Covers for Sunday - Jazz Edition

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

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

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.