (originally by U2 feat BB King). Another cover of a song featuring a blues legend. Robert Johnson and BB King are pretty much opposite musically and professionally. Robert Johnson was little recorded and left behind a legacy filled as much with myth and legend as with fact. In contrast BB King has played over 15,000 shows, there are more BB King albums than Robert Johnson songs. However both are blues legends and both have influenced plenty of guitarists.

None of that is anyway related to the song, but it is a great cover.

Enjoy the songs and I'll see you next week. Hopefully more regularly than this week.

Live - The Wagon

2010-07-09T19:14:00.002+01:00

I grew up with two elder siblings a sister and a brother. My sister is 12 years older than me and had, and frankly still does have, pretty terrible taste in music. My brother, who is 9 years older than me, had great taste in music. He still more or less has good taste, but I know he has a Best Of The Beautiful South, although he denies it and that worries me.

Anyway. One of the advantages of having an older brother with good taste was growing up around music, starting to appreciate good music earlier and not listening to so much of the rubbish my classmates listened too. I got into lots of music that way, Martin Stephenson & The Daintees, Suede, REM, The Lemonheads for just a few examples.

Another band are/were Dinosaur Jr. The Wagon may be the first song I really fell in love with. Here's Dinosaur Jr. playing it live on The David Letterman show. Notice the house band playing along.

The Wagon (mp3) - Dinosaur Jr (live on The David Letterman Show)

Live - Crazy

2010-07-06T14:34:00.001+01:00

Gnarls Barkley's Crazy must be one of the most covered songs of the last five years or so. Understandably so, it's a great and catchy song, hip-hop without rap and it features everyone's favourite producer Danger Mouse.

I remember first hearing it as a small clip on an advert for the Zane Lowe shop and being instantly impressed. A couple of days later I was walking home from work listening to the radio on my phone (my mp3 player wasn't working properly) when it was mentioned Crazy would be played in full in a few minutes on Radio 1 (one of three stations I could get on my phone's rather inadequate radio). I got home, managed to tune the radio on my ancient turntable to Radio 1 in time, listened to it, loved it, and bought it as soon as it came out. I have no idea why I didn't just listen to Radio 1 online.

This is a live version recorded on Top Of The Pops. It features five violinists, a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist and three backing vocalists as well as Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse. You may have seen this before, everyone is dressed as a member of an airline crew. If not, this is even better than the studio version. If you have, well, you already knew that.

Crazy (mp3) - Gnarls Barkley (live on Top Of The Pops)

This was meant to be posted last night, but I had some software problems. So as recompense for it being late here's a bonus track & video:

Crazy (mp3) - Gnarls Barkley (live Star Wars version)

Covers for Sunday - Jazz Edition

2010-07-04T21:29:00.001+01:00

As an addition to the regular Covers for Sunday, which you can find here, here are six jazz covers. They vary in what jazz sub-genre they are but they have in common how excellent they are. As I said in Covers for Sunday I hope this makes up for my lack of posting during the last week.

Lithium by The Bad Plus feat Wendy Lewis (originally by Nirvana). I guess, if you're a regular reader of this blog, as soon as you saw there would be a jazz edition of Covers for Sunday you knew The Bad Plus would be here. The amount of times The Bad Plus, with and without Wendy Lewis, should give you a pretty good idea of how highly I rate them. I could wax on and on for ages, or pages if you prefer, about how great they are. But I won't, I'll let the music speak for itself. I do wish I could drum like Dave King though.

Everytime We Say Goodbye - John Coltrane (originally by Ella Fitzgerald). Or at least Ella Fitzgerald is the first person to record it as far as I know. It was written by Cole Porter and was used in Seven Lively Arts on Broadway in 1944, but I've no idea who sang it or if there was ever a recording of this version or any other that predate Ella Fitzgerald's. It seems likely that it was recorded sometime betweeen 1944 and 1956 though. Anyway this is from Coltrane's excellent 'My Favorite Things' album. My Favorite Things was featured a few months back if you fancy listening to it. Both tracks feature Coltrane in masterful form as he plays an exceptionally hypnotic soprano saxophone. If you don't have the album in your collection, jazz fan or not, it is a serious hole.

Buddy Bolden's Blues by Air (originally by Jelly Roll Morton). This is a jazz cover of a jazz song. Air were a 70's and 80's free jazz trio, this comes from their album Air Lore. Jelly Roll Morton is one of the founding figures of jazz. A self publicist prone to exaggeration he claimed to have invented jazz in 1902. Although that claim is untrue it is true that he composed the first jazz song ever published, Jelly Roll Blues. His version of Buddy Bolden's Blues is a solo piece, recorded without his Red Hot Peppers. Buddy Bolden, or King Bolden, was also a jazz musician. He may in fact be the inventor of jazz, the musician (or band leader) that moved from ragtime to jazz. None of his recordings survive, if he even made any, so all we can do is speculate. Anyway, one of his compositions (or maybe his trombonist Willy Cornish's) Funky Butt later became known as Buddy Bolden's Blues and it's this that Jelly Roll Morton uses as the first (and possibly second) verse of his song. So is this the cover of a cover? Sort off.

One last thing. Buddy Bolden was institusionalised in 1907 with schizophrenia. He remained institusionalised until his death in 1930. Frankie Duson, another of Buddy Bolden's trombonists, became the band leader of Buddy Bolden's group and after several personal changes renamed the band as the Eagle Band. In 1917 Frankie Duson went to play with none other than Jelly Roll Morton in Los Angeles. They had a falling out during which Jelly Roll Morton mocked their clothes and manners. As a result of this feud Jelly Roll Morton wrote a verse in, you guessed it, Buddy Bolden's Blues describing Frankie Duson as a pimp. This is something Morton was well qualified to write about, he had been a pimp when he was younger. I've spoken about it so much that I can't not include Jelly Roll Morton's version of Buddy Bolden's Blues, so here it is:

You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go - Madeleine Peyroux (originally by Bob Dylan). This is just gorgeous. The vocals are pure smooth brilliance. Not the sort of smoothness that renders the lyrics meaningless, more a smoothness that just states the meaning plainly. The drumming, with brushes, is a great sound, it fits the arrangement of this cover perfectly.

Blue In Green - World Saxophone Quartet (originally by Miles Davis). This isn't an arrangement with just saxophones. There are drums, there is a piano. Now, I guess if you've heard the original you'll be a bit suspicious about this. First of all, how can you take a classic Miles Davis song and cover it without a trumpet? Secondly, how can you cover a song that has two of the greatest saxophonists of all time (John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley) playing on the original.

Paranoid Android - The Brad Mehldau Trio (originally by Radiohead). It wouldn't be jazz covers with a Brad Mehldau cover of Radiohead. Compared to the other two of his Radiohead covers I've featured, Knives Out and Exit Music (for a film), this is pretty straight forward and not very avant garde. Of course it is still quite avant garde and just as great as the other two covers.

Covers for Sunday

2010-07-04T19:27:00.001+01:00

I've been very busy this week, so no blogging. To make up for it there's this and then later this evening I'll be posting another six covers, all jazz covers. Jazz covers are always pretty popular when I post them, so I hope a full six song edition of them will make up for my absence this week.

The Times They Are A Changing - Tom McNee (originally by Bob Dylan). A young Scouse folk singer-songwriter, currently working with some local musicians to start a new band. I know he's also done a cover of Land Down Under. I hate that song but I can imagine how great his cover will be. If I can get a copy I will share it.

Like A Virgin - Teenage Fanclub (originally by Madonna). You should know just by reading the song title and the covering artist just how good this is going to be. It is that good.

Sympathy For The Devil - Jane's Addiction (originally by the Rolling Stones). A live cover that's not quite as good as the original, but then few songs are.

The Boy With The Thorn In His Side - J Mascis (originally by The Smiths). Dinosaur Jr were one of my favourite bands growing up, The Wagon was possibly the first song that really got stuck into my head. Of course I was very pleased when they reformed and released an album last year that is the equal of their past greatness. J Mascis' unique vocals work perfectly on this cover.

Empire State Of Mind - Jackson Harris (originally by Jay-Z). Sometimes non-hip-hop covers of hip-hop songs are terrible, this however is great.

When Doves Cry - Damien Rice (originally by Prince). I was never really into Damien Rice, Cannonball irritated me and put me off listening to anything else he did. However a work colleague is a huge fan and convinced me to give him a try. I'm glad I did, I think this cover is far more representative of his work and talent than Cannonball.

Covers for Sunday - The Velvet Underground edition

2010-06-28T01:45:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-27T00:45:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-26T00:09:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-24T01:29:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-23T00:22:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-21T01:16:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-20T01:19:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-18T08:47:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-16T09:07:00.004+01:00

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

2010-06-15T09:05:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-14T01:40:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-13T01:24:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-11T23:21:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-09T08:47:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-08T01:39:00.001+01:00

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

Childish (mp3) - Damien Rice