Under The Covers

“Great Things Are Covered” – Anonymous

Three more brilliant covers for today:

Duffy – Ready For The Floor (Hot Chip Cover) Great acoustic cover of Hot Chip’s mega-hit courtesy of the brilliant BBC Live Lounge Series.

Fall Out Boy – Beat It (Michael Jackson Cover ft. John Mayer; Studio Version) I love Michael Jackson and strongly believe that other artists should not even attempt to cover his songs. That said, I was surprisingly pleased with what Fall Out Boy (particularly Patrick Stump’s vocals) and John Mayer (on guitar) could pull together on this hard rock interpretation of the MJ classic.

This Is Ivy League – Crown Of Love (Arcade Fire) “Crown of Love” has always been one of my all-time favorite Arcade Fire tracks. For their interpretation, This Is Ivy League strips the song down and brings much more intimacy and attention to the beautiful and haunting lyrics.

Enjoy!

Under The Covers… With A Piano!

“Great Things Are Covered” – Anonymous

Three great songs today reinterpreted through a piano.

Gary Jules – Mad World (Tears For Fear Cover). An absolute MUST-OWN for everyone. Even the deaf. If you were one of those people who saw “Donnie Darko” sixteen times, this will be familiar.

Scissor Sisters – Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand Cover). Courtesy the BBC’s Live Lounge Series. This cover has been called “Elton John-y” (why? just because there’s a piano?). Anyway, it’s wonderful and fun.

Moby – Creep (Radiohead Cover). The definitive cover of a classic song from Radiohead’s early cataloge. Totally unexpected from Moby with a great  piano bar/martini lounge quality to it.

Enjoy!

Under The Covers

“Great Things Are Covered” – Anonymous

Random collection of three great covers today:

Antony & The Johnsons – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan Cover).  I’ve been a huge fan of A&TJ for a while now and I was still completely blown away at how gut-wrenchingly beautiful they made this song.  Instant favorite.

The Fray – Heartless (Kanye West Cover).  This one is hot off the presses and is definitely worth a listen.  The Fray attack this song with guitar while I think it may have been more interesting with a piano and while there is so. much. pain. in this song lyrically, I’m not sure I feel all of that pain in The Fray’s intrepetation.

Shirley Bassey – Get This Party Started (Pink Cover). We’ll end on a fun note. Ms. Bassey provides a predictable spin on this song but that’s not a criticism as she turns Pink’s fluffy Top 40 hit into something worthy of it’s own Bond film.

Enjoy!

Under The Covers: Wakey!Wakey!

“Great Things Are Covered” – Anonymous

Wakey!Wakey! (no space, two exclamation points) is NYC-based Mike Grubbs and his collection of string and horn players that create a really great sound, especially when led by Mike’s strong yet tender voice. Some of their best work comes, however, when it’s just Mike and a piano. They’re responsible for some of my favorite covers and even more amazingly, their label (Family Records) makes them all available for free online.

Wakey!Wakey! Wednesdays Covers Project

01. Apology Song (The Decemberists cover)
02. Two-Headed Boy Pt. 1 (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
03. Say It Ain’t So (Weezer cover)
04. Maps (YeahYeahYeahs cover)
05. California Girls (Beach Boys cover)
06. New Partner (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie cover)
07. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Live) (Cyndi Lauper cover)
08. No One (Alicia Keys cover) (right click/save as)
09. Letters Home (Joei DBG cover)
10. Everlong (Foo Fighters cover) (right click/save as)

Download the above as a zip file (right click and save as) or click here to download the tracks piecemeal.  I highly recommend, “No One” and “Everlong.”

Live At Bowery Ballroom

01. Brooklyn
02. Falling Apart
03. LGA
04. Blame You
05. Messy Girl
06. War Sweater
07. Crazy (Gnarls Barkley cover)
08. Away
09. Clinton Street Girl

Download the above as a zip file (right click and save as) or click here to download the tracks piecemeal.

Wakey!Wakey! – Silent As A Movie

01. Fallin’ Apart (streaming here)
02. Messy Girl
03. LGA
04. Take It Like A Man
05. Honey Covered Hand
06. Cokehead
07. Chaotic Masterpiece
08. Car Crash
09. The River’s Still ft. Casey Shea
10. War Sweater
11. Blame You

Buy Silent As A Movie here.

Also, courtesy the Wakey!Wakey! website the great original track Get Away (Here We Go Again) (right click/save as).

Check out the Wakey!Wakey! MySpace for tour dates, videos, and streaming versions of “Brooklyn” and “Falling Apart.”

Under The Covers

“Great Things Are Covered” – Anonymous

The Boy Least Likely To – Faith (George Michael Cover). I’m sorry, is that a banjo?  Oh yeah.

Ane Brun – True Colors (Cyndi Lauper Cover). Norwegian songstress’s achingly-beautiful piano-ballad version of the gay icon’s mega-hit.

Damien Rice – When Doves Cry (Prince Cover). Brilliant song, brilliantly covered with a lyrical interpolation from Led Zepplin’s ”Baby I’m Gonna Leave You.”

Under The Covers – UK Edition! [Updated]

“Great Things Are Covered”  - Anonymous

This should be the first of hopefully many posts highlighting some of my favorite covers.  In today’s Special UK Edition:

Lily Allen – Womanizer (Britney Spears Cover).  I’m not a huge Lily fan but she strips Womanizer down and gives it some great English sass.  Very nice.

Leona Lewis – Run (Snow Patrol Cover).  This a rather straight-forward interpretation but Leona’s voice does the original justice and the final product is beautiful.

George Michael – As (ft. Mary J. Blige; Stevie Wonder cover).  I wasn’t familiar with the Stevie Wonder original when I came across this version but I still think I prefer this one more: I really like Mary J.’s voice in this (it’s kinda rough!) and it’s got a gospel choir doing backing vocals! Woot!

Updated: Links fixed; my apologies.  Also, thanks to Sean for pointing me toward the fabulous “As” video: