============================================= 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. =============================================
Led Zeppelin When covering Zeppelin, it's best to stray far from the original since any carbon copy cover just comes off as pathetic and wanky, particularly if you're a guitarist attempting to imitate Jimmy Page. Seriously, why bother?
24. Goldbug - Whole Lotta Love [originally by Led Zeppelin] This bizarro electro dance version actually hit the #3 spot on the UK charts for a few weeks in 1996. I used to think it sampled part of the instrumental break from the Richard Harris rendition of MacArthur Park, but I've since learned it's actually the theme song from the UK cinema advertising company Pearl & Dean. Suspiciously, MacArthur Park and the remarkably similar sounding theme song (known as Asteroid by composer Pete Moore) were both released in 1968... but my whirlwind research cannot determine which came first.
23. Dread Zeppelin - Viva Las Vegas [originally performed by Elvis Presley] Dread Zeppelin is my favourite reggae Zeppelin tribute band with an Elvis impersonator for a lead singer and hey, it's Robert Plant's too. You wouldn't think there's anything subtle about this band, but they have a way of weaving in Page's riffs into even non-Zeppelin covers that are easy to miss if you're not paying close attention. This Elvis/Custard Pie/Godzilla mash-up is my favourite. As is (sadly) the case with many tribute bands, they've actually been active a lot longer than the band they're paying tribute to. Since 1989 and they're still performing!
22. Rasputina - Rock and Roll [originally by Led Zeppelin] Rasputina's gothic cello makeover of Rock & Roll. Gothic Cello Makeover, need I say more?
21. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) [originally by The Everly Brothers] The 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion was somehow both unlikely yet inevitable. Naturally, everyone demanded if not expected a follow-up tour, but guess what? Robert Plant done moved on. His collaboration with Alison Krauss Raising Sand went five for five at last year's Grammys including Album of the Year and his new album Band of Joy due in a couple weeks makes it clear that he's not done making new and exciting music... with an album full of covers!
20. Led Zeppelin - Hello Mary Lou [originally performed by Ricky Nelson] During their epic live shows, Whole Lotta Love would often be used as a jumping off point for a set of R&B and blues covers. This treat comes from the How the West Was Won live album, culled from two 1972 California gigs, but you gotta wonder what other pristine goodies Jimmy Page has in his recording vault that will never be released.
Tomorrow the Fong Songs 101 countdown continues with some Songs of Love.
I've been on a Creedence Clearwater Revival kick lately and that's as good a reason as any to share some good CCR covers. This may also have something to do with the recent 12-pack of CCR DLC for Rock Band (oodles of fun!) that's also spurred on the clearly corresponding revival of Creedence on the ol' iPod.
Girl Trouble - Commotion [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] Shortstack - Commotion [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] One of my favourite all-time CCR songs, the killer guitar intro gets me every time.
Chris Farlowe - As Long As I Can See the Light [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] A sweet bluesy take on another one of my CCR favourites.
Maxine Weldon - Lodi [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] Steve introduced me to this horn-infused Lodi cover in a Cover Freak post a couple months ago. I dig it a lot and it's worth revisiting.
Chicory Tip - Lodi [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] Another solid Lodi cover.
James Last - Proud Mary [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] James Last covers always make me chuckle at first, then I inevitably get caught up in their relentlessly upbeat singing and big band arrangements. Cheesy but awesome.
Dread Zeppelin - Born on the Bayou [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] From The Fun Sessions, a Dread Zeppelin album of (gasp!) non-Zeppelin classic rock covers... but, of course, this cover of Born on the Bayou is anchored on the riff from Led Zeppelin's In the Light.
The Living End - Lookin' Out My Back Door (Live) [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] A truncated live cover from the 2001 Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands.
Hey folks, I'm back. As usual, there's a backlog of hundreds of e-mails and thousands of RSS entries to wade through to catch up on the happenings in the past few weeks. A couple notable changes in the cover world:
Cover Me has moved off the blogspot to covermesongs.com with a slick new interface. Update your bookmarks accordingly!
Covering the Mouse is also back in business with a little revamp of its own after a couple weeks of technical difficulties brought on by Blogger's discontinuing of FTP publishing
EDITED TO ADD: While I was gone, Leopold Stotch of Versions Galore was unceremoniously dumped by Blogger and has resurfaced at http://www.versionsgalore.com
Here's a trio of covers I love and don't really know why I've put it off for so long... three of the greatest all-time rock bands putting their own personal touches on 1961's Hello Mary Lou, originally performed by Ricky Nelson and written by Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina, whose songwriting credit has its own interesting story.
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Hello Mary Lou [originally performed by Ricky Nelson] This is the first version of the song that I ever heard and fell in love with. Of course, as with many cover songs, it would be years before I realized it was not the original.
Queen - Hello Mary Lou [originally performed by Ricky Nelson] From their Live at Wembley '86 album. In a 1998 interview with Guitarist magazine, Brian May listed James Burton's guitar solo in Hello Mary Lou as one of his top 10 guitar solos.
Led Zeppelin - Hello Mary Lou [originally performed by Ricky Nelson] Non-Zeppelin fans may balk at a 23-minute live Whole Lotta Love, but in their scorching live shows the band would often use the song as a springboard for a set of R&B and blues covers. The phenomenal How the West Was Won live album, culled from two 1972 California gigs, featured perhaps my favourite rendition of Hello Mary Lou sandwiched between Elvis Presley's Let's Have a Party and St. Louis Jimmy Oden's Going Down Slow.
I'm super excited to go in a couple hours to see Corinne Bailey Rae perform tonight at the Commodore Ballroom in support of her excellent sophomore album, The Sea. As one might expect, my initial exposure to her music was through a cover song, specifically a smokin' jazz version of Led Zeppelin's Since I've Been Loving You. Of course, she once again popped up on my music radar a year later when she covered The Raconteurs' Steady As She Goes for a BBC covers compilation. Since then she's emerged into one of my favourite voices to listen to and fortunately she's quite prolific on the covers front too, ranging from Björk to Editors to Jimi Hendrix to John Lennon. Not only does she have impeccable cover choices, Rae never fails completely nail them and make them worthwhile to listen to. She also provided guest vocals on Joni Mitchell's River for Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters, which won Album of the Year Grammy for 2007.
Corinne Bailey Rae - Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) [originally by Doris Day] Rae and her band performed this incredible showstopping cover of Que Sera Sera (by way of Sly & The Family Stone) at Tuesday's tour kick off at the Virbiana Cathedral in Los Angeles, a benefit concert for KCRW, which was partially recorded for today's airing of Morning Becomes Eclectic. Listen/watch to the rest of the show here, which includes her cover of Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing.
Corinne Bailey Rae - Since I've Been Loving You [originally by Led Zeppelin] Corinne Bailey Rae - Steady As She Goes [originally by The Raconteurs] Corinne Bailey Rae - Creepin' [originally by Stevie Wonder] Corinne Bailey Rae - Sexyback [originally by Justin Timberlake] Corinne Bailey Rae & John Legend - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) [originally by Marvin Gaye] Corinne Bailey Rae - I'm Losing You [originally by John Lennon]
Opening for Rae is Daniel Merriweather, probably most known (at least to me) from his contribution to Mark Ronson's Version covers album, performing The Smiths' Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before. He also recorded this oddly delightful White Stripes cover, seemingly filtered through Sweet Home Alabama. Daniel Merriweather - You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told) [originally by The White Stripes]
[EDIT 02/05/2010: Most song links removed after a Blogger takedown notice, though at least they're civil enough to now simply revert the post back to draft mode instead of outright wiping it out...]
[EDIT 03/01/2010: Okie dokie, ALL mp3 links removed after another notice. I'm 90% sure I removed the offending mp3 previously since I only left up the mp3s that were hosted on the artists' website. Of course, the identity of the offending mp3 is indiscernible to all, but if you're curious how these complaints come about, here's the official complaint to Google as sent by the IFPI, a form letter with a long list of URLs attached in cluding this here year-end post. I'm guessing some sort of robot "read" my post and deemed it complaint-worthy.]
Time for my belated and bloated annual look back at the past year... yes, we're mere hours away from February, but I started a dangerous precedent last year when I posted my year-end review at the end of January. Last year saw a dramatic drop in my post count, less than half the posts of 2008 and my lowest total since 2006. I partially blame the lingering effect of that blogger crackdown, but another contributing factor is the new job I started around the same time in late '08. Now I'm more or less happy with one post a week with maybe some really short ones in between. I joined Twitter last February and I'm surprised to find myself still updating it fairly frequently. An unexpected side effect of joining Twitter is that it reinvigorated my interactions with Facebook since my tweets are automatically used as my status updates. Travelwise, I visited Chicago for the first time last March and due to a fortuitous set of circumstances, I'll be heading back there with parents in May for a quick jaunt. I hopped down to Seattle at least thrice for concert-related reasons (Jason Webley, Harvey Danger's last shows ever, Ben Folds + symphony) and went to San Francisco/Mountain View for the Bridge School Benefit concert with my dad. I also went to Vegas for my best friend's bachelor party and served as Best Man at his wedding in July. My new baby cousin was born in June and around the same time I welcomed a new fuzzy friend into my home, my cat Jaboo:
It's funny, after looking back through my old posts I realize that I inadvertently fulfilled my new year's resolution last year: reading more books. This has been helped by joining goodreads.com in November, which fulfills my obsessive compulsive need to quantify my existence by cataloguing everything I see or do. Typically, I have a more or less constant flow of incoming material through library requests, but last week for the first time in a long time, I found myself with nothing to read and was getting kinda anxious about it... like I was having reading withdrawal symptoms. Good sign, I suppose. I didn't exactly read up a storm last year, but it was probably the most books I've read in a while. Currently I'm reading the Chinese classic Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, translated and abridged as Monkey by Arthur Waley in 1942, which is the version I'm reading. I'm surprisingly well-versed in the tale based entirely on a book from the public library I loved and re-read constantly as a kid, Adventures of the Magic Monkey Along the Silk Roads, a comic adaptation by Evelyn Nagai-Berthrong and Anker Odum that was commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum in 1983. A couple years back, I flukily ended up with my very own used copy of the comic long after I had forgotten about it... and it turns out I never really did forget it. Hopefully this year will see the publishing of the long-awaited non-fiction travel book by Neil Gaiman, Monkey and Me, which sees Neil follow the same path as Monkey's journey through China.
Top Covers/Cover Albums:
The Leisure Society - Something [originally by The Beatles] As arguably the most covered act of all-time, I'm impressed when I come across Beatles covers that sound new to me. This pretty much proves that no matter how over-covered a song is, all it takes is one inspired artist to make some cover magic. This beautiful cover by The Leisure Society was the standout from Mojo's track-by-track cover tribute to Abbey Road, which actually featured a few other great covers too (Jeffrey Lewis's Octopus's Garden comes to mind). The Leisure Society also registered on my radar with a similarly wonderful cover of Gary Numan's Cars in '09. Definitely a band to keep an ear out for.
Adam Green - I Will [originally by The Beatles] Last year saw the beginning of the epic Beatles Complete on Ukulele project, which will be providing a bountiful supply of Beatles covers for another 2 years. This irreverent but sweet cover by Adam Green reframes the song as a sort of warped lullabye to his love who OD'ed on pills and is in a coma...
Project Jenny, Project Jan - Self Control [originally by Laura Branigan] Last year, the Buffetlibre DJs lived up to their name with their covers smorgasbord, Buffetlibre Rewind 2 (still available for free!). The sheer amount of covers is actually quite overwhelming, but I unexpectedly found myself singling out this cover of Laura Branigan's 1984 hit Self Control for repeated listening.
Marco Benevento - Friends [originally by Led Zeppelin] Benevento's second solo album Me Not Me consisted mainly of jazz reinventions along the lines of The Bad Plus or Brad Mehldau. He covers Beck, The Knife, Leonard Cohen, and others, but it's his version of the rarely covered Friends from Zeppelin III that caught my attention. Benevento also does a brilliant rendition of Nobody Does it Better on his Live at Tonic album.
DeVotchKa - Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy) [originally by The Flying Burrito Brothers] I hadn't heard of the original when I fell in love with this cover from last year's Sweetheart compilation from Starbucks. Say what you want about the coffee giants, but their music people manage to attract some major and sometimes unheralded talent to fill out these compilations. This year's batch was recently released and features the likes of José Gonzáles covering Kylie Minogue, The Long Winters covering ZZ Top, and The Shins' James Mercer joining his brother Robert for a Bob Dylan cover. Guess I'll have to make my way to a Starbucks soon to pick this up.
Chromeo - I Can't Tell You Why [originally by The Eagles] Montréal-based electrofunk artists Chromeo do an modern, but faithful cover of The Eagles track from 1979's The Long Run. There is actually a surprising dearth of good to great cover of Eagles... I can't tell you why. [EDIT: You can get the free MP3 from their official site with your e-mail]
The Lost Fingers - Belleville Rendez-vous [originally from The Triplets of Belleville] The Lost Fingers followed their 2008 debut of 80s covers with Rendez-vous Rose, an album of Francophone covers in the same gypsy jazz style. All the covers are, of course, great, though I suppose the significance (or humour) of some of the French pop song choices is lost on me. In some cases, they managed to recruit some of the original artists to join them such as Plastic Bertrand on Ça plane pour moi or Nanette Workman on Lady Marmalade (she had a hit with the same song in Québec in the 70s). I was absolutely thrilled to discover they covered the theme song from the animated film The Triplets of Belleville.
Anamanaguchi - Holiday [originally by Weezer] 8-bit cover songs, which have become their own subgenre, are hit or miss with me. They're cute in a retro sense, but then after hearing a bunch of classic rock songs performed as instrumental chiptune songs, I feel like I'm back in the 90s listening to midi translations of popular songs, novel but unexciting. The (free) 8-bit Tribute to Weezer, remakes a collection of Weezer songs as if they're the soundtrack to NES end boss fights, which syncs up nicely with Weezer's nerd aesthetic. My favourite of the bunch is Anamanaguchi's cover of Holiday, combining the sounds of a hacked NES with actual live instrumentation and singing.
Retro Remix Revue - Super Mario Brothers 3 - Overworld BGM, Athletic BGM [originally by Koji Kondo] The brainchild of Davis Jones and Blaine McGurty, Retro Remix Revue revisits the music of classic Nintendo and Sega games such as Mario, Sonic, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and more. Retro Remix Revue, Vol. 2 was released last year and featured this brilliant and wonderful medley of a couple very familiar tunes from Super Mario 3 as performed by a jazz trio. Unfortunately, there aren't more jazz arrangements like this on the album which is a grab bag of styles favouring synth rock, though there is a Spanish themed guitar cover of the Gerudo Valley Theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that's very good. If you go back to Retro Remix Revue, Vol. 1, you can find another amazing jazz cover incorporating themes from Super Mario World.
Booker T. - Hey Ya [originally by Outkast] Hey Ya has been covered numerous times but never as a Hammond organ instrumental romp backed by Neil Young on electric guitar. [EDIT: hey, the album won a Grammy tonight! And, uh, Neil Young won his first ever Grammy... for box set packaging]
Michael Bublé featuring Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Baby (You've Got What It Takes) [originally by Dinah Washington and Brook Benton] I'm a big fan both Michael Bublé and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings so it's almost a given that I'd love this cover they did for Bublé's Crazy Love album last year. Coincidentally, they performed this on last night's Saturday Night Live, horn and string section intact.
Pomplamoose - Beat It [originally by Michael Jackson] When Cover Me's Ray tweeted Pomplamoose's Beat It as potentially the best post-death Michael Jackson (RIP) cover yet, I expected to hear a good cover but I wasn't expecting to stumble on a new favourite band. Pomplamoose has been around since 2008, building their fanbase through a series of "VideoSongs", youtube music videos that visually show every single sound, voice, and instrument you hear as they were performed live (example: Beat It). The duo of Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn reached a new apex of popularity when their VideoSong of Beyoncé's Single Ladies went viral with over 3 million views since September. I quickly discovered that all their covers, which also include Simon & Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson and Feist's Gatekeeper, can be downloaded for free from their myspace while their originals are $1 each. Even without the visual gimmickry, the songs more than stand on their own as great music. Their Christmas original Always in the Season cemented my appreciation for the music they're creating. Pomplamoose is officially on my music radar permanently.
Danny Michel - Straight to Hell [originally by The Clash] With its sampling in M.I.A's Paper Planes in 2008, I couldn't help but notice a covers revival of The Clash's Straight to Hell in 2009. Whether it was Elvis Costello & Jakob Dylan teaming up on Costello's Spectacle, an acoustic version by Bill Janovitz for his cover of the week series, or Lily Allen (Joe Strummer's goddaughter!) covering it with Mick Jones for the War Child Heroes covers compilation, there was a definite, if unconscious, effort to let the kids these days know the musical origin of Paper Planes. This is my extreme bias showing, but my favourite rendition is by Danny Michel, a noted aficionado of The Clash and reggae. This comes from the Strummer dub tribute album Shatter the Hotel released in late '09 and featuring a number of Canadian artists.
Favourite Songs/Albums of '09:
The Very Best - Kada Manja [from Warm Heart of Africa] The full length debut of The Very Best (AKA Esau Mwamwaya and Radio Clit), Warm Heart of Africa, more than lived up to the promise of the free mixtape they released the year before. I was super disappointed that their gig I was set to go to in San Francisco was cancelled... come to Vancouver!
Sleepy Kitty - Gimme a Chantz! [from What I Learned This Summer] While it was bittersweet to say goodbye to Harvey Danger after their last ever shows in August, I became an instant fan of Chicago-based Sleepy Kitty, the duo of Paige Brubeck and original Harvey Danger drummer Evan Sult, who were playing some of their first ever shows as the opening act. This was my second most played song in 2009 and I can wait to hear what they've got lined up for 2010.
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Buster Voodoo [from 11:11] On their third album 11:11, each of the 11 tracks pays tribute to one of Rodrigo y Gabriela's musical influences ranging from Pink Floyd to Pantera's Dimebag Darrell to virtuoso jazz pianist Michel Camilo. This one pays tribute to Jimi Hendrix and you might catch hear a quick riff from Voodoo Chile in there.
The BPA - ToeJam [feat. David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal] [from I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat] Technically this single was from '08, but the album wasn't released until the beginning of '09. The Brighton Port Authority was a project headed by Norman Cook (AKA Fatboy Slim) joined by a bevy of artists like Iggy Pop, Martha Wainwright, Danger Mouse, Jack Penate, and more. This track featuring David Byrne and UK rapper Dizzee Rascal kept randomly surfacing on iTunes shuffles until I was force to acknowledge and love it.
Says She's Ms. Blat - Poseurs [from Says She's Ms. Blat] This was a blog submission that I never got around to writing about, but I definitely got hooked on the single Poseurs from the New York duo Says She's Ms. Blat. Lottie Leymarie (keyboards/vocals) and Bret Puchir (drums) perform in the vein of The Dresden Dolls evoking the vocals of Chrissie Hynde or Fiona Apple. [EDIT: download full album including Poseurs from bandcamp site.]
The Dead Weather - So Far From Your Weapon [from Horehound] It's hard to believe that a year ago today The Dead Weather didn't officially exist and their second album is expected this year. Cool, yes, but will we get to hear a new White Stripes album anytime soon?
Pet Shop Boys - Pandemonium [from Yes] It was a treat to catch the Pet Shop Boys when they came to Vancouver in September and hear them run through a setlist of some of my favourite all-time songs. While I haven't exactly been paying attention to their output since the 1991 Discography compilation of singles, after the show I became addicted to Pandemonium from their most recent release. The Smiths' Johnny Marr makes a guest appearance on guitars and harmonica.
Zee Avi - Poppy [from Zee Avi] My favourite new artist of the year. I wrote more about Zee Avi here when she came to Vancity in December. An auspicious debut for sure.
Andrew Bird - Oh No [from Noble Beast] What, Andrew Bird on a Fong Songs year-end list? Nosurprise. If he puts out an album, it's a guaranteed inclusion.
2009 in concerts: 2009/02/20 A.C. Newman with Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, BC 2009/03/13 Alice Russell with The O'My's Schuba's Tavern Chicago, IL 2009/03/14 Sammy Fender and others, featuring Buddy Guy Buddy Guy's Legends Chicago, IL 2009/03/27 JunoFest: Elizabeth Shepherd Rossini's Vancouver, BC 2009/03/29 Juno Songwriter's Circle 2009 (Hawksley Workman, Doc Walker (Chris Thorsteinson and Dave Wasyliw), Jim Cuddy, Jacob Hoggard, Sarah Slean, Ndidi Onukwulu, and Buffy Sainte-Marie) The Centre Vancouver, BC 2009/03/30 Serena Ryder Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre Vancouver, BC 2009/04/17 Unwigged & Unplugged: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer The Centre Vancouver, BC 2009/04/25 54·40 Cambie All Access Vancouver, BC 2009/04/30 k-os with Jay Malinowski (of Bedouin Soundclash) Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC 2009/05/16 Ellen McIlwaine St. James Hall Vancouver, BC 2009/05/28 Danny Michel with Carolyn Mark and Hannah Georgas Vancouver, BC 2009/06/24 The Tragically Hip Orpheum Theatre Vancouver, BC 2009/06/26 The Lost Fingers Performance Works Vancouver, BC 2009/06/27 Alice Russell Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, BC 2009/07/03 Jason Webley's 11 Year Elevanniversary Celebration with Amanda Palmer, Reverend Peyton, Andru Bemis, Jay Thompson, Jherek Bischoff, Michael McQuilken, Alex Guy, and more Town Hall Seattle, WA 2009/08/06 - 08/09 Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Jill Barber, Chuck Brodsky, Neko Case, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, Chumbawamba, Alex Cuba, Fred Eaglesmith, Steve Earle, Kathleen Edwards, Johnny Flynn, Patty Griffin, Hanggai, Sierra Hull, Danny Michel, Steven Page, Joel Plaskett, Boz Scaggs, The Wailers, Loudon Wainwright III, and many more) Gallagher Park Edmonton, AB 2009/08/21 The Dead Weather with Tyvek Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC 2009/08/22 The Dead Weather with Tyvek Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC 2009/08/28 Harvey Danger with Sleepy Kitty and Ships The Vera Project Seattle, WA 2009/08/29 Harvey Danger with Can You Imagine? The Crocodile Seattle, WA 2009/08/29 Harvey Danger with Sleepy Kitty The Crocodile Seattle, WA 2009/09/12 Summer Sessions with Sarah McLachlan, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, Luke Doucet, Melissa McClelland, and more Ambleside Park West Vancouver, BC 2009/09/19 Pet Shop Boys The Centre Vancouver, BC 2009/10/20 Ben Folds & The Seattle Symphony Orchestra Benaroya Hall Seattle, WA 2009/10/24 - 10/25 Bridge School Benefit with Neil Young, No Doubt, Chris Martin, Jimmy Buffett, Adam Sandler, Fleet Foxes, Monsters of Folk, Wolfmother, and Gavin Rossdale Shoreline Amphitheater Mountain View, CA 2009/11/25 The Swell Season with Doveman The Centre Vancouver, BC 2009/12/09 Zee Avi with Christopher Smith & The Beckon Call The Media Club Vancouver, BC
I set a new record for concert-going in '09, albeit with a fair number of repeats even within the same year. I went from A to Z, kicking off the year with A.C. Newman and ending with Zee Avi. In between, I doubled up on Dead Weather, Danny Michel, and Alice Russell (in Chicago and Vancouver). Spinal Tap "Unwigged & Unplugged" was a treat, as were The Lost Fingers and The Swell Season (i.e. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, stars of the film Once). I couldn't pass t up the opportunity to see the Pet Shop Boys and was not disappointed. Same goes for Ben Folds who performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Of course, Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit shows were a once in a lifetime experience... that is, until the next ones. Probably the ultimate shows for me personally were the three final Harvey Danger shows. I mentioned this recently but it deserves re-mentioning... the best single song live performance I witnessed in 2009 was Hawksley Workman at the Juno Songwriter's Circle:
Hawksley Workman - Safe and Sound (Live at The Juno Songwriter's Circle 2009)
2010: With 2010 already well underway, some good stuff has already been released like new albums from Vampire Weekend and Hawksley Workman. Just last week the mailman brought new cover album Turn Ons from The Hotrats (AKA Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey of Supergrass). Other stuff I'm looking forward to this year:
Debut from conjoined twin sisters Evelyn Evelyn (due in March). Produced by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley.
Speaking of Supergrass, they've got a proper new album due in early 2010 called Release the Drones
Out already but haven't picked up Corinne Bailey Rae's The Sea yet
The surreal sounding Here Lies Love concept album from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. Guests include Sharon Jones, Alice Russell, Tori Amos, St. Vincent, and more. Due in late February.
Muppets Revisited cover album... Fall 2010?
Peter Gabriel's Scratch My Back covers album and reciprocal I'll Scratch Yours
possibly a new Mark Ronson album in 2010
New Weird Al! Though honestly his parodies mean less and less to me as I lose touch with whatever current act he's parodying...
Concertwise, I'll be checking out cover stars Nouvelle Vague when they come to town next week. I'll also being seeing K'naan as part of the Olympic festivities and (don't laugh) Canadian children's icon Fred Penner playing at a pub on UBC campus! March will finally see my concert bucket list dwindle to near nothingness as Jamie Cullum comes to town.
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:
Well, for reasons only partially out of my control I am headed back to Vegas for the second time in less than 18 months... this time as Best Man to my best friend's bachelor party. Wish me luck!
Dread Zeppelin - Viva Las Vegas [originally performed by Elvis Presley]
UPDATE: April 23, 2017
Good things come to those who wait, I guess. I originally wrote this post over 8 years ago and this musical mystery was apparently solved in 2014 when John Parr officially released The Best with this accompanying statement: "Never before released or broadcast “The Best” features John Parr's collaboration with Jake Holmes (author of Zeppelin's “Dazed and Confused”) to create a true epic."
They co-wrote it! This wasn't exactly keeping me up at night for 8 years, but I can now resolve those few lingering brain cells that had been stewing on this. Funnily enough, I was inspired to reinvestigate this "cold case" after recently discovering (in a fit of random internet research) that the original singer of the 1980s Gummi Bears Theme was Joseph Williams, son of composer John Williams, current lead singer of Toto, singing voice of adult Simba in The Lion King, and co-writer (English lyrics) of Sy Snootles song and the Ewok Celebration song (AKA "Yub Nub") from Return of the Jedi.
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It's Super Bowl Sunday and have I got a fascinating, strange-but-true tale for you. First, some back story: everyone knows Led Zeppelin's legacy is built on liberally "borrowed" riffs and material from other artists, which has landed them in legal problems on multiple occasions. It's an old story and well covered elsewhere, but that's not what we're here to talk about today. Our interest is focused on Dazed and Confused from Led Zeppelin's 1969 self-titled debut, which you may or not know was based on folk singer Jake Holmes' song of the same name.
At an August '67 show in New York City, Jake Holmes opened for The Yardbirds which is where Jimmy Page would first be exposed to the song. Soon after, The Yardbirds' new arrangement of the song quickly became a staple at live shows for the next year before the band disbanded. Page brought along Dazed and Confused to the newly formed Led Zeppelin and it was reworked further with new lyrics. The big controversy stems from fact that the song was (and is) credited solely to Jimmy Page. In spite of the fact he received no credit or royalties from the song, Jake Holmes surprisingly shrugs the whole thing off. In an interview, Holmes said "But you know what? It was just a blues riff that made up the melody anyway, and I think I got more mileage out of being ripped off in the long run. All the kids in my son's school think I'm a genius because of the Led Zeppelin song." At one point, he did send a letter to the band regarding acknowledgment but he never received a response.
Jake Holmes - Dazed and Confused
Here's where the story takes its first curious twist. While someone who gets ripped off by what would become one of the biggest rock bands of all-time might become bitter or pack it in, Jake Holmes went on to co-write a concept album for Frank Sinatra and several advertising jingles including the US Army's famous "Be All That You Can Be" and Lego's "Zack the Lego Maniac". Yes, the man who wrote Dazed and Confused wrote ZACK THE LEGO MANIAC.
Here's where the Superbowl fits into the equation. Twenty years ago nearly to the day: it's Super Bowl XXIII in Miami, Florida, January 22, 1989. For the previous year, Gillette ad executives had been toying with various concepts and performing extensive market research to create a new campaign that would strongly resonate with male shavers around the world with a powerful, emotional theme. At one point, the team had come up with 25 sample print ads with various slogans, but one grabbed everyone's attention: Gillette, The Best a Man Can Get. And guess who they commissioned to write the music and lyrics? That's right, our man Jake Holmes. The Best a Man Can Get ad made it's debut during Superbowl XXIII, kicking off an $80 million ad campaign across the US and Europe. The slogan is still in use today. Here's the original 1989 60-second spot with more lyrics than you may have remembered:
Next twist: you probably know of John Parr, as I do, from his 1985 hit St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion), co-written by David Foster. It may surprise you to learn that he is still performing live, as recently as last year opening throughout the UK for Journey, who just so happen to be a pre-show act at today's Super Bowl. Here's the zinger, at his shows he plays a full-length version of The Best a Man Can Get.
John Parr - The Best a Man Can Get
The idea that someone would bootleg a 2008 John Parr concert is fascinating in and of itself, but anyway take a listen to this live recording. He introduces the song as "a song I wrote for a commercial a long time ago..." and proceeds with quite an emotional, somewhat beautiful rendition of the Gillette theme.
And history repeats itself. Did Jake Holmes pull a Jimmy Page on John Parr or is it the other way around? I can find twosources (that aren't wikipedia) that side with Jake Holmes in this matter. On the other hand, we hear it straight from John Parr himself that he wrote it. There are also some fairly adamant YouTube commenters who claim Jake Holmes only sang on the Gillette ad while it was based on John Parr's original song... In John Parr's defense, who would falsely claim to have written the Gillette theme? Perhaps the two of them co-wrote it together, but Google turns up nothing with both their names. Another bit of synchronicity: John Parr's 1985 self-titled debut has a song called Heartbreaker, whose lyrics more closely match Pat Benatar's Heartbreaker than Zeppelin's, though it's a cover of neither. And ironically there's another track called Somebody Stole My Thunder (not a cover of of the Georgie Fame song).
So a real cover riddle indeed. I guess if artists didn't borrow (or steal) from each other throughout history, music might have devolved into some sort of experimental music hell. Anyway, didn't someone wise once say "Take a sad song and make it better"?
The Yardbirds - Dazed and Confused [originally by Jake Holmes, arranged by The Yardbirds]
From a March 1968 performance on French TV, this is a really intriguing version since it closely mirrors the Led Zeppelin version, pre-Robert Plant on vocals and singing Jake Holmes' lyrics.
John Parr - The Best a Man Can Get (Live) [originally by ?]
Inspection 12 - St. Elmo's Fire [originally by John Parr/David Foster]
The Link Quartet - Somebody Stole My Thunder [originally by Georgie Fame]
Additional reading:
An interview with Jake Holmes from Will Hodgkinson's book Song Man
I'm often prone to hyperbole, but these guys are probably my favourite cover discovery of the year. I know you've never heard of them because otherwise you would have told me about them already, eh? Somehow I came across this Russian group while looking for a cover of the Dire Straits' Money for Nothing and stumbled upon a treasure trove of brilliant cover songs ranging from Elvis to Bowie to Zeppelin.
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the PoZitive Orchestra!
The self-described idea behind the PoZitive Orchestra is combining the classic string quartet sound with Latin guitar rhythms and "vocal hooliganism". Though most of their official site's Russian translation makes only slightly more sense than reading the back of a Chinese bootlegged DVD, this part was surprisingly clear:
"The result is a something that hardly falls under the definition of «a cover version», rather, it might be called: «resaykl version», and the team «PoZitive Orchestra» respectively: «resaykl group»."
Even though the key word "resaykl" didn't make it through the translator, try to pronouncing it phonetically and a lightbulb will go on in your head.... recycle, or something close to that. They consider themselves as recyclers rather than coverers, which is about the same semantically as Tim Burton's re-imaginings instead of remakes, but I understand the desire to escape the trappings of a "cover band" label. A "cover band" implies some sort of bar band or tribute act (of which there are countless) playing rote recreations of another's work, whereas these guys are definitely one of a kind. To each and every cover, the PoZitive Orchestra bring original guitar and string arrangements that consistently defy expectation combined with heavily accented lead vocals that occasionally veer into Elvis territory. They're so fun to listen to that I'm a fan of the cover songs I've never even heard of. Nine of these covers are freely available directly from their site and I came across three more in my google travels. A veritable covers feast! They have no CD that I know of, but the minute they do I'll be all over it.
Shine on You Crazy Diamond [originally by Pink Floyd] This cover is absolutely brilliant, my favourite of the bunch. Reinvents this as a tango and makes it work, still capturing the bittersweet feelings of regret that permeate the original. Two-thirds of the way through it takes an unexpected yet somehow natural turn, transforming into something completely different. A must listen!
Money For Nothing [originally by Dire Straits]
The Girl From Ipanema [originally by Antonio Carlos Jobim]
Fragile [originally by Sting]
All Shook Up [originally by Elvis Presley]
Black Dog [originally by Led Zeppelin] Is it my imagination or does he sing "one-legged woman ain't got no soul"? Not many bands would throw some Hava Nagila into a Zeppelin cover.
Venus [originally by The Shocking Blue]
How Insensitive [originally by Antonio Carlos Jobim]
The Man Who Sold the World [originally by David Bowie]
Corcovado [originally by Antonio Carlos Jobim]
I Concentrate on You [originally by Cole Porter]
Help! [originally by The Beatles] Covering the Beatles is generally a recipe for disaster, but they've manage to produce one of those rare Beatles covers worth repeat listens. Love the string section shout-out to Cream near the end too.
If Google Translate is up to snuff, all band photos used here are by Michael Strizhevskim.
Happy Thanksgiving to our friends in the US. Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend. Up here it's business as usual, since we celebrated our Thanksgiving more than a month ago. Wikipedia has some interesting laptop reading about the hows and whys of our staggered holidays.
Halloween came early last week in the form of a Blogger takedown notice and threats regarding the DMCA. By far I'm not the only house on the block being paid a visit. Blogger has been a-knocking on lots of doors and they're clearly not here for tricks or treats, though I'd love to dump a handful of peanuts and unwrapped apples in their bag. Also, those nasty orange and black things in wax paper, ugh. To this point, I haven't really gotten too upset since I've knowingly not been overly vigilant about what I post-- I mean, my blog tagline states as much-- but the most frightening and disturbing aspect of this whole affair is hearing the accounts of fellow bloggers.
Our pal Boyhowdy at Cover Lay Down had a post taken down for a file he recorded live AND received written permission from the artist in question. Chad at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands is considering packing it in after a tribute to Elliot Smith with perfectly legit public domain mp3s was unceremoniously removed. Ekko at Berkeley Place is having posts deleted left and right. The list goes on and on... This one was particularly ridiculous: Ed at 17 Seconds had a year-old post featuring an entire interview with Glasvegas deleted even though the post contained no valid MP3 links, which were links to free demo songs anyway. Apparently I was lucky I even got a notice. Some bloggers' posts have just gone AWOL with no explanation whatsoever, which makes me wonder if that's already happened to me since I don't often peruse my own archives...
I seriously doubt there's some malicious reader going around submitting complaints about all the posts in question. Last year, Viacom spammed YouTube with 100,000 DMCA takedown notices based on an indiscriminate blanket search of the site's videos. I think something similar is happening here on behalf of some big wig record company.
The future is decidedly unfriendly right now, but don't expect me to quit blogging over it. I'm still a little leery right now about even posting legit mp3s so for now I've got words, just words.
An MP3-less Playlist:
1. Randy Newman - Strange Things When from out of the sky like a bomb comes some little punk in a rocket, now all of a sudden some strange things are happening to me. From the Toy Story soundtrack, this song accompanies a montage of Woody realizing that the times they are a-changin' as Buzz Lightyear comes on the scene. That had a happy ending, right?
2. The Crickets - I Fought the Law I remember some time in high school when I found out The Clash's I Fought the Law was a cover, proudly sharing the fact that the original was by the Bobby Fuller Four. Turns out that was a cover too! The original was by The Crickets, post-Buddy Holly.
3. The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes [originally by The Postal Service] I'm not coming out until this is all over. One of my favourite covers.
4. The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want) [originally performed by Barrett Strong]
5. Brie Larson - Unbelievable [originally by EMF] Crumbelievable OH!
6. OK Go & Bonerama - Rock & Roll Suicide [originally by David Bowie] Here's my endorsement for favourite cover song of the year. **Update: I was reminded by a reader that this comes from an OK Go & Bonerama benefit EP for New Orleans musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The 5-song EP is only $3.49 on iTunes and includes a rousing Bonerama horn section on some OK Go songs like A Million Ways in addition to the Bowie cover. Definitely worth a purchase.
7. Hard Attack - Land of Confusion [originally by Genesis]
8. Sertab Erener - Music [originally by Madonna] Music makes the people come together.
9. The Raconteurs - Keep It Clean (live) [originally by Charlie Jordan]
10. Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts - Words That We Couldn't Say
11. Robert Plant - For What It's Worth [originally by Buffalo Springfield]
12. GrimSkunk - Rockin' in the Free World [originally by Neil Young]
Well, the Large Hadron Collider started up today without a hitch. Everyone still here? Good. I love this headline from National Geographic: Large Hadron Collider "Actually Worked". 14 years and $8 billion later, I would hope so. Today was the first attempt to send a beam of protons around the 27 kilometer tunnel. I'm told it takes one ten-thousandth of a second for a the proton beam to circle the ring, so I can only imagine how anticlimactic it was to push the "on" button. In any event, scientists were ecstatic. Apparently Stephen Hawking bet $100 that the elusive Higgs boson will not be found, but it may be a few months before we find out who's right.
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So I'm back from the big T.O. and I'm extremely thrilled to report that indeed I was able to attend the world premiere of the rock doc It Might Get Loud at the Toronto Film Fest last Friday night. Yes, it got loud... as it should, considering the film's subjects JIMMY PAGE, JACK WHITE, and THE EDGE were all in attendance! They received a rousing ovation from the audience as they entered, shuffling down the rows to their reserved seats-- not far behind me! Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) was there to introduce the film, thanking the guitar virtuosos, the film's producers, and his wife Elizabeth Shue(?!). Utterly surreal watching a movie alongside these guitar greats.
The film kicks off with a shot of a cow. At a farmhouse in Tennessee (if I recall), Jack White hammers together a homemade instrument out of some blocks of wood, a coke bottle, and wire. Plugging it into an amp, he rips through some invented riffs. "Who says you need to buy a guitar?" he quips, as the opening credits roll. Central to the film is an epic Summit meeting of the three guitarists at an L.A. soundstage, which is interspersed with the subjects telling their own stories through individual interviews, revisiting locations of personal significance, and messing around in their own studios including the recording of unreleased new songs.
Some highlights include Jimmy Page playing a record of Link Wray's Rumble from his extensive home collection and goofily air strumming along with a huge grin on his face; The Edge revisiting his old school in Dublin where he once answered a leaflet posted by Larry Mullen Jr. advertising for bandmates, which would eventually become U2 (he ponders if he hadn't seen that ad and says maybe today he'd be a bank manager); and Jack White teaching a 9-year-old incarnation of himself the folk-blues standard Sittin' On Top of the World. At The Summit, all three swap tales and ideas about the electric guitar... of course, we're all eagerly anticipating their jamming together. They take turns leading the others through their own songs: The Edge on I Will Follow, Jack White on Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, and Jimmy Page on Whole Lotta Love, though on the latter Jack and the Edge merely watch with big grins as Jimmy plays. One of my favourite parts of the film is the three of them trading solos on In My Time of Dying in their distinct styles. AWESOME. It's curious to watch the Edge here because a completely different thought process seems to apply to his guitar solos while Jimmy and Jack clearly have their roots in the blues. If you're a fan of any of these bands, this film is pure gold.
After the film, all three guitarists, the producers, and the director went up on stage for a brief Q&A. I recorded the last couple questions:
For the cover lovers, it must be noted that their Summit ends with them getting together to play The Band's The Weight with Jack and the Edge swapping verses. Jack agrees to take the high notes on the chorus while Jimmy mumbles something about not being able to sing at all. Man, they have got to release an official soundtrack to this film.
My top three covers of The Weight:
Tok Tok Tok - The Weight [originally by The Band]
Aretha Franklin with Duane Allman - The Weight [originally by The Band]
The Moog Machine - The Weight [originally by The Band]
Led Zeppelin, U2, and the The White Stripes as you've never heard them:
Nuspirit Helsinki - No Quarter [originally by Led Zeppelin]
Nossa Alma Canta - Desire [originally by U2]
Nostalgia 77 featuring Alice Russell - Seven Nation Army (Grant Phabao Remix) [originally by The White Stripes]
I had hoped to have an amazing postscript to this night after I was by some stroke of luck able to score a ticket to the fabled It Might Get Loud after party as a media guest (don't ask). But the party was a total bust. Clearly there was an exclusive party within the party for special people only, so I was out in a jammed room with the other schmucks and party fillers. Pure Hell. Utter shallowness on display in full force and free drinks! I held on for 2 hours in hope of a rumoured jam session, though obviously this wasn't going to happen or at least not for us peons to hear/see. The only person of interest I saw was Richard Branson (or a look-alike) cutting through the lobby to the hotel elevators. The next day I read a small blurb in the paper that 2 of the 3 guitarists played (doesn't even say who) and those in attendance included Michael J. Fox, Bryan Adams, Geoffrey Rush, ex-Leaf Tie Domi, probable ex-Leaf Mats Sundin, and some Blue Jays. Yep, completely different party.
Other tidbits:
A clip I had seen previously on YouTube of a teenage Jimmy Page playing skiffle guitar on a TV show in 1957 appears in the film and the crowd erupted in laughter when they heard young Jimmy's career aspirations. Check the full segment here.
With Jack in T.O. for this and Alicia Keys also promoting her own film The Secret Life of Bees, producers took advantage of the opportunity to film the music video for their James Bond theme duet Another Way to Die somewhere in Toronto on Saturday. By the way, did you see the new Quantum of Solace trailer released a day or two ago? Check it out. And a surprising Bond tidbit from It Might Get Loud itself... The Edge asks Jimmy Page if there are any recordings they'd recognize from Jimmy's stint in the 60's as a session guitarist on numerous recordings. His answer: Goldfinger. Wow, news to me!
The other film at TIFF I saw was a midnight screening of JCVD, a new film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself. A meta look at Jean Claude Van Damme's life surreally crossed with Dog Day Afternoon. A surreal, funny film and Van Damme shockingly delivers a riveting confessional monologue. Again: Van Damme and riveting in the same sentence. And I just have to mention that the JCVD end credits also roll with a cover song-- Bowie! Marie Mazziotti - Modern Love [originally by David Bowie]
This is Last Friday Me writing from the past. Little did you know but I've been on vacation in Toronto since last Friday, in fact I leave in a couple hours... I hope I'm having a good time. If all goes according to plan, Current Me should be having a GREAT time at the World Premiere of a new documentary at the Toronto Film Festival called, It Might Get Loud.
Let me break it down: this is a documentary from Davis Guggenhiem, the director of An Inconvenient Truth, about the electric guitar as filtered through the fingers of Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge. KaBOOM--exploding head! Mind blown. Longtime readers should know my affinity for Led Zeppelin and the White Stripes, so when I heard this was premiering at TIFF and I just so happened to be in town, doing everything in my power be there was a no-brainer. And hey I like me some U2 too. Plus get this: all three guitarists will supposedly be in attendance. SPLOOSH!--headless body melts into puddle of goo. Now that would be an after party for the ages. According to the official site, the film "weaves together their stories to reveal how each of them developed a unique sound" and brings the three virtuosos together for a jam session. This is so gonna rock. Current Me had better be there.
DJ Zebra - Icky Thump (Whole Lotta Funk Remix) [White Stripes vs. Led Zeppelin]
Ben Folds dropped by The Suburbs, hinting at plans for "Chapel Hill on Sept 18th that I'm told we have to wait a few more days to announce. There will be those who shit. I know I will. Very excited but I gotta hold it in a few more days."
Could it be a one-off reunion everyone's favourite fraudulent quintet, Ben Folds Five at their old stomping grounds??? Makes sense. Darren Jessee and his band Hotel Lights just put out a new album with an unreleased BFF song on it. Ben's just one state over in Nashville, Darren Jessee's based (I think) in Chapel Hill, and Robert Sledge is still active there... in fact Lucky, a new band with Squirrel Nut Zippers' Katharine Whalen and Will Dawson, are playing a gig with the Robert Sledge Band in Chapel Hill on September 13th. I still can't believe two of my favourite bands both come from Chapel Hill (BFF and SNZ).
Ben Folds Five - Song for the Dumped (Sessions at West 54th)
If true, that's really bittersweet because I definitely would not be able to go, but still it's wicked if this comes to fruition. Somebody send a camera crew!
By the way, one time Squirrel Nut Zipper honorary member Andrew Bird is in town this weekend for The Stanley Park Exhibition with the New Pornographers. Ugh, can't go but that would've been pretty awesome. Thankfully I've seen both acts before. Anyway, hope they do it again next year.
Andrew Bird - Jesus Gonna Make My Dyin' Bed [traditional] From his appearance last month at the Calgary Folk Fest, recorded by the fine folks at CBC Radio 2. Blind Willie Johnson first recorded Jesus Gonna Make My Dyin' Bed in the late 1920's from a traditional gospel tune, Bob Dylan recorded it as In My Time of Dyin' on his 1962 self-titled debut, and so did Led Zeppelin on 1975's Physical Grafitti, their longest studio track and one of my faves. I'm guessing Andrew Bird's version reaches way back to its traditional roots because it is not remotely recognizable from any version of the song I've heard. Sounds great though!
We've reached a very special milestone here at Fong Songs. This is my 300th post, but more importantly today is the Three Year Anniversary of this blog's existence.
"Three-- Oh three-- it's a magic number. Oh yes it is, it's the magic number."
It's hard to believe that I've been at this for 3 years and it's been a blast. Initially blogging along for a readership of one (me), not a lot has really changed in my approach even as the visitor count very slowly grew, not that I'm immune to occasionally "chasing" readers in an effort to recapture conspicuous spikes in traffic.
Now that I really think about it, the Fong Songs experiment pre-dates the blog itself, initially started as a beta gmail account (since abandoned) with a shared password so that my friends and I (mostly me) could "post" unique or favourite songs with a little story to go with it. Eventually everyone lost interest as it was a pretty unwieldy process for sharing songs. In Summer 2005, I moved to Vancouver for 2 months to take a part-time course in 2D animation. Armed with my first post-switch Mac, I discovered a few things that summer that eventually led to the creation of Fong Songs as we now know it. Following a link on The Covers Project, I found myself completely drawn into the wonderful world of Coverville, a magical land where covers reigned supreme. I had never even heard of podcasting before and here was Brian Ibbott with already more than 100 shows under his belt. That's when I first got an inkling that I wasn't the only one obsessed with covers. Hours were spent crawling through the Coverville archives with delirious ears. I also stumbled upon Liza's Copy, Right? (dearly missed) and the concept of MP3 blogs in general. Oh, what I had been missing out on! I started wondering what it would take to start my own blog (answer: not much), since I was already notorious for usurping control of the music selections on car rides. Someone distinctly noted that there was an absurdly high ratio of cover songs to originals on my iPod, which had never really occurred to me. My firsttwo posts very tellingly concerned the White Stripes, as Jack & Meg inevitably come up more often than any other subject. I noted in that first post that my covers collection was pushing 1200 and now that number is closer to 8400. There are songs I've been "meaning to post" for years now and still haven't gotten around to them. If and when this blog goes belly up, it certainly won't be for lack of material.
Since this began, the cover blog corner of the blogsphere has blossomed into what I like to refer to as a covers community. Cover Freak, Coverin' the Mouse, Cover Lay Down, Cover Me, Blowin' Your Cover, and probably more have all sprouted up in the last couple years. Having these cover colleagues has lead to some mutual guest posts, which I had never imagined when I started off, not to mention being invited to partake in a Cover Blog Roundtable on an episode of Coverville. Victory! So what does the future have in store for Fong Songs? From the get-go, my slapdash tagline has been "cover songs, my fav bands, and whatever the hell I feel like" and that pretty much sums up everything I write about. Mostly cover songs with the leeway to venture off into fanatical ravings about my favourite bands and I look to continue that tradition. Boyhowdy once wrote that I have an "incredible ability to compile cross-genre coverlists the likes of which [he's] never seen" in regards to my penchant for thematically linked cover songs and just a couple days ago, reader Tarty made the comment that "reading your blog is often like doing a paint-by-numbers project but on a time/space continuum". Those two quotes both warm my little ego and describe Fong Songs better than I can put it myself.
On to the covers!
The first time I heard of Three is a Magic Number was when my sister came back from a Captain Tractor show and raved about a new addition to the live show, "an awesome sing-along song about the 3 times table". Sure enough I was treated to this song at the next show I attended. The local Edmonton band, who we've seen innumerable times over the years, had recently gained a new member keyboard/accordionist Jason Kodie. this was the one song where he would take over lead vocal duties and teach the audience a basic math lesson. Admittedly Schoolhouse Rock! is a bit before my time, but I was aware of it mainly through that spot-on parody of I'm Just a Bill on The Simpsons. Soon after "discovering" Three is a Magic Number, I found the wonderful tribute album Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks at the library, a full album of Schoolhouse Rock! covers including Blind Melon's take on that very song.
Schoolhouse Rock - Three is a Magic Number Here's the original, written and performed by Bob Dorough who composed the majority of the Schoolhouse Rock! tunes. This was actually the very first song ever recorded for Schoolhouse Rock!.
Bob Dorough - Three is a Magic Number Bob Dorough revisits the classic song in this awesome live cover. In light of the fact that the crowd seems to be filled with some kids that "are bigger than the regular kids", he takes the song all the way up to 3 times 20, which makes the counting backwards part a lot trickier than you'd expect.
Blind Melon - Three is a Magic Number
The Jellydots - Three is a Magic Number I love this rock cover from The Jellydots, a kids band started by music teacher Doug Snyder.
Elizabeth Mitchell - Three is a Magic Number Embrace - Three is a Magic Number (live) Wilco - Three is a Magic Number (live) Jeff Buckley - Three is a Magic Number
Jack Johnson - The 3 R's From the Curious George soundtrack, Jack Johnson expands on the original multiplication theme and teaches a lesson about The 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. It's funny, I remember a childhood jingle that included a 4th R: Recover. What ever happened to that?
De La Soul - Three is a Magic Number A riff on Three is a Magic Number from hip hop group De La Soul's 1989 debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. Recently, they're probably most well known for collaborating with the Gorillaz on the Grammy-winning Feel Good, Inc. This track also samples the drums from Led Zeppelin's The Crunge.
One more belated entry for Muppet Covers Week... this should've gone up yesterday, but churning out these daily posts was wearing me out. A quick round-up of last week's posts:
Mah Nà Mah Nà Mahna Mahna Mah-Nah Mah-Nah Mah-Na-Mah-Na
...no matter how you spell it, it's one of the most enduring and most covered Muppet-related tunes. I say Muppet-related because it did not originate with the Muppets but rather a 1968 Italian mondo film. As best as I can tell, most of the research about the origins of the Mah Nà Mah Nà stems from this geocities site, which was started in 2000 and continues to be sporadically updated to this day.
Piero Umiliani - Mah Nà Mah Nà Piero Umiliani - Samba Mah Nà We start at the beginning, 1968's Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Heaven & Hell), an Italian mondo film "documentary" about sexual behaviours of Swedes. It seems to be the unlikeliest of soundtracks to an Italian softcore porn film, roughly on par with using sped up footage alongside Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax. Samba Mah Nà is an awesome variation from the same soundtrack. I really can't imagine what sort of scene this music accompanied! An entire album of remixes of the original, "Mah Nà Mah Nà: Vulcanology.It Remixes", is available on iTunes, eMusic, and Amazon, though it doesn't look like a physical disc exists.
Piero Umiliani - Mah Nà Cowboy Umiliani revisits the Mah Nà motif with this hilarious variation from the soundtrack to 1971's Questo Sporco Mondo Meraviglioso (google's translation: This Dirty Wonderful World).
Mahna Mahna & The Two Snowths - Mahna Mahna The Muppet debut of Mahna Mahna was on the 14th episode of Sesame Street, airing in November 1969. A more polished version was performed live three days later on The Ed Sullivan Show and this was later redone for the very first episode of The Muppet Show when it debuted in 1976. "Mahna Mahna" (the wild-haired scat man) was performed by Jim Henson and the "Two Snowths" (the pink creatures who sing the doo-doo's) were both performed by Frank Oz. Muppet Wiki has a handy Mahna Mahna Through the Years pictorial guide.
Henri Salvador - Mais Non Mais Non (Mah Na Mah Na) An early French cover from 1969, which replaces the familiar refrain with Mais Non, Mais Non and adds some other lyrics.
Hot Butter - Mah-Na-Mah-Na Electronic Concept Orchestra - Mah Na Mah Na Two Moog versions, the first by Hot Butter who are best known for the instrumental Popcorn. The latter playfully incorporates random classical bit and other familiar tunes.
Giorgio Moroder - Mah Na Mah Na De Savoya Combo - Mah-Na Mah-Na The scatting in the first one sounds mostly like a sick duck, while the latter sounds like a sick pig. Strange.
Leroy Holmes - Mah Na Mah Na Pay particularly close attention to this version, which uses a wide range of instruments and sometimes lush orchestration. This is clearly the antecedent of Cake's cover.
Dave Pell Singers - Mah-Nah-Mah-Nah A pleasant, if bland cover. The more of these you listen to, the harder it is to distinguish them apart.
Asylum Street Spankers - Mah Na Mah Na This is a fun live cover, incorporating snippets of Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf, Zeppelin's Heartbreaker, the Stones' Satisfaction, and more in an extended bit of scatting.
Skin - Mah Na Mah Na The big, loud, fast punk cover. I love it.
Cake - Mahna Mahna If some of the other versions start wearing thin, I find the Cake version perpetually listenable. Again, check out the Leroy Holmes cover and notice the strong similarities. This was originally from the For the Kids compilation album.
Mr. Mo - Mah Na Mah Na Mr. Mo uses Mah Na Mah Na as the basis of this song, which sounds suspiciously like Mambo #5 too. It's also the first version I know of to use "mah na mah na" as a sexual euphemism, though perhaps that's unintentionally fitting considering the song's origins.
Lenlow - Kanye Mahna [Kanye West vs. The Muppets] Mash-up artist Lenlow combines Kanye's Golddigger with Cake's cover of Mahna Mahna. Works surprisingly well.
Alex H - Mahna Mahna in Memphis [Marc Cohn vs. The Muppets] This mash-up is a little more forced...
K-Taro - Sweden, Heaven & Hell Taking its title from the original film source, Japanese artist K-Taro, formerly of Pizzicato Five, contributed this electronic cover to the compilation album Sushi 3003.
Pato Fu - Made in Japan Pato Fu - Made in Japan (live) Brazilian pop band Pato Fu incorporates Mahna Mahna into the chorus of its hit song Made in Japan, which was written in Portuguese and translated into Japanese. A computerized voice actually sings "Made in Japan" in place of "Mahna Mahna". I love the live version, which is from their 10th anniversary album. It's much livelier, for lack of a better word, than the album version. So we have a Brazilian band singing in Japanese, based on an Italian tune from a film about Swedes. Very worldly!
Vanilla - No Way No Way No doubt, the worst usage of Mah Na Mah Na: an atrocious sub-par Spice Girls knock-off. I just dare you to watch the music video for this on youTube (no, I won't link to it!).
That Handsome Devil - Hey White Boy Mahna Mahna pops up in all sorts of curious contexts. I was trying to remember where I recognized this band's name from, then I realized their song, Elephant Bones, was one of the bonus tracks from Guitar Hero 2, one of the more eclectic song choices. Let's get Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem in one of these games! Can you picture that?
Thanks for joining me for Muppet Covers Week! Phew, time for a break!
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