O ferchrissake don’t let Disappointing Bob see this, as I usually say something around Abba being tinny bing bang bong bubblegum candy floss but that their songs, as covered by others, as does this, polish up quite well………
That’s a great OP. I agree with retro on Abba songs.
Here’s Roxanne De Bastion singing Dead End Street. It’s completely stripped down, confirming the song’s strength but she really lives the lyric. This kind of thing is often advert fodder but she only sugars the song’s topic with the natural beauty of her voice.
I was lucky enough to see him alongside Waddy Wachtel in Judith Owen’s band when she/they supported Bryan Ferry in 2015. Great musicians, great performance.
Lovely singing. The arrangement could use a bit of a kick up the arse – even with just piano and bass there’s much unexplored potential in that melody – but the vocal is tremendous all the same.
Which also raises the question of whether anyone has ever had the temerity to cover anything from The Fall’s back catalogue. Wouldn’t mind hearing a Sister Sledge version of A Lot of Wind.
Yes, that makes sense. There are certain bands – and The Fall are perhaps the type specimen – whose muse is so idiosyncratic that they occupy their own little fortress on a peak of the artistic landscape, a forbidding place where few dare to trespass.
Maybe not unexpected given the ‘Nnon’s eclectic tastes and the presence of a string quartet on the original… but you’d hardly call Mark Gardiner a crooner. I think this works brilliantly.
Given how deeply unfashionable the Fabs were in 1987, it was very surprising to see the NME set up the Sgt Pepper Knew My Father project. A right mixed bag of nuts it is too… commencing as it does with the very very briefly fashionable South London hip-hoppers Three Wize Men doing the title track and featuring along the way Billy Bragg, Wet Wet Wet and (less surprisingly) The Christians and Frank Sidebottom.*
As on the original album, the best is saved to last. As featured in mini’s Car Boot podcast a while back…. and very timely this week. MES likes the Beatles! Who knew?
I remember the occasion well. The NME album was a weird anti-climax. The ITV documentary ‘It was Twenty Years Ago Today’, broadcast on the twentieth anniversary of the album’s release was good though, with lots of Derek Taylor. It was on the night before one of my finals, so there was much soul searching over whether I should watch it.
I want to say something nice about that track. I really do. But I can’t. I thought it was hideous. In fact MES’s vocal reminded me of something I hoped I had completely forgotten about. But I hadn’t.
When I was mainlining 33-45-78 and Supernatural at the turn of the 90s I think the idea of the Stereo MCs covering the Fabs would have made me have an accident in my voluminous Joe Bloggs jeans.
In the event, when it happened many years later, it was rather an anticlimax (so to speak) but it’s still worth a listen.
Bloody hell… me mentioning that I once wore Joe Bloggs has caused the company to instantaneously implode… in its first appearance in the public prints since about 1992!
I remember you going on about how much you enjoyed reading The Word. Course we didn’t make the connection back then. Could you do me a personal favour, when you get a bit of free time, and sing the praises of football, mosquitoes, Kay Burley, cold weather, CD packaging, olives, Michael Bay style films, snoring, Jehovas Witnesses calling round, Luigi who works in reception, the meat industry, plastic, sunburn, manky pillows, the tabloid press, coffee flavoured anything and TV licence fees. Ta.
I’ve posted this before… Robert Palmer deep in his Armani-clad Addicted to Love period… covering Husker Du. Reeeeeeeespec’!
Oh, and I’ll just casually drop in this cover of Motorhead. He obviously had a thing about umlauts (which is more than I have, lazy bastard) https://youtu.be/kEaCwaYyt_E
I was certainly surprised at John McLaughlin (with Carlos Santana) covering Bob’s ‘A Hard Rain…’ and LZ’s ‘Stairway…’ in this one-off Montreux concert/repertoire, released on DVD.
This is fun – a 1920s pastiche ‘Sgt Pepper’s…’ from Petula Clarke, followed by a surprisingly cool version of ‘Come Together’ with bits of ‘Oh Happy Day’ and ‘These Boots…’ and ‘What’d I Say?’ interpolated, both clips early 70s:
I am certain you all remember Tennessee Ernie Fords 1955 hit, the splendid 16 Tons, about the hardships of life as a Kentucky coalminer. Here’s a splendid Brazilian cover by Noriel Vilela.
Here’s First Aid Kit doing a rather unlikely cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”
Kaisfatdad once bumped into Klara Söderberg at Slussen Stockholm in Stockholm. No – honestly. He did.
Who would possibly think that an acoustic folk style cover of anarchy punks Crass would work? Let alone that it uncovers some pretty good song-writing?
For many years, Route 66 was the only cover version Depeche Mode performed – apart from “I Like It!” by Gerry and the Pacemakers in the early days.
Anyway, this led me to yet another very well done “fan” video. Some of them have more views than the official videos. I hadn’t seen this one before and it’s becoming a really interesting aspect of following yer Mode. There’s probably hundreds of them.
It seems to me that film students worldwide (if they are still called that) as part of their studies, might use a Depeche Mode song, borrow some of Anton Corbijn’s “moves” and submit that. So they get to the music via Corbijn.
retropath2 says
O ferchrissake don’t let Disappointing Bob see this, as I usually say something around Abba being tinny bing bang bong bubblegum candy floss but that their songs, as covered by others, as does this, polish up quite well………
count jim moriarty says
It’s a Hot Chocolate song, of course…
Rather good anyway.
retropath2 says
Bloody hell, of course it is. Silly me.
Fin59 says
Hot Chocolate were miles better than Abba
count jim moriarty says
You silly, twisted boy…
Fin59 says
That’s me. Talking of silly and twisted, here’s those twisted Sisters Of Mercy covering the greatest song of unrequited love in the pop canon
Emma
Sisters Of Mercy
Fin59 says
And talking of Twisted Sister and just in time for next Christmas
O Come All Ye Faithful
Rigid Digit says
Earworm-y pop performed in Irish PunkyFolkyShowband style
Saw Doctors – About You Now
bobness says
That’s great isn’t it?
Nearly as good as that Bangles one they did.
Tiggerlion says
That’s a great OP. I agree with retro on Abba songs.
Here’s Roxanne De Bastion singing Dead End Street. It’s completely stripped down, confirming the song’s strength but she really lives the lyric. This kind of thing is often advert fodder but she only sugars the song’s topic with the natural beauty of her voice.
Mousey says
Nice voice but she wrecks the original melody and gets the chords wrong
Gary says
Here’s Mrs Derek Smalls playing Roxy’s ‘More Than This’ with someone from The Afterword, probably, on bass.
Martin Hairnet says
The none more beardy bass player is session supremo Leland Sklar, who has played with almost everyone, except David Sylvian.
Black Type says
I was lucky enough to see him alongside Waddy Wachtel in Judith Owen’s band when she/they supported Bryan Ferry in 2015. Great musicians, great performance.
Archie Valparaiso says
Lovely singing. The arrangement could use a bit of a kick up the arse – even with just piano and bass there’s much unexplored potential in that melody – but the vocal is tremendous all the same.
Tiggerlion says
Who expected The Fall to cover a Sister Sledge song?
Martin Hairnet says
Which also raises the question of whether anyone has ever had the temerity to cover anything from The Fall’s back catalogue. Wouldn’t mind hearing a Sister Sledge version of A Lot of Wind.
DogFacedBoy says
https://youtu.be/VXxI2uj51tk
Martin Hairnet says
Yes, that makes sense. There are certain bands – and The Fall are perhaps the type specimen – whose muse is so idiosyncratic that they occupy their own little fortress on a peak of the artistic landscape, a forbidding place where few dare to trespass.
Leicester Bangs says
PJ Harvey did an excellent cover of Janet, Johnny & James…
Pessoa says
Some here must remember the Sonic Youth Peel session that was Fall covers?
https://youtu.be/yXagl_sk6HQ
Fin59 says
Is the Pixies, Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey covering The Fall “unexpected”? They would seem to occupy a similar musical hinterland.
Agree The Fall covering Sister Sledge is unexpected and if Sister Sledge were to cover The Fall that certainly would be.
DogFacedBoy says
The question posed was “did anyone have the temerity to cover The Fall” – answer – yes
Moose the Mooche says
Nay! The audacity!
Beyonce’s cover of Hip Priest is one she’s presumably saving up for her appearance on Live Lounge, or the Hootenanny.
One can dream.
DogFacedBoy says
Nay, dispassionately!
Moose the Mooche says
“…anything under a seven, he’s guilty”
DogFacedBoy says
Can anybody prove it was he who shouted out: “get your hair cut”?
Moose the Mooche says
Ohhh get on with it!!
Freddy Steady says
That Sister Sledge cover is just brilliant. A great great song.
SteveT says
The Pixies did a great cover of Neil Young’ s Winterlong.
DogFacedBoy says
Richard Hawley croons about the Horse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-r8LTGCV5U
DogFacedBoy says
David & Bernard cover ver That
Rigid Digit says
and ver That cover Nirvana
Moose the Mooche says
Maybe not unexpected given the ‘Nnon’s eclectic tastes and the presence of a string quartet on the original… but you’d hardly call Mark Gardiner a crooner. I think this works brilliantly.
fentonsteve says
Oh yes, I forgot about that. Great stuff.
paulwright says
Ooh that’s good.
Moose the Mooche says
Given how deeply unfashionable the Fabs were in 1987, it was very surprising to see the NME set up the Sgt Pepper Knew My Father project. A right mixed bag of nuts it is too… commencing as it does with the very very briefly fashionable South London hip-hoppers Three Wize Men doing the title track and featuring along the way Billy Bragg, Wet Wet Wet and (less surprisingly) The Christians and Frank Sidebottom.*
As on the original album, the best is saved to last. As featured in mini’s Car Boot podcast a while back…. and very timely this week. MES likes the Beatles! Who knew?
(*sadly on different tracks)
Martin Hairnet says
I remember the occasion well. The NME album was a weird anti-climax. The ITV documentary ‘It was Twenty Years Ago Today’, broadcast on the twentieth anniversary of the album’s release was good though, with lots of Derek Taylor. It was on the night before one of my finals, so there was much soul searching over whether I should watch it.
I want to say something nice about that track. I really do. But I can’t. I thought it was hideous. In fact MES’s vocal reminded me of something I hoped I had completely forgotten about. But I hadn’t.
bobness says
Good grief. Outstanding.
duco01 says
And of course the Fall covered Gene Vincent’s “Rollin’ Dany”.
It sounds EXACTLY like you think it’s going to sound…
Rigid Digit says
The Fall again … this time tackling the Legend of Xanadu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SsvIlXqpAo
Moose the Mooche says
When I was mainlining 33-45-78 and Supernatural at the turn of the 90s I think the idea of the Stereo MCs covering the Fabs would have made me have an accident in my voluminous Joe Bloggs jeans.
In the event, when it happened many years later, it was rather an anticlimax (so to speak) but it’s still worth a listen.
Moose the Mooche says
Bloody hell… me mentioning that I once wore Joe Bloggs has caused the company to instantaneously implode… in its first appearance in the public prints since about 1992!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42857151
Wow, I should try more of this “completely destroying something by associating it with me in a King Midas In Reverse stylee”
It’s a shame we don’t see so much of Rowland Rivron these days.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Donald Trump.
I think John Humphrys should be paid way more and NEVER retire.
Gary says
I remember you going on about how much you enjoyed reading The Word. Course we didn’t make the connection back then. Could you do me a personal favour, when you get a bit of free time, and sing the praises of football, mosquitoes, Kay Burley, cold weather, CD packaging, olives, Michael Bay style films, snoring, Jehovas Witnesses calling round, Luigi who works in reception, the meat industry, plastic, sunburn, manky pillows, the tabloid press, coffee flavoured anything and TV licence fees. Ta.
Moose the Mooche says
I don’t have any free time… I have to do my wonderful job, with my brilliant manager who must never suffer a fatal accident.
Moose the Mooche says
I’ve posted this before… Robert Palmer deep in his Armani-clad Addicted to Love period… covering Husker Du. Reeeeeeeespec’!
Oh, and I’ll just casually drop in this cover of Motorhead. He obviously had a thing about umlauts (which is more than I have, lazy bastard)
https://youtu.be/kEaCwaYyt_E
Uncle Mick says
….and this Devo cover
Black Celebration says
And this Gary Numan cover in the early 80s – mere months after the original appeared on Telekon.
“I am the final silence
I am the last electrician alive”
Moose the Mooche says
Never mind the Power Station cheesiness, Palmer was a fookin geezer.
Colin H says
I was certainly surprised at John McLaughlin (with Carlos Santana) covering Bob’s ‘A Hard Rain…’ and LZ’s ‘Stairway…’ in this one-off Montreux concert/repertoire, released on DVD.
Bob song appears at 0:52, LZ at 2:45:
Colin H says
Were people at the time surprised by this Sham 69 Yardbirds cover?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_QT_aXvaAY
Colin H says
This is fun – a 1920s pastiche ‘Sgt Pepper’s…’ from Petula Clarke, followed by a surprisingly cool version of ‘Come Together’ with bits of ‘Oh Happy Day’ and ‘These Boots…’ and ‘What’d I Say?’ interpolated, both clips early 70s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fi6w8j_MR4
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Come Together is indeed “surprisingly cool!”
Rigid Digit says
Robbie Williams covers himself (or at least, his previous existence)
Back For Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH9Cti06nsI
Colin H says
I imagine few here have heard early 60s nearly-star Billie Davis’ 1969 cover of Jethro Tull’s then recently released ‘Living In The Past’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQD1pfSWFLI
Kaisfatdad says
I am certain you all remember Tennessee Ernie Fords 1955 hit, the splendid 16 Tons, about the hardships of life as a Kentucky coalminer. Here’s a splendid Brazilian cover by Noriel Vilela.
Rigid Digit says
Do you want to hear a 70s Rock Anthem done in Soul-Funk-stylee?
Labelle – Won’t Get Fooled Again
Kaisfatdad says
I enjoyed that, Rigid.
Here it is bluegrass style/
duco01 says
Here’s First Aid Kit doing a rather unlikely cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”
Kaisfatdad once bumped into Klara Söderberg at Slussen Stockholm in Stockholm. No – honestly. He did.
davebigpicture says
Swedes covering Sabbath?
retropath2 says
War pigs has always somehow appealed to those in search of an off-kilter cover. Cake do a good one.
As do Freakwater
Rigid Digit says
Hayseed Dixie have a bash too
Rigid Digit says
The Manics have a bash at Bright Eyes
Uncle Mick says
Sparks don`t do many cover versions……..
probably just as well!
Douglas says
Who would possibly think that an acoustic folk style cover of anarchy punks Crass would work? Let alone that it uncovers some pretty good song-writing?
Fin59 says
How about Sandie Shaw covering Led Zeppelin?
Your Time Is Gonna Come
salwarpe says
If you sped this up, it would probably sound like Dolly Parton
Mike_H says
(Magazine – Goldfinger)
(Frank Zappa – Purple Haze/Sunshine Of Your Love)
Morrison says
Tony Christie sings Richard Hawley – feat.Guy Barker and his lovely trumpet.
chilli ray virus says
Wonderful song. How could you go wrong
Bamber says
Siouxsie and the Banshees cover Ben E. King. Goth funk!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Graham does the Jacksons when the Jacksons were uncool
Moose the Mooche says
Uncool? While this was being filmed people down the road in the discotheque would have have been dancing to Blame It On The Boogie.
Honestly. Are you even wrong in your sleep?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
“People in a discotheque” – I rest my case.
Kid Dynamite says
Sure I’ve posted this before, but The Sisters Of Mercy’s This Corrosion works very well as a pop funk gospel stomper
Black Celebration says
That’s great. Thanks for posting.
Kid Dynamite says
Better than Kate
Kid Dynamite says
Gillian Welch does Radiohead. No, come back.
Kid Dynamite says
RIP RODNEY
mrxsg says
This isn’t the Yacht Rock I ordered!
Baron Harkonnen says
The Velvet Underground covering Love`s `She Comes In Colours`.
Black Celebration says
For many years, Route 66 was the only cover version Depeche Mode performed – apart from “I Like It!” by Gerry and the Pacemakers in the early days.
Anyway, this led me to yet another very well done “fan” video. Some of them have more views than the official videos. I hadn’t seen this one before and it’s becoming a really interesting aspect of following yer Mode. There’s probably hundreds of them.
It seems to me that film students worldwide (if they are still called that) as part of their studies, might use a Depeche Mode song, borrow some of Anton Corbijn’s “moves” and submit that. So they get to the music via Corbijn.
bobness says
New Model Army do ZZ Top. And Chris Montez. Quite badly, it has to be said.
hubert rawlinson says
Caution contains bagpipes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpdGR7JYiLc
Kaisfatdad says
That was a treat Hubert. Admirable restraint from the piper too.
paulwright says
Obligatory Afterword Richard Thompson track – oops i did it again. I once saw him do Anarchy in the UK after someone shouted out for it.
hubert rawlinson says
Not forgetting Fairport covering The Lady is a Tramp, Thompson on vocals.
Deviant808 says
I bought the first Diana Vickers album for pennies as I liked “Once”, and then did a massive double-take when this came on.
https://youtu.be/czw5C_LZVnw
Bowie covering Pixies (“Cactus”) on “Heathen” was pretty unexpected too.