week...whatever...
it's been a little bit more than a few weeks since i last updated this. let me assure you that the problems with blogamp have since ceased (read comments below) and really it was about me catching up with my life. admittedly, mp3blogs are fun, but setting deadlines for myself, the shit became work. now it's back to fun.
this week i thought i'd set it off with some of my favorite cover tunes. if you don't like these versions of the songs, take it up with the performers, but in some cases, i prefer them to the originals.
1. Jimmy Eat World, "New Religion"
This track from Mojo Records' "Duran Duran Tribute Album" was a lost track in a sea of pop-punk and ska bands reworking other hit tunes such as "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Girls On Film" and "A View to Kill." "New Religion" is one of Duran Duran's lesser known songs and Arizona's finest give it their emotional makeover, complete with haunting harmonies and loud bridge. It's a definite precursor to their style on 2001's "Bleed American" and 2004's "Futures."
2. Mock Orange, "Only In Dreams"
Back in 2002, there were two Weezer tribute albums that came out, one with relatively unknown bands and one with fairly well known bands. The former had stronger tracks on it, yet was pretty hard to find, while the latter was released on a larger indie and no doubt pressed numerous copies based on the strength of who appeared on it. Mock Orange's version of the Weez's slow jam, "Only In Dreams" showed up on the latter comp via Dead Droid Records, "Rock Music: a Tribute to Weezer." In spite of other well known bands (Dashboard Confessional, Midtown, Piebald, Further Seems Forever, Elliot, The Ataris, The Stereo, Glasseater, etc.), "Only In Dreams" had the kind of pop appeal and romantic morose feeling that made the original tune so great. In many ways, I prefer this cover to the original, missing bass intro and all.
3. Pedro the Lion, "Metal Heart"
This originally appeared on Pedro's "Tour EP '04," a limited release collection of cover songs and old PTL standards. Here, David Bazan and T.W. Walsh take a stab at Cat Power's "Metal Heart" and are able to do it justice. At least a little bit, anyway.
Labels: Cat Power, Duran Duran, Jimmy Eat World, Mock Orange, Pedro the Lion, Weezer
week 7...
this week i was going to unearth tunage from my boyee (word to flavor flav)
just be (nee: corey ball), but i could find the discs that had his songs. next week, however, justice will prevail! for week seven, i offer some out-of-print video hits and some overlooked jams from the source's heyday.
1. Bush Babees, "The Love Song"/"Gravity"/"3 MC's"
Having dropped the "Da" from their collective moniker, as well as their relationship with industry little man, Jermaine Dupri, New York's Bush Babees rebounded in 1996 by being accepted into the Native Tongues Version 2.0 (which was pretty much De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Tribe Called Quest, D'angelo, The Roots, and almost all of Rawkus Records' NY rappers). The Ummah -- Jay Dee, Ali Shaheed, Questlove, and D'angelo -- produced a number of tracks on their sophomore album, "Gravity." Shawn J. Period and Pos from De La rounded out the rest. "The Love Song" with Mos Def was pretty much the only single from the record, but the other two tracks I added "Gravity" and "3 MC's" (featuring Q-Tip), should've been singles.
2. Capleton featuring Method Man, "Wings of the Morning (Dynamik Duo Remix)"
Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" is one of the most easily recognizable breaks. Marley Marl freaked it for the Juice Crew's "The Symphony" and the Black Crowes did some awful cover of it. In this track, dancehall selecta Capleton is joined by hot-Wu-member-at-the-time Method Man on a remix for his breakthrough U.S. single "Wings of the Morning." Ironically, Lil' Jon (yes THAT Lil' Jon) produced this song over 10 years ago, while we're all sort of scratching our heads now at the fact that Lil' Jon can actually produce a song that doesn't require looping shitty keyboard presets.
3. Luniz featuring Dru Down, Richie Rich, E-40, Shock G/Humpty Hump, Spice 1, "I Got 5 On It (Bay Ballas Vocal Remix)"
Posse cuts! One of the greatest things about hip-hop is just imagining the rappers you could pair up on one song and then having them come together for the love of money! Off the heels of such successful mid-90's posse cuts like "The Points," "Cowboys," and "Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)," Oakland's Luniz banded together some of the Yay Area's biggest rappers to appear on a bloated version of their weed anthem, "I Got 5 On It." Interestingly, there's a
video for this song that looks like the
"Flava In Ya Ear" video except that it's in color, but I suppose the concept of rappers rapping in a white room isn't really stretching the imagination too far.
4. Pedro the Lion, "Backwoods Nation"
Ah, it wouldn't be a hip-hop post without adding some David Bazan in the mix to spice it up, eh? This is probably one of the best Pedro the Lion songs and it doesn't appear on any proper album. I've only seen this performed once, at the album release party for "Control" where he performed the entire record from start to finish, tacking on this song at the end of their set. You can find this song on Jade Tree's "Location is Everything" sampler, but it's also been re-recorded for David Bazan's solo debut. I prefer this version, but the new version is just as haunting.
Labels: Bush Babees, Capleton, Luniz, Native Tongues, Pedro the Lion
