Versions of Note
The mighty BBC 6Music radio station is doing a thing called Cover Lovers at the moment. Listeners can vote for their favourite cover version of all time and there’ll be a Top 40 countdown of the hotly awaited results this Saturday. I haven’t voted but I do have my favoured tracks. Here’s my Top Three:
1. If You’re Looking for a Way Out by The Tindersticks (top) (originally by Odyssey (bottom)) which takes an already lovely song and adds shovel loads of melancholia and passion over a stunningly produced arrangement. A thing of beauty. My favourite.
2. Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil (originally by Tim Buckley). A breathtaking and fragile masterpiece.
3. Police and Thieves by The Clash (originally by Junior Murvin). From the awesome first Clash album. Is it reggae? Is it punk? Who cares!
Honourable mentions – in no particular order – for the following:
Only Love Can Break Your Heart by St. Etienne (originally by Neil Young).
Tainted Love by Soft Cell (originally by Gloria Jones).
Mr. Pharmacist by The Fall (originally by The Other Half).
Femme Fatale by Tracey Thorn (originally by Velvet Underground).
David Watts by The Jam (originally by The Kinks).
Strange by R.E.M. (originally by Wire).
I often wonder how much money the critically acclaimed but distinctly non-mainstream Wire have made in their career and what proportion of their earnings came from the luck of R.E.M. admiring the quirky and angular art-rockers and including Strange on the multi-million selling Green album.
1. If You’re Looking for a Way Out by The Tindersticks (top) (originally by Odyssey (bottom)) which takes an already lovely song and adds shovel loads of melancholia and passion over a stunningly produced arrangement. A thing of beauty. My favourite.
2. Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil (originally by Tim Buckley). A breathtaking and fragile masterpiece.
3. Police and Thieves by The Clash (originally by Junior Murvin). From the awesome first Clash album. Is it reggae? Is it punk? Who cares!
Honourable mentions – in no particular order – for the following:
Only Love Can Break Your Heart by St. Etienne (originally by Neil Young).
Tainted Love by Soft Cell (originally by Gloria Jones).
Mr. Pharmacist by The Fall (originally by The Other Half).
Femme Fatale by Tracey Thorn (originally by Velvet Underground).
David Watts by The Jam (originally by The Kinks).
Strange by R.E.M. (originally by Wire).
I often wonder how much money the critically acclaimed but distinctly non-mainstream Wire have made in their career and what proportion of their earnings came from the luck of R.E.M. admiring the quirky and angular art-rockers and including Strange on the multi-million selling Green album.
1 comment:
How about Johnny Cash and I See A Darkness?
Good night last night...
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