Another Form of Relief

Boy am I running out of puns for these things.

Well it’s that time of the fortnight for one of these posts. As usual, we have an entirely random batch of coverings, including some excellent ones, and at least one that may actually be considered a crime against music.

MP3 Bright Eyes - Burn Rubber (expired) (Simon Joyner)
I should probably get this one out of the way first seeing as it’s the one here where I don’t actually know the original. I’ve looked around for it but can’t find it anywhere. If you happen to have it and would like to send it to me, that would be greatly appreciated. It’s a little more abstract than most Bright Eyes songs, although beyond that, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t one of his. It appeared as a b-side on the ‘Take It Easy’ EP and does work rather well as one of the Digital Ash type songs.

MP3 Nickel Creek - Spit On A Stranger (expired) (Pavement)
So we come to this weeks “ear bleeding” entry, thanks to those nice folks at Nickel Creek. First of all, covering ‘Spit On A Stranger’, one of Pavement’s finest works, is a bad idea idea as it is, but to do this to it is just downright wrong. How exactly did anyone think that this might be a good idea? I’ve included it here as I think most cover songs are interesting, even ones like this. Hell, one of you might even enjoy it. I don’t know what it is about it that makes me dislike it so much, but it just seems horrible to me. I don’t know what Nickel Creek are like beyond this song, so they might be pretty good for all I know. Doing this to a classic is just awful though.

MP3 Paul Anka - Smells Like Teen Spirit (expired) (Nirvana)
I’m sure that some of you may consider this one to be a musical crime too, but showing how bizarre taste can be, I think it’s absolutely fantastic. This is made all the more intriguing by the fact I can’t stand Paul Anka on the most part at all. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to take a seminal song like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and turn it into something completely different that still works though. If you thought the Ukulele Orchestra version I posted the other day, wait until you hear this one. Somehow turning the song into a full on big band swing song without a hint of irony, it really is one of the best covers I’ve heard in quite sometime.

MP3 Snow Patrol - You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. (live) (expired) (Bright Eyes)
I’m no Snow Patrol beyond a handful of songs, but all credit to them for taking on this song and managing to pull it off. I think this was recorded as part of a BBC session a while ago, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s not perfect, and at times sounds like Lightbody is reading the lyrics from a piece of paper or something, but it still sounds pretty good. It’s a shame that it takes a cover song to hear that Snow Patrol can actually do more interesting things than release twelve different versions of ‘Run’ and ‘Spitting Games’.

Obligatory pimping time

Just a quick reminder that there is only just over a week left on the eMusic 50 free mp3s promotion so be sure to grab them while you still can.

Also don’t forget that Audiolunchbox are also offering 50 free mp3s. I know that you crazy kids can never get enough free music.

In the blogs..

There’s a fantastic post up over at Good Hodgkins where a bunch of music bloggers talk about the songs that are significant to them. Not only do you get a bunch of great songs, there is also some fascinating commentary alongside it.

I can’t believe I forgot to link to this earlier, but I Guess I’m Floating has an excellent piece called ‘Mommy, Where Do Blogs Come From?‘ that looks into the songs behind the names of the major music blogs. As well as being rather enlightening, it’s also an awful lot of fun.