Category: Cover Versions

Cover Versions, Double Nugget, Hard-to-find

Double Nugget

Craig McAllister

If you’re looking for musical hereos that are a wee bit more left field than your average common or garden Lennon or McCartney, you could do worse than become obsessed with the music and ideals of XTC and their resident genius Andy Partridge. One such obsessed fan is Irishman Thomas Walsh who recently found minor fame recording a concept album about cricket as one half of the Duckworth Lewis Method (along wth fellow countryman Neil ‘Divine Comedy‘ Hannon). Look them up via Mojo or Word. Both magazines fell over themselves in a race to see who could bestow the more ridiculous superlatives upon this unlikely duo and, while the music is pleasant enough, the underlying smugness of Neil Hannon gets in the way of a good listen for me.

Sweat Sweat Sweat

I much prefer Walsh’s other group, Pugwash. Inspired by stories of Andy Partridge’s refusal to tour with XTC and hearing how Partridge was happiest when recording in his shed,  Walsh used the compensation money he received from a childhood  accident to build a shed/recording studio in his back garden. The music that followed was a heady mix of melodic sunshine garage pop (think Beach Boys, Zombies, early Bee Gees) and through a combination of patience and luck the songs found their way to Andy Partridge, who released them on his own Ape House label. Now there’s a happy ending! In 2008, Pugwash released At The Sea, a single that despite being co-written by Andy Partridge and utilising his talents on guitar, mellotron and anything else lying around the studio, failed (not unsurprisingly) to set the heather on fire. On the b-side was this, a faithful cover of the Idle Race‘s ‘On With The Show‘.

Brummies The Idle Race often pop up on Nuggets’y compilations (Imposters of Life’s Magazine? Days of the Broken Arrows? Ring any bells?) and are famous as the band where Jeff Lynne (ELO, future Threatles-not-Beatles producer) learned his big hairy-faced chops in the late 60s. ‘On With the Show‘ appeared on their debut album (Birthday Party, above) and is very derivative of its time -a descending piano chord sequence, harmonies a-gogo, some light phasing (all the rage in 1968) and enough melody and craft packed in to two minutes and twenty two seconds. You’ll like it.

Fact: Mark E Smith is a big Idle Race fan. According to Wikipedia at any rate.

*Bonus Track!

I’ll wager you’ve heard of Wild Beasts. They’ve been on Later with Jools Holland a few times. Lake District indie rock group with a neat line in guitar riffs ‘n textures and an irritating habit of singing everything in ridiculous falsetto. I kinda like them, even though a) they want so badly to be Orange Juice and b) that singer is fucking annoying. I’ll wager you’ve not heard of The Wildebeests. I know next to nothing about them. If you can fill in the blanks, get in touch.  I heard a track on a Shindig magazine compilation and was taken aback with it’s totally blatant Who-isms. Won’t Get Fooled Again keyboard riff? Aye! Crashing, windmilling Townshend power chords? Oh aye! Moonesque thumps ‘n bumps? Oh aye aye! Layered Goods Gone vocals? Aye ‘n aye again!, That Man is the sort of record Noel Gallagher would shave his eyebrow off to be able to make. Which makes it good, obviously.

Update!

As pointed out by regular reader Garwood Pickjon in the comments below, That Man is in fact a cover of a mid 60s Small Faces record (hear here). I’ve got the record in my collection and everything, but it never clicked when listening to The Wildbeests version. The old antennae needs retuning to digital I think – it reaches me in May this year. Any other mistakes/errors, please let me know. I’m off to eat Humble Pie. No pun intended. Unless you get it. In which case, good pun, eh?

Garwood, your prize is in the post…..

Wildbeests. Not Wild Beasts.

Cover Versions, Get This!, Gone but not forgotten

Seductive Barry

Craig McAllister

John Barry died today at the age of 77. Without him, the Sixties wouldn’t have swung quite as bold or nearly as brassy. You don’t need me to tell you of his work on 11 Bond films, or that his musical scores packed full of stabbing brass, sweeping orchestration and exotic leads (dulcimer! vibes!) often conjured up images of carefree playboys at the wheel of a Jaguar, speeding through the Swiss Alps with a Ray Ban-ed and mini-skirted female for company (although that sounds a lot like a spoof scene from Austin Powers, but you know what I mean.)

Barry ‘n Birkin

John Barry was a bit of a real-life Austin. He was married 4 times, once briefly to Jane Birkin until, in 1968, she went off to work with Serge Gainsbourg and, well, I’m sure you know what happens when old Gauloises ‘n garlic Gainsbourg takes a shine to a lady…

In a career that took in amongst others big band jazz, neo-classical orchestration, easy listening croon and off-beat quirky pop instrumentation, his music can be equal parts mesmerising, life-affirming and downright seductive. Indeed, Pulp put a track called Seductive Barry on their under-appreciated This Is Hardcore album. A brooding 8 and a half minute paean to seedy lust, it’d be great to think that Jarvis was singing about an ordinary northern lothario called Barry, or maybe even Barrys White or Manilow, but it must surely be some sort of tribute to John Barry – Jarvis is a gen’d up scholar of music and had Barry play at the 2007 Meltdown he curated. I can remember reading how Jarvis liked to walk around Sheffield with John Barry playing on his Walkman, as the music transformed his city into a magical place.

Here’s some of my favourite John Barry tunes. Play them as you take the journey into work tomorrow and pretend you’re some sort of libidinous Cold War spy. That’s what I’ll be doing.

Into Miami/Alpine Drive/Auric (a suite, if you like, from Goldfinger)

The Girl With The Sun In Her Hair

Midnight Cowboy (my favourite instrumental ever)

*Bonus Track!

Another Barry, Mr Adamson formerly bass player with Magazine, has released a good half dozen records filled with the sort of arrangements and instrumentation that could’ve had John Barry reaching for the nearest copy of Plagiarism Monthly. Adamson’s ska version of the 007 tune is a belter.

Cover Versions, demo, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, studio outtakes

Marr’s Barres

Craig McAllister

….or how Johnny cooked up How Soon Is Now?

How Soon Is Now? – don’t forget the question mark! – is the song that people who dislike The Smiths like. Those same people who would lazily decree The Smiths as ‘miserable‘ whilst frantically waving a 12″ of Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now right under your nose (“Exhibit A, M’Lud!”) embraced How Soon Is Now? as if it were the returning of The Messiah himself.  It’s true! As well as being a dancefloor filler from Dublin to Dundee and Humberside, it was the song that truly broke The Smiths on the American touring circuit, from out of the colleges and into the (relatively) cavernous venues required to house the hordes who packed in expecting to hear more of the same rockist thunk. Ironically, it was the one song in The Smiths’  impressive arsenal that the band never quite managed to pull off live and in more recent times, Morrissey and his ham-fisted group of plodders have failed miserably to do it justice too. It’s a unique track, made in unique circumstances and although others have tried, no-one, NO-ONE! has managed to get it sounding quite as majestic as the band what wrote it. So how did they do it?

Ingredients:

  • One copy of Hey Bo Diddley. The first track Bo Diddley will do.
  • One copy of Run Through The Jungle. Must be The Gun Club version, NOT the Creedence Clearwater Revival original. If you don’t have an actual version, a crappy lo-fi mp3 will have to do. Sorry.
  • One copy of Can‘s I Want More from 1976’s Flow Motion LP.
  • One copy of Hamilton Bohannon‘s Disco Stomp.
  • One copy of Lovebug Starski‘s pioneering hip-hop single You’ve Gotta Believe from 1982.

Method:

Listen closely to Bo Diddley’s guitar playing. D’you hear that juddering tremeloed effect? File it away for use at a later date. Now take The Gun Club track. Oh! It has almost the same rhythm as Bo Diddley’s! And only one chord by the sounds of it! Keep that in mind for the moment. Now. Think. D’you remember driving back from Wales on a really hot day, sitting in the back of your parents’ car, listening to the radio? Hamilton Bohannon’s disco stomp was all the rage in 1975. Great rhythm guitar playing, I’m sure you’ll agree. You’ll want to use that too – throw it all in.

It’s time to cool it down now. Don’t worry, it can’t ever be too cool. In 1976 as the world went disco, even pioneering German prog-rockers were getting in on the act. Take your copy of I Want More by Can and give it a good listen to. Juddering? Repetitive? Keyboard motifs? Just as I thought! Make a mental note to do something about them later.

Weapons of Marr’s Construction

Now for the tricky part. Take all these wonderful ingredients and splice them together. Make a rough demo, call it ‘Swamp‘ then pop it through Morrissey’s letter box – he’ll sort out the lyrics, just you worry about the tune. Book a studio – Jam Studios in North London will be just fine. Ask John Porter if he’d mind coming along to twiddle a few knobs on the old Fender Twins. Change the light bulbs to red, spark up a generous spliff and start the tapes a-rollin’. Woah! Something’s cookin’ alright!

Cook for about 7 minutes. Take out the oven. Garnish with liberal sprinklings of Lovebug Starski (Morrissey would be horrified at the thought, but don’t worry, he’ll be too busy working up to a whistle later on, he’ll never notice – have a listen around the 3.11 mark – oh aye!) If you can, add some fantastic slide guitar, make it sound like a distressed cat miaowing into infinity ét voila! A masterpiece!

It’s worth noting that the first time you attempt this recipe, you may assume the vocalist is singing about the elements, “the sun and the air” and all that jazz. Listen again. Very clever guy, that singer. A bit too clever for the record company, who failed to spot the potential of How Soon Is Now? and were initially happy for The Smiths to stick it on as the extra track on the 12″ of William, It Was Really Nothing. I suppose it’s a measure of Morrissey and Marr’s confidence and unrivalled song writing skills that they could knock out such high quality songs between albums seemingly at will. For us mere mortals who aren’t blessed with the genius songwriting skills required to make such great records, perhaps this recipe of unlikely (though entirely obvious) influences will serve as some sort of cold comfort.

*BONUS TRACK!

Here‘s the Italian 12″ version of How Soon Is Now? With a different vocal and different mix it’s rarer than a steak pie in Morrissey’s house.

You can also still get my Mojo magazine-inspired Johnny Marr’s Dansette Delights compilation. Words here. Music here. 1000+ downloaders can’t be wrong!

There’s a fantastic Smiths bootleg that recently crept out, around Christmas time, featuring alternative mixes, scrapped demos, the whole shooting match, a Holy Grail for Smiths collectors. You can download it via here. Although, you knew that already, didn’t you?

There’s also a website linked over there on the right called Extra Track And a Tacky Badge. This is a right labour of love for those involved. They’re tweaking the band’s 17 singles to make them sound as magnificent as possible. If you’ve heard the work they did to the Joy Division and New Order catalogues, you’ll know what I mean. if not, get over there sharpish…

Just so you know, Simon Goddard‘s excellently trainspotterish Mozipedia was a constant source of reference for this piece. No fan of The Smiths and/or Morrissey should be without it.

A man of wealth and taste.

Cover Versions, demo, Double Nugget, elliott smith, Get This!, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Kraut-y, Most downloaded tracks, Peel Sessions, Sampled, Studio master tapes, studio outtakes

Four Play

Craig McAllister

Amazingly or not, ye olde Plain Or Pan is now 4 years young. This year saw the double-whammy milestones of reaching one million visitors and, on a personal level, having my writing recognised to the extent that I was invited to interview Sandie Shaw in advance of her appearing at the summer’s Vintage At Goodwood festival. My interview was subsequently published in the hardback Annual that festival goers could buy at the event. Which was nice.

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As has been something of a tradition at the start of a year, I’ve put together a compilation of the most downloaded tracks over the past year – 2 CDs worth of covers, curios and hard-to-find classics. I like to think of it as a potted representation of what Plain Or Pan is about.

Tracklist Disc 1:

Jackson 5 I Want You Back acapella

Dean Carter Jailhouse Rock

Frankie Valli Queen Jane Approximately

Chris Bell I Am The Cosmos

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson I Am The Cosmos

Scott Walker Black Sheep Boy

Tim Buckley Dolphins

Sandie Shaw I Don’t Owe You Anything

Big Maybelle 96 Tears

Patti Jo Make Me Believe In You

Curtis Mayfield (Don’t Worry) If There’s Hell Below We’re all Gonna Go (takes 1& 2)

Brinkley & Parker.  Don’t Get Fooled By The Pander Man

Sly Stone Time For Livin’ (early version)

Maggie Thrett Soupy

Sheila and B. Devotion Spacer

Happy Mondays Staying Alive

Aretha Franklin / Duane Allman The Weight

Funkadelic Maggot Brain (alt mix)

 

 

Tracklist Disc 2:

Spiritualized Can’t Help Falling In Love

Serge Gainsbourg Melody

Stone Roses Something’s Burning (demo)

Can I’m So Green

Alex Chilton My Baby Just Cares For Me

Elliott Smith I’ll Be Back

The Czars Where the Boys Are

Peter Fonda November Night

Beach Boys Never Learn Not To Love

Charles Manson Cease To Exist

Wedding Present Happy Birthday (Peel Session)

Penny Peeps Model Village

The Stairs Woman Gone And Say Goodbye

Kinks Sittin’ On My Sofa

Ramones Judy Is A Punk (1975 demo)

Capsula Run Run Run

White Stripes Party Of Special Things To Do

13th Floor Elevators Slip Inside This House

Jake Holmes Dazed & Confused

White Antelope Silver Dagger

Arcade Fire Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son

The Velvelettes Needle In A Haystack acapella

Each disc comes packaged as one big downloadable .rar file, complete with artwork.

If you’re new here, welcome and happy downloading! If you’re a regular here, you may have some or all of these tracks already, so why not download anyway and burn a CD for someone who might appreciate it?

Cover Versions, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Studio master tapes

Walk Away Renee Quadruple Whammy

Craig McAllister

Walk Away Renee is unarguably one of those songs that has passed into that category marked ‘timeless‘. It has been recorded by artists as diverse as Linda Ronstadt, T’Pau, David Cassidy, Frankie Valli and even Japanese pop duo Pink Lady (no, me neither), in turn being given the country treatment, the overblown 80s synth rock treatment (gads) and all manner of disco/pop/soul treatments. What I love about Walk Away Renee is that, no matter how many times I’ve heard it, when I hear it again I’m always tricked into thinking I’ve just joined the song half-way through.

And when I see the sign that points one way

The lot we used to pass by every day

Just walk away Renee

You won’t see me follow you back home

Maybe it’s the use of the word ‘And‘ as the very first word, maybe it’s the short short verse, but either way it gets me every time. It’s often assumed that it was written by Motown staff writers for the Four Tops, but that’s not true.

The lyric of Walk Away Renee is the slightly-stalkerish product of a love struck 16 year old (16!!) called Michael Brown, keyboard player in cult 60s sunshine pop group The Left Banke. The Renee in question was Renee Fladen-Kamm, a leggy free-spirited blonde who happened, in proper Spinal Tap tradition, to be the girlfriend of the band’s bass player. So infatuated by her was Brown that when the Left Banke recorded the song, he was unable to play his part of the song as she was watching from the studio’s control room.

“My hands were shaking when I tried to play, because she was right there in the control room,” he says. “There was no way I could do it with her around, so I came back and did it later.”

Wow! When I was 16 I think I was still playing with my Action Man, certainly I wasn’t writing proper adult love songs, let alone recording them in a proper recording studio and having hits with them (#5 on the Billboard Hot 100, July 1966, Pop Pickers). With it‘s chamber orchestra intro, harpsichord backing and flute solo (nicked from California Dreaming), Walk Away Renee is pure baroque ‘n roll, a fantastically perfect arrangement and execution that is hard to match.

Hard to match, yes, but not impossible. The Four Tops‘ 1968 version takes out the Left Banke’s chamber pop elements and replaces them with a huge dollop of soul and those instantly recognisable Motown calling cards of drum beat, sweeping strings and stabbing brass. Produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, the vocal performance is magnificent –  uplifting yet melancholic, Levi Stubbs giving the equivalent vocal performance to what young Michael was feeling in his poor wee love struck heart the day he wrote it. Fact – Rod Stewart loves this song. Want to hear those vocals in all their isolated glory? Of course you do. I’ve posted them before, but hear ’em here. No stabbing brass, sweeping strings or drum breaks to obscure the most perfect soul vocal you’ll hear this week.

I’ve never been that big a fan of Billy Bragg (I know, I know, shoot me…) but I do love his version of Walk Away Renee from the aptly-named Levi Stubbs’ Tears EP. Less Motown, more a homage to the talking blues of Woody Guthrie or early Bob Dylan, but done in those dulcet Essex tones (Bard of Barking? More like the Bark of Barding ho ho) he tells his own story of unrequited love (“I couldn’t stop thinking about her and every time I switched on the radio there was somebody else singing about the two of us………she began going out with Mr Potato Head…. I went home and thought about the two of them together until the bath water went cold around me….“) whilst Johnny Marr picks out the familiar melody in the background. S’a beautiful version, man!

Postscript

Renee seemingly moved on from the Left Banke’s bass player and onto the drummer before Walking Away for good. It seems that young Michael was never to receive her attentions. Nae luck Michael….

Yer actual Renee Fladen-Kamm. She walked away.

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

The Don Chorus

Craig McAllister

It would appear that ol’ Don Van Vliet, Captain Beefheart himself shuffled off this mortal coil tonight and has gone onto the next life where he will undoubtedly entertain, confound and enlighten those who are willing and able to tune into whatever frequency he broadcasts from beyond the grave.

Uncompromising, difficult and a right proper tuneless racket – that’s how I’d describe much of what I’ve heard of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band’s work. And anyone who tells you anything else has at least a slight whiff of pretentiousness around him. Not her. Him. Definitely him. Captain Beefheart doesn’t really strike me as ladies music. Sorry, PJ Harvey and anyone else I’ve offended, but it’s true! I don’t claim to be a super-fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have a fond place in my record collection for the Clear Spot and Safe As Milk albums – 2 of his more accessible, bluesy and, yes, tuneful albums. As big a music fan as I am it’s almost embarassing of me to admit this, but I’ve never heard Trout Mask Replica, an album that always appears  (and now will always appear) on those 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die publications.  I first heard the Captain on a Melody Maker mail order CD round about 1990 – Beatle Bones & Smokin’ Stones failed at the time to live up to it’s way-out title. These days, with ears opened wider by all sorts of stuff I never knew about 20 years ago, it sounds pretty good, but it wasn’t until the Nuggets compilation and Diddy Wah Diddy that he made any real sense to these narrow-minded ears. Diddy Wah Diddy sounds fantastic – a growling bassline matched only by Beefheart’s growling vocal, carried along by a garage band stomp that David Bowie must’ve, must’ve played ad infinitum while he was writing Jean Genie. I only found out about 2 years ago that the Captain’s version was actually a fairly straight-ahead cover of an old Bo Diddley track, which, given that riff is perfectly obvious when you think about it. Bo Diddley’s version has better maracas on it, mind.


The young Jack White, careful scholar of all things authentic and retro, as well as being something of a thieving magpie of the blues was a keen admirer of Captain Beefheart, so much so that the nascent White Stripes recorded a 3 track ep of Beefheart covers. On Sub Pop, it’s rarer than a White Stripes bass player so if you can find anyone daft enough to want to sell you a copy, you’ll need seriously silly money if you want to get yer sweaty little mitts on it. But fear not. If you don’t have the money honey, that’s OK…

Part Of Special Things To Do

China Pig

Ashtray Heart

…and the mp3s come complete with original vinyl snaps, crackles and pops. Party Of Special Things To Do sounds exactly like the White Stripes doing Diddy Wah Diddy. The rest is lo-fi in the extreme; exactly the sort of retro tub-thumping blues that had John Peel all in a lather over Jack ‘n Meg way back when. Enjoy!

My favourite Captain Beefheart track? That would be Big-Eyed Beans From Venus from side 2 of Clear Spot. Mr Zoothorn Rollo plays a mean slide guitar riff. It used to be the ringtone on my phone dontchaknow. The later Beefheart/Magic Band stuff I’ve tried hard to like. I really have. Grow Fins. Ice Cream For Crow. But I just don’t get it. I always listen with the idea that, much like Tom Waits (‘though I love love love Tom Waits), Captain Beefheart is the aural equivalent of whisky – difficult to swallow, but once you’ve got the taste for it you’re keen to try out new blends. Maybe I need to try again. Perhaps even that unplayed copy of Trout Mask Replica will make it’s debut round here any day now. Better late to the party than never at all, eh?

By The Way..

In recent years, it was painting and not music that occupied all of Captain Beefheart’s time. But you knew that already. Below is the none-more Beefheartian Ten Thousand Pistols, No Bumblebees oil on canvas from 1995.

Slight Update

Captain Beefheart’s 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing are here. Random samples:

4. Walk with the devil
Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

8. Don’t wipe the sweat off your instrument
You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

Well worth 10 minutes of anyone’s time!

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Live!

Putting On The Weight

Craig McAllister

Take a load off fanny, take a load for free. Or is it Take a load of fanny, take a load for free? Either way, The Weight by The Band often causes me to let out a wee schoolboy snigger every time I hear it. And in this part of the world I’m quite sure I’m not alone, eh? With typical American insularity (I know! I know! 4 out the 5 were Canadian), his world-weary lyric appears totally unaware of our quirky West of Scotland localisms. Funny that.

Long before Phil Collins and his particularly annoying nasal whine made singing drummers about as cool as cabbage, Levon Helm and his spectacular beard were leading The Band’s mellow blended vocals from behind the drum kit. I’ve always loved their (original) version of The Weight, with its rootsy backing and arm-around-the-shoulder, everything’ll-be-alright-in-the-end lyric. It’s only a few short lumberjack-shirted steps on from the fantastic stuff Dylan had them playing down in the basement of Big Pink and for me, it’s about as good a definition of ‘Americana’ as you could get. So it’s great when someone else can see beyond the boundaries of whatever Americana is and is able to re-interpret the song in their own unique way.

Aretha Franklin hooked up with Duane Allman and recorded this version at Muscle Shoals. Loose, funky and full of those soaraway Aretha vocal moments you know so well, it sounds insistent, urgent and right-on wholly holy gospel. Allman plays bottle guitar throughout like a maniac, while what sounds like the Stax house riff freely on the horns. Nice Chain Of Fools kick drum in the chorus too. Have a listen. Majestic is the word you’re looking for.

Poor Travis. They’ve always been one step out of fashion, betwixt and between the next big thing. Arriving just as the Cava was getting flat at the Britpop party and too soon for an unappreciative public not yet ready for angsty melodic serious indie like Coldplay, who then came along and stole what brief thunder they may have had, they’ve been given a hard time of it. Which is a bit unfair, as they undoubtedly know their onions. The Travis version is straightforward, melodic and clearly heart-felt. No Staxy horns. No slide guitar. But plenty of Scottish soul. Whatever that is.

Talking of soul, and that’s ess oh you ell , brothers and sisters, with a capital ‘S’, The Supremes got together with The Temptations and nailed a version of The Weight for their joint 1969 LP Together that falls somewhere between Aretha ‘n Duane’s free ‘n funky version and the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Two vocal giants of soul slugging it out over 3 minutes of sitar-like guitar riffs, pitch-perfect harmonies (as you might expect) and sock it to ’em male/female call and response vocals. Knockout!

The Weight Trivia

Hairy old 70s rock bores Nazareth took their name from the song’s first line.

The track appears on the movie soundtrack for Easy Rider. In the movie, you hear The Band’s version, but on the soundtrack, due to legal bits ‘n pieces, the version you get is by the band Smith. No, me neither.

The Weight sits at No. 41 in Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time List.  That makes it better than Waterloo Sunset, but not quite as good as Dancing In the Street.

Bonus Track!

And hot off the press to boot! The Black Crowes played New York a couple of weeks ago and played their version of The Weight then.

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find, Peel Sessions

That’s When I Softly Sigh

Craig McAllister

Good evening children. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

White Horses was a late 60s/early 70s TV show that readers here of a certain vintage will remember. I don’t, but I am more than familiar with the show’s theme tune, thanks in no small part to the Trashcan Sinatras and the lost art of the b-side. The original, sung by Jacky (real name Jackie Lee) is a light ‘n breezy affair, all mellow parping brass, plucked strings and perfectly e-nun-ci-ated vocals. Twee doesn’t even begin to describe it. Belle & Sebastian fans (d’you see what I did there?) probably rate it as crucial a record as there could possibly be. Tuck it just so under the sleeve of your duffle coat and pop on down to the University Cafe why don’t you?

Image stolen from Five Hungry Joes

The Trashcans take the original and give it the full-blown Cocteau Twins treatment – chiming 12 string guitars, a reverb-soaked vocal that has Frank Reader harmonising with himself throughout and a drum beat that is a sonic metaphor for those white horses that run wild and free in the Camargue in the south of France. The slide guitar that pops up in the middle is sublime – that’s when I softly sigh – sonic cathedrals of sound, man! Sonic cathedrals of sound. And they stuck it away on a b-side (see advert above). Criminal!

An unfamiliar-looking Wedding Present ground out a version for a late-era Peel session (July 2004) that has Gedge and co. twisting Jacky’s pop-lite original into something quite creepy and menacing that wouldn’t sound out of place on Twin Peaks. Adopting the standard indie blueprint of quiet-loud-quiet-louder, this is the sonic equivalent of a gnarly piece of wood – on first glance it looks ugly and out of place, but on closer inspection reveals itself to be a thing of rare beauty. Or something like that.

*Bonus Tracks!

The b-side to the Jacky original was another crackly curio called Too Many Chiefs (Not Enough Indians). If you listen carefully, it sounds a wee bit like the long-lost cousin of Tequila by The Champs. But just a wee bit.

In 1970, a guy called Gerald (not A Guy Called Gerald) gave White Horses the full Papa Smurf treatement. Listen to this once then bin the mp3 and go and wash your hands. Eugh!

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Brrrrr!

Craig McAllister

Cold, isn’t it? Here’s a couple of self-explanatory tracks and 2 versions of a hip jazz inflected talking blues reinterpreted as a Soul II Soul-style floor shuffler. Or something like that.

Fall Breaks And Back To Winter (also known as The Woodpecker Symphony) is something of an oddball in the Beach Boys‘ mighty canon. Made up of some of The Elements bits n bobs (Mrs O’ Leary’s Cow and Fire) from the abandoned Smile album, it features enough random claps n clatters and eee-long-gaaa-ted incidental backing vocals to suggest Brain Wilson was in full sandpit mode as the tapes rolled. None of the Smile LP really made it into the public domain the way its creator intended, but Fall Breaks And Back To Winter did pop up as the last track on 1967’s mainly terrific Smiley Smile. But you knew that already.

Peter Fonda, main protagonist of 60’s counter-culture California briefly fancied himself as a peace ‘n love balladeer. In 1968 he even went so far as to get Gram Parsons to write him a song and commit it to vinyl. Resplendent in the West Coast contemporary finery of 12 string guitars and tasteful Forever Changes-lite trumpets, November Night didn’t exactly set the heather on fire and Fonda went on to do what he would be best remembered for – producing and acting in Easy Rider.

Beatle fact – when he was 11, Peter Fonda accidentally shot himself. Recounting the tale to a roomful of Beatles,  John Lennon picked up on his “I know what it’s like to be dead” line and wrote She Said She Said.

Given that his Jamaican dad was nicknamed The Black Arrow and played in the 1950s Glasgow Celtic team, Gil Scott-Heron is best known in Scotland as the answer to numerous pub quizzes. 1974’s  Winter In America is the flute ‘n strings Blaxploitationesque jazzy track mentioned at the start. It’s groovy! Saint Etienne‘s version adds that early 90s shuffly Soul II Soul drum loop and a tastefully sampled brass section. It’s not Sarah Cracknell on vocals (Moira Lambert, I think) but it’s still pretty groovy too!

Winter’s here, folks. You’ll catch your death of cold, Sarah. Wrap up tight! Stay tuned.

Cover Versions, demo, Double Nugget, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

I Got 96 Tears and 96 Eyes*

Craig McAllister

Right from the off, with its rinky dink 2 note Vox Continental organ riff and garage backbeat, 96 Tears is just about the perfect record. Released in 1966 by ? & the Mysterians, it was one of those songs like Louie Louie or Wild Thing that went on to be recorded by everyone and anyone with a fuzz guitar and a hip ear to the underground. It has in its time gone on to sell over a million copies and had over 3 million airplays.


Not bad for a band of Mex-Americans from Michigan with a love of surf music and a well thought out marketing ploy – have an unusual name and an even more unusual singer. It might’ve helped record sales when their lead singer claimed to be a martian who had lived with dinosaurs in a past life. Yep. Or when he claimed to have visited other planets and periods in time. Uh huh. I once had a drama teacher who would say to the class, “I‘m going to turn my back and when I turn around again, I’ll be in character….(….pause….)…Beowulf!!!” Rudy Martinez must’ve been a bit liked this.  He never went out without his sunglasses and only answered to his chosen moniker ‘?’, rather than his given ‘Rudy’, the name his mother preferred to shout when he was listening to his Van Morrison and Them records too loudly. If you’ve ever heard a ? and the Mysterians album, you’ll know how much a debt they owe to wee Van. If not, the ‘96 Tears‘ or ‘The Action‘ albums are good places to start.

96 Tears features regularly when my iPod is on shuffle. Most days will see an appearance of one version or another pop up. I’ve got what seems like 96 versions of it, most fairly pointless faithful recreations of the garage stomping original (Hello, Stranglers! Hello Music Explosion! I’m looking at you, Inspiral Carpets! You built an entire (early) career out of its Nuggety groove.) There’s one or two that take the original and mess with it so much, it just seems like the’d recorded a few minutes of pointless FM static and looped it ad infinitum (Hey there Primal Scream! Stop hiding at the back Suicide – how apt a name.)  Favourites?  Todd Rundgren‘s lo-fi fuzz-bassed studio demo is right up there, Aretha Franklin‘s soulful and (at first unrecognisable) version from Aretha Arrives is classic Aretha, with an almost Respect-like backing. Big Maybelle‘s a-whoopin’ and a-hollerin’ version, all Stax-inspired southern soul groove, underpinned by clipped guitars and a (bold as) brass section first came to my attention on 6 Music’s excellent Craig Charles’ Funk & Soul Show and has been on constant rotation ever since. Then there’s Gerardo Manuel & El Humo‘s super-heavy epic prog rock take. Think Iron Butterfly on jellies. It’s a grower, trust me!

Go fill yer boots…

96 Tears – ? & the Mysterians

96 Tears – Big Maybelle

96 Tears – Aretha Franklin

96 Tears – Gerardo Manuel & El Humo

96 Tears – Primal Scream

96 Tears – Inspiral Carpets

96 Tears – Music Explosion

96 Tears – Todd Rundgren

*…and I can’t believe I don’t have/can’t find a version by The Cramps, so here‘s Human Fly, featuring the line in the title at the top.