Fong Songs 101 All-Time Covers: #88 to 83

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Just joining us?
I'm counting down 101 of my all-time favourite covers before packing this blog away in the attic.
Read my countdown preamble here.
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Swedish Invasion
88. The Flu - Hate to Say I Told you So [originally by The Hives]
What sounds like a window breaking kicks off this audacious cover with multi-part harmony and a hoedown bassline. At first it's a hilarious context shifting variation on The Hives hit, but by the midpoint I always want to join in on the handclaps, sing along with the climactic harmonized vocal arpeggio right out of Twist & Shout, and folk rock out like there's no tomorrow. I don't know if "harmonized vocal arpeggio" is a proper term, but you know what I'm talking about, right? See also: intro to Bowie's Let's Dance.

87. Love is All - I Ran [originally by A Flock of Seagulls]
With wailing child-like vocals, splashes of saxomaphone, and idiosyncratic drumming, this fun and noisy take by Love is All (from Gothenburg, Sweden) made me completely forget the original, perhaps that's a good thing anyway. They also remind me of a defunct San Diego band I adore called Bunky.

86. Glow - Dancing Queen [originally by ABBA]
It's fun to play this for someone and see how long it take for them to identify the original. This is such a dramatic pop rock reinvention that unless they recognize the lyrics, it might not be until right before the chorus that they finally go "Ahhhhh!". This is from a German ABBA tribute album, aptly named A Tribute to ABBA. That might sound generic, but another cover from this album will grace this list a little later on.

Showtunes
The soundtracks to Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera were ingrained in my head from a fairly early age. I've seen them each about three times and have listened to both soundtracks countless times. There of plenty of Phantom covers though sadly very few Les Miz covers (excluding I Dreamed a Dream). Although Me First & The Gimme Gimmes have a full album of showtune covers (Are a Drag), genre busting covers of any Broadway musical number are somewhat hard to come by. The next are a couple of my favourites while the last one's a bit of a cheat.

85. Nightwish - The Phantom of The Opera [originally from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera]
The definitive metal cover of The Phantom of the Opera, Finnish power metal group Nightwish delivers a snarling, but faithful rendition with an impressive duet from Nightwish's original classically trained vocalist Tarja Turunen and the band's bassist Marco Hietala. By the way, look up Nightwish in the Urban Dictionary for a laugh.

84. Toy Dolls - Any Dream Will Do [originally from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]
I've never been completely sold on Joseph, which I also saw when I was quite young. Some of the music is pretty catchy, but my overwhelming impression of the CD soundtrack (I'm probably wrong in retrospect) was that it sounded like one guy on a keyboard playing all the instruments. I'm a big fan of English punk band the Toy Dolls' cheeky rendition of Joseph's opening number complete with children's choir.

83. Jon Brion - Play the Game [originally by Queen]
Technically this is in the Queen musical We Will Rock You so it's getting lumped in here to help fill out the showtunes category. Jon Brion is a remarkable and severely underrated musician/composer/virtuoso. As a producer he's worked on albums for Fiona Apple, Kanyé West (Late Registration), Rufus Wainwright, and Aimee Mann among others. He composed the scores to P. T. Anderson's Hard Eight, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, not to mention Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He's legendary in certain circles for his residency at L.A.'s Largo club where he'd play setlist-less shows of originals and covers shouted out from the audience, his knowledge of popular music history being so vast that it was a challenge to stump him. He still plays there semi-regularly and I'd love to visit Los Angeles just to see him perform (I've been to the Largo, but my trip didn't coincide with one of his shows). His solo output is limited to his 2001 indie release Meaningless, a long time bestseller on CD Baby, and a handful of guest appearances on compilation albums including Sing Hollies in Reverse and Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.

Tomorrow the Fong Songs 101 countdown continues with a quick trip through the 1980s.

Nelson Sings Nilsson in L.A.

If you're in Los Angeles next-next weekend, I strongly urge you to go see Sean Nelson (of Harvey Danger) perform the songs of Harry Nilsson at The Largo's Little Room. The show is Saturday February 21 at 10pm, all ages, $15 at the door. It is literally a little room that holds less than 100 people, so you'd definitely be in for a treat. While there are lush arrangements on the finished but never released Nelson Sings Nilsson album, this'll be a stripped down guitar/piano/vocal show.

And if you're really lucky, maybe Jon Brion will jump out of the audience, scramble for a guitar, and play an impromptu solo. That's what happened during a cover of Maybe I'm Amazed when Harvey Danger played last year in the Little Room:

Nelson is also in L.A. because a film that he stars in and co-wrote called My Effortless Brilliance was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award! More precisely, it's the film's director Lynn Shelton up for the "Someone to Watch" Award and she's up against animator Nina Paley, who Roger Ebert's been championing here. Shelton has already garnered more attention when her follow-up film Humpday premiered at Sundance a few weeks ago to good reviews.

I'm Amazed

A few days ago, Jeff Lin & Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger played an intimate acoustic set at the Largo Little Room in Los Angeles. The capacity is only 60 people (jealous!) and the set was stripped down piano (Jeff) and vocal (Sean) takes on the Harvey Danger catalogue plus some choice covers: Old Man On The Farm (Randy Newman), Hollywood Hopeful (Loudon Wainwright III), and Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney & The Wings).

Here's an awesome video for Maybe I'm Amazed with major kudos to taper innerturmoil and Sean & Jeff for allowing it.

When it's time for the guitar solo, this ragamuffin runs in from off-stage with an acoustic guitar to perform the solo. JON BRION. Yes, my mind was officially blown.

Random Rules with JoCo

Random Rules with Jonathan Coulton just went up on the AV Club. JoCo talks about Lennon vs. McCartney, giving his CD to Jon Brion ("like handing a piece of poop to an angel"), and running into OK Go at the Senate building and pretending not to know who they were. It also likely contains the first ever post-Raconteurs reference to Brendan Benson that doesn't mention the Raconteurs or Jack White (I am not immune). Great article.

There's something Happening here...

...and what it is ain't exactly clear. M Night Shyamalan's The Happening opens this Friday and I'll be lined up to see it even though his track record has steadily declined with each successive film. He started off well (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable), got carried away with increasingly inane twist endings though I still enjoyed them (Signs, The Village), then stumbled mightily with Lady in the Water. Trailers seem to be setting up another Big Reveal, though I have a theory on what's happening in The Happening. It's Shyamalan's feature-length explanation for Radiohead's music video for Just:





Just kidding, I have a real theory about The Happening... I'm thinking something along the lines of Day After Tomorrow and being "chased by cold air". Anyway, this is just a good excuse for some Just covers.

Mark Ronson - Just (DJ Premier Remix feat. Blaq Poet) [originally by Radiohead]
Mark Ronson - Just (The Loving Hand Remix) [originally by Radiohead]
Mark Ronson - Just (Go! Team Remix) [originally by Radiohead]
In 2006, Mark Ronson produced the highest profile Just cover yet, featuring Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet and the funky horn section of The Dap-Kings. The, ahem, "original" cover can be found on Ronson's Version album or on the Radiohead tribute album Exit Music: Songs With Radio Heads. The subgenre of remixed cover songs is worthy of a future post, but for now here are three remixes of Ronson's re-version of Just. My pick goes to the Go! Team remix, which basically creates a new instrumental song using a variation of the familiar Just opening riff, the Dap-Kings horns, and a harmonica.

The Section Quartet - Just [originally by Radiohead]
From one of them String Quartet Tributes. It's okay, but like the Pickin' On series of bluegrass covers, my tolerance for string quartet covers has diminished quite considerably.

Nickel Creek - Just (Live at the Largo) [originally by Radiohead]
I'm lucky to have caught the Watkins Family Hour at the Largo in January. Turns out the old Largo closed up shop last month with an epic Jon Brion concert and re-opened with an Aimee Mann gig last week at a new locale, the Coronet Theater. Gone is the in-your-living-room atmosphere, but also gone is the $15 food & drink minimum. The same rules apply: no electronics, no talking. It's all about the music (or comedians). The line-up is stellar as usual, which is not hard when you have Jon Brion playing two sets every Friday night! I definitely need to make a return trip to LA just for the Largo redux.

Aimee Mann & Michael Penn - I Just Wasn't Made For These Times [originally by the Beach Boys]
Speaking of Aimee Mann, Brian just alerted me to this article in the Globe & Mail, which reports that Aimee is looking for YouTube covers of her new song Freeway. The contest runs until July 7 with the winner getting the opportunity to sing onstage with her at a future gig. Official details here. In the coming months, Aimee will be doing a bit of a folk festival circuit in Canada with headlining performances at the Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton folk fests. Canadian rock fans should be well familiar with her prominent back-up vocals on the Rush classic Time Stand Still.

Rush - For What It's Worth [originally by Buffalo Springfield]
"Stop, children, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down."

Trews & Stuff

Going to see The Trews tonight at the Commodore Ballroom. They're a rock band from Nova Scotia that I first saw when they opened for Robert Plant in 2005. They remind me a bit of The Black Crowes, perhaps without so much of the heavy blues influence. That set ended with a lively cover of Bohemian Rhapsody and I'm curious to see if they'll play some covers tonight since some Stones covers have also been known to show up. No Time For Later, their latest album, was released in February though I haven't heard it yet. My friend and roommate is a big fan, so Den of Thieves their second album from 2005 has been getting a lot of spins lately.

The Trews - Poor Ol' Broken Hearted Me
I distinctly remember this from that show as they impressively sung the harmonized a cappella intro from what I consider the standout track from Den of Thieves.

The Trews - Naked [originally by Tracy Bonham]
This cover is also from Den of Thieves.

The Trews and Ron Hynes - Mull of Kintyre [originally by Paul McCartney]
Last year, The Trews appeared with Ron Hynes, a folk singer from Newfoundland, on the great CBC Radio program Fuse, where two artists are brought together to fuse with each other's songs, or in this case Paul McCartney's song. Coming up soon on Fuse: Basia Bulat with the Hylozoists.

Michael Kaeshammer & Hayley Sales - Happy Xmas (War is Over) [originally by John Lennon & Yoko Ono]
This past weekend on Fuse, they re-broadcast a show from December featuring singer-songwriter Hayley Sales and jazz pianist/singer Michael Kaeshammer. There are numerous covers of the John Lennon's classic song, though most are very faithful and often embellish the bittersweetness of the tune. This is a playful cover that for once puts the "happy" in Happy Xmas.

Tift Merritt - The Long and Winding Road [originally by The Beatles]
Look, I'm not even trying and we got three Beatles-related covers in a row! Last Friday I went to see Tift Merritt live at the Plaza Club... sort of by accident. I bought the ticket meaning to see Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek who was the opener, though I completely missed her since I was at a birthday dinner for an acquaintance. This is perhaps the first time in history that the show started soon after the doors opened. I've been to shows where the opening act came on three hours after doors opened and typically a couple hours seems safe. Doors were at 7pm, I arrived at 8:15pm, Tift Merritt came on at 8:30pm. The whole time I figured Sara Watkins didn't even perform since she wasn't listed on the ticket or anything, but Tift thanked Sara at the end of the night and her CDs were being sold at the back. Kinda sucked to miss her, but I did see her perform already in L.A. a couple months ago and Tift Merritt put on a great show anyway.

Tift Merritt - It's the Shame [originally by Stillhouse]
Honestly, I'd never even really heard of Tift Merritt, though she's been nominated for a 2004 Grammy and been on Austin City Limits among other things. Though born in Houston, Texas, she moved to North Carolina at an early age, which of course is where two of my favourite bands are from, Ben Folds Five and Squirrel Nut Zippers. In fact, Tift Merritt's drummer Zeke Hutchins also drums for Hotel Lights, a band started by former Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee. This cover is from Songs For Sixty Five Roses, a charity compilation benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The album features North Carolina bands "re-working the North Carolina jukebox" and here, Tift covers a band called Stillhouse, which as I learned from their website has a drummer named... Zeke Hutchins. How many bands does this guy drum for? The answer: several.

Dolly Parton with Nickel Creek - Blowin' in the Wind [originally by Bob Dylan]
While I missed Sara Watkins perform, I did find out from a little postcard-like thing I grabbed on the way out that she's got a new solo album coming out soon. Her solo myspace site is here and my jaw was dropping as I read her some blog posts... she and her brother Sean flew out to London in December for the LED ZEPPELIN reunion! *JEALOUS* And how did they score tickets? Well, I guess it helps to have John Paul Jones as a pal and colleague. JPJ has been known to sit-in as a guest on The Watkins Family Hour at the Largo and he's producing her solo album, which features as her band Sean Watkins, Glen Phillips, Greg Leisz, Benmont Tentch, Pete Thomas, Davey Faragher, and Luke Bulla. When I was in L.A. at the end of January, going to see The Watkins Family Hour at the Largo was a definite must-see, even though it was absolutely pouring that night. It's heavy on the ground rules (no electronics including cellphones, no talking during show, minimum dinner charge, etc.), but totally worth it for a pure music-loving atmosphere. I don't know for sure, but I figure you could only squeeze 100 people in there, so it's as intimate as you can get outside of a show in your living room. As awesome as the show was, I couldn't help but pout when I read that two weeks later Jon Paul Jones and Jon Brion were guests. Sigh. Based on blog post, Sara had a nice first look at Vancouver and may be back this fall in conjunction with her new album.

A Whole New Blog

There's a new face in the Covers neighbourhood this week: Covering the Mouse. That would be reason enough to celebrate, but even moreso due to the fact that this new music blog devoted to Disney cover songs. I repeat, DISNEY COVER SONGS. The music of Disney films and television shows has been ingrained in our collective childhoods across the globe, which makes it a prime source for cover songs. I've been known on more than one occasion to post Disney covers myself since it is one of my favourite sub-categories of cover songs, so naturally it's my new favourite blog. And the blogger's a fellow Canuck to boot, which is totally irrelevant but makes me happy nonetheless.


Now to celebrate, this would be brilliant time to pull out my non-existent cover of The Unbirthday Song. Instead here's a couple gems from my Disney covers collection:

The Bedroom Orchestra - You've Got a Friend in Me (live) [originally by Randy Newman from Toy Story]
Here's a great acoustic cover from BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, a show known for getting its guest to perform unlikely covers. It also has a grating host in Jo Whiley who gushes over her guests to a degree that makes me cringe, or at least that's the impression I get from the snippets of dialogue that often surround the live lounge recordings. Luckily, you won't hear any of her in this cover of the beloved Toy Story song performed by The Bedroom Orchestra, who by all accounts is a one-man band. Is this disconnect between band names and number of band members a recent trend?

Watkins Family Hour - Not in Nottingham (live) [originally from Robin Hood]
This song is wonderfully bittersweet song from Robin Hood, one of my fav's of the Disney catalogue. I can just picture the slow pan across the sad animal residents of Nottingham shackled up in the town jail. Ooh, that rascally Sheriff! To find a cover of this at all is exciting, let alone a live cover by the Watkins Family Hour. At the core, the Watkins Family Hour is Sean and Sara Watkins, two-thirds of Nickel Creek, playing host to a variety of musical guests (predominantly at The Largo in LA) that have included the likes of Grant-Lee Phillips, Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, Glen Phillips, and many more. The fact that The Ditty Bops accompanied them on that particular night at The Largo is just icing on the cake.

So add Covering the Mouse to your bookmarks immediately! And there's even an accompanying Facebook group you can join, if you're so inclined (and I am). Welcome, welcome!

Happy New Year

Here's a belated, much belaboured year-end round-up post. Phew.

Top covers:
I'm not going to bother ranking these or anything, but these are some of the notable highlights of last year for me in the cover world.

Harvey Danger - Oh! You Pretty Things [originally by David Bowie]
One of my favourite bands covering one of my favourite Bowie tracks? Most excellent. I don't know what I was expecting when I first heard it, but I was vaguely underwhelmed. This may have to do with the piano being replaced by an organ. I quickly got over that minor quibble and by the second time I gave it a listen, it had suddenly become a delayed instant classic. Go figure. If you're looking for something to spend $0.99 at the iTunes store, I'd have to recommend this above all others.

Corinne Bailey Rae - Since I've Been Loving You (live AOL session) [originally by Led Zeppelin]
I was blown away when I heard this cover. This is the 2nd cover I've heard from her and now I'm starting to take notice. Despite being one of the greatest and most successful rock bands ever, I still feel that Led Zeppelin is somehow underrated (if that is even remotely possible). Um, I was about to go into a big rant about it, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Apparently, Bailey Rae will have an album version of this next year... or rather, this year (still not used to 2007 yet).

Chris Thile - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground [originally by The White Stripes]
I love The White Stripes. I love covers. And Chris Thile of Nickel Creek hit this one out of the ballpark. The version I posted is not actually the cut from the album, but a truly solo live version from Reg's Coffee House, which is incidentally fantastic. Also go here for video of another live version and a great cover of The Band's Ophelia.

Nickel Creek - Just (live at the Largo) [originally by Radiohead]
Last year Mark Ronson released a cover of Radiohead's Just, which was superb to say the least. While there are billions of Creep covers, it was the first Just cover I had heard and I welcomed it with open arms. Then Nickel Creek had to come along and cover it too. Now there are two superb Just covers. I nicked this from the Largo website, which I had stumbled upon while scouring the net for Jon Brion material. For a while there, he was performing at the Largo once a week. How sweet would that have been? Answer: pretty damn sweet. Now I hear The Watkins Family Hour (aka two-thirds of Nickel Creek) are performing at the Largo almost every Thursday until the spring (contrary to the online Largo calendar). Very cool, if you live in LA.

Lulu Hughes - Time [originally by Pink Floyd]
So I borrowed this album from the library called Pink Floyd Redux. I wasn't expecting much seeing how I'm just a casual Pink Floyd fan, but damn if this isn't one of the best covers of the year.

Devo 2.0 - Monkey's Uncle [originally by Annette Funicello with the Beach Boys]
My musical knowledge of the original Devo is limited, so I haven't really formed an opinion as to whether an all-children's update of the new age group is a good idea or instant sacrilege. I have also never heard the original of this 1965 Disney song (from the movie of the same name), which was apparently sung by Annette Funicello with the Beach Boys (?!). Somehow none of this mattered as I was sucked into this song unawares and learned the following things: A) Songs about monkeys are cool; B) Children singing like robots is strange (but fun!); C) Corporate Disney channel cash-ins aren't ALL bad; D) Devo for kids is WAY better than kidz bop... ugh.

Natalie Cole - Criminal [originally by Fiona Apple]
Fiona Apple in the style of Aretha Franklin is unexpected. Unexpectedly awesome, that is.

Fall Out Boy - What's This? [originally by Danny Elfman from The Nightmare Before Christmas]
This had all the makings of disaster... Fall Out Boy? Covering beloved animated classic? And yet, it's addictive. Not surprisingly amped up, but surprisingly faithful and the lead singer has a flair for theatrics, which is advantageous in this case. Other covers on the Nightmare soundtrack re-release, not so successful (with the exception of Fiona Apple). Why wasn't the 3D re-release of the film shown seemingly anywhere in Canada?

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Catchiest song of the year:
Jason Webley - Eleven Saints [via Fabulist]
This year's War Photographer award (for an insanely catchy tune attached to online animated music video) goes to Jason Webley's Eleven Saints. About a month ago Neil Gaiman posted on his journal "And just so you know, I cannot get this song and video out of my head". Naturally I had to check out the link and he was absolutely right, it's damn catchy. Since then I've been listening to it incessantly and then a couple days ago I finally decided to check out Jason Webley's website where I discovered in the forums that he had just finished touring with the Dresden Dolls. What the deuce?!? My musical tastes once again converge in strange and unexpected ways (see: Ben Folds calls up the Dresden Dolls). In this recent interview with Fabulist, Jason Webley's story of how the tour with the Dolls came about is equally strange.

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Favourite albums of 2006:
The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia


Analyzing my iTunes play counts by 2006 albums, The Dresden Dolls take 5 of the top 6 most played tracks. Four songs from this album and a b-side. It's hard to argue that any other album released last year topped this one in my books.
Mrs. O
Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner (B-side)
When I hear the latter song, I'm reminded of a French film I saw this year at the Edmonton film fest called La Tourneuse de Pages and specifically a scene where the lonesome cello player attempts to take advantage of the page turner (this does not end well for him). Previously I had never heard of a page turner as a vocation, let alone the subject of a film or song. If cold, calculated revenge is your thing, I recommend this film. Although when it ended, the woman seated in front of me promptly stood up and declared that she hated it. You can listen to me or that woman.




Rodrigo y Gabriela (self-titled)
First of two artists I "discovered" this past summer while in the FOPP record store in Bath, UK. A friend and I were perusing the CD racks and just couldn't NOT ask what was playing over the speakers. We were told Rodrigo y Gabriela. OK, mental note to self: remember those names and look into it when I get back home in a month or so. I later learned their latest album was produced in Bath, so it made sense that they were promoting it. The duo themselves are from Mexico and based in Dublin (!). I would later have the obscene good fortune of seeing them when they inexplicably made a stop at the Edmonton Folk Festival (to the neglect of the rest of Canada). Here's a Metallica cover:
Orion [originally by Metallica]

Wolfmother (self-titled)
Wolfmother is the other band I heard for the first time while in FOPP in Bath. It was this first track Dimension blaring over the speakers that was irresistably rockin'. Later in my summer travels, I bought their CD in New York City. First impressions: Jet spliced with White Stripes. To some, that would be a bad thing. But I like it, so there.
Dimension

The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
I am of the opinion that nearly everything Jack White is involved with is exceptional and The Raconteurs is no exception. Looking at that sentence I just wrote, I'm starting to doubt its logicality. . . Um, The Raconteurs rule!
The Bane Rendition (b-side to Steady as She Goes)
Together

Hawksley Worksman - Treeful of Starling
Seeing Hawksley Workman at the Folk Fest made me regret not checking out his music earlier. His long delayed, rain-soaked Friday evening performance on the Main Stage was mesmerizing even though it was only him and his piano player Mr. Lonely. I became an instant fan and thoroughly enjoyed his subsequent workshops on the side stages. This makes a nice post-apocalyptic companion piece to We Will Become Silhouettes.
You and the Candles

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My Year in Concerts (click the links to revisit old concert posts):
02/18 - Edmonton - The Philosopher Kings
04/25 - Edmonton - Franz Ferdinand/Death Cab for Cutie
06/24 - Dores, Scotland - The Loch Ness Monster: Fatboy Slim & guests
06/30 - Toronto - Seu Jorge
07/15 - Toronto - The Dresden Dolls
08/01 - Toronto - The Living End
08/10 - 08/13 - Edmonton - Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Hawksley Workman, Rodrigo y Gabriela, K'Naan, Bedouin Soundclash, Feist, Chumbawamba, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Sarah Harmer, and many many more...)
08/24 - Edmonton - Ben Lee
09/22 - Edmonton - Danny Michel
10/06 - Edmonton - The Who
10/17 - Edmonton - The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine, and Novillero
10/22 - Edmonton - Ellen McIlwaine with Cassius Khan

About 75% of those shows were brilliant. Let's just say that with the exception of The Who, larger venue concerts are not ideal. The tantalizingly short 30-minute set by Rodrigo y Gabriela was unreal and unarguably the best gig out of 4 days of solid music at the Edmonton Folk Fest (read more here). At the other end of the gig spectrum, The Dresden Dolls' night of entertainment, which spanned nearly 5 hours for $10 in an old movie theatre was amazing and was one of those rare occasions of quantity AND quality (see above link).

The Who - See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You (live in Edmonton 10/06/06)
Roger Daltrey's parting words after a night of technical difficulties: "Never give up!"

The Living End - 10:15 Saturday Night [originally by The Cure]
Danny Michel - Moonage Daydream [originally by David Bowie]
Death Cab for Cutie - Little Boxes [originally by Malvina Reynolds]
Ellen McIlwaine with Cassius Khan - R&B Medley (live in Edmonton) [various covers]
The Dresden Dolls - Tout les garçons et les filles (live in Lyon) [originally by Françoise Hardy]




I'm kicking this melting popsicle stand and jetting to San Francisco next week with the fam'. Stay frosty.

Life on Mars? to the Max

For the past few weeks I've been obsessed with David Bowie's Life on Mars?. Bowie is the one concert I always regret not going to when he came to town a few years ago. The Polyphonic Spree were opening... AARRGH! It still makes me upset. Anyway, despite being a Bowie fan I somehow managed to live to this point in time without ever hearing this song before. Now I've heard it and I declare it Perfection.

As usual when I get obsessed with a song, I gotta find the covers. Some fare better than others-- some quite well, in fact-- but nothing comes close to Bowie's original. Again, Perfection. Life on Mars? comes from Hunky Dory, the same album that we get Changes, Oh! You Pretty Things, Andy Warhol, AND Queen Bitch (also perfection). I'm sure you've all seen Bowie's hilarious cameo on Extras and that just reinforces how great David Bowie is. And WHY OH WHY did I cop out on that concert?!?

Here's what's in the zip file below:

David Bowie - Life on Mars? [original]

David Bowie (VH1 Storytellers; discusses song's origins and mocks Barbra Streisand's cover)
David Bowie (live in Edmonton 1990)
David Bowie with The Arcade Fire (live at Fashion Rocks)

Anggun
Anni-Frid Lyngstad [of ABBA] - Liv på Mars [Swedish version]
Arid (live)
Barbra Streisand
Des de Moor and Russell Churney
Eurythmics (live)
Hector - Sudenkorento [Finnish version]
Jasper Steverlinck
Joe Jackson (live)
Jon Brion (live) [in the style of Fats Waller]
Kari Palo
L'Aura
Michelle Branch
Phish (live)
Rick Wakeman [played piano on the original]
Robin Goldwasser
Seal (acoustic)
Seu Jorge [Portuguese version from The Life Aquatic Sessions]
Steve Hogarth
The Divine Comedy
The Dresden Dolls (2005-03-02 Hamburg)
The Flaming Lips [Peel Session '92]
The King's Singers
Tino Casal
Zkippy Stardust

Life on Mars?: The Collection


It's on America's tortured brow...

Best new Bowie track

Welcome to My Nightmare

Not sure if you heard about this... Next month, The Nightmare Before Christmas will be re-released in 3D. 13th anniversary, I guess? That's pretty cool, though Edmonton is unfortunately not one of the cities where it's at. Anyway, coinciding with the release of the film, Disney is also re-releasing the soundtrack with a second disc of covers of the songs from the likes of Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Marilyn Manson, and Fiona Apple. While normally this kinda news would thrill me (i.e. favourite childhood movies + cover songs), I'm less than thrilled by the prospect of some "it" bands messin' with the originals. Fiona Apple is the only name there that sounds like she'd do a worthy cover.

If I was a producer, I'd be going straight to the likes of Rasputina & the Dresden Dolls to create thematically/musically cohesive covers. I'm all for radical interpretations, yet somehow a "racous" rendition of What's This? by Fall Out Boy is not cool .

A dream cast for Nightmare covers:
Alice Cooper or Iggy Pop - Oogie Boogie's song
Rasputina - Kidnap the Sandy Claws
The Dresden Dolls - Poor Jack or Jack's Lament
Maxwell/Mosher (or in a pipe dream, the reunion of their former band Squirrel Nut Zippers) - Town Meeting Song
and
I'd like to hear Jon Brion re-interpret some of Danny Elfman's score. That'd be trippy. White Stripes could probably throw in a capable cover too.

Alas, we'll have to settle for whatever the Disney execs deem as hip right now. Here are some of the songs that came to mind when thinking of ideal Nightmare covers:

Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare
Iggy Pop - Space Goofs Theme [from the cartoon show]
Iggy Pop - Louie, Louie [popularized by The Kingsmen]
Rasputina - When I Was a Young Girl
Rasputina - Tourniquet [originally by Marilyn Manson]
The Dresden Dolls - Amsterdam (live - 2005-03-02 Hamburg) [originally by Jacques Brel]
Maxwell/Mosher - Hell [originally by Squirrel Nut Zippers, though technically not a cover but a do-over]
Squirrel Nut Zippers - The Ghost of Stephen Foster (with Andrew Bird's wicked violinin')

From the original Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack by the inimitable Danny Elfman:
Kidnap the Sandy Claws
Oogie Boogie's Song

2005.

After an unintentionally long hiatus, I'm back with my year-end post. There's not going to be much rhyme & reason here: An amalgam of my favourite songs/covers of 2005 and a bunch of random stuff that topped my iTunes playcounts for this year.

Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left

A few years ago I had a big Squirrel Nut Zippers phase (still going...) and started branching off from there to hear some of the band member's side projects like Katherine Whalen's Jazz Squad, James Mathus Knockdown Society, and... Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire. His first couple solo albums were sort of in the vein of SNZ's 1920's jazz stylings. Then the Weather Systems album started to showcase Andrew Bird's extraordinary versatility on the violin and other instruments in a variety of genres, which is further displayed on his new album from this year: Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs. It's fascinating to watch him play live as he uses a sampling machine to record his voice and various instruments to perform a multi-layered song by himself. There's some good shows of his on archive.org's Live Music Archive.

Hockey Night - For Guys' Eyes Only
Another plug for this song, which surprisingly became one of my favourite songs of the year via a random download. Musical quotage of the Pinball Number Song only makes this catchy song catchier. Speaking of the Pinball Number song, head over to I Dig Worms who features a video link to a Family Guy clip that features (!) the classic Sesame Street ditty.

The White Stripes - Red Rain
This summer, I got to see two of the best concerts I've ever been to: The White Stripes on back-to-back nights in Vancouver. Very little overlap in playlists between the two shows that for lack of a better description, just plain rocked. I had only listened to their new album a couple times and then watching Red Rain live was electrifying... like hearing it for the first time.

Best covers of 2005:
Hayseed Dixie - Holiday [orig. by Green Day]
Karen Abrahams with The Austin Lounge Lizards - White Rabbit [orig. by Jefferson Airplane]
Phantom Planet - Our House [orig. by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young]
Jon Brion - Play the Game [orig. by Queen]

Some current top covers (pre-2005):
Danny Michel - Young Americans [orig. by David Bowie]
Favourite cover I've heard all year.

Inspection 12 - I Think We're Alone Now [orig. by Tommy James & The Shondells]
The Polyphonic Spree - Five Years [orig. by David Bowie]
The Shins - Baby Boomerang [orig. by T. Rex]

Covers From Hedwig & The Angry Inch [written by Stephen Trask]:

I've yet to see this musical or the film, but I really should because I'm addicted to these songs from it.

The Polyphonic Spree - Wig in a Box

The Bens - Wicked Little Town (Tommy Gnosis Version)
One of my most listened to covers this year from the one-off meshing of Ben Kweller, Ben Lee, and Ben Folds.

Ben Jelen - Wicked Little Town
By jove, another Ben doing another cover of Wicked Little Town, no less. Jelen covers the "Hedwig Version" of the song, so it doesn't even overlap with the other Bens' cover. Makes a nice companion piece.

Miscellaneous tunes:
Georgie Fame - Somebody Stole My Thunder
I caught the tail-end of a Wal-Mart commercial this year and was excited because I thought they were using a Fantastic Plastic Machine song. As I listened to it more closely, I realized that this song had different lyrics and was in fact the source of a sampled riff from the FPM remix. The original song itself is a groovy hoot, but also check out this remix from The Escalator Team (featuring Yukari Fresh), which remixes Fantastic Plastic Machine's Bon Voyage with samples from Georgie Fame:
Fantastic Plastic Machine - Bon Voyage (Escape Mix)

Jason Forrest - War Photographer
This is another sample heavy track, which I discovered last week and became instantly hooked. The video was listed by Pitchfork's top 5 music videos of the year, which is where I first heard it. Check out the video here. The song reminds me of 70s funk mixed with the guitar-heavy electronica of Tomoyasu Hotei (probably best known from "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" used in Kill Bill). Unexpectedly near the end of War Photographer, he works in samples from Blood, Sweat, and Tears' Spinning Wheel. Awesome!

The Greenhornes - Shelter of Your Arms
The White Stripes - Shelter of Your Arms
I saw the Greenhornes open for the White Stripes earlier this year, but didn't realize that they had worked with Jack White on Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose album and that he had produced their latest album. Then, the b-side of their latest single The Denial Twist is a cover of this Greenhornes tune. Both versions are good though fairly similar... The Greenhornes reminds me sort of The Doors, while Jack White just does his Jack White thing.



Best concerts I went to this year:
The Killers with Tegan & Sara [Shaw Convention Centre; Edmonton, AB]
Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards [Arden Theatre; St. Albert, AB]
Beck with Le Tigre [Queen Elizabeth Theatre; Vancouver, BC]
Aimee Mann [Commodore Ballroom; Vancouver, BC]
The White Stripes with The Greenhornes (two nights!) [Orpheum Theatre; Vancouver, BC]
Ben Folds, Ben Lee, & Rufus Wainwright [Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery; Woodinville, WA]
Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation [Rexall Place; Edmonton, AB]

Other tracks I dug from this year that I won't post:
Ben Folds - You to Thank
Ben Folds - Landed
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
Jamie Cullum - Get Your Way
Death Cab for Cutie - Where Soul Meets Body
Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise
Andrew Bird - Skin is, My
Andrew Bird - Opposite Day
Beck - Girl
Supergrass - Low C
Billy Talent - Red Flag
Eleven featuring Josh Homme - Stone Cold Crazy
Hot Hot Heat - Running Out of Time