BS&T

On my year-end post, I raved about War Photographer which I gave kudos for sampling Blood, Sweat & Tears' Spinning Wheel near the end. "But what of the rest of this awesome song," said I, "from whence come those killer samples?"

REPOST: Jason Forrest - War Photographer
Watch the Music Video.

Well, as it turns out it's made up of THREE Blood, Sweat & Tears tunes-- so read the liner notes. So I dutifully borrowed a Best of BS&T album from work and scoured for said samples.

Go Down Gamblin'
The bulk of War Photographer is derived from this raucous (or rock-ous, if you'd like) number with some sweet horn arrangements. Give it up for the horns!

Lucretia Mac Evil
Besides Spinning Wheel and Go Down Gamblin', I'm not sure what the third song was, but I was surprised when perusing the album to also recognize this BS&T song as the source of another sample used by the Mint Royale(!), the British electronica duo: Mint Royale - Kenny's Last Dance

Jack Jones - Spinning Wheel
I found this BS&T cover on the compilation album Live From Las Vegas, which also features some pretty awesome performances of Sammy Davis Jr. on The Lady is a Tramp and Tom Jones on Hard to Handle.

Bond addendum

How apropos... was at work and saw the Music from Frasier album with this:

track #14: Frasier - "Goldfinger"

Cute. Though I have to admit I've never seen even 30 seconds of the show.

Shaken 'n Stirred

Ah, the new face of Bond. I'm not sure what to think yet... I'll give Daniel Craig the benefit of the doubt until I at least see a trailer. I think it's good that the producers seem to be taking a back-to-basics Batman Begins-type approach to Casino Royale, although I think hiring Quentin Tarantino (who claims adapting Casino Royale was his bright idea) would have given a much needed shot in the arm to the franchise. I've been less than impressed with the last few Bond films and in my humble opinion, Pierce Brosnan has the odd distinction of being the best Bond since Connery in some of the least memorable Bond films (excluding Goldeneye, which is the only Brosnan one I truly liked).

I like the idea with the Mission: Impossible series of handing over the reins to a different high-profile director each time... just to see what happens. Brian De Palma with the first one, John Woo with MI:2, and now J.J. Abrams for (as one clever bloke put it) M:I:III. At one point, David Fincher was even set to direct (that would've been killer!), which would have been way more enticing than the ol' crazy Tom Cruise show. After seeing the trailer, that one's questionable as well -- bonus points for evil Philip Seymour Hoffman though.

So anyway, the overly simple answer to last week's Cover Riddle #3 was indeed Bond... James Bond. All of the covering artists performed Bond theme songs:
-Duran Duran [A View to a Kill]
-Nancy Sinatra [You Only Live Twice]
-Garbage [The World is Not Enough]
-Shirley Bassey [Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker]
-the one-two combo of Tom Jones [Thunderball] & Tina Turner [Goldeneye]
-Sheryl Crow [Tomorrow Never Dies].

'Twas all a not-so clever ruse to post some Bond song covers, so here we go:

Parodi & Fair - James Bond Theme [originally by The Monty Norman Orchestra]
When Bond made his post-80s comeback with the newly licensed Brosnan as 007, this is the version of the theme song that accompanied the Goldeneye trailer.

Moby - James Bond Theme

Kingpins - Thunderball

Björk - You Only Live Twice

Nobody Does it Better [originally by Carly Simon]
from The Spy Who Loved Me
8mm
Aimee Mann

We Have All the Time in the World [originally by Louis Armstrong]
from On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Iggy Pop
The Fun Lovin' Criminals

A pretty good lounge cover of Diamonds Are Forever performed by Project: Pimento can be found at their website here.

Cover Riddle #3

Hi ya. Long time, no post.


I've been meaning to do more of these "cover riddle" things, although #2 in the series was back in early November (see #1 here). Oh well, upwards and onwards, as they say... to Number 3. Riddle me this: what is the common thread running through these tunes? I'm looking for something very specific here.

Duran Duran - Thank You [originally by Led Zeppelin]
Nancy Sinatra - Day Tripper [originally by the Beatles]
Garbage - Wild Horses [originally by the Rolling Stones]
Shirley Bassey - Light My Fire [originally by the Doors]
Tom Jones & Tina Turner - Hot Legs [originally by Rod Stewart]
Sheryl Crow - Mother Nature's Son [originally by the Beatles]

Answer in the form of covers next week. Good luck.

2005.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Polyphonic Spree - Wig in a Box

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

'Tis

It's about that time of year when the bloggers take to posting their Top Tens or some sort of mix of x-mas songs, which invariably consists of copping some tracks from the Maybe This Christmas series. Generally, I can't stand most traditional Christmas songs or their covers because of their inherently saccharine nature (combined with a healthy dose of cynicism for the holidays), but here are a few choice tracks in the spirit of giving:

Jet - Back Door Santa
I didn't really realize until earlier this week that there's this large anti-Jet contingent and that the band's artistic credibility is "hotly debated". The other day a friend and I were in the car listening to Take It Or Leave It and I suddenly asked "Why the hell hasn't Jet had another album?". So I followed this up by doing a google search for their new album and after a news article on an album possibly coming out next year, there was page after page of adamant Jet-bashing. And according to the Wikipedia entry on Jet, my fellow Jet fans and I suffer from "obvious, but mostly mild, cryptomnesia". Mmmmmmmmmokay, if that's not rock snob pretentiousness, I don't know what is. Or maybe I'm just a chronic cryptomnesiac.

Everclear - Santa Baby [originally sung by Eartha Kitt]
A rousing cover by Everclear. I love the underlying cynicism of the lyrics.

Rockapella - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch [originally sung by Thurl Ravenscroft]
Though narrated in the classic 1966 film by Boris Karloff, the original song was actually sung by Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice behind Tony the Tiger.

Whirling Dervishes - You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Another nice cover of the Grinch song with awesomely ridiculous lyrics written by Dr. Suess himself. "I wouldn't touch you with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole." Classic. There's also another great version of the song by the Asylum Street Spankers on an archived episode of Coverville.

Ben Folds - Lonely Christmas Eve
This song written by Ben for the regrettable Jim Carrey remake is from the point of view of poor ol' misunderstood Mr Grinch. Wouldn't the Whos kinda piss you off too?

Harvey Danger - Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)
Last Christmas was an exciting time for HD fans as they staged a reunion concert and released a X-Mas EP. They even sent me a signed Christmas card with my order. Of course, back in September they released their first album in 5 years. It's available online for free from their website, though of course the physical album would make a snazzy Christmas gift...

Hayseed Dixie - Holiday [originally by Green Day]
This isn't really a X-mas song... or a holiday song for that matter. But I've been giving this a few listens lately. Like Richard Cheese, Hayseed Dixie takes a gimmicky stance towards contemporary covers. And like Richard Cheese, I find that some of their songs actually transcend the novelty value of a hillbilly cover. I actually think these guys got better after they evolved past the original AC/DC tribute album they did. Way better than those generic Pickin' On albums.... (Amazon lists 120 Pickin' On albums - do they crank out a new album every 3 days??)

The Polyphonic Spree - Happy Xmas (War is Over) [originally by John Lennon]
The Polyphonic Spree are an inspired choice to do cover this. By the way, this is from the Maybe This Christmas Tree album (my token offering).

Happy Holidays!

Triptych

[EDIT: OK, QuickDump sucks. I'm sorry. SaveFile's down. Um, links will be down until I figure something out here.]

[EDIT 2: Alright, I've now managed to host the songs on our shaw account. Much easier to upload, might I add. This seems to have solved the problem for the foreseeable future. Fingers crossed.]

Three is The Magic Number by Embrace [originally from Schoolhouse Rock]


3 Covers:
Danny Michel - Young Americans [David Bowie]
Tom Jones & Stereophonics - Mama Told Me Not to Come [Randy Newman]
Brad Roberts - Bette Davis Eyes [Kim Carnes]

3 Originals:
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - Case in Point
Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise
The Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism

3 Mash-ups:
Dirrty Girl [Christina Aguilera vs. Jet]
Screaming Pro [Beck vs. Michael & Janet Jackson vs. AC/DC]
Crazy Little Fool [The Beatles vs. Queen]

6 Degrees with Winnie the Pooh, Radiohead, & Bette Midler

The wonderful thing about covers:

1. Carly Simon - Winnie the Pooh
[composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman]

2. Radiohead - Nobody Does it Better (live)
[originally by Carly Simon]
Thom Yorke prefaces this live version with "This is the sexiest song that was ever written..." and they perform it like they mean it. Indeed, I've never heard a better cover of this.

3. The Darkness - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
[originally by Radiohead]
Pretty good 80s metal interpretation of Radiohead, who are not sacred in my books.

4. Ben Folds - Get Your Hands Off of My Woman
[originally by The Darkness]
Pounding keys replace the heavy guitar riffs of the Darkness with Ben doing his best falsetto.

5. Bette Midler - Boxing
[originally by Ben Folds Five]
This is one of, if not the only studio recorded cover of a Ben Folds Five song. This cover scares me in the same way as clowns & carnivals (makes me involuntarily twitch). Midler sings it with about as much poignancy and pathos as a cardboard box. Though, I may be biased toward the original.

Not quite 6 degrees, but I think Kevin Bacon would be proud (or spiteful).

Dead links

Is it just me or are all the savefile links dead?
Um, I'll figure something out in the next few days.

[EDIT: They're alive!!! No worries, they were just upgrading their servers.]

Now That's Edutainment!

Over at I Dig Worms, the latest post features Sesame Street Fever, a disco Sesame Street album sporting a cover with a vaguely disturbing image of Grover striking a John Travolta stance -- disturbing, I think, mainly because a full-bodied muppet is a little creepy. Ernie looks unsettlingly dispropotionate too... but I digress.

The highlight of the post is a full 2:41 version of the Pinball Number Count! Remember the animated pinball rolling through a plethora of obstacles to the beat of the funkiest little number ditty imaginable? Rock on. Here it is in all its glory. I remember several years ago going on a mission to find this song and eventually downloading a shortened version (just the number 4) through Napster. This was also pre-"google-takes-over-the-world", so I never did really find out anything more about it. What a difference a few years makes. Inspired by I Dig Worm's uncovering of this long-lost childhood relic, I googled "Pinball Number Count" and found this swack of cool links:

1. A Letter from Walt Kraemer
This guy composed and produced the Pinball Number Count. A couple years ago, some guy (obviously way more determined than I was) tracked this guy down and e-mailed him about the song. Here's his response, which details the hitherto secret history of the Pinball Number song. I didn't know this, but the vocals on the track are, in fact, The Pointer Sisters. Nice!

2. The Dead Hensons
A Muppets/Sesame Street cover band... bloody brilliant. Guess what: a cover of the Pinball Number song. Get it here. There's even a cover of "Can You Picture That?". This made my day. Possibly my month.

3. whytheluckystiff.net
Year-old blog entry on the Dead Hensons and the jackpot: a 26Mb avi movie of the Pinball Number Count. I am currently wallowing in nostalgia.

4. Hockey Night - For Guys' Eyes Only
A couple weeks back I downloaded this awesome track by Hockey Night, which I admittedly only downloaded because the band was called Hockey Night. About 1:30 into the song, an unexpected quotation of the Pinball Number Count. Must have been an omen.

Some related tracks:
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Sesame Street theme
Captain Vegetable [from Sesame Street]
Goodness - Electricity, Electricity [originally from Schoolhouse Rocks]
Deluxx Folk Implosion - I'm Just a Bill [originally from Schoolhouse Rocks]
Moxy Früvous - Photosynthesis [re-lyricization of their own Jenny Washington]


"Out of his secret garden somewhere in New Jersey..."