1967 classicSunday Morning – written by Lou Reed – is the best-known song
by The Velvet Underground (more than 300 million streams on Spotify).
It featured on their intoxicating debut LP.
I stumbled by accident on this mesmeric version with the late genial Lou Reed playing
it live in 2004 on The Late Show With David Letterman’ at the Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC.
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”.
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…
5. ‘Stayin’ Alive’ by LEE ROGERS (Northern Ireland)
Original by Bee Gees.
This warm Americana voice out of Northern Ireland 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. Compelling version!
From the massive covers compilation called The Metallica Blacklist
featuring no less than 53 artists interpreting a Black Album song, the
breakthrough LP that was released 30 years ago.
Every Sunday for about two years now, the famous British songstress and
her King Crimson husband Robert Fripp entertained us (and still do it) via
YouTube with covers of big crackers. Their performances were/are ridiculously
hilarious. Definitely the stand-up rock comedians of 2021.
As it goes with these sorts of albums, some are good, but most of them are dud. But
here on this tribute of an (almost) uncoverable band several interpretations actually
sound damn fine. Like Sharon Van Etten turning into a ‘Femme Fatale‘, Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney trashing ‘European Son’, Kurt Vile running, and The National‘s maestro Matt Berninger with ‘I’m Waiting For The Man‘.
My favorite: Michael Stipe doing the LP’s opening
track, the Reed/Cale classic Sunday Morning.
Sunday morning and I’m falling
I’ve got a feeling I don’t want to know
Early dawning, Sunday morning
It’s all the streets you crossed, not so long ago
C’mon, Michael…
The full tribute…
.
(photo Stipe: cover of his single ‘Your Caprious Soul’)
Content: It documents the history of the innovative, eccentric and brilliantly
chaotic jingle jangle band and their legacy, through newly-conducted interviews
and various recordings and never-before-seen performances.
Talking about sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll. VU lived it 24/7. The documentary
will be accompanied by a soundtrack, The Velvet Underground: A Documentary
Film By Todd Haynes.
While waiting for the men and women, here’s the trailer…