Meta Shop Boys

These are a few leftovers from last week's offering of Pet Shop Boys covers that deserved their very own post because they live in their own little world of cover wackiness.

Pet Shop Boys - We're the Pet Shop Boys [originally by My Robot Friend]
What's weirder: the Pet Shop Boys performing a song called We're the Pet Shop Boys or the fact that it's a cover song? Amusingly, the Pet Shop Boys cover is essentially the same with Neil Tennant replacing the faux Tennant vocals of the original.

My Robot Friend - We're the Pet Shop Boys
The original is from New York electronic artist My Robot Friend who produced the Pet Shop Boys tribute on his 2002 debut Hot Action!. One of the best bits is a monotone roll call of Pet Shop Boys song titles reminiscent of the coda of Madonna's Vogue.

Robbie Williams - We're The Pet Shop Boys (with Pet Shop Boys) [originally by My Robot Friend]
Piling another yummy layer of meta, Robbie Williams covered this for his 2006 album Rudebox. It was produced by the Pet Shop Boys themselves, who also produced another track from the same album called She's Madonna. The Pet Shop Boys also remixed Madonna's song Sorry from her Confessions on a Dance Floor album and, if I remember the liner notes from Discography, their own song Heart was offered to Madonna before they kept it for themselves. If only we could get Madonna to cover We're the Pet Shop Boys.


West End Girls - Booglurbia [originally by the Pet Shop Boys]
West End Girls are a Pet Shop Boys tribute band from Sweden who recorded a full album of PSB covers in 2006 called Goes Petshopping. To the untrained ear (like mine) it might sound like this particular cover of Suburbia was recorded in the duo's native language, but it has more in common with the Swedish chef than actual Swedish. No, this cover was recorded in Simlish, the nonsense language used by the Sims in the popular computer game. Specifically, this was featured in the expansion pack The Sims: Pets (ha, get it?) and even then, not in the US version.

By the way, if you missed the exciting news, it was announced a couple weeks ago at D23 (A Disney convention) that Muppet Studios would be releasing a covers album called Muppets Revisited. The track list isn't finalized and no release date has been set, but the announcement included these:

• It's Not Easy Being Green by Andrew Bird
  
• Mahna Mahna by The Fray
  
• Rainbow Connection by Weezer
  
• Our World by My Morning Jacket
  
• Halfway Down the Stairs by Amy Lee

Opportunities (Let's Hear Lots of Covers)

On Saturday night, I went to see the Pet Shop Boys perform at The Centre. Back when tickets went on sale, I was hemming and hawing whether I should even go or not. I mean, I pretty much began and stopped listening to the Pet Shop Boys with their 1991 release Discography, essentially a greatest hits up-to-that-point collection, but I remember this being one of my family's earliest CDs (no doubt bought by my mom) and I consider it a seminal album in my music listening experiences. I was probably 8 when we got that album and who knows how many times I popped it in the CD and just sat there reading the liner notes. In fact, up until that point I didn't even know what a "discography" was. Sadly, I don't even digest new music that way anymore, but the Pet Shop Boys' Discography has always stuck with me. I felt like I would punch myself later if I didn't take the opportunity to see them live since I know they still perform the songs I love, plus I heard they put on quite a show.... and they did.

I didn't really have a clue what to expect going in, seeing how at their core it's just Neil Tennant on vocals with Chris Lowe playing keyboards/synthesizers and manipulating the music from his control box podium thingy. What they may lack in band members is countered by pure visual spectacle and, of course, awesome songs. The best way I can describe the show is that it was like watching a music video come to life. The theme of this tour appears to be blocks and cubes... as in Rubik's cube imagery, blocky cityscapes, dancers in cubist outfits, blown up pixels, and an awesome set design made up of movable blocks. The show started with two screens of 5x5 blocks with video projected on it, before doorways materialized in the middle of each screen and the Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe stepped out... at least you'd assume so by the grand entrance and roaring reception. You see, they both wore cubes on their head, but as one made his way to his control booth stage left and one started belting out Heart, it was clear who was who. While this set-up lasted for a few songs, the show ascended to the next level during Building the Wall, in which a digital wall was being built on the video projections before the screens toppled over into their block components revealing a much deeper and cube-filled stage. Throughout the rest of the show, roadies in white lab coats and white hard hats would rejig all the giant cubes for each song. It was a remarkably versatile set design and I was shocked to read after that most of the cubes were simply cardboard boxes-- so much for hi-tech! This interview with designer Es Devlin provides some interesting background on the stage concept, though it's probably meaningless if you didn't see the show (as is my entire description of it, I suppose!).

The songs were probably a 50/50 split of hits and material from their most recent release Yes. But even on the new stuff, elements or phrases from familiar songs would creep in, most noticeably on a sort of mash-up of Can You Forgive Her? with the new Pandemonium. This could have been a fashion show there were so many costume changes, but one of my favourite moments was when Tennant was backed up by four dancing Manhattan skyscrapers (starting at 4:12 of this video). Maybe dancing mascots just make me laugh, but I loved it. It was definitely a show unlike any I've seen before and most of my all-time favourites were played. My one complaint is that I wasn't completely immersed in the show from up on the balcony especially when people couldn't decide if they were going to sit or stand, so they ended up standing only for songs they knew then sitting down... kinda awkward. Also, I was surprised to hear Tennant announce "Yes, Vancouver, we finally made it." It was the Pet Shop Boys first tour stop in Vancouver in their nearly 30 years as a group!

From a covers standpoint, the Pet Shop Boys are pretty much kings of making a song their own, scoring hits with distinct renditions of Always on My Mind, Where the Streets Have No Name (Can't Take My Eyes Off You), and Go West. I still remember being in a movie theatre and hearing U2's original Where the Streets Have No Name for the first time and mistakenly thinking they were covering the Pet Shop Boys. Oh, how my cover knowledge has grown since then! Even years after that, I was watching The Deer Hunter and the rest of that childhood cover riddle was unintentionally solved as I watched Christopher Walken animatedly singing along to Franki Valli's original Can't Take My Eyes Off You.

So here's big batch of some of my favourite covers of the Pet Shop Boys, naturally almost all taken from Discography:

Frankmusik - It's a Sin (live on BBC2) [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
This was the last song the Pet Shop Boys performed before the encore break, but with all of the elaborate choreography for each number and the fact that a good chunk of the backing music is prerecorded, was an encore ever in doubt? This recent cover was recorded earlier this year for the Dermot O'Leary show. Frankmusik actually opened for Pet Shop Boys at a couple UK dates in June.

To/Die/For - It's a Sin [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
A cover by a Finnish gothic metal band... because the world can always use more of these.

Merril Bainbridge - Being Boring [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
I was absolutely thrilled when this was the first song in the encore (the night ended with West End Girls). This cover is from Aussie pop singer Merril Bainbridge's debut album The Garden, which spawned a mid-90's hit with Mouth. I knew about this acoustic cover for a long time though hadn't heard it before randomly stumbling across a copy of the CD at a used bookstore(??) right here in Vancouver. I could have saved myself some trouble if I had known about 10 Years of Being Boring, the most absurdly comprehensive website I've ever seen dedicated to a single song, though I can't really argue since it is my most played PSB tune. Check out the "renditions" sections of that site for even more Being Boring covers!

Skin of Tears - Suburbia [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
This is the inevitable German punk cover and yeah, it's pretty awesome. I used to think this song was about dogs running in the streets at night... funny how childhood misconceptions stick with you longer they they should. Interestingly, the song itself was inspired by the 1984 film Suburbia about suburban punks, which featured the acting debut of Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers and cover-friendly punk band The Vandals as themselves. Saturday's performance of Suburbia featured video projections of an army of cube-headed businessmen moving boxes on an infinitude of moving escalators while two dancers in the same cubehead business suits mimicked the actions on stage. These two dancers who spent probably 75% of the show with cubes on their head then stripped off their suits (and cubes) to reveal that they were both actually twin clones of Gwen Stefani. And you think I'm joking.

Frank Bennett - Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
Before Paul Anka was swinging modern hits, before Richard Cheese was lounging against the machine, and even before Pat Boone was in a metal mood, Australian singer Frank Bennett (as in, Frank Sinatra + Tony Bennett) was bringing big band arrangements to contemporary songs from Pearl Jam's Better Man to kd Lang's Constant Craving with his 1996 album Five O'Clock Shadow. Unfortunately this was not on Saturday night's setlist, but I dig this unlikely cover from Bennett's 1998 follow-up Cash Landing.

The Del Rubio Triplets - What Have I Done to Deserve This? [originally by Pet Shop Boys feat. Dusty Springfield]
This was the only song I was slightly disappointed they didn't perform, but at the same time why would you even bother trying to replace Dusty Springfield? The Del Rubio Triplets were actual 60-something year old triplets performing novelty acoustic guitar covers during the late 80's and making appearances on episodes of Full House, Golden Girls, and even Married with Children. They were "discovered" by songwriter Allee Willis who has co-written I'll Be There For You (i.e. the Theme from Friends) and September with Earth, Wind & Fire. As it turns out, Willis also co-wrote this very song with the Pet Shop Boys, which probably explains this odd duck of a cover.

Sky High - Can You Forgive Her? [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
Sky High is a Swedish blues band that has been around for over 30 years. This fantastic brassy rock cover came from their 2003 double CD release On the Cover: 25 Years of Madness, which features a few other covers too.

Dubstar - Jealousy [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
This is from the 1998 covers compilation Essential Interpretations, which is surprisingly more essential than you'd expect with its generic title and oddball album cover of an ostrich. At the show, two dancers performed an interpretive dance of a tumultuous, violent relationship. During the big orchestral finale, they started tearing down bits of the set and throwing cubes at each other. Fun stuff.

Hungry Lucy - Jealousy [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
This is a beautiful cover from the Pet Shop Boys tribute album Very Introspective Actually, which actually features some other pretty decent covers from the likes of Momus and David J (of Bauhaus).

Motormark - Left to My Own Devices [originally by Pet Shop Boys]
My other favourite cover from that same Very Introspective Actually album, this is probably the most drastically reinvented Pet Shop Boys song going from a lushly orchestrated disco number to some sort of electro art punk thing. I love it.

Pet Shop Boys - Girls & Boys (Live in Rio) [originally by Blur]
The Pet Shop Boys were given Girls & Boys to remix and they later started covering it in concert on their 1994 tour.

Yar

Yarrrr, billions of blue blisterin' barnacles, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Aye, we be celebratin' here at Fong Shanties with some cover song booty. Plunder away!


The Pointer Sisters - Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) [originally from Pirates of the Caribbean]
Before 2003, the idea of a movie based on a theme park ride seemed absurd. Arrrr, a couple billion doubloons in booty later, nobody be laughin' now. Except, of course, them Disney buccaneers... all the way to th' bank, yarrr! T'is be from the 1996 out o' print CD Disney's Music from the Park.

Captain Bogg & Salty - Part of Your World [originally from Disney's The Little Mermaid]
Aye, 'tis another Disney cover and Captain Bogg & Salty do a fine piratey rendition.

Captain Tractor - Drunken Sailor [Traditional]
Captain Tractor - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate [originally by The Arrogant Worms]
We be in fer a solid floggin' by the grog-swillin' CRTC if we don't be servin' up some more CanCon here, so here be both a traditional and a modern shanty from Edmonton balladeers Captain Tractor. Sailin' through the rough green waters of the North Saskatchewan river, Captain Tractor be renowned across the land for pillagin' them Arrogant Worms of their most popular shanty and havin' a bigger radio hit with it.

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE - Theme from Monkey Island [originally by Michael Land]
'Tis a jolly rockin' cover of the main theme from the uncle of all pirate video games, The Secret of Monkey Island as performed by PRESS PLAY ON TAPE, a Commodore 64 revival band from o'erseas in the land of the Danes. In celebration of today's festivities, the hearty folks at TellTale Games, who have done a superb job reviving Guybrush Threepwood & Co. from a long murky slumber, be giving away the first episode of The Tales of Monkey Island! Aye, put away those gold doubloons and sail on o'er to www.playlikeapirate.com for yer free game-- TODAY only! Speaking of which, the recently revamped special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island is also 50% off this weekend... only $4.99 o'er at Steam.

No Apologies

Depending on your gaming preferences, this weekend you may be either butchering the Beatles or making Kurt Cobain your karaoke puppet. You may have recently read about Courtney Love's wacko ravings on Twitter or Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic's "dismay and disappointment" over the use of Kurt Cobain's likeness in Guitar Hero 5. Players can "unlock" Cobain and have him sing Duran Duran or Bon Jovi, for example. Having properly secured the "necessary licenses", Activision has nothing to apologize for except perhaps terribly bad taste. Funnily enough, getting the usage of Cobain's image was a lengthy process dating back to Guitar Hero World Tour... not only did Love have to sign off on it, she was providing photo and video references for the game designers. Apparently less controversial: Johnny Cash rapping.

Well, Courtney Love may be stupid for letting it happen, but Activision is also stupid for wanting it to happen. Food for thought as you digest these reinterpretations:

DJ MikeA - Celebrity in Vain [Hole vs. The Clash]
"You want a part of me. Well, I'm not selling cheap." Gee, it's like rain on your wedding day, eh? More mash-ups on DJ MikeA's myspace.

Gringo Floyd - In Bloom [originally by Nirvana]
For your next Nirvana-themed cocktail soirée.

Preteen Pornstar - Breed [originally by Nirvana]
Despite the off-putting band name, this is one of my favourite Nirvana covers. Feels like you're visiting some sort of experimental sonic art installation.

Orba Squara - All Apologies [originally by Nirvana]
All this preamble just to present this awesome cover that popped up in my mailbox this week. Orba Squara is the alter-ego of New York artist Mitch Davis whose song Perfect Timing (This Morning) was (speaking of licensing) used in Apple's iPhone TV advertising campaign. If you dig his sound, listen to live audio from NYC's The Living Room or check out the Orba Squara website, which features an incredible 430-foot long side-scrolling travelogue/art project, the result of a 10-day bus run from New York to Portland with music from his follow-up album The Trouble With Flying (due October 27) providing the soundtrack. While Davis wrote and performed nearly the entire album on his own, a fortuitous meeting led to childhood hero Billy Squier contributing vocals and guitar to two songs including the title track. Orba Squara also has a cover of Lady Gaga's Poker Face on the iTunes (but not in Canada, I guess).

In a Post-HD World

Normally when I wear my Harvey Danger shirt around, I'm mistaken for a staunch supporter of High Definition or, sometimes, hard drives. But for one glorious weekend, I could be readily identified by strangers as a fan of Harvey Danger. And perhaps it would be the only time in history I would run into somebody wearing that same shirt and we'd exchange silent nods of approval. In the Emerald City, this was literally the end of the yellow brick road for Harvey Danger, 17 years after forming at the University of Washington. I've mentioned before how the band has a relatively small but extremely passionate following and that was demonstrated in spades last weekend. At least a few superfans had attended multiple shows in different cities on this final tour, which went through Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles before swinging back to their hometown Seattle for three final shows: an all-ages show Friday, an early show Saturday, and the Last Ever. I met a mom who had flown in for the Friday show from Orlando with her 18-year old son for his graduation present (awesome!). Others had flown from as far as North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, the UK, and elsewhere to be at their last ever show. Me, I hopped on a train down from Vancouver to take in the festivities.

Sleepy Kitty, a two-piece band from Chicago/St.Louis, restored my faith in opening bands, which lately I've been entirely ready to do away with. Sleepy Kitty consists of original Harvey Danger drummer Evan Sult (on drums, naturally) and Paige Brubeck on guitar, keyboards, and harmonized vocals (looping pedals!). Ever since I've been addicted to their song Gimme a Chantz! from their $3 EP What I Learned This Summer. Check it out on their myspace site. They opened for two of the three shows and I enjoyed them so much I could've gone for a full blown gig. It was only their third (or fourth?) show ever, so hopefully we'll be hearing more from them soon. The early show on Saturday featured Can You Imagine? as the opener, a bubblegum pop/50's rock & roll band that includes one-time Harvey Danger producer Steve Fisk on keyboads and cartoonist Peter Bagge on guitar/vocals. Afterward, I was mentally forming a blog post about other comic book people who've released music... off the top of my head I could only come up with Robert Crumb and James Kochalka, so that might require some more diligent research.

For the uninitiated, I won't bore you too much with the details (there's another forum for that), but needless to say it's a little magical being in a room filled with people who know every single Harvey Danger song inside and out. At one point, Sean Nelson just stopped singing and let the crowd takeover for the first couple verses, which he really could have done for every song. Over the course of two days, Harvey Danger played well over 7 hours of music. Someone who wrote down the setlists tallied 77 songs total! The all-ages show at The Vera Project, a non-profit music/arts centre for youths, clocked in at almost 3 hours, which was probably the band's longest ever show... until they topped it the very next night. The format was the same for all the shows: ~1.5 hour set, followed by an "on-stage encore break", then Q&A/request free-for-all. In order to make a request, one had to raise their hand and ask the band an "interesting" question, which ranged from the uninspired ("What is the meaning of [insert HD song]?"), intriguing ("What was your creepiest encounter with a fan?"), painfully cliché (nearly anything pertaining to Flagpole Sitta), and random ("Do you love your father?"). Sean would usually pause before making a decision: "Uninteresting! NEXT!" or "Now that's an interesting question." Occasionally, the worthiness of the question would be decided by a gladiatorial thumbs up or down as determined by the cheers or jeers. If your question was answered, then your request was granted.

• For the last ever Flagpole Sitta, John Roderick of The Long Winters ran on stage to help sing the BA-BA-BAAA's. After the song ended, Sean said something along the lines of "We're going to take five seconds to appreciate the fact that we never have to play that song ever again", followed by a band toast.
  
• They played my all-time favourite HD song Loyalty Bldg. at the final show. Perfection.
  
• During the middle of what seemed like a record-breaking fifteen minute (Theme from) Carjack Fever, Sean gave each member of the band an extended introduction for the last time.
  
• Someone asked if they ever play Rock Band and if they do, do they play the instruments they play in real life. Sean went to each band member for their replies: "No." "Nope." "No." "No, but I'm buying that Beatles one."
  
• BNL's Steven Page was around somewhere but I didn't notice. @stevenpage: "Harvey Danger taking requests. No teleprompters, no binders of lyrics. Pretty impressive. Tho they only made 3 albums."
  
• The first two shows both ended with Radio Silence, which is a fitting last note to go out on. When this was played during the requests portion of the final show, we were left in suspense as to what would the last Harvey Danger song played would be. In a risky, but brilliant move, they capped off the night with a new song, the appropriately titled The Show Must Not Go On, which was followed by what may have been the first and last band hugs.

As with all the shows, the band came out after to chat with fans, sign things, take photos, etc. It speaks to their extreme generosity that they stayed until absolutely everyone had been taken care of. Personally, it was just wonderful to have the opportunity to say thanks for all the years of fantastic music.

On the covers front, they played a stunning cover of The Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money at the Vera show. When asked later by a young fan what was his favourite song ever, Sean said probably that one. At the final show, Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things was the first request, saving me the trouble of requesting it myself! Another request was their almost never played cover of The English Beat's Save It For Later, here mixed with a snippet of Pearl Jam's Better Man. I overheard them playing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road during the soundcheck but that didn't crop up at the actual show. Their Dead Sea Scrolls rarities CD sold at the shows contains an unheard cover of Hall & Oates' Maneater and a live cover of Randy Newman's Louisiana, 1927.

Here's where I'd usually post some cover songs, but instead here are my two favourite HD originals from each album.

Harvey Danger - Jack the Lion [from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?]
Harvey Danger - Carlotta Valdez [from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?]
Harvey Danger - Loyalty Bldg. [from King James Version]
Harvey Danger - The Same as Being in Love [from King James Version]
Harvey Danger - Moral Centralia [from Little By Little...]
Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise [from Little By Little...]

The latter two albums are both available on iTunes, while their debut album is more or less readily available as a physical disc (check Amazon or your local used CD shop). Of course, as it has been for the past 4 years, Little by Little... can be downloaded for free from the official site. When asked if that release tactic was regarded as a success, Sean said the fact that the room was filled with people singing along to every song from the album proves it was, though in hindsight they'd make the "donate" button more prominent, ha ha.

One last thing I want to tell you about is a stunning collection of live music housed at the University of Washington, one that you can only listen to IN-PERSON if you happen to be visiting Seattle. Between May 2002 and December 2007, audio engineer Jim Anderson recorded every (or pretty damn nearly every) show at the Crocodile Café before it closed down, re-opening in March of this year as The Crocodile. In October 2008, he donated this massive collection of digital recordings to the University of Washington's Ethnomusicology Archives. In total, this amounted to over 2800 HOURS of live music. It is not available online and can only be listened to at one of two terminals at the Libraries Media Center. Here are some of the gigs that caught my attention:

• Five full Harvey Danger shows and a handful of solo gigs by band members
  
• Andrew Bird 2003/06/12
  
• The Dresden Dolls 2004/08/22
  
• The Living End (!!) 2006/12/16
  
• Sam Roberts 2003/10/24
  
• Jon Brion 2004/12/18
  
• The Ditty Bops 2005/03/10, 2005/06/25
  
  For White Stripes-related fare:
  
• The Greenhornes 2002/11/13
  
• Brendan Benson 2005/11/08
  
• Blanche 2005/06/25
  
• Holly Golightly 2003/09/26, 2004/10/26
  
• The Kills 2003/09/26, 2004/12/04, 2005/03/25

And that just barely scratches the surface. In fact, the list is so dense it hurts my eyes reading through it. There are even recordings of Disney Cover nights!! In one recording, Sean Nelson performed some Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, and Winnie the Pooh tunes! I even heard a pretty decent punk rock cover of Oogie Boogie's Song. Disney cover jackpot! Take a look at the extensive list to see if your favourite artists are on there-- tons of indie blog faves I'm leaving off. I'll be back in Seattle in October for a Ben Folds + symphony show at Benaroya Hall, but I think I know where I'll be spending the afternoon...

In the Inbox and Feedbox 08/25/2009

I just need to clear my plate of a bunch of blogworthy things coming through my e-mail and RSS feeds. There are also a handful of half-formed posts that just going to have to wait including a Tarantino cover tribute ('twas to coincide with the release of Inglourious Basterds, alas) and an ABBA cover post that I owe a reader (soon!).

Jordan Galland Coverage:
My inbox is filled with a ton of PR stuff everyday and some folks are quite sneaky about pretending to read the blog, but every now and then someone actually takes to effort to actually send something relevant to what I usually post about and tailors the PR schtick enough for my personal benefit that I will ignore my little inner cynic and post about it. In my early blog days I would naïvely respond to most enquiries and now I sadly know better. Anyway, someone kindly asked me to give some blog love to Jordan Galland and I'm more than happy to oblige. Not only did he play piano and electric piano on Mark Ronson's Version (a Fong Songs cover fave), in July he contributed TWO great covers for the Cover Commissions series on over at Cover Me. If you somehow missed it, definitely go there to download his covers of Pulp's Bad Cover Version (HA!) and Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf. Not only is he a talented musician, but he's also a filmmaker with his debut feature film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead currently doing the film festival circuit. It stars Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin) and features an original score by Galland's longtime collaborator and childhood friend, Sean Lennon.

Speaking of Cover Me, he's got a logo design contest going on right now until Tuesday's midnight deadline (er, that'd be tonight). Prizes involved.

I Want More POZ-OR:
Nine months after my initial exposure to the PoZitive Orchestra's unique brand of recycled songs, I'm still loving it and was compelled Sunday to see if there were any updates to their website. No new covers I'm afraid, though they still play the occasional gig in Russia (d'oh!). Coincidentally, a review also popped up Sunday to reiterate that fact that everyone needs to listen to the PoZitive Orchestra. I wholeheartedly agree and you know what? So does Neil Gaiman, so there. To get my fix, I found the website of Gin-Tonic, another band lead by POZ-OR's vocalist/guitarist Cyril Kukharenko, and downloaded three-and-a-half albums of free music. It shouldn't be shocking that this music is pretty awesome too, all in Russian, and FREE. I'm currently listening to a bizarrely jaunty song about Osama Bin Laden called Враг №1 (Enemy No. 1). Go here for Gin-Tonic downloads!

Big List o' Covers
Reader John passed along this article he wrote for Esquire entitled 1,892 Cover Songs Men Could Listen To. I'm assuming women could listen to these cover songs too. While your brain might explode trying to peruse this list, he does offer takes on 10 of his favourites including one of my faves too: Lulu Hughes' rendition of Pink Floyd's Time.

All You Need is Ukuleles:
I hope you're all still keeping up to date with the astounding Beatles Complete on Ukulele project wherein all 185 Beatles songs are being covered and released once a week...for nearly three more years! How can you argue with that much great music for free? I'll admit I was skeptical when first hearing of the project with visions of amateur youtube ukulele players (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I've been continually blown away by the quality and diversity of the covers, which are all linked but not limited to the ukulele. Although they are arguably the most covered band of all time, good to great Beatles covers are in a minority. We're only 31 covers in and most of these are pretty fantastic, a few legitimately great. And you can't accuse any of them of being predictable. Adam Green's I Will is my favourite so far. The project is also having the side effect of exposing me to the incredible Beatles back catalogue, of which I'm fairly unlearned as it turns out despite considering myself a pretty big Beatles fan. If you're an artist, you can even look into joining the project for future unclaimed covers. Last year, project masterminds and arrangers, Roger Greenawalt and David Barratt performed all 185 songs live with guests at a 14-hour benefit show in New York. They're at it again this year, performing the entire Beatles catalogue on December 6th and 7th (All Lennon’s Eve) at Spike Hill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If I was in the neighbourhood, I'd consider going for all 14 hours just for the experience.

Squirrel Nut Zippers Lost at Sea:
The Squirrel Nut Zippers have got a new album due October 27th, their first in nine years and first live album ever! Previously (I think) the only official live material came from a promo VHS tape I once found on eBay or bootlegs. These are mostly live versions of old favourites as recorded (I'm assuming) over the past two years of touring since their reunion, though I do see one track name I don't recognize.
1. Memphis Exorcism
2. Good Enough For Grandad
3. It Ain't You
4. Prince Nez
5. Put A Lid On It
6. Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter
7. Danny Diamond
8. Suits Are picking Up The Bill
9. My Drag
10. Happens All The Time
11. Bad Businessman
12. Hell
13. Ghost Of Stephen Foster
14. You Are My Radio
15. Blue Angel
16. Do What
17. Missing Link Parade

They're taking the tiered package approach: download only, download & CD, download & LP, and (DROOL.) a deluxe version that includes "extra tracks from [their] deep dark past along with exclusive video and photos all delivered to your computer". Superfans, myself included, will be able to buy the album early from their official website in September!

Last. Shows. Ever.
On Friday, I'm hopping on a train to Seattle to catch the last Harvey Danger shows ever. The past few weekends have been last shows in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles and now they're back in their hometown Seattle at the Crocodile Club to finish it off basically where it all started. You might be thinking "who cares?" since, after all, they're widely known as a late-90's one hit wonder for Flagpole Sitta. Longtime readers of Fong Songs know that I am part of a small, very devoted group of Harvey Danger fans. I've said it many a time, but their commercial disaster and hiatus-inducing sophomore album King James Version is one of my favourite albums of all-time. Their third and final album Little By Little... is no slouch either, being available as a free download since its 2005 release coinciding with a physical release. I finally got the opportunity to see them live last year for their 10th Anniversary Public Spectacle where they played all three of their albums + b-sides/covers/rarities over the course of two nights. And now I'll be there to say my goodbyes and thanks to one of my favourite bands.

• you can read lead singer Sean Nelson blogging about the first couple tour stops on EW.com with presumably more to come
  
• Watch "famous minor television personality" John Hodgman introduce the band's last show in New York City
  
• at this past weekend's show at the Largo in L.A., Jon Brion was on hand to play lead guitar on Wine, Women, and Song and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard (Mr. Deschanel, sigh) sang HD's Why I'm Lonely
  
• for the HD faithful, a very limited edition CD Dead Sea Scrolls consisting of unheard songs and other rarities was made just for the final shows (only 300 copies I think)
  
• There are three shows in Seattle: an all-ages show Friday at the Vera Project, an early show at the Crocodile, and The Last Show Ever
  
• Cartoonist Peter Bagge ("Hate") apparently has a band called Can You Imagine? and will be opening for Harvey Danger at the early Saturday show

That'll probably be it for this week. Later folks!

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.

Doctor My Cat's Eyes

I've got a cat story for you, but it's not that charming. My cat Jaboo has conjunctivitis (a.k.a. pink eye) and I've been having a fun time playing Capture the Cat and Smear Lotion on Its Eye multiple times a day. Also extremely fun: prying his mouth open and force feeding him expensive painkillers. He's hiding under the couch right now.

Wilson Phillips - Doctor My Eyes [originally by Jackson Browne]
From their 2004 cover album, California.