Apologies for two dark posts in a row, but experiencing a spot of technical difficulty at the mo’, both online and off.
I was however as able to scare up a fun little electro cover of Bauhaus batcave classic Bela Lugosi’s Dead by The Love Supreme which isn’t all that mopey.
The Love Supreme – Bela Lugosi’s Dead
Enjoy! (and see you once I get everything sorted. Hopefully that’s soon. Fingers crossed.)
LS
The world loses another legend today; electronic music pioneer and graphic designer Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson. Truly a godfather of electronica, his experimental musings in seminal bands like Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil (with the also tragically late ‘Jhon’ Balance), left an indelible impact on experimental, industrial, house and Detroit techno music. One other fact that most people are unaware of was his impact as an album designer, insidiously enough, on most everyone’s favorite classic rock albums. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, he designed most of them shiznits while working at the legendary Hipgnosis. Being an electronic music nerd and a designer myself, I can tell you he will be sorely missed around these parts. (Hell I even tore myself away from cooking Thanksgiving to post this one).
In tribute here’s Bjork’s one time back-up band Matmos with their cover of Disco Hospital by Coil.
RIP Sleazy
LS
PS For those in The Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub with a taste for the odd, got the original on the wall for you…
Here’s something guaranteed to take a likkle stress out of your Thanksgiving, two reggae/lovers rock covers of Easy, by The Commodores, each with accompanying dubs.
Donavon Drummond – Easy
Jimmy Lindsay – Easy
Enjoy!
LS
PS I’m going to be stuffing my face and quaffing Glüg like a modern day Caligula for an extended (distended?) weekend. See ya when I get back.
Fake Plastic Trees. They started putting those out at my local Rite Aid the friggin day after Halloween. Where will THAT shit stop? The day after Memorial Day? Fourth Of July? Passover? Christmas?!?!? Being a member of the wandering tribe myself, I actually love Christmas time. Don’t be fooled; every good Jew loves Christmas. It’s our dirty little secret.
And speaking of Fake Plastic Trees, it’s Radiohead time. I fast forwarded through all the mopey acoustic covers in lieau of offering up some slightly more original takes. First up is a fun plastic Macintosh/electronic cut from the always welcomed Mr. Hopkinson’s Computer. I know she’s been caned to death on all the other cover blogs, but I’m gonna cave on this one too; the adorable Amanda Palmer makes an even more adorable ukulele version. Looking for something more holiday traditional? There’s Scala & Kolacny Brothers‘ choir cut as well as a sprawling piano rendition by Christopher O’Riley. And last in the lot is a downtempo-lite version by Shelonda.
Mr. Hopkinson’s Computer – Fake Plastic Trees
Amanda Palmer – Fake Plastic Trees
Scala & Kolacny Brothers – Fake Plastic Trees
Christopher O’Riley – Fake Plastic Trees
Shelonda – Fake Plastic Trees
Enjoy!
LS
As usual, on a short leash again today. Would love to regale you with how I literally got my hearing blown out for two whole days after seeing shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine live back in the day but instead I leave you with two faithful indie covers of MBV’s Only Shallow.
Japancakes – Only Shallow
Nadja - Only Shallow
Enjoy!
LS
PS Those Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub who weren’t spotty little youths, pouring over Deadline and pestering the staff at Rough Trade during the 90s, the original’s on the wall…
Shortly after slumming it in India with the likes of The Beatles, the Farrow sisters (Mia and “Dear” Prudence) and the Maharishi, cult 60s phenomenon Donovan got inspired to cut the eastern influenced album Hurdy Gurdy Man. Though Hurdy was still filled with the usual Donovan warblings about bluebells and gnomes and enchanted gypsys, one song that cut through the hippy hijinks is today’s post,
Get Thy Bearings. With a jazz break so laid back that it mops the floor with Portishead’s MPC, it’s only fitting that Bearings would be ripe for some trip-hop covers. Leading with my fave we have a great cut from The Sand Dollars featuring Chris Manak (AKA renown hip-hop dj and Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf) on vocal duties. Also furthering the downtempo mood is a few more versions from Rose Smith as well as a live cut from Zero 7 featuring the always luminous Mozez. And lastly is a pleasantly erratic indie rendition courtesy of OCS (AKA John Dwyer of The Coachwhips).
The Sand Dollars feat. Chris Manak – Get Thy Bearings
Rose Smith – Get Thy Bearings
Rose Smith – Get Thy Bearings (Reprise)
Zero 7 – Get Thy Bearings (Live From Glastonbury)
OCS – Get Thy Bearings
Enjoy!
LS
PS For those Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub members that weren’t getting wrecked in Rishikesh during the 60s, have the the original on the wall for you, man…
Nothing quite hammered the final nail in the coffin for 80s metal quite like Nirvana, whose 1991 sophomore effort Nevermind effectively shoe-horned legions of bored, past-their-sell-date headbangers into po-faced grunge fanatics. Oddly enough, as I was gathering today’s post, Come As You Are, I noticed another disaffected subset; jazz, lounge, and bossa nova artists, which I guess just highlights the 90s second biggest export, irony (as evidenced below).
Dani Siciliano – Come As You Are
Mambo Kurt – Come As You Are
Bebo Best & The Super Lounge Orchestra – Come As You Are
Pink Freud – Come As You Are
Pink Freud – Come As You Are (Jazz Boy feat. Karolina Kozak version)
Caetano Veloso – Come As You Are
Charlie Hunter – Come As You Are
Damills – Come As You Are
Enjoy!
LS
PS Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub members, got a bonus, mildly amusing, non-jazz version on the wall for you..
Ah here’s a little something for your weekend; a heavy funk, marching band influenced cover of 80s freestyle staple Lookout Weekend by Debbie Deb, via Germany’s Mr. Confuse.
Enjoy (your ‘Weekend’)!
LS
She might not got much pop, but certainly has style, Emma Louise Niblett AKA Scout Niblett audaciously tackles Althea & Donna reggae classic Uptown Top Ranking inna fine folk fashion. Cat Power Meets Joe Gibbs Uptown…
Scout Niblett – Uptown Top Ranking
***Last Minute Addendum:Thanks to the one like Bradzilla for pointing out this rather dark, downtempo, Tricky-esque version via UK’s Black Box Recorder
Black Box Recorder – Uptown Top Ranking
Enjoy!
LS
PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub not present at the great Jamaican soundclashes of the 70s, got the original on the wall for you…
While most people’s first exposure to Brazilian music is often the ubiquitous
Mas Que Nada (a fine track btw), true Bossa Nova fanatics know Upa Neguinho (loosely ‘Up Black Boy’) by Edu Lobo is truly where it’s at. Written in 1966, with help from actor friend Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Upa was a protest song aimed at the Brazilian government’s oppressive treatment of it’s black youth. Maybe due to it’s upbeat style, it somehow managed to elude the radar of the authoritarian censors and onto national fame as the winner of the televised Brazilian Popular Music awards.
So for my American friends to the south (and to the east via the Japan-Brazillian connection), here’s a rainforest’s worth of Upa covers.
Quick note; I tossed all the crap smooth jazz versions and, minus a few oddities; BR6 and Trio Esperança (acapella), Lill Lindfors (Finnish) Minasax (All wind instruments) Roberto Taufic (acoustic guitar), all are more or less some variation of bossa, samba or tropical jazz and all are lindo maravilhoso!
Saúde!
LS
***PS Meu querido amigos in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub, got both the original and the translation on the wall for you…
A Turma da Pilantragem – Upa, Neguinho
Anna Estrada – Upa, Neguinho
Augusto Martelli – Upa, Neguino
Baden Powell – Upa, Neguinho
Baya – Upa, Neguinho
Bossa Nuevo – Upa, Neguinho
BR6 – Upa, Neguinho
Caetano Veloso – Upa, Neguinho
Chaquito – Upa, Neguinho
Cláudia & Zimbo Trio – Upa, Neguinho
Cristina Braga – Upa, Neguinho
Daniel Viglietti – Upa Negrito
Duke Pearson & Flora Purim – Upa, Neguinho
Duo Ouro Negro – Upa, Neguinho
Elis Regina – Upa Neguinho
Elis Regina – Upa Neguinho (In London Version)
Elis Regina – Upa, Neguinho (Live In Montreux)
Elis Regina – Upa, Neguinho (Live In Tokyo)
Elis Regina, Jair Rodrigues & Bossa Jazz Trio – Upa, Neguinho (Live Dois Bossa Numero 2 Version)
Expo 80 – Upa, Neguinho
Grupo Itapua’ – Upa, Neguinho
Herbie Mann – Upa, Neguinho
Inema Trio – Upa, Neguinho
Irio De Paula – Upa, Neguinho
Jackson Conti – Upa, Neguinho
Jair Rodrigues – Upa, Neguinho
Jair Rodrigues & Luciana Mello – Upa, Neguinho (Live)
Joyce – Upa, Neguinho (Astronauta Version)
Joyce – Upa, Neguinho (Delìrios De Orfeu Version)
Julia Zenko – Upa, Neguinho
Le Trio Camara – Upa, Neguinho
Lennie Dale com Trio 3-D – Upa, Neguinho
Lill Lindfors – Upp, Genom Himlen
Live Brazil – Upa, Neguinho
Luiz Arruda Paez – Upa, Neguinho
Mark Weinstein – Upa, Negrinho
Mike Del Ferro – Upa, Neguinho
Mike Falcao – Upa, Neguinho
Mike Levy – Upa, Neguinho
Mina – Upa, Neguinho
Minasax – Upa, Neguinho
Nelsinho e Sua Orquestra – Upa, Neguinho
Nossa Bossa Nova – Upa, Neguinho
Os Velhinhos Transviados – Upa, Neguinho
Paulinho Garcia & Greg Fishman – Upa, Neguinho
Realce – Upa, Neguinho
Renee Rosnes – Upa, Neguinho
Rio 65 Trio – Upa, Neguinho
Roberto Taufic – Upa, Neguinho
Rosinha de Valenca – Upa, Neguinho
Rossana Casale – Upa, Neguinho
Sambatuque – Upa, Neguinho
Sec. Turismo da Guanabara – Upa, Neguinho
Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – Upa, Neguinho
Singers Three – Upa, Neguinho
Sirius B – Upa, Neguinho
Sonia La Unica – Upa, Neguinho
Trio Esperança – Upa, Neguinho
Trio Los Michelle Ginga – Upa, Neguinho
United Future Organization – Upa, Neguinho
United Future Organization – Upa, Neguinho (Supa Neg Mix)
Vania Bastos – Upa, Neguinho
I feel like I’m 5 days late for what could have been a, er, killer Halloween post, the Talking Heads modern day Mack The Knife, Psycho Killer. And what better way to tribute my always being late to my own funeral than by rolling out a gaggle of some hand-picked, leftfield and offbeat Psycho-covers. BTW did ever strike anyone else as odd that this band’s two most beloved singles revolve around serial killing and pyromania (ie Burning Down The House)?
Starting off with the least crazy (but no less fun) of the lot is a jazzy, deep house version by Italy’s Black Mighty Wax. Going one more rung up the mad ladder is three lounge cuts by Bruce Lash, The Dino Martinis and The Nutley Brass. Also getting into the swing of things, so to speak, is the Tom Cat Rebels with their rock-a-billy (or should that be psycho-billy?) rendition. Instruments? Who needs em? Certainly not either acapella anti-socialites The Bobs or The Flying Pickets. Also flexing some felonious vocal chords are the off-balance opera-style antics of Kate Miller Heidke and the aptly named Psycho. More nuttiness abounds from old school new waver Debbie Neon and newer school new wavers Aluminum Babe. We have intercontinental insanity from the Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain, Argentine punks the Argies and the Polish free-jazz freakout that is Mariusz Lubomski. And bringing up the rear on the crazy train is some truly out-there, Residents-like behavior from The Beatless Sense Mongers and a cluck-tastic Psycho Chicken from The Fools. Bawk!Bawk!Bawk!-Baaaaawk Bawk!
Black Mighty Wax – Psycho Killer
Bruce Lash – Psycho Killer
The Dino Martinis – Psycho Killer
The Nutley Brass – Psycho Killer
Tom Cat Rebels – Psycho Killer
The Bobs – Psycho Killer
The Flying Pickets – Psycho Killer
Kate Miller Heidke – Psycho Killer (Live)
Psycho – Psycho Killer
Debbie Neon – Psycho Killer
Aluminum Babe – Psycho Killer
Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain – Psycho Killer (Live Royal Albert Hall)
Argies – Psycho Killer
Mariusz Lubomski – Psychobojca
The Beatless Sense Mongers – Psycho Killer
The Fools – Psycho Chicken
Enjoy!
LS
In a move that may cause serious, irreversible damage to my hipster cred, or at best rotting vegetables thrown in my direction, I bring you Olivia Newton John‘s 1980 soft focus hit Xanadu. But wait, hear me out here a second. Guaranteed to put a perma-grin on your face all day is a cover by the fur-capped indie genius that is Devonté Hynes AKA Lightspeed Champion and second is a brilliant little glitch-pop/electronica rendtition by Oh Astro (who really should add an exclamation point to their name).
Hopefully these shall redeem me…
Lightspeed Champion – Xanadu
Oh Astro – Xanadu
Enjoy!
LS
Revisiting the not-so-distant past again today, this one is way too good to pass up; Fresh off the presses is garage rock demi-gods The Dirtbombs covering fellow Detroit proto-techno classic Sharevari by A Number Of Names.
Enjoy!
LS
***PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub who weren’t gettin down on ‘The Scene’ back in the day, got the original on the wall for you…
