Tighten Up

Somebody give me a cookie! I'm posting twice in 24 hours!

Tighten Up was the 1968 hit by Archie Bell and the Drells, and I seriously would never have known this or cared had this cover of the original not come as a bonus track on some new edition of R.E.M.'s Reckoning. It's ridiculous and very '60s and is a song that generally makes me want to get up and prance around.

mp3: R.E.M. - Tighten Up

Marquee Moon

Maybe it's just me, but I almost love this version more than I do the original by the early punk band Television. Yeah. I think it's just me, and maybe the fact that I'm a string player and I have hero-worship issues with Kronos Quartet and the covers of some popular tunes they've done (Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze, Sigur Rós' Flugufrelsarinn). Also, every other composer work I've experienced through them.

Kronos actually comes through my area once every couple of years. I've been really lucky to see them perform live several times since I was about ten or eleven. I actually suspect that they were my initial introduction to new music as I know and appreciate it now, and might have influenced some of my ideas for what I want to do professionally.

Wow. But that's definitely another entry for another time.

In the meantime, here's the song. Really cool stuff.

mp3: Kronos Quartet - Marquee Moon

In a true Kronos fashion, it's as much in accordance with the original as it possibly could be in consideration of four string-players and no recognizable percussion. The cellist even tunes the C string down to a B to enable a lower octave in places. Also: David Harrington (1st violin) has and always will rock my world.

My apologies for the severe shortage of posts. I've had the plague/been busy/am lazy. Will try harder.

Georgy Porgy

It seems that with Spring Break, my will to obsessively push-button publish was simply gone. But behold, for it is Monday, and Monday means covers.

This is Shiina Ringo and...somebody else, doing Georgy Porgy, originally by Toto. I kind of maybe don't like to admit how much I really like this song. Nobody tell my family members. They would give me funny looks.

This version is basically a copy of the original, except the mixing is slightly more clear. The piano is slightly more sustained. The vocals are slightly more rumbly and Shiina Ringo-y. I also enjoy the slide guitar solo thing.

So good. And yet so bad.

mp3: Shiina Ringo - Georgy Porgy

You Don't Own Me

I know that a week has passed and I haven't posted. But hey, school is hellish. Cut me some slack.

But anyway. It is once again Monday. You know what that means.

This week is Rasputina, covering You Don't Own Me, originally by 60's pop singer Lesley Gore.

Very cello-y. Kind of ominous. Enjoy.

mp3: Rasputina - You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore cover)

Pets

It's a Perry Ferrell Rave of sorts.

This is a cover of a Porno For Pyro's song, Pets (as well as a short quote from the song Sadness, and Mountain Song by Jane's Addiction). In SKA FORM, by a band called Greenhouse and the Tender Ju-Ju Coins.

I first heard this song as a ten-year-old (which...how did I find such odd music when I was ten?), and I suspect it is the reason I am as enamored with keyboard and electric organ sounds as I am. Sad but true. Anyway, this song is so upbeat and weird and not like the original and honestly, I am a little bit ashamed to admit that I still really enjoy it, despite its whatever-ness.

And try as I might now, I can't dig up any information on the covering band. Google has returned nothing. This is one of those "my sister put this on a tape I stole, and many years later I ganked the CD and ripped it" songs.

mp3: Greenhouse - Pets (Porno for Pyros cover)

Sheer ridiculosity.

Cover Mondays

Announcement: Mondays will be cover song day.

I have to say. There's nothing I like more than a good cover. I'm not sure what about the idea of one band playing songs written by another band tickles me pink so much. Possibly because the part of me which is classically trained has always dealt with reproducing works that have been in existence long before I came along as a musician. Cover songs are a little bit the same with a lot more creative leeway, as you are not following a notated score. Think of the possibilities.

At this point in life I certainly have a collection of weird covers. It's kind of ridiculous. Here is a rundown of my "best-of" list:

Best Cover Song, Period: R.E.M. - Crazy (originally by Pylon)

Best Cover That Is A Good Sight Different And Refreshing From Original: Tori Amos - Rattlesnakes (originally by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions)

Best Cover Song Involving The Beatles and Kameda Seiji's Bass Playing: Shiina Ringo - Yer Blues (originally by The Beatles)

Best Cover Song For Not Sounding A Thing Like The Original: Dismemberment Plan - Close To Me (originally by The Cure)

Best Cover Of A Song I Am Deliriously Obsessed With: Stereolab - St. Elmo's Fire (originally by Brian Eno)

Best Cover Song For Obvious Worship Of Perry Ferrel And Use Of Keyboard: Greenhouse - Pets (originally by Porno For Pyros with short bit of a song by Jane's Addiction)

Best Cover Song For Sounding So Much Like The Original And Being So Freaking 70's - Shiina Ringo - Georgy Porgy (originally by Toto)

Best Pair Of Wildly Different Covers Of One Song: Cornelius - Brazil and Real Tuesday Weld - Return I Will To Old Brazil

Best Cover Song Involving Full String Quartet - Kronos Quartet - Marquee Moon (originally by Television)

Best Cover Song Made Into Something Palatable Out Of Something Freaking Weird - Phish - Roses Are Free (originally by Ween)

Best Cover Song That Results In Talia Dancing Around Like An Idiot: R.E.M. - Tighten Up (originally by Archie Bell)

Best Cover Song Involving Cellos And Pink Floyd: Rasputina - Wish You Were Here (originally by Pink Floyd)

Best Band Medley Done On The Spot During A Live Show: Stuart Davis - Medley (involving a whole lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Best Cover Involving A Bossendorfer piano being run through a Marshall Amp: Tori Amos - If 6 was 9 (originally by Jimi Hendrix)

Those are only a handful of covers I love.

And this is why every Monday will be Cover Monday. Or whatever. I can't think of a wittier name.