BEE GEES COVERS, A to Z!

Posted on August 27th, 2010 by ekko

It’s time for one of those A to Z posts that you all used to enjoy so much.  I don’t do them as much anymore because I don’t get as much love for them, but sometimes, the idea is too good to pass up.  Like naming a zip file: BGSA2Z.  So here you go, a tribute to the hairy chested blonde disco kings.

A is to give you fair warning, up front that All these songs can be found in a zipfile, under Z, below.

B is for How Deep Is Your Love-The Bird and the Bee.  This band’s 2010 tribute to Hall and Oates was nothing short of revelatory.  I love these guys.

C is for Cracker’s take on Stayin’ Alive.

D is for You Should Be Dancing-Deep Blue Sun.

E is for Staying Alive-Eldissa.  Oooh!  A salsa!

F is for Feist’s cover of “Inside and Out.” Kind of a cute video . . .

G is for gibberish!  Me no speaky the language, but me can appreciate the cover . . . Icht Machte Nen Scherz-Erdmo Bel (I Started a Joke)

H is for heavy metal!  Tragedy, a metal Bee Gees cover band, is worth discovering here, for the kick factor.  Very fun. I’m offering their take on Night Fever.

I is for I Started a Joke-The Lucksmiths.  A forlorn, harmonica-and-guitar version.

J is for Jive Talking-The Breakfast. A bootleg cover. Pretty good, but not great. Still, it gives me my “J,” so I’m grateful.

K is for kid of Bob Dylan.  I Started a Joke-The Wallflowers

L is for Love Potion #9 Medley, which includes a ton of tunes: Love Potion #9 (Clovers), Ohio (CSNY), Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees), Who Will Save Your Soul (Jewel), You Oughta Know (alanis Morissette), Barbie (Aqua), Love Shack (B52s), all by the great live band Moxy Fruvous.

M is for Mash Up!  P is for Pink Floyd!  Shut Up, Let’s Hook Up (Pink Floyd vs. The Bee Gees, with Jason Downs on vocals).

N is for Matt Nathanson–a great live performer.  Here’s a cool medley: Starfish and Coffee/Eminem/Starfish and Coffee/Stayin’ Alive/Starfish and Coffee.

O is for You Should Be Dancing-Omega Moos.  A 7-minute live jam session. Yeah, it is a little big much.

P is for pumpkins!  To Love Somebody-Smashing Pumpkins.  God, I love Billy Corgan’s voice.

R is for To Love Somebody-Ray Lamontagne.

S if for Stayin’ Alive-String Cheese Incident.

T is for Take Ur Mama Out to the Disco-Scissor Sisters (a Bee Gees remix!).

W is for Switching Alive-Will Smith and the Bee Gees.  I think the Gibbs will live forever in mash ups.

Y is for You Should Be Dancing-Juggling Suns

Z is for zipfile (see “A”).  (Mediafire.)  (Rapidshare.)

Tags: A to Z, Covers, Disco

JON LANGFORD AND SKULL ORCHARD-Old Devils and Jon Langford, A to Z

Posted on August 3rd, 2010 by ekko

When Joe Strummer died, a piece of him stayed behind inside of Jon Langford. Langford, a Welsh singer-songwriter, is one of the rare examples of a drummer (as part of the seminal punk band The Mekons) who was able to transform into a guitar-playing bandleader. Like Strummer, he infused his raw, energetic, and unrehearsed punk sensibility with elements of country and folk, playing with bands like Waco Brothers and Three Johns (with John Hyatt) before forming the Skull Orchard band. There are few artists today whose albums I instantly take to as strongly as Langford, and his 2010 release, “Old Devils,” is no exception. Simple rock and roll/punk/country tunes about love, loss and pain played with a terrific band (fellow Waco Brothers Alan Doughty and Joe Camarillo on bass and drums respectively and the Zincs/Horse’s Ha dapper, finger-picking Englishman Jim Elkington on guitar).

I’ve listened to this album straight through half a dozen times already. If this isn’t one of the best albums of the year, then we’re in for a great second half of 2010.

Here’s a song from the new one:
Getting Used to Uselessness

BONUS JON LANGFORD LIVE, A to Z!

I love this dude so much, I want to pay a full tribute . . . All are direct links, so no need for a zip file. (And I know that much of the Mekons stuff is post-Langford, but I still dig it, and his fingerprints are all over that band.)

A is for American Pageant-Jon Langford and his Sadies.

B is for another cover: Big River-The Mekons.

C is for children’s music. Langford isn’t always all about the grown ups. You can find a great kids show here, featuring all kinds of classics like “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain.”

D and E are forDeath of the European-John Langford (acoustic).

F is for Fantastic Voyage-The Mekons

G is for Getting Used to Uselessness, from the new album!

H is for Kelly Hogan’s appearance with Jon on Time Changes Everything.

I is for I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four cover)-Waco Brothers.  Millions of people cover this song, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad version.  Makes me wonder if I could do it…..

J is for Johnny Cash’s Long Black Veil-Jon Langford.

K and L are for Key Largo-Jon Langford.  No, it’s not a cover of that schmaltzy guilty pleasure by Bertie Higgins.

M is for Mekons, and N is for the Mekons anthem Never Been in a Riot.

P is for Pill Sailor-Jon Langford.  I love the image of a pill sailor.

R is for Reno, where Johnny shot a man, just to watch him die, in the classic Folsom Prison Blues-Jon Langford.

S is for Stay a Little Longer-Jon with Neko Case.

T is for a three-song medley: Take This Hammer/Goodnight Irene/I Got Stripes-Jon Langford (acoustic).

V is for that comely vixen in the Tom Jones cover Delilah-Jon Langford (acoustic).

W is for the classic country cover What a Good Year for the Roses-Mekons.  I know Elvis Costello had the balls to cover this song first.  Elvis’ “Almost Blue” record is one I played the crap out of.

Y is for You Ain’t Going Nowhere, a song made famous by The Byrds.

Z is for Big Zombie-Mekons.

If you’re not a fan of Jon’s after downloading these tunes, you’re hopeless.

Tags: A to Z, Indie rock, Punk

SMASHING PUMPKOVERS (An A to Z Post!)

Posted on June 4th, 2010 by ekko

There was a time, not so long ago, when The Smashing Pumpkins were one of my favorite live bands.  I haven’t enjoyed them of late, but they still hold a nostalgic place in my heart.  I posted an A to Z a long time ago, leeching off of a huge database of SP tunes.  That database seems to be dead now.  Hence, the need for an update.  And this time, it’s only covers!  There’s a zip file, of course, and a few choice flavors to taste.  If you like it, please consider thumbing up the songs on Hype Machine, submitting to Digg, etc.  Or even dropping me a nice comment!

A is for the always classic, “All the Young Dudes.”  Nobody can mess up this tune.  Nobody.

B is for Boys Don’t Cry (Cure cover). It’s kind of annoying how (Ginger?) keeps talking over it, but it’s still pretty cool anyway.

C is for Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young).  Another tune that’s really hard to f*&%k up.

D is for Duran Duran’s “Nightboat.”  Very esoteric selection there, Billy.

E is for eeek!  The zip file! It totally snuck up on me!  Better cop it before it goes away, ’cause once it’s gone, it’s gone.  I don’t do reups.

F is for Forever Young (Bob Dylan).

G is for another eclectic selection, “Girl Called Sandoz” by The Animals.

H is for the Holidays!  Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I is for I Want You To Want Me-Smashing Pumpkins with Cheap Trick. Two great tastes that go great together!

J is for Jean Genie (David Bowie).  Another complete reworking, but this one is done with the Man Who Sold The World Himself: David Bowie!  Look at this A to Z I’m giving you, two great team-ups in a row.

K is a tough one, so I’m gonna use the k in the middle of Steve Miller’s The JoKer.  Sorry if that’s cheating.

L is for Lucifer Sam-Billy Corgan solo.  A Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett classic.

M is for the monster in Smashing Pumpkin’s classic favorite cover of Godzilla (Blue Oyster Cult).

N is for Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode).

O is for Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, two key members of the Cars! You’re All I’ve Got Tonight (The Cars). Love love love this cover.

P is for the people in Beautiful People (Marilyn Manson).

Q is for the proudly queer Joy Division, and SP’s cover of their tune, “Transmission.”

R is for The Rolling Stones’ Stray Cat Blues–one of my favorite Jagger/Richards tunes.

S is for Sookie Sookie (Steppenwolf).

T is for Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads). This is the Corgan version.  It’s pretty much a new song–very little left of the original.

U is for U2!  Stay (U2 cover).

V is for Velvet Underground’s Femme Fatale (Billy Corgan solo).

W is for White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane) with Heavy Metal Machine.

X is for . . . I got nothing.  Sorry.

Y is for Young Love’s cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ classic, 1979.

Z is for thin liZZy’s, “Dancing in the Moonlight.”  A very nice, gentle cover.

Tags: A to Z, Covers, Smashing Pumpkins

BLONDIE COVERS, A to Z

Posted on January 19th, 2010 by ekko

This is a post many months in the making.  Mostly because I haven’t had time to write it up.  Blondie was hugely important for me as a youngster, before the days of internet porn and copious, readily available nudity, because Debbie Harry was a hottie who wore a white see-through dress on the cover of Parallel Lines.  I started at that cover for days.  Or, I stared at two things on that cover for days.

But it wasn’t just Debbie’s boobs that grabbed me.  The music was a fantastic blend of new wave and pop–it made top 40 cool to listen to–and their rawer material, like “Rip Her To Shreds” and the entire “Eat to the Beat” album rarely left my turntable.

They’re due a tribute.  Here goes.  A few tastes, and a zip included below, as usual.

A is for The Associates-Heart of Glass.  This one is odd because musically it starts off doing Blondie’s “In the Flesh,” a great, underrated gem.

B is for The Bad Plus-Heart of Glass.  By far the most covered Blondie tune in history.

C is for Captain Polaroid-Union City Blue.  Love this song.

D is for Dungeon’s heavy metal take on Call Me.

E is for 11:59-The Postmarks.  Solid cover.

F is for Franz Ferdinand-Call Me.

G is for even more glass!  And more to come!  Heart of Glass-Annie Bethancourt. A sad, acoustic, longing song that I wish was recorded a little louder. Still powerful, though.

H is for Heart of Glass-The Brew. I like this one. It’s kind of a cross between The Darkness and Death Cab for Cutie. If you can imagine that.

I is for impolite!  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes-Heart of Glass.

J is for Bill Janovitz’s medley cover, one of the best songs on this post, of Blondie’s Dreaming and The Rolling Stones’ Til The Next Goodbye.

K is for KEEP THIS ZIPFILE! It’s good stuff!

L is for Lily Allen’s Heart of Glass.

L is also for look closely at this photo . . .

M is for Mash Up!

N is for The Nerves, who actually did this song before Blondie.  L7-Hanging on the Telephone.  What a great band these chicks were.  Wonder what happened to them?

O is for Of Montreal-One Way or Another.   This is a bopping rock take on this song, one of Blondie’s most cynical stalker tunes.

P is for the Puppini Sisters-Heart of Glass.

R is for One Way Or Another-Lee Rocker.  And since there was no Q, here’s another R: Lynch-Rapture.  Okay, this one is kinda filler. It’s worth one listen, though.

S is for Dreaming-Amy Speace.  A Johnny Cash-like take on my favorite Blondie song.

T is for Ted Leo-Union City Blue.

U is for Unidenified Jam-Charlie Hunter.  A very neat blues/jazz jam in which, at about minute nine, he incorporates “Heart of Glass.”

V is for Shayla by Ramesh Srivastava (Voxtrot).

V is also for video! Rapture Riders video (Blondie vs. Doors)

W is for Wilco-Dreaming.

X is for X-Over.  Union City Noise (Public Enemy vs. Blondie) is one of my favorite rap/pop mash ups of all time.

Y is for I Am Always Touched By Your Presence Dear-My Luminaries.  Alright, it doesn’t begin with “Y”, but at least there’s a couple Ys in there.  If you decide you don’t want this song because of that, I understand.  Your loss.

Z is for the Zipfile hidden above.  Go find it!

Tags: A to Z, Covers

THE CURE COVERS . . . A to Z

Posted on December 10th, 2009 by ekko

When I was in college, all the hot girls had the Cure singles collection. If you wanted to make time, you had to be willing to sit through Cure albums. Over time, the Eurosadness grew on me. Hence, today’s tribute . . . There’s a zip file included in the alphabet, as always. If you like this, please drop a comment and Digg/Stumble/etc.

A is for A Forest and B is for Bat for Lashes.  When you see B4L, you pretty much don’t need to ask any questions.

C is for Charlotte Sometimes-Lesbos in Love.

D is for Dinosaur Jr.-Just Like Heaven.  Not great quality, but it’s Dino J!

E is for Elk City-Close to Me.  I really dig this one, for some reason.

F is for Friday I’m in Love-Counting Crows.

F is also for the fat lesbian in the picture to the left . . .

G is for is for David Gray’s take on Friday I’m in Love.

H is for Hired Hands-Close to Me. The James Brown funk/R&B version. Interesting.

I is for the inhumanity in David Sugar’s electronica version of Just Like Heaven.  Brrrr!  So cold!

J is for Just Like Heaven-Equaleyes. Kind of a Counting Crows take on the much-covered tune.

K is for Friday I’m In Love-Kurtis Peoples.  I know he spells it with a “C” , but I’m desperate for a K.

L is for Love Song-Death Cab for Cutie

M is for A Forest-Mood Doculators. Very long, trippy jam. The Cure does lend themselves to jamband covers, oddly enough.

N and O are for NO songs for N and O.

P is for Love Song-Proper Gander. There’s a bit of crowd noise on this one, but it’s still very clear. I really enjoy this take on the song. It takes it into the “classic rock” sound, out of mope rock.

Q is for quirky Tori Amos doing Love Song.

R is for Razorlight-Boys Don’t Cry.

S is for So Human (Cure remix)-Lady Sovereign

T is for Just Like Heaven-Tristan Prettyman. A very sweet acoustic take. Love this version.

V is for Vengeance . . . Close to Me (Vengeance Mash Up)-Lil’ Wayne vs. The Cure.

W is for Just Like Heaven-The Watson Twins.  Don’t miss this slow, sad version.  Hot stuff.

W is for Why?’s cover of “Close to Me.”  They’re going for a creepyslow thing here.

XYZ are for X-amine Your Zipflile, right here!

Tags: A to Z, Covers, Goth and Mopey Rock, Indie rock

HALLOWEEN A to Z!

Posted on October 31st, 2009 by ekko

It is time for Halloween! And I haven’t done an A to Z post in like forever, so, two birds, one post. You get the idea. As always, a zip file is hidden, lurking creepily in the shadows below.

A is for Arctic Monkeys-Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But… I loved this band’s first album. Their stuff went progressively downhill, but none of of it sucks.

B is for Ben Gibbard-Thriller (Michael Jackson cover). A classic. All the cool blogs will have it this time of year.

C is for Candyland Part 3-Soul Position. Soul Position is RJD2 and Blueprint, and this song is cool because BP rattles off more candy brands in two minutes than I could name in twenty minutes.

D is for Dracula’s Cigarette-Spoon. Gotta have Drac in a Halloween post!

E is for Eminem-Nothin’ To Do (feat Bad Meets Evil). Vintage Em. Back when he had the eye of the tiger, fire in the belly, and violence on his mind. His stuff as half of Bad Meets Evil stuff was great. It’s sad what happened between him and Royce Da 5’9″.

F is for Fearless (Pink Floyd cover)-Mary Lou Lord. Any excuse to post Mary Lou. Such a great voice.

G is for Gail Swanson-Sympathy For The Devil (The Rolling Stones). Sympathy is my favorite song about Satan. What’s yours?

H is for Heartless Bastards-Searching for the Ghost.

I is for Is There a Ghost?-Band of Horses

J is for J-Live-Vampire Hunter J. J-Live: One of the most underrated underground rappers around. Great flow, witty rhymes . . . You need some J-Live in your goodie bag this year.

K is for King Kong-Tom Waits.

L is for La Lamentor, the title of Weinland’s great album that has this song: The Devil In Me.

M is for Monster-MF Doom & Trunks. Haven’t been able to find a legit copy of this EP anywhere, but I advise all of you to try to find it. It came out last year, and it’s about as good as rap gets.

N is for nothing. Because We Have Nothing To Fear Except Death Itself-Detective Kalita. DK’s Michael Parks album is one of my favorite indie records of all time. Absolute genius. Part Neil Young, part Flaming Lips, part gentle, beautiful singer-songwriter compositions, and all wonderful.

O is for One (Blake’s Got A New Face) [Vampire Weekend Cover] Mystery Jets and Natty. So, the vampire reference makes it a Halloween tune, but the “new face” chorus, well, that’s Halloween, too, innit?

P is for The Postmarks-Every Day is Halloween.

Q is for Quoth the Raven, Nevermore, a rendition by Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra.

R is for Ryan Adams-Halloweenhead (direct link).

S is for Sunshine Superman (Donovan cover)-Husker Du. Superman isn’t strictly Halloween, but it’s close. And it’s so cool to have found this cover.

T is for Thriller-Petra Haden. Great cover.

U is for under the weather. If you’re sick, why not stay home and rent all the Halloween flicks, back-to-back? Halloween-John Carpenter.

V is for the underrated rappers Vizion and Vakill-Man Into Monster.

W is for Wilco-Don’t Fear the Reaper.

X is for Xentrix’s cover of Ghostbusters.

Y is for your zip file right here. Usually, I hate it when a big kid comes and takes all the candy while I’m out, when I left the bag on the stoop and all. But a virtual candy sack? Come one, come all!

Z is for Zombie! (Follow the link for a bunch of tunes!)

Tags: A to Z, Covers, Hip Hop, Horror, Monkeys, Zombies

ZOMBIES A to Z

Posted on October 26th, 2009 by ekko

Halloween is coming! Zombieland is in theaters! IFC just ran a 1 hour doc on movie zombies! It’s that most wonderful time of the year . . . There’s a zip file, walking among the undead below. Oh, and before you start bitching: I know I didn’t do every single letter. Deal with it.

A is for Asher Roth. Yes, that’s right, the mediocre Jewish rapper who was paired, by DJ Cinema on his recent “Stimulus” mixtape, with Jadakiss, Kanye West & Big Boi on “Is He Rich Like Me?” which sampled the great Zombies tune, “Time of the Season.”

B is for Jay Brannan’s cover of Zombie (original by Cranberries).

B is also for nasty boobies . . .

C is for Care Of Cell 44 (zombies cover)-Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs. From their first “Under the Covers” collection. Great stuff.

D is for Dachambo-Zombie.

E is for is for what is, hands down, the greatest zombie song ever. Everybody sing the chorus: “All we wanna do is [E is for] eat your brains!” Jonathan Coulton-Re: Your Brains.

F is for fish. Leftover Salmon-Zombie Jamboree.

G is for the Grey Race-Care Of Cell 44 (zombies cover).

G is also for graph . . .

H is for Hanging Chads-Zombie Cucumber.

I is for “If You Shoot The Head You Kill The Ghoul” by Jeffrey Lewis.

J is for Jerry Joseph-Zombie Blues.

K is for Kick Out The Jams-Pearl Jam (Bad Brains cover).

L is for Lies of the Living Dead-Steve Wynn.

M is for My Morning Jacket’s cover of The Zombies’ “Time of the Season.” (direct link)

N is for Naked Sun’s “Dipsy Gizzard Brains.”

N is also for nutrition . . .

O is for on top.

P is for Poor Man’s Whiskey’s cover of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage.” Actually, if you go here, you can hear the band cover the entire Dark Side of the Moon album. Pretty cool.

R is for Romero’s classic flick, the first great zombie movie. Night of the Living Dead-G Love and Special Sauce

S is for Stay Human (All the Freaky People)-Spearhead (direct link).

S is also for Super Hero Zombies!  Hooray Blackest Night!

T is for trains! Zombie-Jiva Train

U is for utensil. Stroke Their Brains-Spoon.

W and X are for eX-Whig Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers’ cover of The Zombies “Time of the Season.” What a great song. So many covers.

And, of course, Z is for Zip File.

Tags: A to Z, Boobies, Halloween, Horror, Zombies

THE KINKS COVERS A to Z

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by ekko

When I was a young lad I got this groovy cassette deck. Kids, that was what dinosaurs listened to before CDs. My birthday was coming up, and all I had to play on my new piece of equipment were blank TDKs that I used to tape obscene phone calls with. One time, we called all the guys named John Rambo at 3AM, and made sounds of explosions and gunshots. Yeah, we were a scream. Pissed ourselves laughing.

But I digress. I needed some tunes, so I asked my buds to get me ‘em for my bday and the first one I opened was The Kinks, Misfits. I was so disappointed it wasn’t LowBudget. But it soon became my favorite album ever. Put that on the shelf with Give The People What They Want, Arthur, Low Budget, Lola vs. The Powerman, To The Bone, Schoolboys in Disgrace, Village Green . . . You’ve got yourself the perfect record collection.

And now you’ve got yourself the perfect indie covers collection . . . And somewhere, lurking in the alphabet, is the zip file. I’m forcing you to at least skim my post. Ha!

A is for Act Nice And Gentle with Me-The Black Keys.

B is for Bouncing Souls-Better Things.

C is for Counting Crows-Better Things.

D is for Dar Williams-Better Things. One of my all-time fave songs, ever.

E is for Elliot Smith-Set Me Free (live). There’s a ton of Elliot Kinks covers floating around.

F is for Feist-Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ About That Girl. A bluesy tune, covered again later.

G is for Guster-Days (direct link).

H is for HBO, because if it wasn’t for the soundtrack to Six Feet Under, I might never have understood how brilliant Sia is. Check out her contribution to the A to Z: I Go To Sleep-Sia. Voice like an angel.

I is for Islands-Waterloo Sunset. This is such a pure, simple cover, but it works well. Maybe it’s because The Kinks made such pure, simple music themselves.

J is for Johnny Thunder-Counting Crows.  A twofer from Duritz and co.!

K is for The Kooks-Victoria. I’m not a huge fan of this band–they seem kinda bland–and this song selection is a little bland, too, but hey, it’s a “K”. And it doesn’t suck.

L is for Mark Lanegan-Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ About That Girl.

M is for Montreal’s namesake, Of Montreal, who cover Days and Tired of Waiting.

N is for never heard of these guys before, but I was poking around and found this: Pi Theory-Sunny Afternoon (direct download). A very manly acoustic cover. Nice job.

O is for Old 97s-She’s Got Everything. I love this cover.

P is for pseudonym. This Is Where I Belong-The Condo Fucks. From the great “Fuckbook” album, released earlier this year, featuring member of . . . Aw, I’m not going to spoil the surprise. Read down to “Y.”

Q is for Queens of the Stone Age-Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy.

R is for Robyn Hitchcock-Waterloo Sunset (direct download).

S is for Ron Sexsmith-This Is Where I Belong. Today’s best indie nerd covering one of the most talented rocker nerds in history. Perfect!

T is for Trappers Cabin-Shangri-La. Very faithful rendition.

U is for utensil.  Spoon-Situation Vacant (direct link). Spoon obviously owes a great debt to the kind of simple, catchy rock pioneered by The Kinks. Wish they’d release a trib album.

V is for Village Green Preservation Society-Kate Rusby.

W is for Oklahoma, U.S.A.-Wilco. A somewhat sad acoustic cover.

X marks the spot of the zipfile!

Y is for Yo La Tengo-Act Nice and Gentle. This is a clean, well constructed cover. Unlike their version of “This Is Where I Belong,” which Tengo did as The Condo Fucks. (see “P” above.)

Z is for Zwan-All Day and All of the Night

Tags: A to Z, Covers

PRINCE COVERS: A to Z

Posted on June 5th, 2009 by ekko

Okay, so this is a follow up to my review of Prince’s new double-release, Lotus Flower etc., a very strong album set.  Doing an A to Z of Prince covers is like herding cats: There’s only a few I’m reallly gonna get.  There’s a whole universe of his stuff.  What I’ve tried to do here is post only indie songs, and a wide variety of both the song covered and the genre of the cover, showing how his brilliant songwriting crosses barriers.  Z will be for zip, so don’t have a heart attack that not all songs are individually linked.

This is NOT Prince.

Prince: Great musician, or the Greatest Musician of Our Generation?

A is for When Doves Cry-The Afghan Whigs.

B is for The Beautiful Ones-Besnard Snakes. I love this kinda-creepy version of a just-mediocre Prince original.

C is “c”ouldn’t find a C that was really up to par, so I’m going with a second “B.”  But before you start bitching, know that it is Clash related.  So, maybe “C is for Clash Related”!  1999-Big Audio Dynamite

D is for When Doves Cry-Ani Difranco.  The angry folk version.  Really hot.

E is for If I Was Your Girlfriend-eels.

E is also for Manic Monday-Ephemera.  If you thought this was a Bangles original, you need to go back to school.  He actually wrote it for Vanity 6, one of his original girl groups from the ’80s.  I really like this version because it’s slightly slower and focuses almost exclusively on the vocals, which truly drive this song.

This is NOT Prince, either.

F should be for the Foo Fighters’ take on Darling Nikki, but it was released on a major label. Someday, maybe Dave’ll do the Radiohead thing.  He seems so perfectly disposed to be independent.

G is for Kiss by Garaj Mahal.  A bluegrass Prince cover!

H is for Rasberry Beret-Hindu Love Gods.  Re-released on Rhino’s independent label, “Encore,” this band was basically Warren Zevon fronting R.E.M.  A truly amazing album, eponymous, which all of you should run out and get right now.  Destroy anyone in your way.  In fact, I don’t usually sponsor a link to a store–I think you all should populate brick-and-mortar facilities–but for this record, I’m making an exception.  Go buy it right now.  Serioussly.

I is for I Feel For You-Izbella.  A Prince original that was done better by Chaka Kahn.  It’s strange how the only people who can do Prince songs better than Prince are females.  First Chaka on this one, then Sinead on “Nothing Compares 2 U.”  Of course, those ladies are such extraordinary vocalists, I’d listen to them sing the phone book.  (Not really.)

J is for Purple Rain-Jarflys.

K is for Love Bizarre-Keller Williams.  My absolute favorite Sheila E tune.

L is for Little Red Corvette-Pete Thurston.

M is for I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man-My Morning Jacket.  One of the best Prince covers ever.  Hands down.

N is for Starfish and Coffee-Matt Nathanson.  This is definitely my favorite of Prince’s lesser-known songs.  It’s sweet, sexy, cool.  Off his Sign O’ The Times record, his second best release.

O is for Of Montreal–two covers: Rasberry Beret and Baby I’m a Star.  Such a fun live band.

P is for Pac!  Pac’s Life-Tupac.

R is for When Doves Cry-Damien Rice.  An amazing acoustic version that will break your heard.

S is for the S part of Tegan and Sara, and their brilliant cover of When U Were Mine, which actually trumps Cyndi Lauper’s, which actually trumped Prince’s own version.

T is for All the Critics Love U In New York-TR3.  A live version that I included for two reasons: It’s so bizarre, and it’s a song that rarely gets the props it deserves.  Jazzy as hell.

And this is NOT Prince Harry.

U is for unable to find a good U, so here’s another B:When Doves Cry-Be Good Tanyas.

V is for very near the end, which is where we’re getting.

W is for Alex Westerberg.   I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man-The Replacements.  The 1980s indie/garage rock version.

X is this spot, to remind you to Digg, Stumble, and do whatever else to this post.  Come on, guys, don’t I deserve as much hits as MOKB?  (Answer me yes or don’t answer at all.  And clap if you believe in fairies.)

Y and Z are for Your Zipfile. Here it is.  Dig it.

Tags: A to Z, Covers, Prince

TOM WAITS COVERS A to Z

Posted on April 10th, 2009 by ekko

Tom Waits covers, A to Z.  Indie bands.  A zip file.  ‘Nuff said.

A is for Alabama.  Down in the Hole-Blind Boys of Alabama.

B is forPancho’s Lament-The Blacks.

C is for Cat Power’s-Yesterday is Here.  (YSI)

D is for Dirt in the Ground by The Cold War Kids.  (YSI)

E is for eels’ Jesus Gonna Be Here.  (YSI)

F is for Foreign Affairs by Eleni Mandell.

G is for Goin’ Out West-Gomez.

H is for Shawn Colvin’s take on Heart of  a Saturday Night.  My favorite Tom Waits song, and my favorite cover it.

I is for House Where Nobody Lives-Is (live). Ah, the band named “Is” reminds of Bill Clinton.  Good times.

J is for Jersey Girl by Holly Cole.

K is for another one by the Kids!  I Don’t Wanna Grow Up-Cold War Kids.  The second funniest Tom Waits song ever.  (The funniest is Pasties and a G-String.  The third funniest is “The Piano Has Been Drinking.”)

L is for Les Claypool’s Bonnaroo Super Jam, a project with Gogol Bordello, did a whole show Tom Waits covers here.   Three of them were also with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett.  I recommend the whole damn show.

M is for Jockey Full of Bourbon-Moxy Fruvous.

N is for N.A.S.A.’s “Spacious Thoughts Feat. Tom Waits and Kool Keith.”  (YSI)

O is for Ol’ 55-Smashing Pumpkins.

P is for Picture in a Frame-Pearl Jam.

Q is for a moment of quiet, as we get to the letter R.

R is for Johnsburg, Illinois-Josh Ritter.

R is also for Rainbow Sleeve-Jane, to make up for the missing Q.

S is for Sarah Jarosz’s take on Come On Up To The House.

T is for Time-Ryan Adams. Not sure who the chick is on vocals, but she’s good.

U is for Cold Water-Railroad Earth. Just kidding. That’s got no U!

V is for Vamosbabe & Pascal Fricke doing “Bronx Lullaby.”

W is for the west. Goin’ Out West-Truckee Brothers

X is for marking this spot, i.e., this post.

Y is for you gotta love Z.

Z is for zipfile.

Tags: A to Z, Covers