Cover of the Week

DAVID BYRNE & YO LA TENGO Cover YOKO ONO

Posted on by JL

22 February 2022

Last week legendary all-around artist and John Lennon‘s famous
widow YOKO ONO celebrated her 89th birthday (18 February).

Over the years she received lots of critical praise on a regular basis (not followed by big commercial success) for her musical exploits (14 solo albums, 8 with Lennon). To celebrate her birthday several famous artists (David Byrne, Sharon Van Etten, Death Cab For Cutie, The Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, and more) paid tribute to Yoko with an album of mesmerizing covers of songs of her, called Ocean Child: Songs Of Yoko Ono.

To my ears, the highlight of the record is David Byrne and Yo La Tengo joining forces for a wonderful rendition of Who Has Seen The Wind. A song recorded in 1970 and the B-side of Lennon‘s hit Instant Karma.

Hear the thing of beauty here…

Original Yoko version…

YOKO ONO: Discography – Instagram

ZWAREMACHINE Transform MINISTRY Classic ‘EFFIGY’ Into A Herculian Haymaker

Posted on by JL

14 February 2022

Band: ZWAREMACHINE
Who: Minneapolis’ own fully realized industrial worship. With an eerie
hum Zwaremachine embraces early ebm, cyber and darkelectro soundscapes
while keeping a persistent live band approach. With a clear focus on classic
sounds and modern production they describe their style as “Minimal Hypnotic
Industrial Body Music.”

Cover: EFFIGY
The original is by Ministry led by charismatic Industrial rock maniac
Al Jourgensen from their debut LP With Sympathy (1983). Over the years
Ministry‘s sound and Jourgensen‘s looks changed drastically.

Zwaremachine‘s take on this 80s synth-pop tune is pretty bang-on.
They transformed it into an industrial disco corker with a booming synth
beat triggering your adrenalin production instantly. Add frontman Mach
Fox‘s creepy Jourgensen-esque growl and your stereo will never be the
same again after playing this herculean haymaker.

Turn it up, folks…

Buy via Bandcamp…


.
The Ministry original…

ZWAREMACHINE: Facebook

TALKING HEADS With The Song Made Famous By SYL JOHNSON Who Passed Away Yesterday

Posted on by JL

7 February 2022

Yesterday the 85-year old Chicago blues/soul musician SYL JOHNSON
passed away (only six days after his older brother died.)

Family statement: “It is with extreme sadness that our family announces the passing
of Soul & Blues Hall of Fame Legend, Syl Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson). Dad, Brother, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Uncle, Friend & Artist, he lived his life as a singer, musician, and entrepreneur who loved black music.”

Syl was born in 1936 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He had a fantastic career with
countless LPs and several hit singles with funky groove TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
written by Al Green and Mabon “Teenie” Hodges as his biggest triumph in 1975.

Talking Heads‘ chief David Byrne spotted the song immediately upon its release
and decided to record it and put it on the band’s second LP More Songs About Buildings And Food (1978). So many people had no clue that it was a cover as it sounded like it was written by Talking Heads themselves.

The three versions…

– TALKING HEADS –
(Splendid live version)

– SYL JOHNSON –

– AL GREEN –

SYL JOHNSON: Story

Canadian Dreamweavers PICASTRO Cover THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

Posted on by JL

10 January 2022

Band: PICASTRO
Who: A musical project that started in Toronto in 1998
and has continued on in many forms with various members.
Picastro has existed as a musical entity for a long time, too
weird to be a pop band, too many songs to be considered
experimental.

New EP: I’VE NEVER MET A STRANGER
Containing covers of The Velvet Underground, The Silt,
Richard Dawson, Fire on Fire, and Elfin Saddle tracks.

“All the songs were chosen based on their lyrical content starting from
Pale Blue Eyes “sometimes I feel so happy, sometimes I feel so sad” at
the start of the pandemic, running to Richard Dawson’s “Man’s been
struck down by hands unseen”.


(Artwork by Victor Gáspari)

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite: PALE BLUE EYES

Although countless artists have covered/cover one or more songs from eternal legends The Velvet Underground, not many succeed(ed) in doing it with the same mystique and spell that made the NYC mavericks such a special and influential band. But here we have
a winner. Why?

Picastro‘s piano driven version transferred me immediately to starry-eyed la-la land.
It’s less minimalistic in execution than the original and works in all his magnificence
all the way. Then there’s the grand voice of Liz Hysen (who also plays the piano here)
floating somewhere between Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval twilight timbre and Cocteau Twins’s Elizabeth Fraser magic touch. Bewitching, just bewitching.

Dim the lights, close your eyes and enjoy this beauty…


.

Don’t go away yet, keep on dreaming
while listening the full EP…


.
PICASTRO: Facebook

(Info/images via Cannonball PR)

DAVID BYRNE And YO LA TENGO Cover YOKO ONO

Posted on by JL

5 January 2022


(Artwork album)

Curated by Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard a tribute album
of covers of Yoko Ono songs titled Ocean Child: Songs Of Yoko Ono
arrives on 18th February.

It’ll feature interpretations of 14 Ono songs. Artists involved:
David Byrne, Yo La Tengo, Sharon Van Etten, Death Cab for Cutie,
US Girls, Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som, Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic
Fields), Thao, Sudan Archives, We Are KING, and Amber Coffman.

Here’s a taster with David Byrne and Yo La Tengo covering
Who Has Seen The Wind

An affecting lullaby.

Enjoy…

The Yoko original…

.
Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono will be accompanied by an exclusive podcast, hosted by Gibbard and music journalist Jenny Eliscu and featuring in-depth discussions of Ono’s music and legacy.

Here’s the podcast trailer…

YOKO ONO: Discography

Hallelujah! Ding Dong Time With Holy Cover Duo TOYAH And ROBERT FRIPP

Posted on by JL

14 December 2021

Who better than stand-up and sit-down comedians TOYAH
and King Crimson legend ROBERT FRIPP to entertain us with
some welcome Xmas hilarity.

Being a YouTube sensation for more than a year now, the everlasting
lovey-dovey couple started it all with their Sunday Lunch sessions when
getting bored and frustrated during that depressing lockdown last year.

This week’s Xmas’ carol interpretation of Ding Dong Time Merrily On High
is their best gut-busting performance – to my eyes and ears – they ever
accomplished.

Absolutely facetious! Ridiculously funny!

Jingle your bells for the sexy Holy Toyah Mary and Santa Fripp…

TOYAH: Facebook

Cover Of The Week – DAVE GROHL And GREG KURSTIN Do The BLITZKRIEG BOP For HANUKKAH

Posted on by JL

30 November 2021

To celebrate this year’s Hanukkah, the traditional Jewish Festivals Of Lights
Foo Fighter DAVE GROHL and producer GREG KURSTIN got together for
a smashing cover of Ramones classic Blitzkrieg Bop.

Grohl wrote on Twitter: “Once upon a time, two nice Jewish boys from Queens
named Jeffery Hyman and Thomas Erdelyi changed the world forever with their
music as Joey and Tommy Ramone!” wrote Grohl and Kurstin. “GABBAI GABBAI HEY!
Ladies and gentlemen… It’s the Blitzkrieg Bop!”

They’re forming in straight line
They’re going through a tight wind
The kids are losing their minds
The blitzkrieg bop

1-2-3-4…

RAMONES: History

Northern Irish Songwriter LEE ROGERS Stays Alive With The BEE GEES

Posted on by JL

23 November 2021


(photo by Ken Haddock)

Artist: LEE ROGERS
Who: Singer-songwriter from the small
town of Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland.

Early November this warm Americana voice from Northern Ireland
released an 6-track EP called DARK NOTIONS. An arresting extended
play of six sweet little pearls.

One of the songs is a BEE GEES cover of their 1977 STAYIN’ ALIVE and it’s quite striking.

No helium-affected vocals, no glamorous disco flamboyance. Rogers slows the classic down, drenches it in a nostalgic sepia bath, and gives it a haunting and soul-stirring
twist corresponding with the somber lyrics.

Top version…

The brothers Gibb original…

LEE ROGERS: Facebook

KURT VILE Runs, Rolls And Rocks On His VELVET UNDERGROUND Cover

Posted on by JL

4 October 2021

Two weeks ago album I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground
and Nico came our way, with a group of big rock names honoring the iconic band
and more specifically their debut masterpiece LP of 1967.

As it goes with these sorts of albums, some covers work, but mostly it’s about
a couple of exceptions. Yet, here on this tribute of an (almost) uncoverable band
several interpretations actually work. Michael Stipe doing ‘Sunday Morning‘, Sharon
Van Etten turning into a ‘Femme Fatale‘, Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney trashing ‘European
Son’, The National‘s maestro Matt Berninger with ‘I’m Waiting For The Man‘ and my
favorite: Kurt Vile‘s pumped up version of ‘Run Run Run’.

Let’s run, roll and rock with Kurt…

The original VU stroke…

Stream full tribute album here.

When CHELSEA WOLFE Covers JONI MICTHELL

Posted on by JL

22 September 2021

Although she wasn’t at the historic three-day Woodstock festival
in 1969, singer-songwriter legend JONI MITCHELL wrote a song
about it. It appeared as B-side to her single Big Yellow Taxi. Several
artists, including her friends Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young covered it.

Goth heroine CHELSEA WOLFE about why she wanted to cover Woodstock:

“While preparing for the ‘Birth Of Violence’ tour, I was watching a lot of Joni Mitchell videos.
One night after working on the live set I was just letting the Joni videos roll. “Woodstock” came on and I started singing along. After that I simply asked Ben if he’d be into covering it with me for the tour. The cover came together quite naturally and it was a treat to play on stage every night. Joni is obviously such a big inspiration to this side of my music, so it felt right to pay tribute to her.”

Here comes Wolfe‘s soft alter ego…

Original version…

CHELSEA WOLFE: Facebook