Category: Cover Versions

Cover Versions

We’re Lost In Muzak

Craig McAllister

Hard to believe it’s now almost 25 years ago, but tons of bands in the mid 80s were awash with floral patterns and full of cutesy-pie hair slide-wearing, pasty-faced sensitive souls. And that was just the boys (drumroll and cymbal crash, please). Declaring their love in song for Rachel and Emily and Charlotte, they sang with such effeteness that these days, Belle and Sebastian sound like Motorhead in comparison.

It’s all Orange Juice and Postcard Records’ fault of course, but you knew that already. Taking it many, many steps too far, one of the chief perpetrators was Sarah Records, a Bristol-based label who grew out of the underground flexi-disc scene. They even released a record called ‘I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist’ (by Another Sunny Day). Oh happy happy joy joy. One of Sarah Records more successful acts was The Field Mice.

Wet. Wet. Wet.

Look at them. They could’ve done with a good slap and a good shag, in any order you like. Wee, sleekit, cowrin’, timrous beasties indeed. A brief Wiki of their discography turns up these predictable song titles – Emma’s House, Sensitive, I Can See Myself Alone Forever……Thank God I was immersed in New Order and Love-era The Cult while all this was going on. They did however, turn up trumps on this. Let’s Kiss And Make Up (pur-lease!) is a six minute ode to holding hands again after falling out over who gets to read the copy of Boy Meets Girl fanzine first. Or something like that. But it’s a cracker. Aye, really! I appreciate I’ve given them as good a literary kicking as I can, but LKAMU is brilliant. Jangling (of course), swirly (of course), fey (of course), Home Counties accented singer (of course), it ticks all the correct indie pop boxes, with spots on.

It was so good Saint Etienne picked up on it and released their own version as a pre-Foxbase Alpha single. With vocals (Donna Savage, not Sarah Cracknell) that are gossamer-thin and just on the right side of tuneful, Saint Etienne’s version is aimed slightly more at the dancefloor. All beats ‘n bongos and some none-more late 80s Italo-house piano and stabbing synths, it’s dubby, clubby and a wee bit spacey.

Pete ‘n Bob, always on the ball

One of those bands who undoubtedly have The Best Record Collection In The World…Ever!, Saint Etienne continually irritate me. I love them, I really do. I have almost their entire back catalogue, but Saint Etienne annoy the hell out of me. Sometimes they make terrific music, sometimes they make terrifying muzak (sometimes even in the same record). Too indie to be all out-and-out pop, too pop to be all out-and-out indie, every record they release comes with the slightly smug arched eyebrow and knowing wink of someone who’s a bit too clever and knows it. Listen to this! It’s a Neil Young cover! Listen to this! It’s krautrock for the 90s! Listen to this! It’s post-ironic rave! Listen to this! It’s us recording under a different name. Listen to this! It’s the theme tune to a TV show. Which we recorded/sampled/ironically aped in our video. Having soaked in a good bubblebathful of pop history, they even had their own Brian Wilson moment when Pete Wiggs decided he didn’t want to tour anymore. Saint Etienne, I love you, I really do, but just Who Do You Think You Are?

Any excuse to show la Cracknell

*Bonus Track!!!

Saint Etienne would no doubt love this. An irony-free pop take on their own Nothing Can Stop Us. By Kylie Minogue, released a few years before she was able to trade sans surname. I never thought I’d be posting mp3s of Kylie Minogue on here, but there you go. It’s no’ bad, actually, but not as good as the FHM (I think) inspired photoshoot below.’70s tennis girl for the Lad Mag generation. Thank you God.

Ace! Smashing! Cheeky! etc etc

Blur Fanclub Singles, Cover Versions, demo, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Kraut-y, Live!, Most downloaded tracks, Studio master tapes

Three! Free! Fae Me!

Craig McAllister

Plain Or Pan is 3 years old and what better way to celebrate than with a compilation CD…..

Add your own Ronco/K-Tel voiceover:

Featuring the most popular downloads from last year’s blog, this compilation is the ideal taster for what Plain Or Pan is about. Covers, curios and the odd hard-to-find classic, this fantastic double CD is not available in the shops or from any good online retailers. Get it only at myTunes! Free! Today! Now!

Aye. It’s the ideal companion to last year’s double CD (still available here). Kicking off with the notorious Beatles Revolution take 20  outtake/outfake? that nearly melted Plain Or Pan for good in January last year, I’ve included some odd ball covers (Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed, the Dead Weather track), Fleet Foxes spin-offs (White Antelope), one of Johnny Marr’s favourite records (The Equals), rare fanclub-only releases (Blur), hardly-heard studio gems (The Temptations), demos (Marvin Gaye, The Pretenders), rarities (The La’s white label version of Timeless Melody – only 500 exist) and a whole lot more over 2 CDs. I’m rather proud of this wee compilation. It includes some nifty home-made artwork too! Right click on CD1 and CD2 below to download each CD in one go.

 

CD1                                                 CD2

 

Complete tracklisting:

Disc 1

The Beatles – Revolution (take 20)

The Kinks – I Need You

Pop Levi – Blue Honey

The Temptations – Ball Of Confusion (unreleased version)

Booker T & the MGs – Sing A Simple Song

Ike & Tina Turner – Bold Soul Sister

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & the Trueloves – Ace Of Spades

Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On (demo)

Arctic Monkeys – Baby I’m Yours

Afghan Whigs – Band Of Gold

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (live)

The Soup Greens – Like A Rolling Stone

The La’s – Timeless Melody (GOLAS3 version)

Trash Can Sinatras – Snow

Super Furry Animals – Citizens Band

The Sundays – Wild Horses

Sparkelhorse/Danger Mouse feat Nina Persson – Daddy’s Gone

 

Disc 2

Glasvegas – The Prettiest Girl On Saltcoats Beach (full length version)

The Pretenders – Brass In Pocket (demo)

The Byrds – Mr Tambourine Man (vocal track)

Frank Blake – You Don’t Have To Cry

The Equals – Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

The Fall – Lost In Music

Dead Weather – Are Friends Electric?

John Kongos – He’s Gonna Step On You Again

Grace Jones – Pull Up To The Bumper (12” mix)

Blur – Sing (To Me) (demo)

Inspiral Carpets – 96 Tears

Beck – Sunday Morning

White Antelope – It Ain’t Me Babe

Eddi Reader – Blues Run The Game

Stone Roses – Love Spreads (Guitar Track)

Neu! – Hallogallo

 

Cover Versions, Dylanish, Hard-to-find

Strokes Of Genius

Craig McAllister

Huge big massive “Happy Christmases!” all round to anyone who visits here regularly, irregularly or by sheer pot luck. Aye, I’m looking at all you faceless trouser arouser browsers who stumble onto Plain Or Pan when your search engine inadvertedly directs you this way in your quest for ‘teenage fanny‘. Norman Blake & co would die if they knew how half the hits on their website materialised. Anyway, now you’re here, feel free to browse around at the tunes on offer. Like these two three belters….

Now That’s what I Call A Christmas Single!

The Doe-Eyed Doonican Delivers! 

Julian Casablancas has released an uber-rare, uber-cool 7″ Christmas single. ‘I Wish It Was Christmas Today’ is limited to 500 copies worldwide, so if you’ve not already got it you’ll need to rob a bank before contemplating eBay. Aye. 500 copies. Worldwide. Which is a real catastrophe, as, no pun intended here, this record is a cracker. It reminds me a whole lot of Buzzcocks’ ‘Everybody’s Happy Nowadays’ (or is it Altered Images ‘I Could Be Happy‘? – Shit. It reminds me of both!) It’s a contemporary new wave classic that just happens to mention Christmas in the lyrics. And the song title. And the record sleeve. Which is a pity, cos I’m going to feel pretty stupid playing this on Saltcoats beach next July. But I shouldn’t.

“I don’t care ’bout anything ‘cept hearing those sleigh bells ring a ding ding”

Heard it yet? Whatcha waitin’ for?!?

Well. From the sublime at one end of the spectrum to the sublimer at the other. Sublimer? Is that even a word? Bob Dylan‘s Christmas album has came in for all sorts of snigger-snigger chuckle-chuckle reviews. Which I suppose was only to be expected. Old wheezy guy not known for jollity sings songs about Santa blah blah blah. Well, let me tell you this. The reviewers were wrong. Every last one of them. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Christmas In The Heart is a decent Dylan album. Decent inner sleeve too – see Betty Page above. Top notch production by Bob himself under the aptly named Jack White pseudonym. Like that Julian Casablancas single, I’d be happy listening to some of these songs in the height of the Scottish summer. It’ll probably be snowing then anyway. They’re (whisper it) better than some of the tracks on Dylan’s recent Together Through Life Tex-Mex snooze-fest. Judge for yourself…

Here Comes Santa Claus

Winter Wonderland

It’s only taken 20 years, but finally! Something to rival The Pogues for airplay in my house at this time of year.

With Christmas Day 5 sleeps away, this might be my last post until sometime between then and New Year. I hope to have some sort of audio present available for you to download at some point in the next fortnight. Drop by again. Even if you were only hoping to find some hardcore porn. A very different sort of strokes etc etc ad infinitum…

Jack Frost nipping at your nose. And ears.

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

A Right Coupla Tramps

Craig McAllister

Now and again I’ll get emails from people requesting stuff. Sometimes specific (“Got any Mogwai outtakes?” – Nope.) Sometimes more general (“Can you re-post that (insert anything from the past 3 years) please – Come on! Gie’s a break! “More Smiths!” “Radiohead!” “White Stripes!” “More soul please!”) OK! OK! More soul I can do. I like my soul music a lot. I think I have all the relevant bases covered in my collection. Just to make sure, I listen every Saturday night to Craig Charles‘ excellent Funk and Soul show on BBC 6 Music. As it says on the tin, the show covers a whole range of funk and soul, from the rarest northern to the most commercial Motown, the downright wilfully obscure and elitist to the phatest tooth-loosening funk-heavy slab of right up to date contemporary release. It’s probably my favourite show on the radio, ideal for cooking to if the mood takes me. You’d like it. Click on the link above and give it a try.

Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.

Anyone know who the piano player is?

Nothing particularly obscure and elitist here though. I’ve had a bit of a Stax attack recently. My 9CD 68-71 Complete Stax/Volt Singles Box Set has been given a good going over and Carla Thomas & Otis Redding‘s Tramp has had a fair few plays. When you hear the pistol crack drums and tight-as-a-teenage boy’s trousers horn section, it’s no surprise to learn it’s been heavily sampled by hip hoppers across the globe. Especially as there’s an instrumental version that made it out the Stax vaults a few years ago. The piano riff, with it’s big bluesy bass notes really does it for me. Who says white men can’t dance? If you want to listen to the complete track, here it is. If you fancy a bit of bedroom remixing, here‘s the instrumental track.

Tramp was also covered by Lowell Fulson. A fairly straightforward rendition, it’s still worth a listen. The guitar sound during the solo on Lowell’s track reminds me a lot of this…

‘Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms)’ by the Detroit Emeralds. I posted it a while ago, and I’m putting it back up purely because it’s a stone cold soul classic. It’s maybe not a piece you’re familiar with, but you’ll certainly recognise it. Doing their best John Peel impression, De La Soul took the intro, played it at 45 instead of 33 and used it as the basis for their ‘Say No Go’ single. You can read more about De La Souls’ other sampling delights here and here. And before you ask – Sorry. I cannae re-post the files. They’ve been missing since the internet police found them and nearly closed this blog down. Hence the reason I don’t re-post old stuff. The Grinch, that’s what they call me at home.

Postscript – I’m A Numpty

Oh dear! Thanks to the ever vigilant amongst you I now know that;

1. That’s Booker T in the picture above. How could I fail to recognise the greatest ever organ grinder alive? Duh.

2. Lowell Fulson wrote and recorded the original version of Tramp. Otis & Carla’s version is, indeed, the cover version. Oops. 

My team of highly paid researchers are at this moment being emailed their P45s. Thanks to James and Cold Iron Kevin who pointed  this out.

Cover Versions, entire show, Hard-to-find

All Tomorrow’s (Christmas) Parties

Craig McAllister

D’you think the irony has been lost on the three quarters of a million sheep-like Facebook users who’ve signed up to get Rage Against The Machine to number 1 with a song who’s main hook repeats “Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” about 327 times?

A better choice of download for Christmas number 1 would be this, if it were commercially available. Beck does the Velvet Underground‘s ‘Sunday Morning‘. It’s gorgeous. It’s the first track on the Velvet Underground & Nico album. But you knew that already. It’s also the first track from the first album in Beck’s irregular Record Club, available to view in video form over at beck.com. But you probably knew that already too. He’s since put up the second instalement (Songs of Leonard Cohen), but, hey, you know me, Hardly hip to the jive, I’m always half a funky footstep away from what’s goin’ down with the kids.

The whole album has been recorded with an assortment of special guests, and it’s a pretty faithful re-recording. Bits of it sound like the Beta Band (especially the pots n’ pans rattling take on I’m Waiting For The Man) Other parts sound a bit like (dig the irony again) Spiritualized and Spacemen 3, two bands who’d arguably never have been born without a love affair with all things Velvet. Anyway, the whole thing is worth hearing. Download slowly and see, here.

See you later, gotta run run run. Ouch.

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

Led Zeppelin. Lionel Richie and Buddy Holly. My 6 Degrees of Separation.

Craig McAllister

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. Not only the words of the most famous golfer on the planet, also the words of me, the laziest blogger on the planet. It’s been over a month since my last post. I don’t really know where the time’s gone, but since that last post I’ve managed to turn 40, see the Trashcan Sinatras live 3 times (and it would’ve been 4 if I hadn’t been car shopping) and developed an unhealthy addiction to The Beatles Rockband on the Wii. So, time put to good use then. But I need to get back in the groove. I’ve got lots of blogging to do and seemingly not enough time to do it. So tonight I’m giving you 4 tracks – 3 obscurios and a Buddy Holly-related stone-cold rock n roll classic (more of that later).

First up, Alex Chilton‘s fantastic swing-jazz acoustic version of My Baby Just Cares For Me. If I was good enough on the guitar, this song would be my New Year party piece. Released in 1994, My Baby… found it’s way onto the record racks via Alex’s ‘Cliches‘ album, a vastly under-rated album of covers of standards that sold just less than zilch (Rod Stewart hit paydirt with a similar set of songs a few years later. Tssk.) As always, Chilton’s guitar playing on the album is to the fore. Soulful, jazzy and unpretentious, but flashy as fuck when he wants to be. Seek it out.

I’ve written a few bits ‘n pieces about Blondie before, but I don’t think I’ve posted this track. It’s the mega-rare French vocal version of Sunday Girl. Debbie Harry! Singing in French! Are you sitting down? It made me go weak at the knees. Beware!

Next up, a screamin’ and a hollerrin’ Little Richard pounding the Stones Brown Sugar into submission. High of pompadour and high of camp, I’m sure he sings ‘hear him screaming just about midnight’ at one point, making it more ambiguous and less about the black girls that Mick Jagger sang about. SuBO and your advisers take note, this is how a Rolling Stones cover should sound.

I’ve kept the best till last. I Fought The Law is better known in it’s incarnation as the all-out sonic assault on the ears by yer Clash, but you knew that already. You probably also know that the original was recorded in 1959 by a post-Buddy Holly Crickets, with Sonny Curtis on vocals. The Bobby Fuller Four recorded the best known of these early versions in 1965, and its this version that provided The Clash with the blueprint for their track. Listen out for the drum break at the ‘robbin’ people with a six gun’ bit if you don’t believe me. Apparently it’s none other then Barry White in pre Walrus Of Love days providing that very drum break, even if he didn’t make the group shot for the album sleeve above. Alex James from Blur said it on Radio 6 a few months ago and it’s a fact (?) that’s stuck with me since.

The reason I’ve included the Bobby Fuller track is purely for the crass excuse to name drop. After one of those Trashcan’s shows I mentioned, I was introduced to their new bass player, Frank Divanna. A fantastic musician who plays the bass like he’s wrestling a 12 foot long python, he regailed me with tales of session work with Lionel Richie, who had made for him a customised set of on stage ear pieces, presumably so that when Lionel sang ‘Hello…’, Frank could actually hear him say those words. (Laugh now.) He told me about the session work he does with any number of established musicians (Pearl Jam) as well as up and coming artists. And he told me about the project he’s working on with Tracy Bonham, daughter of Led Zep sticksman John Bonham. Apparently her house is full of original Zeppelin equipment, artifacts and the likes, but Frank seemed quite blase about this fact. Not so the next part. Recording a track, Tracy said that the song needed some dobro guitar on it and handed him this exquisite old instrument. “Be careful with that,” she said. “It was my dad’s…..and it belonged to Buddy Holly before him.” (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I’ve shook the hand of someone who’s held Buddy Holly’s guitar. That makes me part of rock ‘n roll’s true bloodline, surely?

 

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten

Stoned Out Of My Mind

Craig McAllister

Funk brothers separated at birth? Or just Ike Turner being a cheeky liberator of one of Sly Stone’s grooviest riffs? Sly‘s Sing a Simple Song came out in 1969 on the Stand! album. One year later Ike & Tina Turner released The Hunter, a downright gutteral blues/soul/ r’n’ b stomper of a record. The cover of the album sets the tone – Ike is wearing his best Beatles wig and Tina is dressed as some sort of Amazonian warrior princess. It’s even better between the grooves – it wails, moans, bleeds and sounds like something the cat dragged in. You really should take the time to find it at. You’ll like it. There’s a smokin’ version of Baby, What Do You Want Me To Do (made famous by Elvis in the ’68 Comeback Special) There’s an aching, bluesy version of You Don’t Love Me (later made famous in a reggae style by Dawn Penn) And there’s this – Bold Soul Sister. Clearly based on Sly Stone’s Sing a Simple Song or blatant steal? You decide here.

ike tina

Ike encourages Tina to sing the right notes

To be clear – this isn’t the big haired, private-dancing-like-she’s-peed-herself Tina Turner of 80s fame. Oh no. This is the down-trodden, beaten-up wife of Ike; misogynistic rock n roller, racketeer and  writer of Rocket 88 (generally considered to the very first rock n roll record) In the studio at least, Ike brought out the best in Tina. Her work from the 60s is as exciting as anything by Aretha, The Supremes or Carla Thomas. Why she’s never mentioned up there with the greats is a bit of a mystery to me. I love her output from this era. Listen to Finger Poppin’ – a brass-driven mod stomper of a record. Now tell me Tina Turner is rubbish.

ike-turner-tina-turner

Tina clearly knew her place in the marital home.

Another wayward trigger-happy drug-crazy hero of mine is Sly Stone. There was a time in the early 90s when I couldn’t get enough of his music. Sly for breakfast. Sly compilation on the Walkman for the walk to work. Sly while cooking. Sly before bed. I was Sly Stoned out of my tiny little white boy mind. Where had this music been all my life? I love the stories, true or not, about how, when making the There’s a Riot Goin’ On album he’d take all his female hangers-on and companions back to the studio and allow them to sing backing vocals on the record in return for carnal delights. Of course, Sly would erase the vocals as soon as he’d had his way. Well, it was 1971. As female after female passed from recording booth to bedroom to door, the erased tapes became so saturated that the final mastered version sounds weak, thin and weedy compared to the full-fat funk productions the Family Stone had released in the past. And that’s the reason they’ll ever be able to come up with one of those Remastered Deluxe Editions for There’s a Riot Goin’ On. But you probably knew that already.

martin/8841

Class

Sing a Simple Song is a fantastic single. It starts with that cheesegrater-thin guitar riff, the Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! piercing female vocal (Sly’s sister I think) comes in and the whole thing takes off somewhere far above the clouds. The Family Stone lock into the one chord funk riff and male and female voices call and respond across the top of the whole thing. (I particularly like the bassy Do-Ray-Mi-Fa-So-La-Te-Do bit.) By this point poor wee Ike Turner has flames coming off his pencil as he frantically tries to write notes on the whole thing. As you know by now, he kept the one chord funk part and turned it into Bold Soul Sister. Talent borrow genius steals and all that.

Here‘s a bonus Sly Stone track. Sex Machine (nothing like James Brown’s) is another one chord groovathon, wah-wah’d to within an inch of one hell of a groovy death. At just under 14 minutes long it’s no quick fix. Just the right length for…….well, it’s not called that for nothing. Of course, white men can do it at least twice in the time it takes the song to finish. But you knew that already.

Double Bonus! Listen to this – Booker T‘s hammond-heavy version of Sing A Simple Song. Steve Cropper’s guitar riff sounds fantastic!

42-16212052

What’s love got to do with it, eh?

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

Free Us From Nancy Spungen-Fixated Heroin A-Holes Who Cling To Our Greatest Groups and Suck Out Their Brains

Craig McAllister

Halloween’s Coming, Halloween’s Coming. Skeletons will be after you. No they won’t, but at least it gives me a half-arsed excuse to post some Nirvana on here for the first time.

I like Nirvana a lot. I’ve been going through something of a reunion with them every day in the car to work this week. They blow the cobwebs off before a hard day at the coal face, that’s for sure. Nevermind still sounds freakin’ A or awesome or whatever superlative those college frat boys would use to describe it back in the day. That the band became globally massive because of it (and ultimately why Kurt Cobain chose to blow his stupid brains out a few years later) is not up for debate. In 1991, music lovers needed something new and, unless you were Luke Haines (see Wikipedia, buy his book) Nevermind arrived at just the right moment in time. In my own wee part of the world Joe Bloggs flares had become recognised as the joke they always were. Morrissey quiffs that had already been outgrown into crappy bowl cuts (mine included) were looking for another new hairstyle to approximate. Reni hats had been put to the back of the drawer and wouldn’t see the light of day until the wattery fart that was The Second Coming.  I’m sure your own wee part of the world was no different. Nirvana’s Nevermind blew all that away. And how. But you knew that already.

nirvana

I worked in Our Price when Nevermind came out. I had been there for 2 weeks. The album sold out the first day (the Our Price buying team at Head Office were notoriously frugal with first day orders – we probably had 5 copies to sell). The distributors couldn’t keep up with demand and it was a full week later before we had any more copies in stock. Round about this time, Nirvana played Glasgow University’s QM Union. An old throwback to the 70s rep visiting the store put the store manager plus 3 on the guest list for the gig. Magic. Except that the store manager didn’t want to go. “Heavy metal shite” was what he said. Seeing as he was the only driver, the fact that it would be a late show and that none of us knew anyone with a floor to go back to in the wee small hours, none of us went. I’m still pissed off about it to this day. Aye, Hollins. I’m talking about you.

kurt

Anyway…..On 31st october 1991, Halloween night itself, Nirvana found themselves playing to a hometown crowd at Seattle’s Paramount Theater. Nevermind was only about 2 months old by this point. Nirvana had just returned from a triumphant British tour (Grrr) and the band were far from the jaded, cynical version that would tour subsequent albums. Their set was captured by the sound desk in all its ragged punk glory. It was such a good set (see below) and recording that it was once mooted as an official live Nirvana release. The version of School from the show made its way onto the b-side of the Come As You Are single. If you have that at home, you’ll know how pristine, exciting and definitive a recording this is, but the rest of the tracks remained in the vaults until some enterprising bootleger liberated it and put it on the internet.

Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam
Aneurysm
Drain You
School
Floyd The Barber
Smells Like Teen Spirit
About A Girl
Polly
Breed
Sliver
Love Buzz
Lithium
Been A Son
Negative Creep
On A Plain
Blew
Rape Me
Territorial Pissings
Endless, Nameless

Try before you buy – here’s mp3s of Smells Like Teen Spirit and About A Girl. Good, eh? Now get the whole shebang here.

*BONUS TRACK!

A band who’s quiffs defiantly stand proud to this day – Glasvegas do Come As You Are. Downbeat, slow and wee Glasgow ned-like in delivery, it’s something approaching aural methadone (I imagine). S’good! Here ye go.

POST SCRIPT

After Kurt Cobain killed himself, Julian Cope took out full page ads in the UK music press denouncing Courtney Love. The ads were brilliant. I’ve searched in all the darkest corners of the internet, but I can’t find a picture of any of them. I’m sure Cope wrote a whole big long rant, but I can’t find anything other than the quote I used to title this piece:

‘Free Us From Nancy Spungen-Fixated Heroin A-Holes Who Cling To Our Greatest Groups and Suck Out Their Brains.’

But, yeah, you knew that already.

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

Requests, Repeats and a Rockin’ Ringo Starr

Craig McAllister

I’d been meaning to re-post this excellent Beatles show a couple of weeks ago when the world was going Beatles mad and I re-posted the best of the Beatles posts I’d done, but somehow I forgot to upload it at the time and I thought, “Ach, I’ll do it later…” Spurred on by a request from reader FC3 (as well as other requests in the past) I’m re-posting it here, right now, today. The original files were deleted by persons unknown during the great DMCA clampdown of November 08. Don’t be surprised if the new files are also removed by the internet police. Act fast! What follows is the original post from November 2007  along with newly updated download links and an MP3 sample.

“WE LOVE DISTORTION!”

So sayeth John Lennon. I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything Beatles-related at all until now. This post more than makes up for it. The music contained herein is cracking. What makes it all the more amazing is that this recording is of a radio show and is over 40 years old. It’s amazing to think these recordings exist, let alone in good quality. God knows who originally recorded it, or how they recorded it, but somehow they did, and thanks to the wonders of the internet, it’s all here. First though, the history part.

 swedish_radio_show-front.jpg

In 1963, as a live phenomenon, The Beatles were at the top of their game. Their years of playing extended sets in Hamburg had taught them how to handle a crowd. Their own fantastic songwriting talent was emerging and many of these songs were yet to be committed to vinyl. In a couple of years time they would be a spent force on the live stage. Limitations in their equipment couldn’t match the increasingly bigger venues the band were playing. This show was recorded for Swedish Radio at Karplan Studios in Stockholm on October 24th 1963. It captures the Beatles playing their early 60s set, drawing on a mixture of originals and covers. From Paul’s “2, 3, 4″ count-in onwards, this set sounds like proto-punk. The playing is spot-on. The vocal harmonies are tight and Ringo’s backeat holds it all together. There’s a John one (From Me To You), a Paul one (I Saw Her Standing There), a George one (Roll Over Beethoven), a fast one (Money), a slow one (You Really Got A Hold On Me) and all the big hits (She Loves You, Twist & Shout). And it’s all in crystal clear high fidelity mp3 (!)

Hans Westman was the studio engineer for Swedish radio. “The worst recordings I’ve ever made,” he said. “Totally chaotic. No time for rehearsals.” The studio wasn’t best equipped for recording a ‘beat group’ and there were problems overcoming the UK plugs on the Vox amps. But once sorted, The Beatles simply plugged in and played. Westman couldn’t apologise enough for his poor sound, but Lennon loved this recording. “We love distortion!“ Not long before he died in1980 he said that these were the best live recordings The Beatles ever made.  And who can argue?

1. Introduction
2. I Saw Her Standing There
3. From Me To You
4. Money
5. Roll Over Beethoven
6. You Really Got A Hold On Me
7. She Loves You
8. Twist And Shout 

You need this. It’s brilliant. Try before you buy? Here‘s an mp3 of Twist & Shout. The entire show is available here as a rar file., from me to you (arf).

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(Above)  back cover art (right-click and save)

(Below)Hans Westman’s original tape reel, signed by the fab four.

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Cover Versions, demo, Dylanish, studio outtakes

From The Sublime To The Ridiculous – a Mr Tambourine Man Quadruple (+1) Whammy

Craig McAllister

I grew up thinking Mr Tambourine Man was a Byrds song. When I heard Dylan’s original (I was about 15) I was underwhelmed, to say the least. Where were the chiming electric guitars? Why had those sun-kissed West Coast vocals been replaced by that cold East Coast nasal twang? And why was it 5 times longer and therefore more boring than the original version? Older and wiser, I can now concede to the greatness of Bob’s real original, but I still have a soft spot for Roger McGuinn’s pop arrangement.

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Listen to this, an isolated vocal track from the Mr Tambourine Man sessions. Taken from a Byrds bootleg called Past Masters 65, it sounds fantastic. In fact, you might wet your pants over it. Don’t worry, I’ve just had to put my George by Asda Calvinalikes in the tub. That’s the second pair this hour. It’s this pop arrangement that’s formed the basis of the numerous cover versions that followed in it’s wake. But you knew that already.

Way back when there were record shops and people went in them to buy records and stuff with real money, Teenage Fanclub, Scotland’s only true National Treasure, did a version of MTM for the NME compilation album Ruby Trax. I might’ve posted this before, so sorry if I’m repeating myself. Gerry takes the lead, Norman follows up on backing vocals and the whole thing is a faithful interpretation of The Byrds ‘original’. Hear it here.

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If you go down to the woods today…

South American newcomers Soho Riots have recently released a fuzzed-up lo-fi garage band approximation of MTM. It wouldn’t sound out of place on an old late 80s compilation tape somewhere between a Sarah Records act and an early My Bloody Valentine b-side. As an extra act of cheesiness/literal genius, they’ve even added a jangling tambourine throughout the entire track. Listen out too for the woman who canane sing. Hear it here.

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Phasers set to stun. William Shat’nit etc etc

But I’ve. Kept. The Best till. Last. The most. Frightening. Ridiculous and. Heart stopping. Version of Mr Tambourine. Man. Is without. A. Doubt. William Shatner‘s. 1968 spoken. Word. Version on his. Transfomed. Man. Album. The words. Tortured artist do. Not. Do this version. Justice.

Thankfully, Shatner stopped short of giving Visions Of Johanna the same treatment.

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*BONUS TRACK!

Dylan‘s (allegedly) first recorded version, featuring Ramblin’ Jack Elliot on occassional backing vocals. It was this version that was seemingly sent to The Byrds for them to record. Recorded in June 64 for the Another Side of Bob Dylan album it lay in the vaults until 2005 when it appeared on the Bootleg Series Volume 7. But you knew that already. You probably own it already too.