Top 10 Unlikely Covers

I'm a big fan of artists stepping out of their comfort zone - or maybe it's really our comfort zone - and covering a song that would seem to be out of their bailiwick. Exploiting what could be called the "sincerity gap," wherein a song that seems kind of like a joke is given a new level of emotion, is often a key to success. For exhibit A see number one on my list of Top Ten Unlikely Covers. What are your favorites?

Aztec Camera - Jump Maybe I suck because this is my favorite Aztec Camera recording and I know they are a bit of a sacred cow. I'm a big Van Halen fan (DLR years only!) so I was delighted to hear a completely different approach to the splashy, synth-driven MTV monster that was Jump. The best thing about this was the absolute lack of irony. Something tells me Roddy Frame likes VH as much as I do. Still waiting on that Hot For Teacher cover.

Natalie Prass - Caught Up In The Rapture

As I noted in my review of her show at Bowery Ballroom last year, the Spacebomb chanteuse is a sucker for slinky R&B. On this version of the Anita Baker smash from 1986, she put her mouth where her moneymaker is. Wait, that didn't come out right...just listen.

Sly & The Family Stone - Que Sera Sera
After There's A Riot Going On Sly's rep started going downhill, with blown concerts and "unreliable" behavior alienating fans, critics, and collaborators. He didn't necessarily help his cause by covering a song made famous by Doris Day, sung here by sister Rose Stone. But when he wails on the chorus, it sounds like he means every word. 

The Wailers - Sugar Sugar
While the Monkees were a fake rock group that became real, The Archies, being cartoons, never had that opportunity. They weren't bad, they were just drawn that way. But the songs were real enough and Sugar Sugar was as good as any other bubblegum song. After all, Jeff Barry wrote most of the songs for the real groups, too. But when The Wailers put it to a hip-swiveling rocksteady groove it took on a different connotation. A couple of years later Bob was singing about Marcus who had candy tar all over his chocolate bar in Kinky Reggae - wonder where he got that idea?

Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
This is firmly in the Aztec Camera camp. You can just tell that Thom Yorke thinks this classic James Bond theme by Carly Simon is a fabulous song. He really gives it his all and it helps that it fits his voice like a glove. I wonder if there's a studio recording of this somewhere in the Radiohead archives.

Emmylou Harris - May This Be Love
We probably have Daniel Lanois to thank for getting Emmylou to explore this deep cut from Are You Experienced? No matter whose idea it was, it is just gorgeous and invites a whole new understanding of Hendrix's songcraft. 

The Isley Brothers - Love The One You're With
By 1970, The Isley Brothers had earned the right to do pretty much whatever they wanted, having had their first hit in 1959. Still, one would not have pegged them to be Stephen Stills fans. One thing that's cool about their version is that they play it fairly straight, adding just a little grit to the original, which was already little funky, and reveling in the harmonies.

Hole - Credit In The Straight World
There is something so self-contained, even precious, about the one album released by Young Marble Giants, that until I heard this it was unimaginable that someone would cover one of their songs. It was a canny choice for Hole, however, as it fit their sound nicely while also providing some more melodic colors to Live Through This. It was also a nice bit of curation and likely introduced many people to the genius of YMG.

Yo La Tengo - Friday I'm In Love
While my favorite Yo La Tengo usually involves Ira Kaplan wailing on his guitar, they do have a nice sideline in covers, exemplified by their lovely folk-rock take on this 90's classic. The original version by The Cure seemed a little unlikely as well, pushing Robert Smith and co. toward the environs of shimmering pop.

The Staples Singers - Slippery People

While the lyrical content of the Talking Heads song might seem a little more oblique than the average gospel song, there was no doubt about the origin of those call and response vocals. The Staples Singers were already legends when they put this out but their cover version reawakened interest in their career for a whole new audience. In any case, Mavis Staples must have really connected with the song as she still performs it regularly.

Bonus Cut:

Freddie Hubbard - Cold Turkey
Here's one from another side of the aisle. Jazz musicians covering pop songs goes back to at least the 30's and we even had folks like Ramsay Lewis giving the treatment to Beatles songs in the late 60's. But hearing hard-charging Miles Davis protege Hubbard take on John Lennon's heroin-withdrawal nightmare of a song has a bit more of a frisson than the usual pop-jazz stylings you would expect. Unlike some other songs in this vein, I doubt this was a bid for pop success!

Unfortunately, even in today's streaming-centric world, there is no one place that I could find that had complete versions of all these songs. This YouTube playlist is the best I could do...What are your favorites?

Best Of 15: Out Of The Past

With year's end visible on the horizon, it's time to take stock of what the last (nearly) 12 months have delivered musically. As always, new music had to contend with a fusillade of sounds from the past: reissues, compilations, live albums, and the like. One trend that shows no signs of stopping is the juggernaut of super-deluxe packages, which perhaps reached it's apotheosis in the limited-edition 18 disc version of Bob Dylan's The Cutting Edge, which contains every note the Bard of Hibbing played in the studio during 1965 and 1966. 

Dylan's Bootleg Series has established itself as quality endeavor befitting a singular talent so hopefully this is not a bloated equivalent to Having Fun With Elvis On Stage. I'll probably never know, however, as there are likely 5,000 other people that will be able to afford the $600 before I can. There's also a two disc version and a six disc version that are worth investigating depending on your level of engagement. I will say that based on what I've heard, I'm not sure The Cutting Edge is as essential as Live 1975 and Tell Tale Signs, two Bootleg Series entries that I've played to death. 

More information on the Dylan release and other classic rock super-deluxe stuff from the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and those four lads from Liverpool can be found at The Second Disc, the definitive blog about reissues. Tell them AnEarful sent you.

Moving on...

Dreams of England As I drifted home from an extraordinary night of hearing The Clientele in a special appearance at the Bell House last year, it occurred to me that the band's remarkable career called out for a compilation album of some sort. So, prayers answered, as this year saw the release of Alone And Unreal: The Best of the Clientele, which contains a concise chronological overview of their career, right up to On A Summer Trail, the one-off single they released last year. It's a nearly perfect introduction, showing much of their range. But the fact is they never released a bad song so if you like what you hear follow through on their albums. A nice bonus is the download of The Sound Of Young Basingstoke, a series of proto-Clientele songs by an earlier version of the group. It's a wonderfully hazy set, the germ of the idea put forth on their mature records. 

The Clientele may be unsung but Michael Head & The Strands were very nearly unheard. I was vaguely aware of them in 1998 when their one and only album came out. But how to hear it? It was gone before I had a chance. Now, The Magical World Of The Strands has been reissued and is magically available on all services, leaving me envious of all who have been enjoying it all these years. The Magical World... Is a semi-pastoral Brit-folk song cycle with a touch of Forever Changes psychedelia and Nick Drake melancholia. In short, a classic - welcome back for the very first time. 

California X-Ray Speaking of Forever Changes, there's another Love reissue from High Moon Records, the same people who lovingly resurrected Black Beauty. Unlike that previously unreleased album, however, Reel To Real, was put out by RSO and was meant to be a bid for pop success in 1974. It's Arthur Lee and Love's funkiest album, with horns, clavinet, backup singers, the whole bit. But Lee was always on the real (not the reel) so it can't help but be an x-ray of all of his frustrations and disappointments. For example, there's an almost verbatim cover of William DeVaughn's Be Thankful (For What You've Got) that was apparently a spontaneous moment in the studio. It's convincing enough and shows off Lee's versatility, but also seems somewhat pointless. There's no way his soundalike was going to muscle DeVaughn off the charts. There's also a re-recording of Singing Cowboy that's pretty good but lacks the fire of the original on Four Sail. He insisted on including an irritating gunshot sound effect on You Said You Would that Makes me never want to hear it again. 

But those are just the few low points and oddities. The first half of the record is very strong. Time Is Like A River opens the album in an expansive and soulful way with distinctive horns arranged by Lee, a bit like an uptempo Hi Records number by O.V. Wright. The groove continues from there, with a touch of gospel on Stop The Music and hard funk on Who Are You? And keep listening - while the path to the bonus cuts may be rocky, there are four outtakes that are stronger than You Said You Would and the DeVaughn cover. In the end, it seems that Lee could still put it down but could have used a bit more self-belief. 

Live Legends It's a crazy world where a burning live album by Bob Marley comes out and barely anyone notices. The title, Easy Skanking In Boston 78, probably didn't help. It's actually not a relaxed album at all, with The Wailers tighter than a bank vault and Bob leaning in with revolutionary fervor. You feel satisfied with Live! and Babylon By Bus? Guess again. 

At least Live At The Fillmore East, featuring two ridiculously energetic Sly & The Family Stone concerts from 1968, got more notice. It's a more than fitting way to celebrate Sly winning back $5 million in royalties earlier this year or to mourn the recent passing of Cynthia Robinson, the exuberant trumpet-blowing heart of the band. It will also get the party started - and finish it, too.

As I tried to process the seismic ripples of the death of Dieter Moebius earlier this year I was pleasantly surprised to come across the reissue of Cluster's USA Live. Recorded on tour in 1996 (how did I miss that?), this is a series of involving and atmospheric improvisations each named for where it was recorded. While I wouldn't mind some of the playfulness of landmark works like Rastakraut Pasta and Grosses Wasser, there is an enjoyable dissonance to hearing sleek electronic music named after Eugene, Oregon. If you're unfamiliar with these Krautrock avatars you may want to start with those earlier albums or the absolutely brilliant Cluster & Eno.

Folk-ish Any new entry in Light In The Attic's Michael Chapman series is to be celebrated. Window, his third album, may be the slightest of his first four with one too many throw-away sing-alongs and wayward jams. But his wry voice, bruised-but-unbowed attitude, and sweet picking more than carry the day. The story goes that he meant to re-record the guitar parts after some time on the road, but it's hard to imagine them getting better. I'm not a Richard Thompson fan (sorry) but anybody who is, or who loves other British folk, should catch up with Chapman.

While Sam Beam has moved far beyond the hushed bedroom recordings of early Iron & Wine, it's still a template that hasn't been exhausted. Archives Volume 1 features more home-recordings from the same time that he made The Creek Drank The Cradle, his debut. These songs are even more hushed than those, creating a singular mood. Perhaps a bit too singular, as that mood doesn't vary much over 16 songs, but it's still a must for anyone who has taken comfort from Beam's musical journey.

Electric Eclectic Eccentrics John Foxx was quick to jump on the electronic rock possibilities posited by David Bowie's Berlin albums, releasing the near-classic Metamatic in 1980. 20th Century:The Noise covers his career from 1980-1998, mainly through the prism of rare and unreleased tracks. He's still going, so this is good way to get up to speed.

Adrian Sherwood is one of the great English producers, especially known for his devastating way with dub. Sherwood At The Controls: 1979-1984 compiles his era-defining post punk tracks like Hungry So Angry by Medium Medium or Man Next Door by The Slits, which means it's essential.

The Whole World Dances Some of the funkiest reissues in 2015 had a touch of what used to be called the "exotic." Take Rim Arrives/International Funk by Rim Kwaku Obeng, for example. Obeng was a successful Ghanian percussionist when he was invited to the U.S. by Quincy Jones. A series of reversals led to him being stranded in California, which eventually turned into an opportunity to record his debut, and most of it is Afro-disco gold. If you think Soul Makossa has been a bit overplayed, this is still guaranteed fresh. Then there's 1973-1980 by Amara Touré, a senegalese keyboard player who recorded very infrequently during those years. Analog Africa has done us all a favor by compiling these compelling tracks, especially the first seven, which were recorded with Ensemble Black & White. The songs from 1980, backed by L'Orchestre Massako, are a bit slick for my taste but decide for yourself. 

Like many African musicians, Touré took inspiration from the sounds of Cuba, sounds which became a global sensation with the release of Buena Vista Social Club in 1997. After a live album and many solo albums by Buena Vista stars, we may have finally reached the end of the line with Lost & Found, a collection of live takes and unreleased studio recordings that has more than enough charm to justify its existence. 

For a more indigenous American invitation to the dance, look no further than Disco 2: A Further Fine Selection of Independent Disco, Modern Soul and Boogie 1976-80, another essential compilation from Soul Jazz. Trust me, you will get on the floor if this is spinning. 

A Last Love Supreme When I bought John Coltrane's A Love Supreme for $3.99 on CD years ago, at first I felt triumphant. Then I felt like the cheap nice-price packaging somehow did not do justice to a work that was so much a part of the sax giant's spiritual journey. Now we have A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters, a three CD set with extensive notes, alternate takes, and a live performance originally released in 2002. While a few of the extras are somewhat negligible this nicely done set will give A Love Supreme pride of place in your collection, which is exactly how it should be.

Have a listen to the playlist and keep me in the loop on any music from the past that gave you a blast!



There were also several killer reggae reissues this year, but I'll cover those in an upcoming Reggae & Hip Hop edition of the Best Of 15. 

Coming next: Best Of 15: The Top 20.

Out Of The Past 2013: Reissues, Etc.

Just a few of 2013's notable reissues

You don't have to be an industry pundit to know that the music business is in transition (if you're an optimist) or in deep trouble (pessimist). Whatever the case, and whatever the motivation, record companies have grown more and more adept at creating objects of desire in the form of super-deluxe box sets. A-list critics must be drowning in gorgeously produced limited editions, filled with smart liner notes, unseen photos and unreleased music. For those of us who pay for most of their music, many of these items are out of reach, although we can dip a toe in on Spotify and other streaming services. So I will not be going in depth about the latest Bob Dylan Bootleg Series entry ($96), Harry Nilsson's Complete RCA albums ($86), The Band live at The Academy of Music ($76), Skydog, the comprehensive Duane Allman anthology ($85), or volume one of Jack White's exhumation of Paramount Records ($500). I will say that what I've heard of these has ranged from illuminating to revelatory and some of them may yet find a home in my collection.

The Beatles were also on sale again, with a new volume of BBC recordings. Let's just say that I'm on an accelerated schedule when it comes to that material and if you like the Fabs you'll want to grab what I am sure is a beautifully executed selection.

Here are the catalog items I did spend time with, some of which have been overlooked as 2013 ground to a halt. Later, I'll let you in on a secret source of free (and legal) MP3's, which is one way I've kept up.

Bobby Whitlock - Where There's A Will There's A Way: The ABC-Dunhill Recordings Bobby is an ace keyboard player and singer who took a back seat to Duane Allman and Eric Clapton in Derek & The Dominoes but who provided a jolt of energy and passion to the legendary proceedings. This fantastic set from Light In The Attic compiles his first two solo albums and is a blast of 70's goodness. The cast is beyond star-studded (George Harrison, Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Jim Gordon, even the Edwin Hawkins Singers) and the music combines blues, folk, country and soul in a way that will be familiar to fans of Layla, All Things Must Pass and Dave Mason's Alone Together, and many of the songs can hold their own in that illustrious company. Some reviews of this reissue have come down on Bobby for being emotionally profligate - he doesn't hold back - but to me he just sings as though there's something very real at stake and I believe every growling syllable.

Michael Chapman - Wrecked Again Like the above, this is another public service from Light In The Attic and their third Chapman reissue. A genius acoustic guitarist whose voice might be an acquired taste, Chapman's early stuff has interesting overlaps with pre-Ziggy Bowie. On Wrecked Again, he broadened the palette significantly, working with Space Oddity arranger Paul Buckmaster on several songs. When the strings and horns swooped in on the title track, I was admittedly surprised, even though I knew they were coming. However, repeated listens caused everything to gel beautifully. On that song, the orchestration serves as a hedge against Chapman's self-lacerating refrain "Oh, Michael, what have you done," while an epic like Fennario is just made more so thanks to Buckmaster. if you like you folk-rock acerbic and British, get Wrecked Again with Michael Chapman.

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Coming out around the time of Lou Reed's death, this lavish and deep reissue was another reminder of why we all cared so much. The Velvets come on like a supercharged rhythm & blues band on the third disc, which features a complete concert taped on East 71st street a few months before they recorded the album. In a flash I understood why The Yardbirds were the first group to cover a VU song. And then, as Sister Ray seemed to condense into a black hole of musique concrete, it was hard to imagine the two bands were even from the same planet. The remastering is perfect, the visuals gorgeous, and the essays, featuring new insights from Reed, John Cale and Moe Tucker, make for great reading. "No one listened to it," Reed said, "But there it is, forever - the quintessence of articulate punk. And no one goes near it." A landmark reissue.

Pierre Boulez - Oeuvres Completes - Complete Works Sometimes sparkling, sometimes challenging, always rewarding, the music of Boulez is essential listening. This collection, drawn from several labels and cheekily subtitled "Work In Progress," features pretty much everything the 88 year old composer is satisfied with at this point.

Sly & The Family Stone - Higher A long time coming and very nearly gives the full measure of the man and band.

Elvis Presley - Elvis At Stax After listening to this thorough investigation of the music Elvis recorded at Stax in 1973, I am more convinced than ever that calling him the King Of Rock & Roll does him a disservice. It's far too limiting - he's more like the king of American song. Comprising funk, folk, pop, balladry and rock & roll, when assembled together, these sessions prove that Elvis was at a peak of talent and engagement. Some of the alternate takes are superior to the released versions, with Elvis cruising to victory over his crack band. Note that it is his band and not Booker T. & The MG's - he wasn't THAT adventurous. These sessions were his last sustained work in the studio in his legendary career and, while not all the material is top-notch, Elvis At Stax is further proof that when given his head, there was no one better.

The Miles Davis Quintet - Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 Speaking of giants of American music, Sony Legacy follows up Vol. 1 with another spectacular release. Worth it just for the DVD of this short-lived band onstage.

Rodion G.A. - Lost Tapes This Strut compilation features the wild and wonderful (and occasionally wayward) music Rodion Rosca recorded between 1978 and 1983, never before released sounds of young electronic Romania. Think you've heard it all? You're so wrong.

Killing Joke - The Singles Collection 1979-2012 Even if you can't find the three disc version (with demos and rare tracks), this overview of the unstoppable post-punk band is fairly definitive. For now.

Buffalo Daughter - Rediscover. Best. Re-Recordings And Remixes Everyone knows the 90's are back, so what better time to delve into the witty and Krautrock-infused sounds of this Japanese trio? First heard on these shores via the Beastie Boys's Grand Royal label, this collection will bring you up to speed on some really fun stuff.

Finally, a word about Jimi Hendrix. While I wish his half-sister Janie seemed to be a nicer person, there is no doubt that she helped last year be a banner year for the ultimate guitar hero. People, Hell & Angels collected a dozen studio tracks Hendrix recorded at various times and places without the Experience. While some of the remastering is slightly aggressive, the songs burst out of the speakers, crackling with fire and life. If this is indeed the last new release of unreleased Hendrix studio material, it's a more than worthy ending point. 

2013 also saw the release of Hear My Train a Coming, a lovingly produced documentary made in collaboration between the Hendrix family and PBS's American Masters. Featuring spectacular live footage and a wealth of new interviews, it's hard to imagine bettering this film. Show it to anyone who doesn't understand - and even those who think they do. The DVD has some great bonus features, including footage filmed at the New York Pop Festival and the Love & Peace Festival in Germany - his last ever performance. There's also a generous selection from the Miami Pop Festival, which is also the subject of its own release including a complete set from the 1968 concert. The Experience burn their way through a mostly standard setlist, heavy on Are You Experienced? material. However, there was rarely anything standard about a Hendrix concert and there are many inspired and transcendent moments. 

Make sure you watch this performance of Foxey Lady all the way to the end. Hendrix dishes out a number of dazzling effects to finish off the song - scraping the strings, abusing the whammy bar, swinging the guitar against the mic stand, and pounding the strings with his fist. His expression of wicked delight is something to see and a perfect capper to a great year in reissues.

Out Of The Past 2013: Reissues, Etc. from Murgatroyd on 8tracks Radio.

Now, about those free MP3's…Do you have a library card? Then you are entitled to access Freegal Music and download three tracks each week. Is there more than one library card in your household? Do the math - and tell them AnEarful sent you.

Multiplicities Of Genius, Part 2: Sly Stone

Am I the only one who felt a slight sinking sensation upon realizing that Scorcese's brilliant film about Dylan, No Direction Home, was not going to go past 1966? One would think that by 2007, it was time to see Dylan's sixties work in context with the rest of his legendary career, which includes over 25 albums since 1970. I'm as capable of fetishizing the sixties as anyone else, but in the case of some of the music legends that came out of that time, it actually diminishes them to confine them to one era.

Sly Stone is another such genius. While his post-Woodstock career is nothing like Dylan's, his later work still deserves to be assessed and not dismissed, as it often has been. In the early 90's a friend sent me an import CD of Fresh, Sly & The Family Stone's album from 1973. Sony/Columbia/Epic had not deigned to include the gold-selling record that contained If You Want Me To Stay and In Time in their first round of CD issues. Why? "Too funky," my friend opined. "Too personal," I thought. Small Talk (also a gold record) and High On You, from 1974 and 1975, were also left out in the cold, along with the three albums that followed. Whatever the reason for the revisionism there has been a gradual correction, if an incomplete one, to the official canon. A huge step in the right direction was made in 2007 when Epic/Legacy put out a box set of the first seven albums, newly mastered and featuring bonus tracks.

It was a delight to hear beautifully prepared releases of Fresh and Small Talk, and to have a real opportunity to consider them in relation to Sly's more lauded work. Even considering the travails caused by his personal problems and addictions, he managed to keep the quality up. While the later albums didn't always innovate on a sonic level, they certainly held their own against the likes of Kool & The Gang and the Ohio Players, to mention just two of Sly's progeny. For the deep fan, however, there was still that twinge: What about High On You (represented only by a demo of Crossword Puzzle tacked on to the end of Small Talk) and the other albums? Shouldn't we have the opportunity, with an artist of Sly's stature (and one who has sold millions of records) to grasp the whole achievement?

Well, now another step has been taken, with the release of Higher, the lavishly packaged four CD set, which includes some pre-Family Stone work and goes right up through Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back, the last Sly album on Epic before he decamped to Warner Bros. There's also 17 unreleased tracks, including a few spectacular live performances, and many of the most famous songs are issued in their mono single masters for the first time on CD. There are some real gems among the rare material, like Remember, a swaggering blues that came out of a collaboration with Billy Preston (Free Funk from his Wildest Organ In Town is his version), and You're The One, a hit for Little Sister and performed furiously by the Family Stone on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1973.

The live material from The Isle Of Wight festival is also stellar, but some of the newly unearthed material is strictly for bragging rights, such as a number of so-so instrumentals. There's a telling remark by drummer Greg Errico appended to one of them in the book included in the set: "These aren't instrumentals per se; they are tracks before the vocals were added," and that weren't completed for one reason or another. While the instrumentals aren't that memorable in their current form, they do serve to throw into relief the brilliance of Sly's lyrics, vocal melodies and arrangements. As for the classic material, much of it is well-chosen, although I would argue against including the nearly 14 minute Sex Machine (from the Stand! album), which I've always found leaden. The valuable real estate it occupies could have made room for two or three more songs from the final three albums, represented here by six songs in total, or accommodated one or two cuts from Back On The Right Track, Sly's first album for Warner Bros., such as the wry groove of The Same Thing (Makes You Laugh, Makes You Cry) or It Takes All Kinds.

On the whole, while the true fan will want all the complete albums as well, Higher comes closer than anything else to displaying the breadth of Sly's achievement. The book includes a decent essay, song by song descriptions with many quotes from band members (including Sly), and a timeline, along with great photos of the group and associated memorabilia. If you can find it, the "Amazon exclusive" version of the set is highly recommended as it comes with a bonus disc including six more tracks, including Sittin' On My Fanny from 1975.

While the essay does mention the "excess, strain, and recklessness which sometimes follow fame," there is no visual representation of the darker side of Sly's life. I have often wondered what it looked like as he made There's A Riot Going On, a dark murky album that still managed to produce three or four hit singles. I'll have to keep looking because all the pictures in the book show Sly smiling and seemingly in full command of the situation. This makes it easy to avoid thinking deeply about why Sly fell victim to drugs - was it just brain chemistry and opportunity, or could he feel the walls closing in as the culture's definition of him as a cartoonish avatar of sixties optimism grew more and more sealed? I believe that until we address questions like that head on, we will not be taking Sly's full measure with all the love and compassion deserved by someone who has brought the world so much joy and insight.