Thursday, September 17, 2009

Covers Project Vol. IV

Another collection of cover versions. A lotta rock and power pop, salted with a few choice change-ups.

Songs From Under the Floorboards

1. The Films Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones)
2. Mick Medew & the Rumours Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones)
3. Luke Doucet & White Falcon The Lovecats (The Cure)
4. The Backsliders Keep A-Knockin' (Little Richard)
5. The Jayhawks Bad Time (Grand Funk)
6. The Hold Steady Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window (Bob Dylan)
7. Gigolo Aunts Why Can't This Be Love (Van Halen)
8. Jason Falkner Song From Under The Floorboards (Magazine)
9. Silver Sun Art School (The Jam)
10. The Donnas Roll On Down The Highway (Bachman Turner Overdrive)
11. Bazooka Jones Sugar Sugar (The Archies)
12. Willie Nile Police On My Back (Eddy Grant, by way of the Clash)
13. Sour Jazz Messin' With The Kid (The Saints)
14. Cobra Verde Rock 'n' Roll Queen (Mott the Hoople)
15. Dipsomaniacs A Million Miles Away (The Plimsouls)
16. The Dream Syndicate Let It Rain (Eric Clapton)
17. The Cribs Bastards of Young (The Replacements)
18. Bobby Bare Jr. Sister Golden Hair (America)
19. The Grays Outdoor Miner (Wire)
20. Fetchin' Bones Super Freak (Rick James)
21. The Replacements Gudbye T' Jane (Slade)
22. Rich Hope & His Evil Doers Stray Cat Blues (Rolling Stones)

13 comments:

Mark said...

Thanks for including us.

Roy Pearl said...

New Sour Jazz? Why don't people TELL me these things?

Mark said...

New Sour Jazz? 'American Seizure' is the new album, which came out in May. I think it's our best, but I'm sort of biased!

Roy Pearl said...

That's exactly what I mean! Out in May and I'm just learning about it now - I suppose I have no one to blame but myself. The new songs on your page sound awesome, btw.

Mark said...

Don't blame yourself... complete and total worldwide indifference seems to follow Sour Jazz all over the place. Not to plug it, but I think the cheapest way of buying a copy is direct from the label at www.acetate.com

And thanks very much for the kind words about the tracks you listened to online... that's always VERY cool to hear!

Roy Pearl said...

Total worldwide indifference seems to have followed every band I've ever loved, dating back to the moment in '73 when the Dolls, Iggy, and Mott the Hoople smacked me right between the ears. It seems that real rock 'n' roll was never fated to meet mainstream acceptance. Its brief moments of victory - the initial late 50s rush, the 60s cultural revolution, the late 70s punk rebellion, the early 90s month of pre-grunge alternative - were all happy accidents, oddly misrepresented in the larger market as trends and subsequently watered-down and co-opted almost as quickly as they appeared. I kinda see it more like there's a continuum of rock 'n' roll tradition, a direct line, that stays underground until those moments when the mainstream culture mistakes it for something else, a coincidence of fashion or something. The great bands are usually made up entirely of iconoclasts, making music for iconoclasts - and that's just too hard to market in one blanket phrase or fashion. For better or worse, Sour Jazz is part of that continuum (and I thank you for it).

Also, I went to the Acetate site. Very cool that you share a label with Prima Donna. Their album topped my year-end list last year.

Mark said...

You sure said a mouthful, and you're not wrong on any point. It always struck me as something of a weird fluke when, in the early 70s, absolutely great bands made it to the top of the UK charts... bands like T.Rex, The Sweet and Slade... and it never really happened again. Then again, maybe it did happen again, but never again in line with my own personal tastes.

As for Prima Donna, yeah, I'm a fan. I never heard them until a few months ago when I saw them supporting Eddie & The Hot Rods. They really took my head off, and I've been digging the album ever since. Nothing truly original, I suppose, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with sonic "comfort food"!

By the way, many thanks for all the Diamond Dogs stuff... never even heard of them, but I love the tracks you posted. More sonic comfort food, really, but then again, I always have loads of time for that sort of thing!

Roy Pearl said...

Oh mang, the subject of sonic comfort food could start me off on a real rant. In recent years I've really rejected the idea that originality is a virtue unto itself. I think it's much more effective for a band to tap into the depth and profundity within the rock tradition than it is to challenge that tradition with tape loops, toy whistles, and field noises. And I've become more and more militant over the notion that honest simplicity (or simple honesty) is the hardest thing to achieve in any art. In a way, the truest words ever spoken on the subject: it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

Glad you dug the Diamond Dogs! I only discovered them within the last couple of years myself. They're from Sweden, debuted in '94, and I'm not sure why or how they've remained such a secret here in North America. Anyway, such discoveries are exactly what I'm hoping this blog will accomplish - there's just so much great music out there that doesn't get heard.

Mark said...

Contemporary rock music has lost its way to such a degree that if think I can even detect what the appeal of a band might be, that's enough for me... if I actually like it, that's a bonus!

Are you at all hep to either The Flaming Stars or The Jim Jones Revue? You'd probably dig both.

Roy Pearl said...

Oh yeah! I totally love the Jim Jones Revue. When I first heard them I remarked "sweet jebus, I've been waiting for this sound my whole life." Amp'd up, hyper-aggro Little Richard? Gimme dat.

And Flaming Stars are all kindsa cool. I included their version of the Boys "Brickfield Nights" on one of the earlier covers mixes. Their "Sunset & Void" album is aces too.

BTW - your song "I Like The City" was a big hit on an early mix. A fair number of people remarked on it being their fave.

Mark said...

The Jim Jones Revue make Little Richard sound like Perry Como! Jim played guitar on a track off our new one... it was a hell of an honor to have him join in.

Glad to hear that 'I Like The City' was well received, That was us simultaneously ripping off Iggy's 'The Passenger' and The Clash's 'Tommy Gun'!

By the way, preposterous as it may seem, have you heard the new album from that band Jet? The title's 'Shaka Rock.' It surprisingly good.

Roy Pearl said...

haha - I can hear Iggy in "I Like the City", but not sure about "Tommy Gun". Thing that totally MAKES that song for me is that evil riff - most bands would've rushed the tempo, but you guys swagger rather than run, and the result is pure sonic sleaze. I can visualize the tawdry neon reflected in wet pavement just by cuing up the sucker.

I haven't nabbed the new Jet yet, although it doesn't surprise me that it's decent. I saw them on their first N.A. tour (with Kings of Leon opening) in a tiny club, and those doods already seemed bar-hardened. Thanks for the rec!

Roy Pearl said...

Oh - and VERY cool about Jim Jones appearing on "American Seizure". I'll let you know when I get a copy!