Covers: Songs That Shouldn't Work

Here's a link to a great post at Cover Me where we answered the question "What cover song shouldn't work as well as it does?" The list is pretty great, and has an amazing number of 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die songs and artists, including:

Yes covering Simon and Garfunkle's "America"
Mariachi el Bronx covering "I Would Die 4 U" off Prince's Purple Rain
Dolly Parton covering Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," featured on How the West was Won
Sam Cooke covering Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind"
Richard Thompson covering Britney Spears's "Oops, I Did it Again"
Miley Cyrus covering Outkast's "Hey Ya"
and Bill Cosby covering the Beatles's title track from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

 

COVER: The Beatles' "If I Fell" Covered All Trippy by Greta Link

Anyone who knows all about the Beatles seems to think that everyone else knows all about the Beatles. By that I mean that if you are "into music" then folks assume you know every Beatles song ever done. I mentioned before that I hadn't heard the White Album until I started reading the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, and although I had heard a lot of the songs off A Hard Day's Night, watching the movie was something of a revelation for me. Most of the songs off that album have that old, happy sounding Beatles sound you're familiar with if you listened to the "oldies" station as a kid, but then some have this heaviness to them that are surprising. "If I Fell" is one that I remember specifically being amazed by, thinking "I can't believe I've never heard this."

So when I saw a Cover Me lede for Greta Link's version of the song I jumped at it. I think the song (and Link's video) speak for themselves, so check it out below and then click through to my Cover Me post to download the link (or go buy it for what you think it's worth at Link's Bandcamp page).

Check out more from Greta at her website.
Read Moon's entry here.

NEWS: Paul McCartney Plays the Grammys; America's Youth Wonders Who He Is

This is just too sad. Why do we need a book like the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die? I'm not quite this bad, but I sure need the education, and it looks like the Wikipedia generation does, too.

NEWS: The Beach Boys to Reunite to Play the Grammys

This coming Sunday, 1000 Recordings artist The Beach Boys, will reunite to play together for the first time in over 20 years. They will unfortunately mar that performance by including Maroon 5... seriously? Foster the People will participate as well (I only know the one song, and I'm okay with it), as the three groups play at the 54th Grammys.

I haven't watched the Grammys in years; I don't care that they gave the Black Keys, who became one of my favorite bands (indie cred/snob alert) when I heard them in 2003, a couple Grammys last year, the whole thing just seems ridiculous and disingenuous. Bon Iver is up for best new artist, even though I first heard him (more snob alert) back at the end of 2007?

Anyway, the fact that the Beach Boys are playing actually does pique my interest; maybe I'll tune in after all. I know my son will be hoping they play "Ba-ba-ba-ba-barbara Ann," as mentioned previously.

Other 1000 Recording artists performing are Tony Bennett, Bonnie Raitt, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen, all of whom have played the Grammys before. ?uestlove of the Roots and Ringo Starr are listed as presenters.

Hear the Beach Boys' 1000 Recordings entries, Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations."

The White Album Gets No Love from Me

My son is now old enough to have some well-defined favorite songs, and today he discovered a new one. At Christmas, both Nana and Grandma's house have train sets, and my son is now obsessed with trains (he doesn't really understand what they are yet aside from toys), and so I thought it would be funny to play Quad City DJs' "C'Mon 'N Ride it (The Train)" and teach him a conga line dance. And I was right, it was funny... the first five times through. I lost count after that, and we could barely get through breakfast because everytime the song ended he would point at the computer and shout "TRAIN!"

So, I can now add that to his list of other favorites: "I Want to Be Your Driver" by Chuck Berry ( yes, 1000 Recording entry), "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys (no, not 1000 RTHBYD), "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles (yes), "Jump" by Kris Kross (surprisingly, no), and "Yellow Submarine" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" by The Beatles (yes and yes). The last one is from the Beatles' self-titled/"White" album, and that's what I'm going to talk about today.

Artist: The Beatles
Album: The Beatles (The White Album)
Recording #175ish


Stream this on Youtube

I said before that choosing a favorite Radiohead album opens one up to attacks; multiply that by 1000 when you're talking about a Beatles album. There are entire college courses dedicated to studying the Beatles and how influential their albums were. But here it goes: The White Album is my least favorite Beatles album. Maybe it's because it's the last one I heard, and maybe Abbey Road is my favorite because it was the first. Maybe it's because there are so few singles on it, so I was totally unfamiliar with it. Considering it's their best selling album, I am clearly in the minority. But the overall theme I get from the album (strange that I notice one, considering the band had basically broken up by this point and it's a double album) is a melancholy, sludgy one. The songs don't have a lot of oomph, aside from the singles, which are generally the most interesting.

My first experience with this album was actually hearing The Gray Album by Danger Mouse (another 1000 Recording), which is a mix of Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles. I remember thinking, "the backing music sounds nothing like the Beatles." Now, in part, that was Danger Mouse's genius, but it also stems from the fact that much of this album does not sound like what most would think of as the Beatles. I wonder how many people felt as confused by this when it was first released as I did the first time I heard it. After hearing the guys from the 1000 Recordings Podcast talk about this one, I understood it a little better, especially the nuances between the different members and how they were all exploring their own styles. When I went back and listened to it again, I realize it's a "grower," but I'm still not there. There are some great songs on here ("Yer Blues," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," - which I did not particularly like the first time, and "Blackbird"), but only one album's worth in my opinion (I could do without "Piggies," and "Revolution 9" for example). Let the skewering begin, but I can't honestly say I dig this one.

How many stars would you give this recording?

Buy this album here