Elvis Presley - Also Sprach Zarathustra/CC Rider Dallas Memorial Auditorium 1976 "Dead Cat Bounce" is a financial term for a stock that sees a slight rise in price before its eventual fall into the gutter. I can think of no better way to describe Elvis' 1976 show in Dallas.
Under the direction of the soulless Paul Schaffer and with the help of original Stax session men Donald "Duck" Dunn, Steve Cropper, and Willie Hall the Blues Brothers played a mixed bag of cover tunes, always acknowledging their sources when played live. At their best, the Blues Brothers made you feel like you had been invited to a Saturday Night Live after party, exposing you to some great soul music and encouraging you to seek out the original tunes. At their worst, the Blues Brothers played coked-up obliterations of some truly great music. So, here are some of the originals, featured in Briefcase Full of Blues, and the soundtrack to their first movie.
The Mountain Goats - The Sign (Ace of Base) This song began my recent love affair with the Mountain Goats
The Puppini Sisters - Walk Like an Egyptian (Bangles) After hearing this you'll swear that the Bangles were actually covering an old Andrews Sister tune.
The Minutemen - Ain't Talking About Love (Van Halen) Most of my favorite cover songs are complete re-interpretations of songs I know well. The Minutemen don't re-interpret this great song of Van Halen's first album, as much as they distill it from three minutes and forty seconds, to well, forty seconds. And that's all the Minutemen ever really needed. eh? Note: for an example of just how bad cover compilations can get, just listen to this version of the same song.
Rasputina - Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin) One word: cellos. Unholy Trio - Bring the Noise (Public Enemy) This just beats out the Gourds "Gin and Juice" for the title of "Best Redneck Cover of Iconic Hip Hop." I hate to ruin the surprise, but listen for "Dixie" in the middle of a Public Enemy song.
Occidental Brothers Dance Band International - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order) Almost as good as this steel drum version of Joy Division's Transmission.
Easy Star All Stars feat. Toots Hibbert - Let Down (Radiohead) Most cover compilations don't work. They're often reggae or bluegrass versions stretched too thin to cover an entire band or genre. Somehow the Easy Star All Stars have gotten it right, covering three whole albums: Dark Side of the Moon, Sergeant Peppers, and OK Computer. "A Reggae version of OK Computer?", you ask. I have no idea how they did it, but it works. This is my favorite track, featuring my favorite reggae performer, Toots.
Nostalgia 77 - Seven Nation Army (White Stripes) This song is all about the pauses
The Holmes Brothers - I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick) The Holmes Brothers take this song so far away from the pop we're used to hearing from at Budokan and turn it into a beautiful love song.
Corinne Bailey Rae - Since I've Been Loving You (Led Zeppelin) Makes Robert Plant sound like he's faking it, which he kinda was on this song off Zeppelin III
Huge kudos to http://coverfreak.com/ for providing a good number of the aforementioned songs.
Halfway Home - TV on the Radio Listen with headphone on the treadmill and you will run forever.
A Punk - Vampire Weekend hey hey hey hey
Over And Over Again (Lost And Found) - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah If the Velvet Underground got their start in 2005 they would likely release this song.
Fake Palindromes - Andrew Bird "My dewy-eyed disney bride, what has tried swapping your blood with formaldehyde?"
Hometown Fantasy - The Wooden Birds Song for a roadtrip up to Ukiah
The Monster Song - PSAPP A little ditty from one of the leading toytronica bands, yes, toytronica. So cute, you could bash them over the head with a Metallica album.
I Gotta Get Drunk - Phosphorescent From Matthew Houck's album of Willie Nelson covers. He can hardly keep up with the lyrics, but it somehow works.
Song of Our So Called Friend - Okkervil River A bit sad for this mix, but catchy indie nevertheless.
Tommy Bones - Darla Farmer Reminds me of old Lawsuit song. Lawsuit, being the great SF family bar band from the early 90's.
I'm currently using DivShare to host MP3s. Regretfully, the player interface for each song doesn't always show up so you might want to try refreshing your browser. These MP3s are for reference only (I take 'em down after a while), So I highly recommend purchasing the original music at your local record store.
Elvis Presley - Also Sprach Zarathustra/CC Rider
Under the direction of the soulless Paul Schaffer and with the help of original Stax session men Donald "Duck" Dunn, Steve Cropper, and Willie Hall the Blues Brothers played a mixed bag of cover tunes, always acknowledging their sources when played live. At their best, the Blues Brothers made you feel like you had been invited to a Saturday Night Live after party, exposing you to some great soul music and encouraging you to seek out the original tunes. At their worst, the Blues Brothers played coked-up obliterations of some truly great music. So, here are some of the originals, featured in Briefcase Full of Blues, and the soundtrack to their first movie.
