A few covers
I’m pretty tired tonight (it’s amazing just how exhausted I get from bowling and then working, but no matter) so this’ll be a brief one. We’re also going for a non-standard type post, and I’m just going to post a bunch of covers that I’ve been enjoying a lot lately. I’ll admit now that I’m a massive fan of covers. As such, this’ll probably become a regular feature. By regular I mean when I can be botherd, not having a set day for them or whatever. I’ll leave that to Chad at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands (saturdays in case you are wondering). I know there are a bunch of people that hate them as if they take something away from the original song or something, but I always like hearing what artists can do with other people’s material. Covers that I’m currently liking a lot:
MP3 The Mountain Goats – The Boys Are Back In Town / Ignition Remix (expired) (Thin Lizzy / R Kelly)
Sorry for the slightly crappy quality on this one, but it seems to have been recorded from a French radio stream. It’s worth it though as not only do The Mountain Goats turn Thin Lizzy’s rocking song into something considerably more laid back, but they also suddenly burst into a cover of R Kelly’s Ignition Remix toward the end, which has to be one of the strangest medleys in quite some time.
MP3 Arctic Monkeys – Love Machine (expired) (Girls Aloud)
When I said I was a fan of covers, I forgot to mention that I’m particularly a fan of ones that really shouldn’t work, but somehow end up being rather awesome. This is a prime example of that. Take a generic pop song by a rather crappy girl band (I know they have their fans, but come on), give it to this weeks “saviours of rock and roll” (copyright NME 1995-2006) and you get an alarmingly catchy outcome. I still think the song is still rather dire, but the way the Monkeys give it their all, play it straight (mostly) and actually manage to pull it off is quite an incredible feat.
MP3 Ben Folds – Bitches Ain’t Shit (expired) (Dr. Dre)
Yet another “shouldn’t work, but somehow does” cover. Quite how one would go about turning a gangsta rap song into a pretty mellow piano song. It’s one of the most foul mouthed things you’ll ever hear (unless you listen to gangsta rap regularly I guess), yet somehow it’s entirely great. I can’t stand rap on the most part yet I really like this, despite the song itself being pretty dire. I suppose it’s more respecting the achievement of it than anything else, but I like it a lot.
MP3 Stars – This Charming Man (expired) (The Smiths)
I’m not a massive Smiths fan, no matter how much I try to appreciate them. However, This Charming Man is one of the few songs that I really enjoy. Which made me slightly worried about this cover of it given Death Cab’s complete and utter slaughtering of it on their You Can Play These Songs.. album a few years ago. I shouldn’t have worried though, as Stars don’t make the mistake of trying to be Morrissey. Instead, the make the song their own, turning up the electronica and slowing down the pace. It’s not as good as the original, but it’s dares to be different, and that’s what a cover should do.
Seeing as this blog is becoming my primary place to write, I’m going to use it to occasionally vent about other things given I’m not updating my regular blog anymore. As such, I’d like to register my disappoint with HBO’s Big Love. I guess it’s mostly my fault for expecting it just be a pologamy themed Six Feet Under. I was really getting my hopes up after another awesome HBO credit sequence (honestly, have they ever made a bad one?) but it collapsed quickly after. It was just kind of a nothingness. With the addition of a little comedy it could be something great, but played entirely straight it just doesn’t really work without coming off as dull. It might improve, and I’ll give it a few episodes, but I’m really not convinced so far.
Ok, so that ended up being far more than just a brief one. Now I’m going to go to bed before I collapse and wake up tomorrow morning in a heap on my floor.
The Stars cover of “This Charming Man” is one of my favorite songs. And belated thanks for the Art Brut acoustic set.