I've got a cat story for you, but it's not that charming. My cat Jaboo has conjunctivitis (a.k.a. pink eye) and I've been having a fun time playing Capture the Cat and Smear Lotion on Its Eye multiple times a day. Also extremely fun: prying his mouth open and force feeding him expensive painkillers. He's hiding under the couch right now.
Wilson Phillips - Doctor My Eyes [originally by Jackson Browne]
From their 2004 cover album, California.
EDIT 07/14/2009: Not sure when it happened, but this post disappeared without so much as a Blogger notice. It's back minus links, though it's vaguely unsettling.
In the land of covers, Kravitz is best known for his okay but unnecessary revision of the Guess Who classic American Woman, which actually earned him a Grammy Award in 2000, the second of a four straight wins in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category. It's kinda hard to believe his debut album Let Love Rule came out twenty years ago, a fact marked by a semi-recently released 2-disc deluxe edition. Though I haven't really listened to much of his stuff after the mid-90s, a handful of his songs still get a fair amount of regular play on the ol' iPod. Today, a mini cover tribute to Lenny Kravitz.
Aira Mitsuki - Rock and Roll is Dead [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
This throbbing, schizophrenic electro cover from Japan is a little frightening, but I love that it exists. I recently watched the excellent film The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, in which Lenny Kravitz popped up in a cameo and was reminded that I had been meaning to share this cover for a while.
Riovolt - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
There are a surprising number of smooth jazz/bossa covers of this song. This is one of the better ones.
The Moog Cookbook - Are You Gonna Go My Way [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
As if a Moog synthesizer cover wasn't enough, it just had to be a an Moog oompah hoedown. The Moog Cookbook put out Moog covers of 90s alternative rock on their 1995 self-titled debut followed by 1997's Ye Olde Space Bande (classic rock covers) and 2005's Bartell (mixed bag o' covers).
Cactus Jack - Are You Gonna Go My Way [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
Serbian rock band Cactus Jack do a more straight up rock cover with some playful zest from their 2002 cover album DisCover. You should just flat-out avoid the Tom Jones & Robbie Williams version of this song.
Lenny Kravitz - Have You Ever (Been to Electric Ladyland) [originally by The Jimi Hendrix Experience]
Remember when Kravitz was rumoured to play Jimi Hendrix in a biopic years ago? The Let Love Rule deluxe edition also features a live cover of Jimi's If 6 Was 9 recorded in 1989.
My all-time favourite Lenny:
I know it's horrible, but it still makes me laugh after all these years.
It's Canada Day today, which means it's also free agent frenzy in the NHL, like a double national holiday. Like every year it seems, there's lots of high drama surrounding my hometown Oilers trying, and often failing in a spectacular manner, to lure the big fish to town. I'm a big fan of our goaltending switch (from Roli to the Bulin Wall), but that's enough hockey talk for now. I've got my all-CanConCover playlist going and I'll share some tunes with you in honour of our country's birthday.
Damhnait Doyle - Everlong [originally by Foo Fighters]
The most overlooked and underrated cover album of 2008 has to go to Damhnait Doyle's Lights Down Low, which was produced by Danny Michel. You'd think with Danny's involvement I'd be all over this, but for some reason I neglected to check it out until earlier this year when I stumbled on it at Amie Street. Maybe it was the track list that didn't blow me away which includes a few that have already been over-covered like I Want You to Want Me or Love Will Tear Us Apart (again and again). But I was wrong, Doyle's versions they're worth listening to regardless. Danny's fingerprints are all over the album from his distinct guitar sounds, back-up vocals, and even the song selection. Covers of Train in Vain and a duet with Damhnait on Bob Marley's Is This Love? shouldn't surprise anyone who knows Danny digs The Clash and reggae in general as evidenced during his DJ stint on CBC's Under the Covers. Here's a gem (among many) from the album, an atmospheric cover of the Foo Fighters' great Everlong. For all their stature here in Canada, The Tragically Hip don't get a lot of cover love so it was cool to hear Damhnait's version of Bobcaygeon on the album too.
Danny Michel - Helpless [originally by Neil Young]
Colin James - Heart of Gold [originally by Neil Young]
Speaking of Danny Michel, a couple weeks ago he was part of Luminato 2009 in Toronto where a ton of Canadian musicians including Jason Collett, Cowboy Junkies, Steven Page, Sarah Slean, and more gathered to re-create Neil Young's 1971 concert at Massey Hall. The whole show can be streamed here, but here are Danny's cover of Helpless and Colin James' reggae-tinged version of Heart of Gold. By the way if you missed it, a very special guest showed up in the middle of Neil Young's frequent concert closer The Beatles' A Day in the Life-- great youtube vid here.
Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For [originally by U2]
In the past 6 months, this has probably been one of my most played covers. It starts off fairly normal with just a pair of voices and guitar before the gospel choir resoundingly echos the chorus and later lines. Then the cover takes a bluesy rock turn and kicks it into high gear with the choir still in tow. Most excellent.
The Euphorics - When the Night Feels My Song [originally by Bedouin Soundclash]
I prefer the sound of four-part a cappella groups over the big college a cappella groups, so I was very pleased to discover The Euphorics whose album Born to Sing includes great covers of Billy Joel's River of Dreams, I Wanna Be Like You (from Disney's The Jungle Book), Neil Young's After the Goldrush, and this version of When the Night Feels My Song by fellow Canadians Bedouin Soundclash.
John Stetch Trio - The Mighty Hercules (live in Edmonton) [originally by Johnny Nash]
I don't often get an opportunity to trumpet hometown cover content, but earlier this week I learned about Edmontonian jazz pianist John Stetch whose Juno-nominated CD TV Trio is all jazz covers of 70s and 80s TV themes. And there are some awesome cover picks from the Looney Tunes' This Is It, The Price is Right, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Star Trek and many more. However, my favourite pick is of the 60's Canadian cartoon The Mighty Hercules, which featured a theme written and performed by Johnny Nash, later of I Can See Clearly Now fame. There have been some doubts whether it's the same Johnny Nash, but all my research seems to point to yes. The show must have been re-aired in the 80s because most of the people I know distinctly remember Hercules, his centaur sidekick Newton ("Herc! Herc!"), and Toot the pan-piping satyr battling the villanous Daedalus in crappy, often re-used animation. AND the awesome theme song: "Softness in his eyes, iron in his thighs, virtue in his heart, fire in every part of the Mighty Hercules!" sung without a trace of irony. I love it and it's great to find someone finally cover it. This live version recorded at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton is from a show that's up on CBC Radio 2 in its entirety.
TV Trio is available at iTunes, Amazon.com (um, not .ca for some reason), and CD Baby. Check out the Japanese version of the theme here.
Wide Mouth Mason - Billie Jean [originally by Michael Jackson]
One more MJ cover for you, a bit of a rarity from Saskatchewan rockers Wide Mouth Mason. I actually got this from a Wide Mouth Mason Greatest Hits album that was only released in China. I didn't realize until I got back that their cover of Billie Jean only appears on that album, so I lucked out when I picked it up in Beijing though it's probably a bootleg.
D.D. Jackson - Head Over Feet [originally by Alanis Morissette]
D.D. Jackson - Hand in My Pocket [originally by Alanis Morissette]
Here are two great piano renditions of Alanis Morissette's Head Over Feet and Hand in My Pocket by Ottawa-born jazz pianist D.D. Jackson. This is from a tribute night to Alanis Morissette, a CBC's Radio 2 concert that is unfortunately no longer available online.
Coincidentally, I'll be down in Seattle this weekend for Jason Webley's Elevanniversary Spectacular and Camp Tomato, so for the very first time I'll be in the US for Independence Day festivities. Amanda Palmer has also twittered her presence at both events with a potential ninja ukulele gathering in the works... should be an awesome weekend.
I was in the elevator at work and two other passengers were chatting when I overheard: "Apparently Michael Jackson died." "Whaaa....??" I blurted in disbelief. He repeated the bombshell news, but it barely registered as I stepped off the elevator in a daze, heading to the nearest computer to confirm the news. I constantly refreshed the news feeds, some of which were still reporting of his being rushed to hospital. TMZ was the first to report his death, though some held out hope that as a gossip site they weren't the most reliable source. The tweets I followed were a mix of shock and denial with the most useful updates were coming from @BreakingNews. An hour or so later, the LA Times confirmed without a doubt the King of Pop died.
Tributes and pre-written obituaries have popped up everywhere. Jian Ghomeshi has a nice piece on the mess of conflicts faced by media and public alike in paying tribute. Yep, every blurb comes with an asterisk, disclaimer, or Big But and I'm no different. Eccentricities and controversies aside, Michael Jackson was an incredible talent and performer whose legacy and influence are undeniable.
We pay tribute here at Fong Songs the only way we know how, with a sampling of some of my favourite MJ covers, remixes, and mash-ups.
Heath Brandon - Billie Jean [originally by Michael Jackson]
Neil Finn - Billie Jean [originally by Michael Jackson]
The Lost Fingers - Billie Jean [originally by Michael Jackson]
Originally the subjects of today's post, I'm going to see these guys tonight on Granville Island as part of the Vancouver Jazz Festival. This MJ cover is from their first album Lost in the 80s, which covered 80s pop, while their sophomore record released less than 2 weeks ago is all French-language covers.
Speak Low - Thriller [originally by Michael Jackson]
J. Viewz - Smooth Criminal [originally by Michael Jackson]
Dick Brave & The Backbeats - Black or White [originally by Michael Jackson]
Transformer di Roboter - Stranger in Moscow [originally by Michael Jackson]
Konishi Yasuharu - I Want You Back (Readymade 524 Mix) [Remix of The Jackson 5]
Ben Double M - I Want Your Digital Love [The Jackson 5 vs. Daft Punk]
MadMixMustang - The Way You Got Me That Feeling [Michael Jackson vs. James Brown]
team9 - Screaming Pro [Michael Jackson vs. Beck]
Bittersweet headline of the day: Thriller inmates saddened over death of Michael Jackson
If you're not one of the 23.5 million viewers of the youtube video, check it out here.
Saddest typo of the day: "Micheal Jackson" as seen on Twitter's Trending Topics
I've been slacking a bit on the blogging front as I play with my new roommate, a cat named Jaboo I adopted a couple weeks ago. My own charming cat stories are forthcoming. Also, my brand new iMac arrived on Friday and proceeded to consume my whole weekend. Lots of fun. One of the things I've been looking forward to for months, when a new computer was but a tiny seed germinating in the back of my brain, was editing a video of Wall-E and Eve's space dance to the soundtrack of Cubismo Grafico's cover of A Whole New World. This has been an idea I've thought about and been obsessed with ever since I heard this cover from the 2007 Japanese album Lovebeat Disney and realized, whether intentional or not, that the space dance sequence was a 29th century equivalent of the A Whole New World scene from Aladdin. The female vocals of Cubismo Grafico are reminiscent of Eve's distinct digital voice and the whole cover has a futuristic electro vibe in general, which made it a perfect match.
Cubismo Grafico - A Whole New World
[originally performed by Brad Kane and Lea Solonga from Disney's Aladdin]
Mission accomplished:
Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals was last Friday with the Pittsburgh Penguins taking home the Stanley Cup over the reigning champion Detroit Red Wings. One of the many storylines surrounding the series, which was a rematch of last year's finals, concerned forward Marian Hossa who had been with the Penguins during last year's series and had joined the Red Wings in the off-season as a free agent in pursuit of the Cup. In theory, a promising idea since the Red Wings are proven contenders every year, but unfortunately Hossa found out the hard way you can't always get what you want. I imagine it stings that much more to lose to many of his former teammates. Ouch.
Earlier this season the NHL had a nifty ad campaign with several stars literally stepping out of photographs to say a few über-serious words about The Game. This one with the Penguins superstar captain Sidney Crosby is particularly great considering how the finals played out:
And here's a little follow-up spoof I put together a couple days ago for his former teammate Marian Hossa:
Honestly, I feel a little bad for the guy. On the flipside, I have no sympathy (because I'm a bitter old Oiler fan) for Ty Conklin who has unbelievably been in the Stanley Cup Finals (as back-up goaltender) in three of the past four years with three different teams with no Cup ring to show for it. Triple ouch. Coincidentally, another former Oiler goalie Mathieu Garon was traded to the Penguins halfway through this season and got to hoist the Cup before him, heh heh.
Exuma - You Can't Always Get What You Want [originally by The Rolling Stones]
...but sometimes you can get what you want. For a long time I've been meaning to a commission a drawing from Alex Robinson, the most excellent comic book artist of Box Office Poison, Tricked, and Too Cool To Be Forgotten. So last week I finally sent him my proposal for Jane and Stephen, two of his characters from Box Office Poison, to re-enact a notable album cover. Any long-time reader should be able to guess what band's album cover I asked him to "cover". Yesterday I got an e-mail from Alex with a scan of the brilliant result and it'll be in the mail to me today! Check it out! By the way, Alex and fellow comic book artist Mike Dawson (Freddie & Me) have a podcast called The Ink Panthers-- now on iTunes. It's basically two friends riffing on a variety of random topics (i.e. identical triplets, prerequisites to calling oneself a Rush fan, safety of baby bike trailers) without, say, the obnoxiousness of morning radio DJs on a classic rock station. They're only three episodes in and still working out the kinks, but it frequently makes me chuckle maniacally to myself on the bus to work.
[EDIT: DMCA takedown on the original post... first one in 6 months. Re-posted minus the linkage. No more Bowie I'm guessing.]
Today the sci-fi film Moon is out in limited release, unfortunately not here. I've been really keen on seeing it since hearing some buzz from Sundance, even though I've been avoiding previews and reviews like the swine flu. From what I know, it's about an astronaut (Sam Rockwell) alone on a lunar base nearing the end of his three year contract with his HAL-like computer/robot companion voiced by Kevin Spacey, an appropriate casting choice since he's been nearly unwatchable for the past 10 years. I'm thinking (or hoping for) 2001: A Space Odyssey + robot sidekick from Beneath a Steel Sky meets Space Oddity. Isolation and mindbendiness ensue. It's the debut feature film by director/co-writer Duncan Jones. If that name doesn't ring any bells, he has previously gone by Zowie Bowie. That's right, he is Son of David Bowie. Now if you mentioned that in an interview, would he become belligerent and bring up Tom Petty?
Major Tom has had a storied history in song since being introduced in Bowie's Space Oddity, released a five days before the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969. Bowie also revisited the fictional astronaut in Ashes to Ashes and Hallo Spaceboy. German artist Peter Schilling scored a 1983 hit with Major Tom (Coming Home), which is sort of a sequel song (can you think of others?). More recently, the car company Lincoln built an ad campaign around the Major Tom theme featuring covers of both Space Oddity by Cat Power and Major Tom (Coming Home) by Shiny Toy Guns. Alas, Cat Power only recorded the 30-second cover and there is no full-length version. Is Moon the next chapter of Major Tom's saga, at least in spirit?
My summer of concerts officially got underway in the last few weeks with gigs from Ellen McIlwaine and Danny Michel, but those were just the appetizers. I figured my concert-going in general might be on the decline as my concert bucket list is down to just one hand, though I guess I'm in trouble if Jack White keeps starting new bands. There are some major gigs coming down the pipeline, which makes me glad to be just a quick hop away from Seattle. Expect more on these shows later... but for now, a tasty preview of my summer lineup.
June 26 - The Lost Fingers
August 6 - 9 Edmonton Folk Music Festival
August 21 & 22 - The Dead Weather
August 28 & 29 - Harvey DangerLast Thursday, Danny Michel came through town on the last leg of his tour. He's headed back to the studio this fall to start working on a new album (yay!), but this time it'll be his home studio in "an old farmhouse" he recently bought. It was the fifth time I've seen him live and every time someone inevitably shouts out for him to play the "Shrimp Song". Usually he says no because he promised himself he'd stop playing it, but this time he relented when it became apparent most of the crowd hadn't heard it before (or they kept silent because they secretly wanted him to play it). Now the Shrimp Song AKA Song of the Shrimp is a cover of a bizarre, tragic, hilarious ditty originally performed by The King of Rock 'n Roll himself, Mr. Elvis Presley.
Elvis Presley - Song of the Shrimp [written by Roy Bennett and Sid Tepper]
Song of the Shrimp was written by the songwriting team of Bennett & Tepper for the 1962 Elvis film Girls! Girls! Girls!. In total, they wrote 42 songs for various Elvis films and albums. In its original incarnation, it's a light-hearted albeit warped Belafonte-esque tune about a baby shrimp saying goodbye to his loving parents and jumping on a shrimp boat to Louisiana to "find his fortune" (he reads an ad in the Shrimp newspaper for a free trip to New Orleans!). Little does he know there's a "Big Creole gal" waiting to help young shrimp such as himself out of their shells. Essay topic: in 500 words or less, discuss how Song of the Shrimp is a metaphor for sending young men to war.
Townes Van Zandt - Song of the Shrimp [originally performed by Elvis Presley]
In this live cut, Van Zandt can barely make it through without breaking down, frequently laughing and commenting at the inherent absurdity of the song. Carolyn Mark who was co-headlining with Danny Michel has a free "living room tour" album for download on her site with a handful of covers that coincidentally includes Van Zandt's Lost Highway [EDIT: actually it's originally written by Leon Payne and made famous by Hank Williams].
Frank Black - Song of the Shrimp [originally performed by Elvis Presley]
Frank Black sings this one straight on his 2005 album Honeycomb, showcasing a darker side to the lyrics. In an interview, Black reveals that he was inspired by Van Zandt's version and has actually never even heard Elvis Presley's version. This time when hearing Danny perform the Shrimp Song (I'd only heard him play it once before at my very first show) I realized that his version seems to be based in turn on Frank Black's cover. So, a cover of a cover of a cover. Over a year ago on his blog, Danny teased about posting his version of Song of the Shrimp, so I suspect he has a recording in his archives somewhere and hope we'll hear it someday...
May 4th (i.e. "May the Fourth be with you...") passed by without any fanfare and at least one reader wondered what happened to my annual Star Wars covers post. In fact, they had even marked it in their calendar to check Fong Songs that day (how flattering!) and I sure let them down like The Phantom Menace. Fortunately for me, there is a less punny date that I can and will celebrate as Star Wars Day and that's today, May 25th, the 32nd anniversary of the release of Star Wars. Apparently the appropriate gift for one's 32nd anniversary (who knew there was such a thing?) is "conveyances", meaning transportation.
While I thought I'd be out of worthy covers by this point, I did manage to scrounge up a few gems. Happy Star Wars Day!
Maynard Ferguson - Star Wars
This funky disco instrumental cover by the late legendary Canadian trumpet player and bandleader Maynard Ferguson is fitting since he was actually born on the other Star Wars Day: May 4th, 1928.
Lightspeed Champion - Star Wars Medley
A live medley by UK indie artist Lightspeed Champion, who's no stranger to covers having released several free "official bootlegs" including a cover album of Green Day's Nimrod, which I can't track down for the life of me (hint, hint). He also does a nice acoustic take on The Strokes' Heart in a Cage on ShootThePlayer.com.
The Swingle Singers - Star Wars
The Swingle Singers are a famous a cappella group whose original incarnation dates back to 1962. I remember my piano teacher telling me about them years ago since a lot of their albums are vocal interpretations of classical pieces. This comes from their 1997 album Screen Tested, which features their distinct covers of orchestral film scores.
Ron Carter - The Asteroid Field
The Asteroid Field is my favourite piece of Star Wars music, in fact possibly even my favourite composition of any film soundtrack. This jazz cover is from Ron Carter's Empire Jazz, though I find it overly long at just over 9 minutes and pretty much unrecognizable from the original after the first minute. I do have to admit it has a brilliant album cover (as seen at the top of the post).
Epica - The Imperial March
A throbbing cover by Dutch metal band Epica from their new live album The Classical Conspiracy, which also contains unlikely "symphonic metal" medleys of Danny Elfman's Spider-Man score and Klaus Badelt & Hans Zimmer's scores to the Pirates of the Carribean series.
Kuricorder - The Imperial March
From a 2005 Japanese compilation of Star Wars covers Ukulele Force (yes, ukulele based covers!), this is an irresistibly cute rendition of Darth Vader's theme that reminds me of Peter & The Wolf or some sort of Zelda forest march.
James Hill - Mos Eisley Spaceport
Better known as Cantina Band, this cover is also from Ukulele Force. Though almost all the performers on the album are Japanese, this contribution is from Canadian ukulele virtuoso James Hill and it previously appeared on his 2003 release On the Other Hand. After poking around his website and listening to many MP3 samples, I was forced to order a couple of his CDs that I'm eagerly awaiting in my mailbox. Super Mario and Inspector Gadget are a couple of the covers interspersed between his originals-- and they all sound great! I wish he had been on my radar earlier since he just had a CD release show and ukulele workshop a few weeks ago here in Vancouver! And since I am a budding ukulele player...
Riverboat's Jazz Band - Cantina Band
Here's a fantastic New Orleans jazz cover via France by Riverboat's Jazz Band.
Swingtips - Cantina Band
Another Cantina Band cover from Arizona swing band the Swingtips.
The Solids - Ewok Celebration
This is an amusing acoustic cover of the Ewok celebration song from Return of the Jedi by The Solids who may best be known for the theme to the sitcom How I Met our Mother.
Erich Korngold - Kings Row
Now this may be old news in Star Wars circles, but I was quite surprised to come across this bit of musical controversy while looking for covers. This is the main theme from the 1942 film Kings Gold scored by Erich Korngold, which is a clear inspiration for the main Star Wars theme, the first eight notes being pretty much the same. I've seen lawsuits based on weaker similarities than this. A portion of this track seems to have also "inspired" John Williams' Superman theme. My ears were shocked when they heard this.
Speaking of Korngold and inspiration, earlier this year Fong Songs fave Danny Michel (who I'm going to see in concert later this week) collaborated with the Art of Time Ensemble for the 2nd time with their Source & Inspiration series. In 2007, Danny composed two new songs based on the work of Franz Schubert and this year's spotlight was on Korngold. The whole concert which also features Martin Tielli and John Southworth is available for streaming on CBC Radio 2's Concerts on Demand.
