COVER: "Honky Tonk Women" Covered in Five Different Styles

Check out this mother lode of covers of "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones. It's included in 1000 Recordings in the Stones' Singles Collection: The London Years. A cover already shows up in the book by way of Waylon Jennings on Honky Tonk Heroes, which was my first introduction to Waylon. I had to head to Google right afterwards to find out if he had actually written and played it first, because his version sounded so rootsy and I thought he predated the Stones.

Cover Me just posted a "Five Good Covers" series on the song, with five free downloads. I think four are worth your time (Peltz's cover is interesting, for sure, but not one I think I would revisit). Of those four, two of the artists are also 1000 Recordings artists: Earl Scruggs and The Pogues. Go check it out, and hear the book entries of these artists below:

Rolling Stones, Singles Collection: The London Years
Waylon Jennings, Honky Tonk Heroes
Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, Foggy Mountain Jamboree
The Pogues, If I Should Fall from Grace with God

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: Whitney Houston Dies at Age 48

On Saturday, 1000 Recordings artist Whitney Houston was found dead at a Beverly Hills hotel. No details on the cause yet, which is being investigated.

I heard Houston's music on the radio, and so I went into the 1000 Recordings entry, her self-titled debut, with some preconceived notions. I was not surprised by what I found, aside from the fact that I knew so much of the album, meaning that her debut was full of singles. Her voice was incredible, and I still have a very strong emotional attachment to the cheesy song she put out in the late '90s, "My Love is Your Love" (the remix version, of course); it came out when I fell in love with my wife, which was a year of a lot of cheesy love songs appealing to me. Her talent will definitely be missed.

Hear Whitney Houston here.

REVIEW: Hariprasad Chaurasia - Raga Darbari Kanada

I've gone through many philosophical changes in the last year, and I'm starting to wonder; isn't this the sort of existential crisis people pull in their early twenties, or midlife crisis stuff they go through when they realize they haven't done everything they want to do? Maybe having a son and my upcoming career change are affecting me, but for whatever reason, I've been reevaluating a lot about how I see the world. One of the byproducts of all the life changes I have been making was an introduction to mindfulness.

My wife read a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, and unfortunately it went back to the library before I had a chance to read it, but I got the Reader's Digest version from her, and there were so many things that were interesting to me about it.

I am not a very in the moment type of person; I'm often multitasking, thinking about the next thing, etc. One story my wife told me from the book was about a guy eating an orange. He would pop an orange slice in his mouth, and then while he was chewing, peel the next bite. Hanh pointed out that he was not eating an orange, because he wasn't devoting his attention to actually tasting the orange. Holy crap, have I ever eaten mindfully? I've tried it a few times since then (tough to do with a toddler at the table), and I have to admit, food actually tastes better.

The other night I was doing dishes while my wife read books to my son upstairs, and I tried to enjoy the task, be in the moment, recognize that what I was doing was something that I might be really missing a year from now due to my work schedule. It really made me happy to be doing dishes and allowed me to be entirely in the task at hand. Maybe I don't get the whole mindfulness thing yet; I should really read the book. But I heard a recording at work the other day that put me in a headspace that seemed perfect for mindfulness.

Artist: Hariprasad Chaurasia
Album: Raga Darbari Kanada
Recording #522


Stream the album here.


Moon put the tagline "Be Centered Now" for this entry, and that description absolutely nails it. Indian flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia's swooping lines take you to another time and place. The calming effect of his perfect tone and pace are bolstered by the tampura (the sitar sounding thing). It makes me want to get a tampura, and just play the hell out of the same notes all day (I should note that I don't think I know what a tampura looks like, and that I like saying tampura). I have become increasingly interested in "drone" types of music ("doom metal" is one of the most interesting I've discovered, through the same program where I first heard about the book, NPR's All Songs Considered), and the first "track" here features that droning tampura for 35 minutes. At an hour, I don't think this album is long enough, honestly. Get yourself a cup of tea, put on some comfy clothes, and get mindful with this one.


Read the book entry here.

NEWS: Bad Brains Documentary to be Shown at SXSW

1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die artist, Bad Brains, have been working together for 30 years. Their entry on the list, I Against I, was "once described ...as 'the best punk/hardcore album of all time.'" How much do you know about them? I can honestly say next to nothing before I read the book, so this documentary looks pretty interesting to me. Check out the preview below, and look for it at SXSW in March.

Hear Bad Brains' I Against I here.

NEWS: Iggy Pop Named Ambassador of Record Store Day

First of all, that is a badass logo. Second of all, Record Store Day has exploded since its inception in 2007. As a writer for Cover Me, last year I got to see first hand how many freakin' covers are released that day in honor of independent record stores. In keeping with the tradition of hard rocking Record Store Day Ambassadors (Jesse Hughes of The Eagles of Death Metal, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and Ozzy), 1000 Recordings artist Iggy Pop has been named for 2012. In his own, amazing, words, "I feel like a representative from some exotic jungle full of life and death and sex and anger, called upon to wear a leopard skin and translate joy to the world of the dead." Exactly!

Listen to Iggy Pop's entry in 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, Raw Power

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."