I heard this morning that Lee Hazlewood had died. He was 78 and had terminal cancer since last year. I can’t find any more details so far. In the meantime, let’s celebrate his life. Here’s something I posted a few months ago.
Category: Cover Versions
Love Will Tear Us Apart again and again and again, plus more…
I came to Joy Divison in a roundabout way. When ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ was released, in fact when any of Joy Division’s stuff was being released, I was totally unaware that it/they existed. In my defence I was a bit young (about 10) and too young to be a post-punk. I was more into Adam and the Ants, Madness and The Specials, and I spent 99p of my £1 pocket money every Saturday morning in John Menzies on whatever had taken my fancy from Thursday night’s Top Of The Pops. I remember running, sprinting up the road with my 7″ of ‘Stand and Deliver’ and playing it to death for the next week.
I didn’t know about Joy Division until 1985 and I discovered the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen et al for myself. I never had a cooler big brother or sister or cousin or uncle. I didn’t know anyone that was cool. At school everyone was into Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo and all that crap. The big album round about Christmas 1983 was Paul Young’s ‘No Parlez’. You can get it these days in any charity shop that still sells vinyl. That and Michael Bolton’s back catalogue. Paul Young had hair like a bog brush, wore suits that looked like they were made out of blue tinfoil and he had thought he sung like Otis Redding when I now know he sounded more like Noel Redding than any black man I’ve ever heard sing. I taped ‘No Parlez’ from someone, and that’s where I first heard ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. I thought Paul Young wrote it. It sounded like one of his songs. Slow. Dead slow. Took ages to finish. Was full of keyboards and wanky fretless bass. It wasn’t very good. Fast forward a couple of years. In 1985 I was an album-buying geek. I read sleevenotes. I knew who produced albums, where they were recorded, who wrote what. I was at my pal’s one night and we were going through his old albums and laughing (Lionel Richie ‘All Night Long’, Go West ‘Live’!!!) and I found his copy of ‘No Parlez’. Reading the sleevenotes was when I found out that that ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ was a Joy Division song. I went out and found the 7″ in a second-hand stall. It sounded fantastic and I played it to death. Even more than ‘Stand and Deliver’. I bought everything I could find that said ‘Joy Divison’ on it. Then I found out that Joy Division had become New Order. I was off and running again. Spending money I didn’t have on singles and albums I had to have. You just don’t get that rush from downloading.
Here’s some rare Joy Divison for you:
‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ February ’79 Peel Session
‘Transmission‘ Martin Rushent demo, Eden Studios London
‘Chance‘ (early demo of ‘Atmosphere’) Pennine Sound Studios Oldham
and here’s a couple of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ cover versions:
French disco outfit Nouvelle Vague‘s jazzy, almost bossa nova, female-sung version with added wave effects. Squarepusher‘s faithful version from their ‘Do You Know Squarepusher?’ (answer: Radiohead certainly do. The wee thieves) that sounds like it’s sung by David Gedge of the Wedding Present.
Cover version of the month, possibly the year
From the new Patti Smith album ’12’, here’s her version of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. It starts quite quietly, so be patient. It’s worth the wait. See all those words that you could never make out Kurt singing? You’ll get them all now. “It’s fun to lose and to pretend. She’s overboard and self assured” So that’s what he was mumbling! It’s so great it’s my Cover Version of the Month. Possibly even the Year.
Remember – no Patti Smith, no PJ Harvey. Here’s PeeJay doing Bob Dylan’s ‘Highway 61 Revisited’. It starts quietly as well, strangely enough. It’s so great I had to post a gratuitous picture of PJ in her underwear………
(funny quote should be here)
Re-re-reconsider baby
‘Reconsider Baby’ is quite possibly my favourite Elvis tune. Not a lot of people know that, as Michael Caine might say. The origins of the song go way back. What follows here is a wee history of the track and 3 versions for you to download and compare.
Lowell Fulson wrote and recorded his original mid-tempo blues version for Chess in 1954. It features some nice bluesy guitar licks (Eric Clapton was clearly paying attention) and some honkin’ sax (every blues band this side of Memphis were also listening). It proved to be his only hit on Chess but as well as Clapton and all those other blues plodders, Elvis Presley was opening his ears.
In 1954 Elvis was still a couple of years away from breaking big, and would take an enforced break (and haircut) from music when he went off to do his National Service. On March 20th 1960, he went into Nashville’s Studio B (15 days after leaving the army) and over the course of 2 nights, 2 nights, Radiohead!, recorded the 18 tracks that would make up the 12 ‘Elvis Is Back’ tracks plus assorted b sides. Elvis was worried that he might have lost it since being in the army, as if being stripped of the quiff by the army barber would somehow render him useless on record. ‘Reconsider Baby’ was one of those 18 tracks and it smoulders, swings and just plain rocks to this very day.
The track has also been recorded by, amongst others, Chicken Shack (a bit Booker T-ish), Earl Hooker (standard blues ‘n’ organ fare, see also Freddie King), Bobby Bland (excellent, slow and soulful version), Eric Clapton (nice Cream-esque fuzzed guitar, horrible soulless vocal) and relative blues newcomer Joe Bonamassa. His version is pretty good. It starts a bit like Funkadelic’s ‘Maggot Brain, goes a bit Led Zeppelin ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ as sung by a bad Joe Cocker in the middle, and ends up sounding like the theme tune to ‘Taggart’, the top Scottish Police drama on TV. Really. I like it! (This track and Taggart).
Joe Bonamassa – great musician but a fanny
A new world record
I go to about 2 gigs a year. Way back in my youth I would go to 2 a week. Now it’s 2 a year. Usually Bob Dylan and Teenage Fanclub. I’ve seen Teenage Fanclub live at least once every year since 1990. I’ve probably seen the Trash Cans as many times or more as well. OK. Make that 3 gigs a year. Point is, I don’t go to that many any more.
So, a wee burst of gig action has taken place recently. Hot on the heels of, yes, Bob Dylan and the Trash Cans (if I’d remembered which night they were on. Idiot. Haven’t seen them live in 2007 yet), I have recently seen Candie Payne and King Creosote.
Candie Payne first. Hotly tipped, great reviews and rightly so. A fine voice, a backing band stuck in 1964 (the best bits of 1964) and enough good tunes to suggest she is more Saint Etienne than Dido, which is what I’d secretly feared. She is being compared to Dusty In Memphis, but that frankly is a bit too much. Still, she was pretty good. Her new album is a good bet for the Mercury Prize this year. Frank suggets you stick a tenner on it…
King Creosote sounds or looks nothing like Candie Payne but his gig was just as enjoyable. He can sing a bit, plays a mean accordion and has funny between-song banter. Best song of the night was a new one about having seen Grease too many times. “You’re not the one I want. No, no, no.” He is self-deprecating and as far removed from pop stardom as you can imagine. Which is just how I’d like you to stay please, Mr Creosote. Go and see him if you get the chance.
In the meantime, here’s 2 interesting covers.
Candie Payne does Iggy Pop’s ‘Nightclubbing’ (plays in iTunes only)
King Creosote does Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’.
(Man, they love Jeff Buckley round here!)
Pass It On (part 2)
Simple Kid is a one-man band. All battered acoustics, a bit of banjo and a smattering of electronics and new technology. He’s an Irish Beck. I suppose you could call him Feck. Hee hee. Anyway, his first album ‘Simple Kid 1‘ was pretty good. I have had a copy of it since it was released but I recently picked up the genuine article in Tesco for 97p!
More recently I heard him do a song called ‘Lil King Kong’ which sounded like it sampled/borrowed/stole the riff from Led Zeppelin‘s version of Robert Johnson’s ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’ (get it on the BBC Sessions album). Pretty good I thought. And pretty cheeky. Cos it’s not like Led Zeppelin are going to sue him. After all, they’ve made a career out of ripping off the old blues guys and crediting everything to Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones. Even their version of ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’ is credited to Page, Plant and Johnson. But I’ve never been able to hear where they enhanced the original. Unless you count the drums. But then surely the credit should have Bonham added to it somewhere.
Actually, they probably would sue, being the corporate money grabbers that they are/were, but I digress. These 2 tracks are posted in the spirit of the first ‘Pass It On’ post – that the best songs and tunes of the past usually end up being recycled in some way years down the line. Listen and compare, pop pickers.
Led Zeppelin ‘Travelling Riverside Blues’
The toppermost of the poppermost
Here you go……the Top 10 Plain Or Pan downloads to date.
A cover-heavy Top 10, with a combined total of
4326 downloads!
My computer is playing funny buggers. Hence the wonky spacing and no numbers 2-10. It’s taken up enough of my time for the night so this is as good as it gets.
You can find out more about these recordings by scrolling through the pages. Or you could just be lazy and download them from here.
My kinda Persson (ouch!)
I’ve been hearing a lot of that New Manic Street Preachers single recently, featuring Nina Persson of the Cardigans. It’s not bad, but I’ve heard it all before, and the Manics to me these days are about as relevant as the NME. To these ears it sounds a bit like ‘Little Baby Nothing’ which the band at the time wanted Kylie Minogue to sing on but had to settle for porn star Traci Lords cos Kylie’s ‘people’ had never heard of them. Actually. D’you know what? The new single is bad. It’s really bad. It’s stinkingly bad. It’s boring and repetitive aural wallpaper. Charlotte Church made it sound even worse when she duetted with the band on her teevee show the other week. I won’t be buying it, and while I’m sure there is still a hardcore of Manics fans somewhere, I can’t think of any 20 year olds who’d buy it instead of the latest Muse or Biffy Clyro offering.
But Nina Persson. Raaaaaarrrr. (That’s a cat noise by the way.) Great voice, great face, great rock/pop star. I loved the Cardigan’s ‘For What it’s Worth’. I thought it was the best single never to make number 1. About a year ago, during a hiatus from the Cardigans she acted in a Swedish black and white movie, ‘Om Gud Vill’. You might just have caught it down at your local Odeon. If you did, you would have heard her singing a fantastic version of the White Stripes ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’. It’s not much different to the version you are familiar with, but I liked it so much I included it on my Best Of The Year CD that I swap with my friends in our Christmas cards every year. Nerds? Trainspotters? Sad? Yep. Here‘s the cover. And here’s another gratuitous picture of Nina for you.
Kitsch Korner
I heard Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Summer Wine’ on the radio yesterday and that had me digging through my record collection and a pile of mp3s to bring you these gems.
In his musical lifetime Lee Hazlewood did it all, and is still doing it all to this day (thanks, Jackson!). You can find out loads about him if you fancy going from blog to blog. Suffice to say he must be one of the most blogged of all musicians and his influence reaches far and wide, with artists today from Jarvis Cocker, the Tindersticks, Primal Scream and many more owing him a huge debt. Not only did he invent Duane Eddy’s twangy guitar sound, he had the best baritone voice in the business and was a shit-hot arranger/producer on many recording sessions. He wrote loads of hits for Nancy Sinatra, including her most famous/overplayed song (delete where applicable) ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’. Here is his demo version. At least, I think it’s a demo. It’s the backing track you are more than familiar with, with added brass/trumpet stabs and him singing/talking over the top in that big voice of his. You put on your boots and I’ll put on mine and we’ll sell a million records any old time! Brilliant.
Next up, two Nancy tracks. Her version of Day Tripper is just on the right side of camp. All brass stabs and ‘ba-ba-ba’s’ where George Harrison’s guitar riff should be. There’s even a wry nod to ‘These Boots…’ at one point. It is the true sound of swinging London, even if it was recorded in California.
Lastly is Nancy Sinatra’s Coca Cola jingle. Somebody requested this in an email to me. And as promised, here it is, in all it’s kitsch innocence. “Now Nancy Sinatra with a word to the wise”
You’ve been out 6 nights this week and I don’t know where you go. Tonight you’re staying home with me there’s things that you don’t know. Like groovy things and other things and boy it’s time you knew. We’ll mess around do lots of things and drink a Coke or two.
Cos, things go better with Coca Cola, things go better with Coke. Life is much more fun when you’re refreshed. And Coke refreshes you best!
Down By The River triple-whammy
On heavy rotation chez moi at the moment is Neil Young’s ‘Live at Massey Hall’ album, the second in his much anticipated (by me at least) Archive Performance series. Roll on the 8CD box set. If you’re a fan of Neil Young you’ve probably got this already but for those in the dark, this release is of a 1971 Toronto show which took place after the release of After The Goldrush and before the release of Harvest. It is generally agreed that it should have been released in its own right at the time, but for whatever reason it is only now seeing the light of day. Highlight for me is the version of ‘Down By The River’. Unlike the many versions of this song Neil Young has done over the years, this one features just Neil, his acoustic guitar and his whiny voice. I love it. Neil can often overdo this song. I have a few 17+ minute versions with Crazy Horse and umpteen squealy guitar solos. I also have a 31 minute version somewhere that you need to hear once before having a long lie down. But it’s still one of my favourite Neil Young songs, and has been covered to great effect by many artists including…
Buddy Miles. Buddy’s version is more soulful than the original. It features some Isley Brothers-esque guitar (check out that sustain!), some wah-wah and some jazz tastic Fender rhodesy keyboards. At 6.15, you might think it goes on a bit, but not as long as….
Roy Buchanan‘s version. Just short of 9 minutes it features some trademark 70’s lead guitar, Gimme Shelter-copying female backing singers and a vocal track that sounds like the Eagles on sleeping pills. Oooh sha la la the weather. She can take me over the rainbow, send me away. Like, laid back man! Here it is.
Joey Gregorash does my favourite version. It’s faster than the original, features scrubbed acoustic guitars, bongos and an angry wasp in a jar electric guitar sound. Dig it! Here! A fellow Canadian (like Neil Young, also from Winnipeg) Joey covered Down By The River in 1971. It was never intended for release until some sharp-eared record company executive thought the better of it. The radio stations then picked up on it and in classic style decided to play ‘Down By The River’ instead of Joey’s new single. Eventually the record company were forced to rush release an edited version of the album track and Joey’s 15 minutes of fame were complete. Add that to yer Wikipedia and smoke it!
Plain Or Pan 