I know, I know they are one of those bands that everyone like totally loves but I gotta confess, I never really liked AC/DC. In fact I can’t stand them. It’s got nothing to do with their musicianship or anything like that, for me it’s much more visceral. Whenever I hear, say, You Shook Me All Night Long, it’s like I have an allergic reaction. I picture sweaty, smelly Angus Young under those 8,000 megawatt stage lights and immediately my skin starts to itch and it feels like the temperature starts to go up; but not in any kind of sexy way but in more of a someone left the heater on in the conference room and I’m wearing a one size too small wool suit-kind of way. Then, like a demented parent in some bad 80s metal video, I manically set out to destroy whatever listening device it’s playing on until it is silenced.
Arggh, that made my skin crawl just typing it. Anyway something that will make most AC/DC fans wince but should make my more disco-minded followers (and me) happy; a rare, 1983 electro/freestyle cover of You Shook Me All Night Long by Slingshot. BTW fans of Kraftwerk will immediately spot the Tour De France riff running liberally throughout.

Slingshot – You Shook Me All Night Long (Vocal Extended)
Slingshot – You Shook Me All Night Long (Radio Mix)

Enjoy!
LS

Today’s cover is the bittersweet, indie-disco fused Boy From School by Hot Chip.
Dispensing with the electronics however are four indie covers; 3 acoustic renditions by Grizzly Bear, British India and Portastatic and 1 slightly more rocking number from Maritime (which oddly enough ends in an acoustic fashion).

Grizzly Bear – And I Was A Boy From School
British India – And I Was A Boy From School
Portastatic – And I Was A Boy From School
Maritime – And I Was A Boy From School

Enjoy!
LS

PS Lucky pupils of Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub, original on the wall for you…

Everybody loves the sunshine. Especially when it’s Roy Ayers‘ rare groove classic Everybody Loves The Sunshine. A falling piano line into a soulful stroll through a mid-1970s Central Park. Where the warm sun hits your dashiki and ‘the bees and things and flowers’ means that that a jazz-funk age of Aquarius never ended. Those in the know include folks like Gilles Peterson who perennially drops it in to his sets as well as Sunshine samples galore cropping up in scores of Hip Hop and R&B tracks (Common, Mos Def, Brand Nubian and Blige; all love them some Sunshine too).
Who else loves Sunshine? A nickel bag of  handpicked artists today. All more or less tow the same warm and laidback soulful/downtempo style (with the exception of the last two, D*Note and B.U.Z.Z., which are more jazzy drum & bass)

Seu Jorge & Almaz – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
D’Angelo – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Main Street People – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
DJ Cam Quartet – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Soul Village – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Ramp – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Heidi Leonore – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
The Soul Society feat. Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Struttin Unlimited – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Quiet Boys – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Incognito – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Destruments – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
D*Note Feat. Beth Hirsch – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
B.U.Z.Z. Feat. Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves The Sunshine

Enjoy (the Sunshine)
LS

PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub still lacking in Vitamin D, got the original and a couple of remixes/re-edits on the wall for you…

Big guitar instrumental Apache is another of our cover features whose lives have had two acts. First in 1960 as the Jerry Lordan penned number one hit for The Shadows. Though long considered a surf instrumental standard (alongside other classics like Wipe Out, Walk Don’t Run, and Telstar), Lordon and the Shadow’s lofty idea of Apache was envisioned more along lines of Morricone and other grand western soundtracks. However it’s lazy slide and southwestern flair became an immediate hit with coastal California guitar acts (ironic considering both Lordan and the Shadows were from the UK).
Years later new life was breathed into Apache via the Incredible Bongo Band. Released in 1973 IBB’s offbeat Hammond and conga driven funk version wasn’t initially a big hit. However later in the decade nascent hip hop DJs like Kool Herc and Afrika Bambatta picked up on it’s rather lengthy percussive ‘break’ section and bits of this particular Apache soon found it’s way onto scores of hip hop tracks. Even today it shows no signs of fatigue; with elements still cropping up in rap from Missy Elliot and The Roots to electronic acts like Future Sound of London and Mr. Oizo.
So today we cover many bases. Working in a reverse fashion I’m leading with a section based around the Incredible Bongo Band cut. Just as incredible is Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band‘s human beat-box tribute; A cover from France’s Le Par Bongo Rockers, Grand Central’s Fingathing and a very rare version by The Jimi Entley Sound (AKA Geoff Barrow from Portishead). The next two hip hop cuts are probably pushing it in regards to being actual covers, but as the judge says ‘I’m going to allow it’; The Sugarhill Gang‘s Apache (Jump On it) which I believe is the first recorded instance of using IBB’s sample and Breakdancin’ (Electric Boogie), a classic electro cut by West Street Mob. Rounding off is A Bit Patchy; a house/electro cut from the loud and phenomenal (or is that just phenomenally loud) Switch.
Next is the off-beat covers. A sublime classic reggae cut by Byron Lee & The Dragonaires as well as a new school ska version by The Skadows. There were not one but TWO(!) wild Moog cuts courtesy of Rod Hunter and Hot Butter. A swinging Mancini-esque rendition by Si Zentner an an oddball mandolin-gypsy sounding one from Poly. There were also two proper disco cuts from the cosmic Les Rockets and the Euro-cheesey Seebach Band. And lastly not content to leave a fine instrumental well enough alone are two vocal versions; an easy listening ballad from Sonny James and a funny little Spanish-language one by Wilson Miranda.
As for the rest, well, a plethora of fine, personally handpicked, surf and ‘big guitar’ covers.

Incredible Bongo Band – Apache
Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band – Apache
Le Par Bongo Rockers – Apache
Fingathing – Apache
The Jimi Entley Sound – Apache
Sugarhill Gang – Apache (Jump On It)
West Street Mob – Breakdancin’ (Electric Boogie)
Switch – A Bit Patchy

Byron Lee & The Dragonaires – Apache
The Skadows – Apache
Rod Hunter – Apache
Hot Butter – Apache
Si Zentner – Apache
Poly – Apache
Les Rockets – Apache
The Seebach Band – Apache
Sonny James – Apache
Wilson Miranda – Apache

Aki Aleong & The Nobles – Apache
Al Caiola – Apache
Aqua Velvets – Apache
Astro Zombies – Apache
Bert Weedon – Apache
Boss Combo – Apache
Davie Allan & The Arrows – Apache ’65
Duane Eddy – Apache
Fantastic Dee-Jays – Apache
Goran – Apache
Jimmy Thackery – Apache
Jon & The Nightriders – Apache
Jorgen Ingmann and His Guitar – Apache
Killer Bananazz – Apache
Link Wray – Apache
Los Pekenikes – Apache
Los Shains – Apache
Luizinho e seus Dinamites – Apache
Mermen – Apache (Live 2004)
Newtones – Apache
Os Incognitos – Apache
Ricky King – Apache
Romeo Void – Apache
Satan’s Cheerleaders – Apache ’95
Susan & The Surftones – Apache
Takeshi Terauchi – Apache
The Apaches – Apache
The Bells – Apache
The Bitch Boys – Apache
The Blue Hawaiians – Apache
The Breakaways – Apache
The Challengers – Apache
The Cousins – Apache
The Jet Blacks – Apache
The Jet Blacks – Apache (Twist version)
The Jokers – Apache
The Jordans – Apache
The Phantoms – Apache
The Spiedels – Apache
The Surfaris – Apache
The Swagmen – Apache
The Ventures – Apache
The Ventures – Apache (Ventures Play Telstar version)

Enjoy!
LS

PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub not suffering terminal Apache burnout at this point can head over to the wall where the original versions await…

It may be hard for most to recall but New Order weren’t the only pioneering post-punk electricians coming out of Manchester during the early 80s. Languishing under their shadow were fellow Factory records label mates Section 25 and their, now considered classic, electro track Looking From A Hilltop; 4 and some change minutes of haunting vocals and unrelenting modulating synths over a Kraftwerk inspired beat (produced by New Order’s Bernard Sumner no less).
20 years later, and shortly before their rather sad demise, Glasgow indie power pop trio BIS paid homage to Section 25 (as well as Factory records as a whole) with a stunning electro cover of Hilltop.

Bis - Looking From A Hilltop

Enjoy!
LS

PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub not hip to what FAC 108 is, got the original and a nice little bonus track on the wall for you…

With so many covers at the Versions G, it’s kinda hard bein LEO P O L D.
OK, lame attempt at rap I know, I’m way too middle class white Jew-boy to have any kind of flow. (Oh hey that rhymes!)
But here’s something that’s certainly less lame; 4 fun covers of Snoop Doggy Dogg classic Gin & Juice.
Rolling down the street smoking collie weed is the reggae/dub antics of Prince Fatty (with Jamaican legend Winston Francis on vocal duties).
Next is Sissy Bar, and I dunno about you but there’s something kind of hot about a bunch of indie pop girls singing ‘I got bitches in the living room getting it on’.
Perennial Versions fave, Richard Cheese hams it up with his lounge rendition. And lastly, enlightening us that complex and often time contradictory social issues aren’t just endemic to urban locales but can have equal and resounding ramifications when introduced into rural agrarian settings, is The Gourds with a country-fried Dixie version.

Prince Fatty – Gin and Juice
Sissy Bar – Gin and Juice
Richard Cheese – Gin and Juice
The Gourds – Gin and Juice

Enjoy!
LS

Wall Street losin’ dough on every share
They’re blamin’ it on longer hair
Big men smokin’ in their easy chair
On a fat cigar without a care.

People Make The World Go Round, The Stylistics haunting slice of Philly soul eerily rings as true today as did back in 1972. More interesting however is the odd bit of resigned wisdom that follows:

But that’s what makes the world go round
The ups and downs, a carousel
Changing people’s heads around
Go underground young man.

While the falsetto chorus advises that there’s not much you can do to change it, it’s all part of life, deal with it best as you can; it’s the contrasting upbeat arrangement that unspokenly seems to whisper but it can’t take away your dignity.
Not surprisingly an impoverished 70s Jamaica understood these sentiments quite well and have always poured that soul and pride into music, chiefly reggae. Funny enough my first exposure to People Make The World Go Round wasn’t the Stylistics cut, but rather the Hortense Ellis‘ (sister of Alton) sublime reggae/rocksteady version; easily one of my personal top ten favorite reggae cuts. My close second picks are three classic versions from The Chosen Few, The Now Generation (FYI more Jamaican soul than straight reggae) and The Tamlins. Following those are an 80s UK lover’s rock cut from The Cool Notes as well as a poppy Sly & Robby-produced dancehall number from Ruddy Thomas.

Hortense Ellis – People Make The World Go Round
The Chosen Few – People Make The World Go Round
The Now Generation – People Make The World Go Round
The Tamlins – People Make The World Go Round
The Cool Notes – People Make The World Go Round
Ruddy Thomas – People Make The World Go Round

Enjoy!
LS

Been dying to feature 70s glam groover 20th Century Boy, by T Rex, for some time now. One would think there would be a virtual velvet goldmine’s worth of amazing covers, yet instead my ears have been bored by the tepid lot of note-for-notes out there. Determined not to pack away the eyeliner just yet, I dug deeper and found a trio of Versions worthy versions.
Leading with a personal fave is eclectic UK trio Belleruche. No strangers to VG they pack more mojo into their simple sultry lo-fi, guitar & kick drum cut than any of the lavish production, feather boa wanna-bees out there.
Quite a screamer is a rare, early B-side from Siouxsie & The Banshees, who like most late 70s excess-rejecting punks, still had a hard time parting with their platforms.
And lastly translating the glam quite swingingly is (sadly MIA) rockabilly sextet Big 6.

Belleruche – 20th Century Boy
Big 6 – 20th Century Boy
Siouxsie And The Banshees – 20th Century Boy

Enjoy!
LS

PS For all the young dudes (and dude-ettes) of Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub not familiar, got the original on the wall for you…

Musician. Illustrator. Professional tea brewer. Mr. Scruff is no doubt Manchester’s quirkiest renaissance man. And dilettante he is not. Prolific creator of jazzy breakbeats he’s got no less than 6 albums (5 of which on the mighty Ninja Tune label),  numerous singles and countless mixes under his belt. He’s no slouch in the drawing department either. Besides branding himself with his signature badly drawn jazztastic potatoes (gander here and here) his illustrations also routinely turn up in fancy coffee table books like Booth Clibborn’s who’s who of street art tome Scrawl. He’s also gotten in the awesome habit of bringing his cheeky cartoons to life for his music videos (try not to break out in a grin we dare you). Then next he did the only logical thing a pie and Earl Grey obsessed dj could; make TEA, which he has done in a rather organic fashion via his Make Us A Brew company.
Now that I’ve completely sold you on his royal Scruffiness,  here’s The Quantic Soul Orchestra‘s even funkier cover of his ubiquitous jazzy downtempo ‘hit’ Get A Move On (which to be fair the original is constructed from hefty doses of the blind avant-jazz viking Moondog track Lament I, “Bird’s Lament”)

The Quantic Soul Orchestra – Get A Move On

Enjoy!
LS

PS Original and Moondog’s ‘prequel’ version for those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub…

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! I was able to scare up two more covers of our original post on Happy House by Siouxsie & The Banshees for Flashback Friday. Two electro-disco-pop numbers from Belgium’s Shindu (on prodigious Franco hipster label Kitsuné) and the other from Marseille’s Celluloide. Heureux! Heureux! Joie! Joie!

Shindu – Happy House
Celluloide – Happy House

Check out the original post here…

Enjoy!
LS

Nowhere near as ubiquitous as 1999, When Doves Cry or Kiss or anywhere as dirty as say Darling Nikki, When You Were Mine, by Prince is still a perennial favorite amongst the die-hards and, judging by the small grip of covers today, fellow musicians as well. It’s a simple, stellar piece of heartbreak pop that, despite being released in 1980, could have easily been heard coming out of some Detroit jukebox sandwiched somewhere between The Shirelles and The Shangri-Las. Fun fact: this one was written before Prince started implementing his creative spelling, hence no When U Were Mine.
Like I mentioned above, I’ve assembled a flock of Versions-worthy covers today. Leading with the faves I’m really digging the self explanatory Casiotone For The Painfully Alone‘s fun lo-fi synth pop version. 80′s No Wave chanteuse Cristina always gets high marks around these parts, and her quirk and jerk synth pop doesn’t disappoint. I’m also loving lesser known 90s act Ida and their painfully simple (but then that’s the way it should be) twee-ish indie cut.
Breaking the mold somewhat today is Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele with a (duh) ukelele version and a banjo ballad tribute from Crooked Fingers.
From the east came 3 pop-punk-esque versions from Japan; Cigaretteman, The Pillows and Coaltar of the Deepers (who are technically a little closer to experimental than punk).
Pulled from That Skinny Motherfucker With the High Voice? album comes the unfortunately nom-ed Dump (aka Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew) with a however great shoegaze influenced version.
I’m gonna cop out at this point with the long descriptors and just lump the last set of  various standard sounding but still decent versions from Bette Bright (New Wave/50s), Blue Rubies (Lilith Fair-folk), Grinspoon (rock), Hi-Fi (80s) and Tegan and Sara (indie-folk).
And lastly, I got to give it up for Cyndi Lauper from whom I heard this song for the first time when I was around twelve-ish (mostly due to receiving somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen copies of She’s So Unusual for my Bar Mitzvah that year).

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – When You Were Mine
Cristina – When You Were Mine
Ida – When You Were Mine
Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele – When You Were Mine
Crooked Fingers – When You Were Mine
Cigaretteman – When You Were Mine
The Pillows – When You Were Mine
Coaltar of the Deepers – When You Were Mine
Dump – When You Were Mine
Bette Bright – When You Were Mine
Blue Rubies – When You Were Mine
Grinspoon – When You Were Mine
Hi-Fi – When You Were Mine
Tegan and Sara – When You Were Mine
Cyndi Lauper – When You Were Mine

Enjoy!
LS

PS Original version for those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub…

I’m out of town for a few days, leaving in about an hour in fact, but here’s a nice one to tide you over for the next few. Painfully minimal dubstep (or is that just redundant) auteur James Blake, flexes his vocals chords for the first time for a surprisingly sublime and soulful dubby cover of Limit To Your Love by the Canadian hotness that is Feist (co-penned with her infamous pal and old roomy Chilly Gonzalez).

James Blake - Limit To Your Love

Enjoy!
LS

PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub who haven’t developed a massive crush on Feist yet, now’s your chance; original version on the wall for you…

The UK really has the formula on lock down when it comes to innovating new dance music; Bass + Beat / Soul = Yet another amazing new electronic genre. Then every few years they just fatten and improve the bass a bit, reshuffle the beats, let the soul stay timeless (circa early 70s timeless) and voila!, new sound. So back in the late 90s/early aughts sprung yet another of their brilliant innovations; 2 Step Garage. Using house music as a blueprint (and to some degree a likkle jungle/drum & bass), 2-Step upped the BPM pitch, while dubbing and wobbling it’s baseline. Also quite signature was it’s dispensing of the ubiquitous 4/4 beat in favor of an erratic, almost faltering drum pattern. Noted champions included a solid UK roster of Artful Dodger, MJ Cole, Zed Bias and today’s feature Wookie. While short lived (about 2 – 3 years) 2 Step’s progeny would eventually go on to start the oh-so-hot-now dubstep and grime movements.
And with that micro history lesson on a micro-genre here’s one from Diplo’s Mad Decent stable, the eclectic Mumdance (featuring Esser) with an almost pitch perfect tribute to Wookie‘s big single Battle. The 2 Step revival starts here!

Mumdance feat. Esser - Battle

Enjoy!
LS

PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub who still think 2-step is how their relatives in back in Arkanasas whoop it up a saturday night, got the original on the wall for you…

Sea Lion Woman, or as it is alternatively known, See Line Woman, C-Lime Woman, See Lyin’ Woman (and more!) is a traditional southern African-American folk song dating at least back to sometime in the late 1800s. While it’s genesis is murky, it’s thought to have possibly originated as a Gullah children’s song. It’s first recording was in 1939 by American anthropologist and folklorist Herbert Halpert, as a field recording of two Misissippi girls, Christine and Katherine Shipp. The daughters of a sharecropping-minister father and a choir-director mother, their original haunting voices often find themselves these days sampled and woven into electronica songs.
One who truly recaptured it and made it her own was blues and jazz singer Nina Simone in 1964 (as See-Line Woman), so much so that it’s often mistakenly attributed to her. Her cover also added a signature percussive element that pretty much lays down the groundwork for all modern incarnations.
It recently enjoyed yet another revival in 2007 via indie darling Feist, who punctuated her version with rhythmic electronic bleeps and a rawkus guitar.
So today besides the Simone and Feist’s covers, we have a few more notable renditions. Playing favorites I’m going to lead with a couple of cuts by Manchester’s finest (and Factory Records first act) The Durutti Column AKA Vini Reilly, who drops the Shipp sisters into his electronic and guitar cuts. Giving it up to the ladies is stellar version by Brooklyn’s all-female Afrobeat outfit Femm Nameless. Other versions I’m also really digging is obscure 80s lo-fi post punk act Bona Dish. There were also some standout cuts by 60s Australian mod outfit The Easybeats, straight ahead jazz legend Yusef Lateef, indie Canucks The Constantines, as well as deep south-banjo version by the beardy Matt Bauer.
Not immune to Sea Lion‘s infectious rhythm is a set of great deep house cuts by The Songstress (AKA Kerri Chandler and Jerome Sydenham), Brandt & Chevallier (ft. Ian Simmonds), Margaret Grace, Wattie Green and The People Movers as well as a more Afro-house sounding one from Andrea Is A Male Name . Soundtrack composer du jour, for the likes of the Coen brothers and more, Carter Burwell builds a rather epic sounding cut for his The General’s Daughter soundtrack which also incorporates the ominous sounding Shipp recordings.
And lastly on the bluesier side is the swampy Istanbul Blues Kumpanyasi, Brian Kennedy, Arno feat The White Trash European Blues Connection, Magnus Carlsson and the Moon Ray Quintet, Ollabelle, Randy Crawford & Joe Sample and Rory Block.

Nina Simone – Sea Line Woman
Nina Simone – Sea Line Woman (Play Me The Blues version)
Nina Simone – Sea Lion Woman (Live My Way version)

Feist – Sea Lion Woman
Feist – Sea Lion Woman (Wien 2007)
Feist - Sea Lion Woman (Bonnaroo 2007)

The Durutti Column – Sea Line Woman
The Durutti Column – Sea Line Woman (Live BBC 2008)
Femm Nameless – See Line Woman
Bona Dish – Sea Line Woman
The Easybeats – See Line Woman
Yusef Lateef – Sea Line Woman
The Constantines – Sea Line Woman
Matt Bauer – Sea Lion Woman
Matt Bauer – Sea Lion Woman (Hinah session)

The Songstress (AKA Kerri Chandler and Jerome Sydenham) – Sea Line Woman
Brandt & Chevallier ft. Ian Simmonds – See Line Woman
Margaret Grace – See Line Woman
Wattie Green – Sea Lion Woman
The People Movers – C Lime Woman
Andrea Is A Male Name – See Line Woman 3D

Carter Burwell – She Began To Lie (Sea Lion Woman)

Istanbul Blues Kumpanyasi - Sea Line Woman
Brian Kennedy – See Line Woman
Arno feat The White Trash European Blues Connection – See Line Woman
Magnus Carlsson and the Moon Ray Quintet – See Line Woman
Randy Crawford & Joe Sample – See Line Woman
Ollabelle – See Line Woman (Riverside Battle Songs version)
Ollabelle – See Line Woman (Before This Time version)
Rory Block – Sea Lion Woman

Enjoy!
LS

PS For the fortunate family of Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub, have the original Shipp Sisters’ recording as well a a big grab bag of remixes and re-edits for you….

One that will surely make the Scissor Sisters burn with envy for covering the wrong track; a slow and sleazy 70s cosmic disco version of Pink Floyd‘s lacerating Money by Italos Rosebud. Keep your hands off my stack.

Rosebud – Money

Enjoy!
LS

Being more than a bit of a purist (I think the correct term is irritating snob) it’s next to impossible for me to get behind any reggae that doesn’t emanate from Jamaica, or limited situations, the UK. It’s a music whose soul springs more from the day to day social struggles of living in those locales rather than, say, a particularly grueling semester at Cal State Long Beach.
However another island is being given a free pass today; New Zealand. More exciting than Lord of The Rings, Gary The Sheep or the great Te Pahu Tooth Brush Fence is the 7-strong, multicultural posse that is Fat Freddy’s Drop. That ‘soul’ thing I mentioned earlier, they’ve got it by the bushel.
Enter Berlin, great town for dub. Also home to Fat Freddy’s label Sonar Kollektiv (purveyors of great soulful electronica) and the Sonar Kollektiv Orchester who re-version FFD’s Midnight Marauders in a dubby orchestral style.

Sonar Kollektiv Orchester – Midnight Marauders

Enjoy!
LS

PS A nickel bag of original Marauders for those Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub…

Pint sized Parisian sexpot (and no stranger to 80s tributes), Uffie returns with a track she seemed born to cover; Wordy Rappinghood by The Tom Tom Club. Being a Flashback Friday today long time members of Versions Galore will recall that we already tackled some great renditions of Wordy back in 2008, but Uffie’s hot off the presses cut is a fine and funky addition.

Uffie – Wordy Rappinghood

Check out the original post here…

Enjoy!
LS

I’m going to skip over blethering about the recent tragedy altogether and just drop this track;’ the Queen of Rockabilly’ Wanda Jackson (with a little help from Jack White) marks an epic sounding return and steals the show with this soul/60s beat cover of You Know That I’m No Good by the late Amy Winehouse. Big, bright, brilliant and wouldn’t be out of place in the golden go-go era of Vegas.

Wanda Jackson – You Know That I’m No Good

Enjoy!
LS

The soundtrack to countless pieces of broken furniture during my childhood ‘breakdance’ phase is today’s entry, electro classic Din Daa Daa AKA Trommeltanz by George Kranz.
Released in 1983 it quickly achieved cult status amongst B-boy/girl set and has been sampled quite heavily by the likes of everyone from M/A/R/R/S to the Ying Yang Twins. Oh and it made an appearance in Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo as well, but I’m not sure how brag-worthy that last tidbit is.
Have a couple of Versions-worthy covers today; a sublime live drum/band sounding cut from The Roots and baile-influenced Berliner Daniel Haaksman with an electro/broken beat version.

The Roots – Din Daa Daa
Daniel Haaksman – Din Daa Daa

Enjoy!
LS

PS Bonus beats for B-boys and girls of Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub…

Happy Birthday Andy!
If it isn’t obvious already to anyone who wasn’t asleep and drooling on their matte boards during junior college art class, my illustration style is pretty heavily influenced by Andy Warhol. Had the doctors not operated on him with all the sophistication and grace of a pack Juggalos huffing Redbull, he would have been 83 today.
So in tribute to the lovable oddball got several off beat/eccentric/off kilter covers of David Bowie‘s eponymous track. Starting off are two obscure 80s new wave versions from Germany’s Freunde Der Nacht and Sweden’s Zzzang Tumb. More 80s Euro cuts come in the form of an outsider folk version(think Daniel Johnston) from France’s Deux Pingouins and a loud rocking Spanish language cut from Spain’s Pop Deco. About as normal as you’ll get this posting is a Glam-lite version from 70s sexpot Dana Gillespie (for whom Bowie penned the song for originally) and Glam-downtempo/electronic cut from The Metrosexuals.

Freunde Der Nacht – Andy Warhol
Zzzang Tumb – Andy Warhol
Deux Pingouins – Andy Warhol
Pop Deco – Andy Warhol
Dana Gillespie – Andy Warhol
The Metrosexuals – Andy Warhol

Enjoy!
LS

PS  Happy Birthday to those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclubthere’s an original on the wall for ya…