the news from radioland

[truepenny]

So, if I have a secret, useless superpower, it is obviously the power of attracting weird-ass covers simply by turning the radio on. I've heard "Always Something There To Remind Me" done as an opera aria, a (ghastly) acoustic version of "In Your Eyes," more bizarre Beatles covers than I even want to think about. I turn on the radio, and odds are good there will be a weird cover playing.

But my new favorite is the one I found today: a Canadian bluegrass band doing Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time."

Comments

[larryhammer]

You do know about the bluegrass cover of Pink Floyd's The Wall, yes? Complete double album in banjos.

---L.

[rusty76.livejournal.com]

http://www.sabbatum.com/sound?sess=018298aad6fac3164dce554eb455b744

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Sabbatum rocks!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

That sounds kind of nice, actually.

My favorite cover is Roger Taylor (of Queen) singing Dylan's "Masters of War." Then again, I like MOST Dylan covers that have singers who can, you know, sing.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

If you come to see us, we can expose you to the Leningrad Cowboys' march version of "Yellow Submarine". It's amazing what you can do to rock'n'roll with a top class Russian male voice choir. And we'll throw in Masters of Chant at no additional fee...

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I think my only positive memory of MTV is the year the Leningrad Cowboys performed at the MTV Music Awards, doing "Sweet Home Alabama," with all those middle-aged Russian military guys just grinning from ear to ear while they sang.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

They rock so much. I do not wish to wear a quiff, however.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Leningrad Cowboys! Woo!

Did you ever get to see their live concert movie? A friend of mine in the DC area has it--she's a big fan. It is thanks to her I know who they are.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen the concert movie, though I own the original Leningrad Cowboys Go America; have yet to manage to get hold of a copy of Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, either.

I did however have the great good luck to see them live - though sans choir - in Heidelberg in 1994. At which point I got one of my most treasured t-shirts, and the double CD which I think is the soundtrack of that concert film. The concert was amazing. They came on stage illuminated only in UV, with skeletons painted over their suits in fluorescent dye, and opened with "Voodoo Chile" in the dark.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I've only seen Leningrad Cowboys Go America, too. It was a formative experience.

I did however have the great good luck to see them live - though sans choir - in Heidelberg in 1994.

Wow! That must have been cool. I got to see Parliament Funkadelic once, but even that, I think, is not as cool as having seen Leningrad Cowboys.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

The one thing I really regret about that is not having pinched one of the posters, which were a glorious mock up of the front page of Pravda with the Cowboys logo - your standard Lenin pin with the addition of enormous quiff and shades, the which I have as pin and also as t-shirt - in place of Lenin, and a long convoluted explanation of how this all came about by virtue of senior Russian generals got into frinking contests with Finns.

[rusty76.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Hayseed Dixie (http://www.hayseed-dixie.com/index.html), too.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Also worth a mention in the bluegrass/C+W cover direction are The Joshua Trio, who covered quite a lot of early-90s U2 - their version of "The Fly" was atop ten hit in Ireland IIRC. ISTR their wanting to call an album Oy Vey Baby, but am not sure if anything ever came of it.

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Many wonderful bad covers (http://www.aprilwinchell.com/multimedia/) and more other weird stuff than you could shake an ent at. I recommend the 'Stairway to Heaven' covers in particular.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

I've actually heard that! I was flipping around the radio, listened for a moment and went, "WTF??"

[wardo68.livejournal.com]

There's a hilarious take of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" as remodeled by the Bad Livers (I think).

[lizardek.livejournal.com]

The worst one playing all over the vast Europop wasteland that is Swedish radio is the Westlife cover of Barry Manilow's Mandy. HELP!

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Don't forget covers that are so weird they're actually good.

Dred Zeppelin, for instance, (a reggae band fronted by an Elvis impersonator) doing their classic "Black Dog/Hound Dog" medley.

Or the Best. Cover. Ever. - "Hibernian Rhapsody," De Danann's straight-up Irish instrumental version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", with pennywhistle, fiddle, accordian, etc. This one almost caused me to drive off the road once ... I've seen a reviewer describe it as " pure genius, pure cheek, and some would say pure sacrilege."

[srallen.livejournal.com]

I'm an acappella addict and there's something wonderfully satisfying about hearing collegiate groups doing pop hits with their voices. Even to the point of enjoying the covers more than the original.

So who's this bluegrass band?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Blue Mule, I think the radio-guy said. But I was driving and he was mumbling, so I'm not 100% sure.

[srallen.livejournal.com]

Hey, it's a start. Grazie :)

Not a boring superpower, anyway

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

I'm especially fond of Camper Van Beethoven's cover of Fleetwod Mac's Tusk -- they covered not just the song, the whole damn album (two-record set).

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Word has it that Victoria Beckham, Posh Spice as was, is about to release a version of the Beatles' 'Come Together'.
Inappropriate versions or places: the muzak version of 'Another Brick in the Wall (We don't need no educayshon)', and the lounge pianist at the Savoy Hotel tinkling the ivories for the tea-time crowd with 'House of the Rising Sun'.