Roxy! Roller!

Long before I learned about the long and storied history of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I only knew "Sweeney Todd" as the glam rock band (from Vancouver, by the way) whose hit Roxy Roller is a staple of classic rock stations across Canada. From their self-titled debut album, the song went to #1 on the Canadian charts in 1976 and won a Juno for Single of the Year. Around that same time though, Sweeney Todd's lead singer Nick Gilder and guitarist Bruce McCulloch both left the band to pursue solo careers. In fact, Gilder would later win Junos for Single of the Year and Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1979. Meanwhile you might be surprised to find out who was recruited to replace Gilder as Sweeney Todd's new vocalist: a 16-year-old Bryan Adams! Fun fact: it was Bryan Adams who attended the Juno ceremonies in Gilder's place when Sweeney Todd actually won their Juno. The band recorded a second album If Wishes Were Horses with Adams before ultimately breaking up. Although it's not on the album, they also re-recorded Roxy Roller with Adams on vocals.

Sweeney Todd - Roxy Roller
Sweeney Todd - Roxy Roller (with Bryan Adams on vocals)
In between Gilder and Adams, Clark Perry had a short stint as lead vocalist. Of course, they re-recorded Roxy Roller with him too, though I couldn't track that down.

On Nick Gilder's 1977 solo debut You Know Who You Are, the record company included Roxy Roller on the US release, though whether it was re-recorded or not I can't tell since they sound exactly the same. But I'm curious if American listeners know Roxy Roller more as a "Nick Gilder" song rather than a "Sweeney Todd" song. I just noticed too that the recent soundtrack to The Runaways movie features Roxy Roller as the lead-off track, as performed by Nick Gilder...

Nick Gilder & Time Machine - Roxy Roller
Gilder did re-record Roxy Roller (with altered lyrics) for his 1999 album Longtime Coming.

Crash Kelly - Roxy Roller [originally by Sweeney Todd]

Suzi Quatro - Roxy Roller [originally by Sweeney Todd]

Jimmy Zee - Roxy Roller [originally by Sweeney Todd]
The best cover of this lot, Jimmy Zee switches gears and serves up some swaggering blues rock.

The 100th anniversary of the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) is coming up here in Vancouver and Bryan Adams is kicking off the festivities with a Brian Wilson-less Beach Boys. Almost tempted to go.

Sodom - Kids Wanna Rock [originally by Bryan Adams]
This metal cover is good for a chuckle.

Tasty cover samples from eTown

I briefly talked about the eTown radio show in a February post when I posted the Barenaked Ladies and The Ditty Bops teaming up to cover Johnny Mercer's I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande (merged with the theme to Welcome Back Kotter, no less). What I neglected to mention was that these cover collaborations are more the rule than the exception in eTown, where they generally play host to two musical guests who play separate sets then are brought together for a big cover finale alongside the house band, The eTones. This part of the show reminds me of a CBC radio show that was regrettably canceled a few years ago called Fuse that also brought together unlikely combos to make wonderful music.

eTown, based in Boulder, Colorado, was founded by the husband and wife team of Nick and Helen Forster in 1991, a socially conscious radio show recorded live as a sort of variety show with musical performances and in-depth conversations with the artists and other guests that range from authors to scientists to politicians to citizens in the community. Another aspect of the show is the E-Chievement Award, a listener-nominated award to "remarkable individuals who are working hard to make a positive difference in their communities and beyond".

There's a bittersweetness to these covers since every one of them is accompanied by the end-of-show patter over an instrumental break and in a few cases, the song is prematurely truncated. But it's a small price to pay to hear some wonderful, wonderful covers! Needless to say, I also dig the Canadian content that makes its way into the show via guest artists or the cover choices. You can subscribe to the eTown podcast in iTunes with a new show every Wednesday and visit etown.org to peruse the extensive show archives.

These are just some of the awesome cover collaborations that have blessed the eTown stage:

Cake & Chuck Prophet - Sympathy for the Devil [originally by The Rolling Stones]
This is the one I most regret not being able to hear in its full unedited glory.

Barenaked Ladies & Catie Curtis - Yellow Submarine [originally by The Beatles]

Big Head Todd and the Monsters & Kathleen Edwards - Long May You Run [originally by Neil Young]

Michelle Shocked & The Bad Plus - Heart of Gold [originally by Neil Young]

Crash Test Dummies & Celeste Krenz - Theme from Gilligan's Island [originally written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle]

Imogen Heap & Gregory Alan Isakov - We Will Rock You [originally by Queen]

BeauSoleil & Ben Kweller - Have You Ever Seen the Rain? [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival]

DeVotchKa & Au Revoir Simone - Tender [originally by Blur]

Jakob Dylan & Danny Barnes - The Letter [originally by The Box Tops]

The Spirit of CBC Radio 2

I've occasionally alluded to and raved about CBC Radio 2's Concerts on Demand archives and I'm about to again. I keep on close eye on the site because they are constantly recording great concerts across Canada and post at least a few every week. Just in the past couple days they've posted Metric Live at Massey Hall in Toronto (recorded in October) and a recent gig with Gordon Lightfoot and The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie singing songs and telling stories. Here are some other highlights from the archives:

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame 2010
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala took place just over a week ago, honouring and celebrating Canadian songwriters. One of this year's "Modern Era Inductees" was Rush. In tribute, The Spirit of Radio was performed by Primus singer/bassist Les Claypool, a disappointing cover (out of sync AND out of tune?) that is overshadowed by an excellent rendition of Subdivisions by Jacob Moon, who was actually recruited from his youtube cover.

Les Claypool - The Spirit of Radio [originally by Rush]

Jacob Moon - Subdivisions [originally by Rush]

The Art of Time Ensemble: Abbey Road
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' Abbey Road last year, The Art of Time Ensemble performed the entire album in order with their own unique stylings, joined by guest singers including Sarah Slean, Steven Page, and John Southworth. Speaking of which, Steven Page's cover album with The Art of Time Ensemble, A Singer Must Die was released in February featuring covers of Radiohead, Elvis Costello, The Magnetic Fields and others (buy it from Maple Music or his official site).

Steven Page - Oh! Darling [originally by The Beatles]

Kevin Hearn & Steven Page - You Never Give Me Your Money [originally by The Beatles]

Sarah Slean - Something [originally by The Beatles]

Owen Pallett with Symphony Nova Scotia
Having recently shed his Final Fantasy moniker, Owen Pallett is currently touring in support of his most recent album Heartland. After playing in Toronto tomorrow, his tour continues throughout the States including a stop at Coachella, eventually winding his way back up to Vancouver in early May where I'll be seeing him at the Vogue Theatre. During the 2009 Halifax Pop Explosion, Pallett teamed up with Symphony Nova Scotia to perform some of his newest tracks and this delightful cover of Van Dyke Parks.

Owen Pallett - Palm Desert [originally by Van Dyke Parks]

Comic Book Rock Stars #1: Bryan Lee O'Malley

Comic Book Rock Stars: Yet another ongoing and infrequently updated feature, in which we cover crossover comic book artists/musicians.

Back in September, I was wondering aloud about the under-researched realm of comic book artist/musicians. This came about when I went to see the final Harvey Danger shows in Seattle and the opening act for one of the shows was Can You Imagine? which featured cartoonist Peter Bagge (to be covered in a later installment). My research dug up a surprising number of crossovers and a planned single blog post spiraled out of control until it got stuck in draft hell. In accordance with my new year's blog resolution (simplify, simplify, simplify), we'll be kicking off this feature by focusing on one such artist, which perfectly ties in with my CanCon biases: London, Ontario-born cartoonist and creator of Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O'Malley.

If you aren't already familiar with Scott Pilgrim, the mass awareness campaign is well underway. In brief, Scott Pilgrim is a twentysomething slacker who must defeat his girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends to win her heart. With its manga-style illustrations, the series is also riffs on video games, indie rock, and pop culture at large, all the while unabashedly set in Toronto. The first volume of the acclaimed series came out in 2004 with the 6th and final installment hitting stores in July, just a few weeks before the film adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hits theatres with Michael Cera in the title role and helmed by Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright.

The promotional machine is starting to kick into high gear. A couple weeks ago they released the teaser poster ("An epic of epic epicness.") followed by the recent trailer, which had the internet a-buzzin'. I'm sure it's not lost on pop culture geeks that we get to see George Michael Bluth vs. Superman (Brandon Routh), The Human Torch and future Captain America (Chris Evans), Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), and even George Michael's ex Ann ("Who?") Veal (Mae Whitman). Even the inevitable video game tie-in looks promising with retro graphics and music from 8-bit punk rockers Anamanaguchi.

Music plays a big role in Scott Pilgrim (even his name comes from the song of the same name by 90s Halifax band Plumtree) with numerous references to bands, both real and fictional, and scenes taking place in actual Toronto show venues. Scott plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-Omb whose music in the film, it was recently revealed, is written by Beck. Music for the other fictional bands in the story will be provided by Metric, Broken Social Scene, and presumably others yet to be revealed making for probably the most anticipated soundtrack this year. Even Chris Murphy of Sloan, who were referenced in the books, is serving as the film's musical director, coaching the actor's musical performances. Yes, the inherent Canadianess of the comic is faithfully being infused into the film.

Anyway, this is all a long introduction to something I learned in my comic book artist/musician hunt, that Bryan Lee O'Malley played keyboards in some Toronto bands (Imperial Otter and Honey Dear) and he also has a collection of solo recordings under the name Kupek that even includes (gasp!) a few cover songs. As he states succinctly on his site: "Kupek is a band, and I am the only member of the band".

Kupek - Nautical Disaster [originally by The Tragically Hip]
I used to love this song from The Tragically Hip's Day for Night but it kinda got ruined over the course of several parties during university when some friends I know would repeatedly crank it and drunkenly sing along karaoke-style. Now whenever I hear it, that image immediately springs into my head. Still a great song though. In my mind, The Hip are pretty much the quintessential Canadian band and it's a shame they weren't a part of the Olympic opening or closing ceremony, though judging by the latter's line-up the producers weren't that keen on exuding Canadian pride anyway.

Kupek - Nothing Compares 2 U [originally by Prince]

Go check out http://www.radiomaru.com/kupek to download up to seven albums of his music for free!

Alligator Pi, Alligator Pi

Happy Pi Day! Today we celebrate all things pi and, because it's tastier, pie. Apple pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, pizza pie, shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, and so on and pie forth. In celebration, I'm going to share a little slice of Canadiana with you, a slice of Alligator Pie.

Alligator pie, alligator pie,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don't give away my alligator pie.

Alligator stew, alligator stew,
If I don't get some I don't know what I'll do.
Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe,
But don't give away my alligator stew.

Alligator soup, alligator soup,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna droop.
Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,
But don't give away my alligator soup.

-Dennis Lee
Alligator Pie, 1974.

Alligator Pie has been consistently entertaining scores of Canadian children since it's introduction over 30 years ago in the popular and award-winning collection of children's poetry of the same name by Toronto-born poet Dennis Lee. As Canadian as Alligator Pie, one could say.

While Alligator Pie is a modern Canadian classic, it's actually Lee's later 1983 collection Jelly Belly that's nearest and dearest to my heart, his upturned nursery rhymes combined with fascinatingly detailed (sometimes grotesque) illustrations by Juan Wijngaard. It's been a long while since I've read any, but the whimsical humour, sometimes delicious nonsensicalities, and effortless sing-songy nature of his poems recalls the likes of Shel Silverstein, Ogden Nash, or A. A. Milne.

Eddie Douglas - Alligator Pie [based on the poem by Dennis Lee]
Carole Peterson - Alligator Pie [based on the poem by Dennis Lee]

These are two different versions of Alligator Pie put to music. The first is a wonderful folk interpretation from Ontario singer-songwriter Eddie Douglas whose children's album Alligator Ice Cream - Jelly Delight! is completely based on poems written by Dennis Lee. The latter is a sing-a-long for pre-schoolers from Chicago music specialist and educator Carole Peterson. Peterson and a group of kids even make up later verses about alligator cake and alligator pizza. Amusingly, both artists' websites refer to themselves as "a Pied Piper with a guitar" (Douglas) and "the Pied Piper of children's music" (Peterson). I was fascinated to learn that pied (meaning: multi-coloured) and pie (meaning: YUM!) are probably both derived etymologically from magpie...

Rowlf the Dog - Cottleston Pie [based on the poem by A. A. Milne]
From the rare album Ol' Brown Ears is Back, Cottleston Pie is introduced as the little song Winnie-the-Pooh sings to himself when his brain felt fluffy, fittingly another pie-related nonsense poem as sung by Rowlf the Dog AKA Jim Henson.

B. A. Baracus Band - Fraggle Rock [originally written by Dennis Lee/Philip Balsam]
On a related note, Dennis Lee wrote lyrics for Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock television series including the classic opening theme! Henson and Lee also collaborated together on the story for Labyrinth.

Talk Pi!
Sing Pi!
Tweet Pi!
Eat Pie!
However you want, celebrate π!
Also, Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!

Of course, we can't leave without my favourite all-time π song...
Hard 'n Phirm - Pi

After the Gold Rush

So it's been a while since I last blogged and there are a couple reasons for that. First and foremost was, of course, the Olympics came to town and I've been indulging in non-stop celebrations and festivities over the past few weeks, blogging the last thing on my mind. Of course, the e-mail backlog built up and the RSS feeds got clogged. When I did actually check-in I read this article about music blogs being deleted and was hardly in a rush to get back. Meanwhile, I got another DMCA notice for my year-end post, which I had previously edited and re-posted a while back thinking I could leave up the links to mp3s from the artist's official websites. Oddly enough, before I made any movement to repost it a second time, I got another notice for the same post while it was sitting in draft mode... I know I'm not exactly stringent on my mp3 posting policy in the first place, so if Fong Songs ups and disappears for repeat violations... well, it was fun while it lasted. 4.5 years and counting--ZING!

I did make it out to one Olympic event with my family, the women's freestyle moguls at Cypress Mountain where we were rooting for our Jennifer Heil, who had triumphantly won gold at the Turin games. Just before the games started it was blared all over the news that Canada had never actually won a gold medal on home soil during the previous Olympics in Calgary and Montréal (news to me!). Heil ended up winning silver, Canada's first medal of the games, finishing in between Americans Hannah Kearney and Shannon Bahrke who took gold and bronze respectively. It was thrilling to have the opportunity to see such an event live, though it was one of those experiences you wouldn't want to relive due to the hours spent in the cold rain, freezing toes, crazy 2 hour+ lines for food, and the 2 hour line to catch a bus back into the city. At the same time we were fortunate because a day or two later, the general spectator tickets for many if not most of the events at Cypress were cancelled due to the dangerous conditions of standing area, which had basically turned into a mud pit with all the rain.

The very next day Canada's home soil gold medal shutout came to a triumphant end as Alexandre Bilodeau suddenly became a national hero, taking the gold in the Men's Freestyle Moguls! In a stroke of amazing luck, the Victory Ceremony tickets my family had purchased months ago turned out to be the very one where Bilodeau would be awarded his gold medal. Needless to say it was an amazing experience to be right there when for the first time ever at our Olympics the Canadian flag was raised above the podium and our national anthem played, which of course was proudly sung at the top of everyone's lungs. By the end of the games, this spectacle would be repeated again and again as our Canadian athletes won a record-breaking number of gold medals and surpassed our previous highest medal count.

The biggest win was saved for last with the epic men's hockey final. With Canada leading the USA 2-1 into the final minute of the game, American Zach Parise (whose dad incidentally played for Team Canada in the '72 Summit Series) gave our country a collective heart attack, tying the game with only 30 seconds left. As the clock ran out and we prepared to enter sudden-death overtime, we held our breath hoping our boys would pull through to make history while trying in vain to avoid thinking about the alternative outcome. After about 7 minutes of tense back and forth play (we'd gurgle and scream every time the puck came close to our net), Sid the Kid scored the goal of a lifetime. On home soil, in front of a sea of screaming fans in red, with the entire country watching, Sidney Crosby scored the overtime, gold medal-winning, record-breaking goal against Team USA, the freaking dream goal that every kid from now on will re-enact in their backyard rink. It was an unbelievably perfect ending to the games that more or less shut down the country in celebration. It was so much like a fairy tale, even the clouds parted and the sun gloriously came out as people poured out into the streets and marched downtown in joyous glee.

Then there was the Closing Ceremonies, which I will try not to rant about too much. After all the formalities of speeches, flag passing, and a Sochi 2014 preview, the music portion began. Much like he sent Conan O'Brien off the air, Neil Young extinguished the Olympic flame with a moving rendition of Long May You Run. From what I've heard, NBC's coverage of the Closing Ceremony cut out early to debut a new reality show, which had American viewers livid, though I was thankful that most didn't have to watch the organizers march out a terrible line-up of Canadian music acts that left me more embarrassed than proud to be a Canadian. Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Hedley... this was the best you could come up with? Were The Tragically Hip, perhaps the most quintessentially Canadian band, not answering phone calls? Rush, The Arcade Fire, Metric, Feist, K'naan, Blue Rodeo, Hawksley Workman, The Guess Who, Stompin' Tom Connors, Paul Anka, heck Anne Murray... so many choices but no, you called up Hedley and asked them to sing Cha-Ching, of course very much in the Olympic spirit. Sigh. And the Canadian stereotype mega-spectacular... um, very Springtime for Hitleresque. I'll leave it at that.

Now it's back to business as usual and we're all already feeling a little Olympic withdrawal...

k.d. lang - After the Gold Rush [originally by Neil Young]
The Euphorics - After the Gold Rush [originally by Neil Young]
The CBC Radio Orchestra with Veda Hille, Ndidi Onukwulu, and Michel Rivard - After the Gold Rush [originally by Neil Young]

Wait, bring on the Paralympics!

Hawksley Workman Covered

2010 is set to be a banner year for Hawksley Workman with his 11th and 12th albums on the way. In fact, Meat hits stores today while singles from its immediate follow-up Milk will be gradually released digitally over the next 5 months. Hawksley first captured my attention at the 2006 Edmonton Folk Festival. I had heard his name here and there previously, but the first time I actually heard him was his Friday night performance around midnight. In fact, from the hillside I was so far away I could barely make him out on the main stage, but he did a commanding set with no backing band except for the inimitable Mr. Lonely on piano. Then over the next couple days I checked out a couple of his side stage sessions (including one with Feist) and was repeatedly impressed. I saw him again at the 2007 Calgary Folk Fest then once more at last year's Juno Songwriter's Circle show, yet somehow I've never been able to catch one of his own designated shows. In addition to his prolific solo work, he's also produced albums for the likes of Sarah Slean, Hey Rosetta!, Tegan & Sara, Great Big Sea, Jeremy Fisher, and Serena Ryder.

Hawksley Workman - Safe and Sound (Live at The Juno Songwriter's Circle 2009)
My single favourite concert moment of 2009 was watching from the third row of The Centre as Hawksley and Mr. Lonely silenced the audience with this stunning version of Safe and Sound, thankfully immortalized in a CBC radio broadcast. This live version was by far my most played song of 2009.

Hawksley Workman - Striptease (Live at CBC Radio 3)
Hawksley performs the single Striptease from his 2001 album (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves and slips in a bit of Beyoncé's Crazy in Love at a 2008 CBC Radio 3 session.

Last Friday I had the fortuitous opportunity to check out Hawksley Workman perform a short intimate acoustic set at The Peak, a local rock radio station. The day before, Hawksley had tweeted a chance to win tickets to the show. Even though I got an e-mail that night that they were probably full, the next morning I got another e-mail that I'd been added to the guest list. Woohoo! The gig took place in the Peak Performance lounge, what seemed to be a converted meeting room filled with a mini elevated stage and about 4 plush sofas and a few seats. I nabbed a primo seat on a front row couch and buckled in for a four song set: Smoke Baby, We Dance to Yesterday (new Milk single), Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off, and Devastating (another Milk song). This was followed by a Q&A, photos, and autographs. Good times.

Here are the dates of his upcoming cross-Canada tour, which conspicuously skips over Vancouver. This was actually one of the questions posed to Hawksley and he reassured us that he's pencilled in for some Olympic performances but even he doesn't know the exact dates yet. I did a little checking and he's supposed to play free shows at the Richmond O-Zone and up at Whistler (Feb. 16).

March 05 - Cumberland BC - Sid Williams Theatre
March 06 - Victoria BC - Alix Goolden Theatre
March 07 - Kelowna BC - Kelowna Community Theatre
March 08 - Trail BC - Charles Bailey Theatre
March 10 - Red Deer AB - Memorial Centre Theatre
March 12 - Banff AB - Eric Harvie Theatre
March 14 - Edmonton AB - Winspear Centre
March 17 - Calgary AB - Jack Singer Hall
March 18 - Saskatoon SK - Odeon
March 19 - Regina SK - Darke Hall,
March 20 - Winnipeg MB - Burton Cummings Theatre
April 07 - Saint John NB - The Blue Olive
April 08 - Fredericton NB - Playhouse Theatre
April 09 - Halifax NS - Rebecca Cohn Theatre
April 10 - St. John's NL - Holy Heart Auditorium
April 12 - Charlottetown PEI - The Guild
April 13 - Charlottetown PEI - The Guild
April 15 - Quebec City QC - Le Cercle
April 16 - Montreal QC - La Tulipe
April 17 - Ottawa ON - Bronson Centre
April 20 - St. Catharines ON - Sean O'Sullivan Theatre
April 21 - London ON - Music Hall
April 24 - Toronto ON - Massey Hall

Hawksley Workman - I've Got the World on a String [originally by Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler]

Hawksley Workman - Love Will Tear Us Apart [originally by Joy Division]

Hawksley Workman - Bankrobber [originally by The Clash]

Hawksley Workman - The Ocean [originally by Led Zeppelin]
Hawksley likes to warm up in a new studio by unleashing some Zeppelin with his bandmates. He shared this recording in a recent episode of his podcast HAWK radio, which is all Hawksley Workman, all the time.

Donovan Woods - Ice Age [originally by Hawksley Workman]

Chris Mills - Don't Be Crushed [originally by Hawksley Workman]

The Great Canadian Vocal Music Project - Hey, Hey, Hey (My Little Beauties) [originally by Hawksley Workman]
This was an unofficial sequel to the Langley Schools Music Project with Belleville, Ontario's Centennial Secondary School Choir singing covers of only Canadian artists including Bruce Cockburn, Feist, Blue Rodeo, Sloan, and more. It's a little more pro and polished than the Langley Schools Music Project, but I suppose it helps when your high school music teacher is David Reed whose debut album featured help from Danny Michel, Andy Maize, and Hawksley Workman to name a few. The Great Canadian Vocal Music Project, Vol. 2 was recorded in 2007 and pressed as CDs for the students and their families, but there are plans to release the album through Maple Music and Zunior. Until then, you can listen to them on their myspace site.

Last year, Hawksley was also part of the 60+ artists who re-did Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning for the Time for Climate Justice campaign. Music video here and song download here.

His great one-take video for Jealous of Your Cigarette:


A new one inspired by wacky Japanese game shows for the single We Dance to Yesterday:

Live from Australia!

A recent tweet from Cover Me's Ray tipped me off about the Australian website Moshcam.com, whose goal is to bring live music to the masses through quality video recordings for free. They've got hundreds of FULL concerts and there are definitely some gems in there. A selection for your consideration with, of course, a covers breakdown:

• 2007/12/17 Amanda Palmer
  -lots o' covers here. Amanda takes on Jason Webley, Regina Spektor, Radiohead, Rihanna, and Leonard Cohen.
  
  
• 2008/02/21 Jeff Martin
  -former Tea Party frontman Jeff Martin takes his solo show on the road. Partial covers of Love the One You're With and In My Time of Dying.
  
  
• 2008/09/27 The Living End
  -no covers, but the "Instrumental Medley" (i.e. E Boogie) is always a thrill to watch.
  
  
• 2008/10/11 Casino Rumblers
  -horn-infused cover of AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie
  
  
• 2008/10/12 The New Pornographers
  -includes a cover of ELO's Don't Bring Me Down
  
  
• 2008/11/01 The Vines
  -a slow-paced cover of Outkast's Hey Ya
  
  
• 2009/01/05 The Hives
  -unexpected covers from the Swedish rockers of The Rolling Stones' Beast of Burden, The Saint's Lost and Found, and an interesting punk version of the standard Stormy Weather.
  
  
• 2009/01/08 Tegan & Sara
  -Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark
  
  
• 2009/01/11 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
  -this was the only video that wasn't working for me, but they do a cover of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come.
  

Go get lost in the archives and drop a line with any recommendations!

Every Season Has an End

It's the end of the year, the end of the decade. So far, I've resisted the temptation to add to the plethora of decade-end lists, which isn't to say that it won't happen... but for now, four versions of The Greenhornes' There is an End, followed by a grab bag of random links to recent things of note.

"Spring brings the rain,
With winter comes pain,
Every season has an end."
The Greenhornes featuring Holly Golightly - There is an End
The Greenhornes collaborated with British singer Holly Golightly who performed lead vocals on There is an End, written by Craig Fox, the band's guitarist/lead vocalist. It originally appeared on their 2002 album Dual Mono, but later served as the de facto theme song to the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers with Bill Murray. By a weird coincidence, the very same weekend that Broken Flowers came out, I happened to go to back-to-back shows of The White Stripes here in Vancouver for which The Greenhornes were the openers. After the second show, I hung around with some other fans in the vain hope of meeting Jack or Meg (neither showed) but The Greenhornes did and I shook hands with Patrick Keeler and got the band to autograph my ticket (which I promptly lost). Of course, Keeler and Little Jack Lawrence went on to join Jack White as part of The Raconteurs and Lawrence would also be part of The Dead Weather when they debuted earlier this year.

Holly Golightly - There's an End
This version sans The Greenhornes (and slightly altered title) appeared on Holly Golightly's 2003 album Truly She is None Other, which featured liner notes by none other than Jack White. Golightly also joined Jack and Meg for the duet (um, word for three-person duet??) It's True That We Love One Another from The White Stripes album Elephant.

Gnarls Barkley - There's an End (Live in Boston)
This was an early Christmas gift courtesy of fellow blogger Leopold Stotch of Versions Galore. I had been searching for this for the past couple years ever since finding out Gnarls Barkley had been covering There is an End during their summer '06 tour. I knew some sort of recording existed somewhere but I failed miserably in my attempts to track it down until it magically appeared in my inbox last month. Many thanks!! Funnily enough, that same summer The Raconteurs were frequently covering Gnarls Barkley's Crazy at their own shows!

Ronnie Spector - There is an End (featuring Patti Smith)
Last month saw the US release of The Last of the Rock Stars from the legendary Ronnie Spector, though the album actually came out in the UK in 2006. Backed by Keeler and Lawrence (no Fox?), this version also features fellow 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Patti Smith on backing vocals. Running with this whole theme of White Stripes connections, this summer Meg White married Patti Smith's son Jackson in a double ceremony with Jack Lawrence and his fiancée in the backyard of Jack White's Nashville home.

=========================

Okay, so this is probably my last post until after the holidays, but I've got a bunch of news/links to share, as always, filtered through the tunnel vision that is Fong Songs.

• The nominations are in and the Coverville Countdown is on! Brian's annual countdown of the top 40 covers of all-time is in the voting stage until December 22nd. This year's a little different with the newly instituted Coverville Hall of Fame, 10 perennial cover contenders taken out of the running to let some new blood in. Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, Johnny Cash's Hurt, and Bill Shatner's Common People are among the elite covers that are no longer eligible. Last week, I submitted my five nominations for your consideration: Ellen McIlwaine's Higher Ground, Moxy Früvous's Psycho Killer, OK Go & Bonerama's Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, Danny Michel's Young Americans, and PoZitive Orchestra's Shine on You Crazy Diamond. Vote here!
  
  
• Speaking of voting, Cover Me's latest cover commission is We Are the Willows. Vote what song he should cover! Right now, The Shins' Caring is Creepy leads the pack, but I went with The Zombies' The Way I Feel Inside.
  
  
• In case you missed it, 2009 Polaris Prize winners F*cked Up recently released their cover of Do They Know It's Christmas on iTunes with 100% of the proceeds going to Canadian non-profit organizations. The eclectic cast of performers lending their support include Tegan & Sara, David Cross, Yo La Tengo, GZA, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Bob Mould, Andrew W.K., Kyp Malone, and Kevin Drew. You can buy it on iTunes and read more about it here.
  
  
• Fong Songs fave Alex Robinson's A Kidnapped Santa Claus is in bookstores everywhere and online if you're looking for a last minute stocking stuffer or just a plain great gift. Full disclosure: I know Alex reads my blog(!), but that won't stop me from an shamelessly plugging it without being asked to! A Kidnapped Santa Claus is a graphic adaptation of a 1904 short story by L. Frank Baum (he of Oz fame), which can be read for free in its entirety on Project Gutenberg. I'd honestly never heard of the story before this, but it's fun to notice the obvious influence it had on the plot of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. As always, Alex's drawings are great and it bears his distinct style even though it's his first adaptation, not to mention his first all ages book. There are hilarious hidden visual jokes throughout and I should definitely mention there are pugs in suits, ha ha. Highly recommended! Alex's epic Box Office Poison was also recently named one of The AV Club best comics of the past decade--congrats, Alex!
  
  
• I've mentioned this before, but it's worth a revisit: Covered, the blog of comic book covers redrawn by other comic artists. Just like music covers, the best ones completely make it in their own style while still retaining the essence of the original. I'm consistently impressed by the output and occasionally I'll actually recognize a cover from my miniscule collection of single issue comics (somewhere in a box back home).
  
  
• Pomplamoose made waves in the cover world with their relatively recent hit youtube video cover of Beyoncé's Single Ladies. And that's not all, they have great covers of Beat It, Mrs. Robinson, September, and more. The accompanying videos are must-see since the San Francisco duo are pioneers in the self-created movement of "VideoSongs". That is, every instrument, voice, and sound you hear can be seen in the video (this will completely make sense when you watch the videos). Even without the visuals, the music is fantastic and all the covers can be downloaded for free from their myspace page. Proving they're not just a one-trick pony (or one-trick moose), their latest triumph is the Christmas original Always in the Season. Watch the magic here. This time, the duo is joined by a mini orchestral section that includes Zoë Keating on cello! A new classic.
  
  
• If you have some sort of crazy White Stripes fanatic on your Christmas list and you're extremely generous, well, Jack White just made your gift-giving decision very easy. Last week, it was announced that a limited edition box set for The White Stripes concert film Under Great White Northern Lights would be immediately available for pre-order and released in March. The film, which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Fest, celebrates The White Stripes unprecedented tour of every Canadian province and territory in 2007. The über boxset includes the DVD of the film, an exclusive DVD of the entire 10th Anniversary show in Glace Bay, the band's first ever live album on CD and double LP with songs recorded during the Canadian tour, a 208-page hardcover photo book with a foreword by Jim Jarmusch, 1 of 6 different silk screens designed by Rob Jones, a and a 7" vinyl with two live cuts included The Wheels on the Bus (uh, recorded on a city bus in Winnipeg). Naturally, I was all over it and pre-ordered it as soon as humanly possible, in spite of the hefty $200 price tag (watch it, it jumps $50 in the new year). If you're a long-time reader, you may remember me going on and on and on about the tour that whole summer on the blog. In addition to our hometown Edmonton gig, my friends and I managed to pull off a crazy pilgrimage to the Maritimes to see four shows included the ultimate gig in Glace Bay. I'll let you know if I make it on the DVD. :)
  
  
• From the realm of unlikely cover collaborators, Montréal rocker Sam Roberts performed a cover of Kenny Rogers' The Gambler with the The Holiday Jam Players at a benefit show in Toronto a few days ago. Sharing the stage: Kathleen Edwards, Jim Bryson, City & Colour's Dallas Green, TSN's Dave Hodge, and CBC's Ron MacLean! Watch here.
  
  
• In related hockey news, strictly for Oilers fans... country singer Corb Lund penned a celebratory Oilers anthem called The Oil's Back in Town. The song is peppered with classic calls from 630 CHED play-by-play man Rod Phillips during our dynasty years. Fun stuff and proceeds from the single's sale benefit The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation. Buy it from iTunes today!
  
  
• A silent short film directed by Neil Gaiman called Statuesque will make its debut on SKY1 in the UK on Christmas Day at 10pm. It stars the always reliable Bill Nighy and the lovely Miss Amanda Palmer. If I remember correctly, the score is by Sxip Shirey.
  
  
• My ever-dwindling concert bucket list will get another check when Jamie Cullum drops by the Commodore Ballroom in March! Cullum will be touring select cities in the US (also Vancouver and Toronto!) in support of his first album in 4 years, The Pursuit. You may have seen his, ahem, explosive video for his cover of Rihanna's Don't Stop the Music, a song I admittedly only knew from the 30-second snippet that plays TWICE before every single movie I've seen in the past year.
  
  
• Zunior.com, the "little digital music store" from Canada, recently released a full cover album of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Featuring recent Fong Songs fave Jill Barber crooning The Christmas Song, the whole 12 track album can be bought for only $8.88 with 100% of the proceeds going to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Have a great holiday everyone!

It's Over Now, the Music of the Night... or not.

Just over a week ago was the final performance of Ramin Karimloo in the title role of The Phantom of the Opera in London. In 2007, he became the youngest ever actor to play the Phantom in the West End and now he'll continue the part in Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel Phantom: Love Never Dies, which begins previews in February at the Adelphi Theatre.

As preposterous as a Phantom sequel may seem (set 10 years later at Coney Island!), I can't help but feel some good ol' Canadian pride as the Iranian-born, Ontario-raised Karimloo tops the bill of the eagerly anticipated new musical. He even started off in a Tragically Hip tribute band(!) before lying about his age and singing on cruise ships for two years. And now he's bringing the Phantom back. I may just have to make some sort of pilgrimage to New York when it eventually opens there, not to mention the crazy spectacle that will be the U2/Julie Taymor Spider-Man musical-- I want to see it, no joke. Ah, the power of the Music of the Night!

Ramin Karimloo - New York State of Mind (with Hadley Fraser) [originally by Billy Joel]
From Karimloo's 8-song EP of musical numbers and a couple Billy Joel covers that can be purchased from his official site.

Nightwish - The Phantom of the Opera [originally performed by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford]
You just can't top this snarling, but soulful metal rendition by Finnish power metal band Nightwish.

Sammy Davis, Jr. - The Music of the Night [originally performed by Michael Crawford]
It's almost unthinkable now that The Phantom of the Opera has been seen by tens of millions worldwide, but it's wonderful to listen to Sammy Davis, Jr. describe the plot of the musical and set the stage for the Phantom's signature song before delivering an expressive performance as only he could do it. This is from a 1989 "Ultimate Event" with Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli in Detroit, but you can find youtube footage of him performing the same song during a Jerry Lewis telethon the previous year.

Ben Folds, The Very Best, and Bridge School Benefit

It's going to be a busy week of music and traveling. First, I'm off to Seattle to see Ben Folds perform tonight with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at Benaroya Hall! Then tomorrow morning I'm catching a flight to San Francisco to meet up with my dad. We're going to the Bridge School Benefit concerts in Mountain View on the weekend, a gift from my sister and I to celebrate his 60th birthday. He's a big Neil Young fan, though I'm pretty sure this will be the first time seeing him live. In between, I'll also be taking him to see The Very Best in San Francisco and see some sights including the new Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. Busy, busy, busy.

With Someone Else's Money - You Don't Know Me [originally by Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor]
You all know I'm a huge fan of Mr. Folds and this will be the third time I've seen him live, but the first time with a full orchestra backing him up! The music of Ben Folds (and Ben Folds Five) has long been fodder for college a cappella groups, so the only problem he had when assembling the album of covers released earlier this year as Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! was whittling down the deluge of submissions. The tracklist spans his solo and BF5 works, but leans heavily on the slower ballads. Ben himself contributes a cappella arrangements of his own Boxing and Effington. I would've loved to hear a cappella arrangements of the more rock-based numbers, though I'm sure it's just a youtube search away. This cover of the single from Way to Normal was arranged and performed by With Someone Else's Money from the University of Georgia. By the way, a demo of Levi Johnston's Blues from the forthcoming Ben Folds/Nick Hornby album debuted just over a week ago on the Huffington Post.

The Very Best - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa [samples Vampire Weekend]
From last year's free mixtape, Esau Mwamwaya and producer team Radioclit completely reworked Vampire Weekend's Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa into a relentlessly upbeat but not cloying dance number. Delivering on the promise of that mixtape (which urged on the last track to "watch out" for the forthcoming album), The Very Best's Warm Heart of Africa was released earlier this month to universal critical acclaim. When I found out I'd be in San Francisco, I naturally scoped out the concert listings and was thrilled to discover one of The Very Best's few tour dates would coincide with my trip. Should be a blast!

It's an eclectic lineup this year with ska, hard rock, folk, and, uh, Adam Sandler on the bill. I'm curious to see how the different artists approach their setlists since past performers typically, as a tradition though not a rule, do acoustic sets. This will be my first Bridge School Benefit experience... but hopefully not my last!

Shannon Butcher - Just a Girl [originally by No Doubt]
Mississauga-born jazz singer Shannon Butcher's 2008 debut album Words We Both Could Say ranges from covers of Blondie, Tears for Fears, Glen Campbell, and this wonderful fast-paced rendition of No Doubt's Just a Girl that sounds completely natural as a modern jazz standard.

Pivot - Woman [originally by Wolfmother]
Wolfmother is expected to play an acoustic set at the Bridge School Benefit. We already got a taste of how this would sound when they played a 4-song set at the SPIN offices including a cover of Neil Young's Don't Let it Bring You Down (watch it here). Their upcoming sophomore album Cosmic Egg (guitarist/vocalist Andrew Stockdale is the only member of the original trio, now a foursome) is due to be released next week. Apparently a (studio?) recording of Don't Let It Bring You Down will be available on the Japanese edition of the album. This instrumental cover of their hit Woman by fellow Australian band Pivot is nearly unrecognizable, but a lot of fun.

Coldplay & Buena Vista Social Club - Clocks
I actually like this Latin reworking of Clocks better than the original. It's from the Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba album. A follow-up was released fairly recently called Rhythms del Mundo: Classics, which is chockfull of covers featuring the likes of The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, and Rodrigo y Gabriela. For the most part, they are previously recorded covers with new backing orchestration from a group of all-star Afro-Cubano musicians including members of the Buena Vista Social Club. I haven't given the CD a real thorough listen yet, but I did enjoy the last album.

Jets Overhead - Mr. Soul [originally by Neil Young]
Victoria band Jets Overhead was late addition to the Bridge School Benefit. They contributed this cover to the Neil Young double tribute album Borrowed Tunes II.

M. Ward, Conor Oberst & Jim James - Girl from the North Country [originally by Bob Dylan]
Before they dubbed themselves Monsters of Folk (along with Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis), the trio of M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Jim James all toured together, playing triple bills that would include solo sets then all three of them together. This live cover is from Mojo's Dylan Covered compilation.

Sheryl Crow - Mother Nature's Son [originally by The Beatles]
Sheryl Crow was not exactly on my concert bucket list, but I will inadvertently be seeing her for the second time in just over a month. Judging from her performance at Ambleside Park last month alongside Sarah McLachlan and Neil Young, I know more of her songs than I'd care to admit, though I do unabashedly love her cover of Mother Nature's Son from the all-Beatles cover soundtrack to I Am Sam.

Neil Young - Imagine [originally by John Lennon]
I'll admit I was slow getting into Neil Young. I mean, his back catalogue is daunting even for people I consider big Neil Young fans. As a covers enthusiast, I just couldn't help being exposed regularly to his songwriting since everyone seems to have recorded a Neil Young cover at some point, a fact that especially holds true for any Canadian artist. But it's probably my best friend's occasional playing of Harvest Moon on his guitar that really opened my ears after years of listening indifferently to the frequently repeated Neil Young tunes on the local classic rock station.

Well, that's it for blogging for the next week, though you can follow me on Twitter and I'm sure I'll be updating that. I may even live tweet the concerts on the weekend since Google provides free wireless internet for all of Mountain View... Anyway, it's 3:37am and I've got a train to catch in a few hours. I can never sleep before these big trips and last-minute blogging sure doesn't help!

Gimme Gimme Gimme ABBA covers

A few months back, I promised a reader an all-ABBA cover post and I may have dragged my feet, but it's finally here! Said reader provided me with an insanely comprehensive spreadsheet of ABBA covers in their collection and I took that as a challenge to share some that they hadn't heard. However, a couple of my favourite all-time ABBA covers were on that list so I'll include them anyway.

Damhnait Doyle - Gimme Gimme [originally by ABBA]
I've posted tracks from Doyle's Lights Down Low cover album before and as I've said, it was woefully underrated, even by me at first. Producer Danny Michel's fingerprints are all over the album and it'll probably the closest you ever get to hearing him cover Foo Fighters and ABBA.

Montefiori Cocktail - Hung Up [originally by Madonna]
This is not an ABBA cover per se... but Damhnait Doyle's cover of Gimme Gimme Gimme dropped the catchy instrumental riff of the original that was later sampled by Madonna in Hung Up, so I thought it'd be fun to include this cover by lounge duo Montefiori Cocktail who do a fine job reviving it here in an instrumental rendition that sounds like it escaped from a spaghetti western.

Regine Velasquez - Take a Chance on Me [originally by ABBA]
An a cappella cover from Filipino singer Regine Velasquez. She's unfamiliar to me, but judging by this extensive wiki article she's had an accomplished career in music, film, television, and more in a career spanning over 20 years. A long time ago, I remember reading about someone who thought they were chanting "Jackie-Chan, Jackie-Chan, Jackie-Chan" and I've never heard the song the same way again.

The Black Sweden - Mamma Mia [originally by ABBA]
Paying tribute to Sweden's biggest musical export, fellow countrymen The Black Sweden released an album Gold which paired ABBA's greatest hits with classic rock riffs. In this case, Mamma Mia gets mashed with Smoke on the Water. Other examples include Take a Chance on Me/Enter Sandman and Knowing Me, Knowing You/Heartbreaker.

Riff Raff - Mamma Mia [originally by ABBA]
A more focused continuation of that trend, Riff Raff is an AC/DC tribute band from Germany who recorded an entire album of ABBA covers in the style of AC/DC. I haven't listened to enough of the AC/DC catalogue to make any definite claim, but this reminds me of their (great) cover of Chuck Berry's School Days.

Moxy Früvous - Dancing Queen Medley (Live)
This live Dancing Queen cover starts off as Walk on the Wild Side, then throws in a couple unlikely song snippets from U2 and Hootie & The Blowfish. Full show is on the Live Music Archive.

The Dan Band - ABBA Medley
The Dan Band has cornered the market on covering mainly female-led pop songs with randomly inserted profanities. With appearances in Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and more recently The Hangover, they seem to have found a winning combo that works for audiences. I haven't seen it, but apparently they're also correspondents on Jay Leno's new non-late night show. It's a one-note joke, but part of the success (I think) is the thin line it walks between parody and sincerity. This ABBA medley is from their 2005 debut The Dan Band LIVE.

White Day - ABBA Medley
Let me hear those balalaikas ringing out!

Nation - Waterloo [originally by ABBA]
Glow - Dancing Queen [originally by ABBA]
These are probably my favourite ABBA covers and both come from the generically titled A Tribute to ABBA (alternatively released as ABBAmetal: A Metal Tribute to ABBA). If you had commissioned The Darkness to cover ABBA, I think the result would bear a strong resemblance to Nation's rocking rendition of Waterloo: campy and infectious. Glow obviously had fun revamping Dancing Queen, though I wouldn't even classify it as anything remotely metal... I might be completely off-base here, but it vaguely reminds me of a punkier Cake.

Edmonton Folk Fest Wrap-Up

It's been a week since the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, a rousing success by all accounts for the festival's 30th anniversary. I had a great time and, as to be expected, I was exposed to some great new music without even trying. If you know me, it shouldn't surprise you to know I was stage-stalking Danny Michel for all his side stage sessions. All the great stuff was going down on one of the seven side stages, while the Main Stage headliners were unfortunately a little bland for my liking, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings excluded. I'll zip through a few highlights of the weekend:

Alex Cuba
I don't usually find out cover happenings from my mom, but when I mentioned I was going to a session with Alex Cuba, she told me that he had covered a Blue Rodeo song in Spanish. Born in Cuba, Cuba (the musician) immigrated to Canada in 1999 and now resides in Smithers, BC, the hometown of his Canadian wife. It's a great story: in short, while performing at the Songwriter's Circle show at the 2008 Junos, Alex saw Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy in the crowd so he whipped out a couple verses of one of their hits Bad Timing in Spanish. That same night at an after party, Blue Rodeo invited him up on stage, handed him a guitar, and he performed the whole song. Several months later, they brought him into the studio to record Spanish vocals with the original master tracks and then released it single exclusively on iTunes. All this after his mother-in-law introduced him to Blue Rodeo's 5 Days in July back in 1996. Technically, it's not really a cover song.... but this solo version I recorded at the festival counts and I honestly like it better with just Alex and his guitar.

Alex Cuba - Arrepentido (Bad Timing) [originally by Blue Rodeo]

Alana Levandoski
I caught Manitoban folk singer/songwriter Alana Levandoski when she shared a sidestage with Danny Michel. Coincidentally, both of them appeared on the Neil Young tribute album Borrowed Tunes II and she actually did perform her cover from that album, Don't Be Denied.

Alana Levandoski - Don't Be Denied [originally by Neil Young]
Alana Levandoski - Helpless (Live at the 2009 Winnipeg Folk Fest) [originally by Neil Young]

Jill Barber
For me, Jill Barber was my favourite discovery of the whole festival. I had previously seen her name throughout my RSS feeds (she was recently engaged to CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence) and I know her brother is Matthew Barber, but I hadn't actually heard her music before I saw her share the stage with Danny Michel. She's got a fantastic voice, great songs, über-talented band, and just a general aura of joy that is exuded by her performances. Her most recent album Chances (I must buy this!) is a collection of 50's jazz-inspired romantic tunes that have a timeless, vintage quality even though they're original compositions. Even stripped of their lush arrangements, these songs still sound fantastic accompanied by her guitarist Les Cooper, keyboardist Robbie Grunwald, and fiddler/accordionist/clarinetist Drew Jurecka, who I last saw performing with The Polyjesters in '07. One of my favourites was the call-and-response number Oh My My, which was actually chosen last Wednesday as Today's Top Tune on KCRW. After that first session, I caught a couple more of her shows during the weekend and was continually impressed. Judging by some chatter I overheard, I wasn't the only one that became an instant fan last weekend. Check B(oot)log, a Jill Barber champion for years, for a number of live recordings including some covers such as Dream a Little Dream of Me and a CanCon requisite Neil Young cover sung with her brother. I wish I had paid attention earlier! Here's her cover of Sam Cooke's Cupid recorded for CBC's GO on Valentine's Day, which she also performed at the Folk Fest.

Jill Barber - Cupid [originally by Sam Cooke]

Great Lake Swimmers
Not so much a highlight, but I was pretty unimpressed by the Great Lake Swimmers after hearing a lot of talk about them previously. Languid is putting it nicely, though I later overheard someone else bluntly say "disappointingly boring" and I couldn't really argue. I know they have quite a following... maybe they're better on CD? Or you have to be in the right mood? Whatever the case, during their session with Chuck Brodsky, Chumbawamba, and Jill Barber, my eyes would involuntarily roll back into my head whenever it came to their turn in the rotation. Here's a CKUA recording of them doing a Neil Young cover (theme of the weekend!) joined by Joel Plaskett:

Great Lake Swimmers with Joel Plaskett - Harvest (Live at the Edmonton Folk Fest) [originally by Neil Young]

Fred Eaglesmith
This was my first exposure to folk/country music force Fred Eaglesmith, who could easily command the Main Stage but is relegated to the side stages because the hilarious, unfiltered banter between songs that he's known for-- a little too unsafe and unpredictable for the Main Stage I'm guessing. He has the demeanour of a cranky, grizzled old stand up comedian, but when the music starts he's unstoppable. For his side stage session with Danny Michel, Jill Barber, and Loudon Wainwright III (recorded by the CBC for a future broadcast), he was joined by Australian artist Bill Chambers on steel guitar and vocals. He opened with Wilder Than Her, which was later covered by Dar Williams. There was a great moment when Bill's daughter Kasey Chambers, who was playing the Main Stage later that night with her husband Shane Nicholson, joined her dad and Fred Eaglesmith to sing Fred's Freight Train, which Kasey had previously recorded a version of.

Fred Eaglesmith with Bill & Kasey Chambers - Freight Train (Live at Edmonton Folk Fest)
Kasey Chambers - Freight Train [originally by Fred Eaglesmith]

Danny Michel
Danny Michel was one of the main reasons for wanting to come to the festival, besides visiting my folks back home. I never get tired of seeing him perform live. I think one of his best moments came during an unscheduled performance on the Main Stage as an in-between act (while they set-up for another headliner). Proving again why he himself should be on the Main Stage as a main act, he performed a quick unrehearsed three-song set on an organ keyboard thing without his usual guitar and looping pedals. He admitted he hadn't played them on keyboard before, though you wouldn't know it. Later during ex-BNLer Steven Page's headlining set, Danny was brought out to perform an epic cover of Billie Jean. The next day's local paper read "Were there a house here, it would've been brought down". Yep. That earlier session with Jill Barber, Loudon Wainwright III, and Fred Eaglesmith, ended with an impromptu group performance of Loudon's The Swimming Song with Danny being goaded into singing lead on two verses. Another session with Joel Plaskett, Johnny Flynn, and Sierra Hull, ended with Danny leading the way in a cover of Los Lobos' Life is Good. A quick note about Sierra Hull: she's a phenomenal young mandolinist with an equally phenomenal backing band... only 16 years old and has a bluegrass festival named after her that's in its SEVENTH year! I wish I had a chance to see more of her, but alas Folk Fests are notoriously about making hard decisions between all the simultaneous music going on. Danny will be touring the Netherlands in November/December before coming back to record a live album in Winnipeg. Here's a great Danny Michel cover of Joe Strummer, not from Folk Fest, but from a live show recorded early last year.

Danny Michel - Get Down Moses [originally by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros]

In related news, Danny's recorded a cover of The Clash's Straight to Hell for a dub Strummer tribute album called Shatter the Hotel due in December on the 30th anniversary of London Calling. Danny has previously covered this live and so has his Under the Covers co-host Emm Gryner. You can sneak a listen of his cover on the album's myspace page.

Steven Page & Danny Michel - Billie Jean [originally by Michael Jackson]
This whole summer Steven Page has been touring folk festivals in his first stint post-Barenaked Ladies and honestly he sounded great solo. He played acoustic guitar and was accompanied by cellist Kevin Fox, a member of the Art of Time Ensemble, on BNL classics and others. Having not really listened to BNL since their 3rd album, I couldn't really distinguish what was new or old material-- but I liked most of it! It didn't take much to win back the crowd who seemed to be willing to forgive and forget the troubles of the past year, except a heckler shouting "Cocaine!" from the sidelines who Page was good humoured about. If you're a fan, like I was, of Page's all-covers gig with the Art of Time Ensemble last year, be on the look out for a studio recording of the same covers due I think/hope before the year is out.

Steven Page with the Art of Time Ensemble - Paranoid Android [originally by Radiohead]
Kevin Fox - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [originally by The Eurythmics]

Of course, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings never fail to impress, rocking the main stage on Saturday night with their distinct brand of funk soul and mostly new(!) songs. They did mention a new album will be hitting soon. It would've been awesome to see them scheduled for a side stage session, as I had seen them at the '07 Calgary Folk Fest ripping it up with Bettye LaVette, but they must be busy these days, playing the Burnaby Folk Fest the very next night. I was also excited to read they recently recorded a couple songs with Michael Bublé, which should make for an interesting mashing of vocal talents.

A Batch of BBC Covers

Busy, busy, busy right now. I've got Best Man duties tomorrow at my best friend's wedding(!!) then I'm headed back to the home province for next weekend's Edmonton Folk Fest. To tide you over for the next while, I've got a batch of live covers recorded for Dermot O'Leary's show on BBC Radio 2 where almost every musical guest plays a cover song.

Sharleen Spiteri - All Things Things That I've Done [originally by The Killers]
Sam Roberts - Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard [originally by Paul Simon]
Voluntary Butler Scheme - Build Me Up Buttercup [originally by The Foundations]
Starsailor - Only Love Can Break Your Heart [originally by Neil Young]
Martina Topley-Bird - Golden Brown [originally by The Stranglers]
Scott Matthews - Is This Love? [originally by Bob Marley]
Ben's Brother - Poker Face [originally by Lady Gaga]

a-ha - A Question of Lust [originally by Depeche Mode]
**from most recent show

Later folks!

Do You Hear the People Sing Covers?

I've always wondered about the iconic poster for Les Misérables (the musical) and just learned it was taken from an illustration of Cosette by Émile Bayard from the original 1862 Victor Hugo classic novel. All this time she's been sweeping just out of the frame with a GIANT BROOM!


Last weekend some friends and I went to see the local production of Les Misérables and since then I've been singing it in my head at work ad nauseum. I'd previously seen it as a kid at the Jubilee in Edmonton in the early 90s, then again a few years ago in London. I think the double album recording of the original Broadway cast was one of our family's earliest CDs and I remember listening to it repeatedly while thumbing through the lyric book. To this day, One Day More still blows me away and is among my Top 100 most played tracks in iTunes. The show got a major boost in publicity from Susan Boyle's star-making performance of Les Miz's I Dreamed a Dream earlier this year on Britain's Got Talent, becoming the highest-selling production in the 46 year history of the Arts Club Theatre Company, selling out 72 shows and extending its run by 2 weeks until August 6 (tickets here starting at $25).

I've always dreamed of a one man rock version of One Day More, but that's probably not going to happen anytime soon as there is quite a dearth of Les Miz covers in general with most falling into the category of former Broadway singers singing Broadway hits. I've yet to discover any bands pushing these songs into different genres... prove me wrong. I Dreamed a Dream is one of the only numbers that's taken on a life of its own with various covers and more inevitably to come following the renewed interest in it.

Neil Diamond - I Dreamed a Dream [originally from Les Misérables]
Although it was originally sung in the musical by Fantine, one of the earliest covers (if not the first) was by none other than Neil Diamond who recorded it live for his 1987 album Hot August Night 2 the same year Les Misérables debuted on Broadway.

Aretha Franklin - I Dreamed a Dream [originally from Les Misérables]
Unfortunately this is cheesy 1991 production Aretha and not 60s Soul Sister Aretha. This could definitely use a better arrangement.

Allison Crowe - I Dreamed a Dream [originally from Les Misérables]
Hailing from Nainamo, BC on Vancouver Island, singer Allison Crowe made headlines a couple months ago when she and her band travelled to London to start their European tour, but were held for hours then deported back to Canada due to new stringent laws in the UK requiring a special permit for "migrant" musicians. This is from her album Live at Wood Hall, which also features covers of Ani DiFranco, Counting Crows, Tori Amos, and others. Check out her official website, which has downloads of several covers. Boyhowdy has also featured her covers multiple times over at Cover Lay Down, most recently in this post from last week.

Mandy Patinkin - I Dreamed a Dream [originally from Les Misérables]
Mandy Patinkin - Bring Him Home [originally from Les Misérables]
Patinkin is a Tony-award winning actor of the stage, so he definitely falls under the Broadway stars singing Broadway hits heading, but he is arguably most widely-known as Inigo Montoya ("You killed my father. Prepare to die") from The Princess Bride. I also have a soft spot for his role as 88 Keys in Dick Tracy. From his 1994 album Experiment, he performs two Les Miz covers.

Empire Brass - At the End of the Day [originally from Les Misérables]
A rare cover of one of the early songs in the musical. I love this number and the Empire Brass get points for at least attempting something different, although it's not quite as rousing and epic as I feel it should be.