Radio Radio

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:00 pm 1 Response »
Sep 292009

One of my friends recently moved to Chicago and complained to me about the lack of good radio stations. This puzzled me, as it seemed to imply that there were good stations anywhere anymore. If there are, I don’t know ‘em, which leads me to ask this question:


Jesse Malin – Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio? (The Ramones)
Joey and the gang predicted the demise of radio by a good twenty years. Ironically, Malin seems to be making a pitch for mid-tempo “alternative” stations with this one. [Buy]

Town Bike – Radio Nowhere (Bruce Springsteen)
Last Friday I had the privilege of attending a taping of Elvis Costello’s Spectacle show featuring Springsteen (my review). They chatted and played for four straight hours, wrapping things up with a radio medley. It started with this… [Buy]

Dustin Kensrue – Radio Radio (Elvis Costello)
…and finished with this, Bruce taking Costello’s part from the classic Saturday Night Live debacle. Hard to find interesting covers of this, but here’s Thrice’s lead singer breaking it down acoustically at an Apple in-store performance. Fun fact: Whenever his equipment broke down on his last tour, “Weird Al” Yankovic went into a cover (not parody). Watch. [Buy]

Ted Leo – The Spirit of Radio (Rush)
Indie-punk Leo seems like an odd person to cover prog giants Rush, but his guitar chops are up to stuff. A good thing, ‘cause that’s all there is. [Buy]

Josh Millard – Radio Cure (Wilco)
After the bizarre faux-jazz version we heard from the Bad Plus a few months back, here’s a more straight-forward acoustic take. If you like this stripped-back approach, check out James Eric and Erin Vogel covering the whole Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album last month. [Buy]

Matthew Show – Mohammed’s Radio (Warren Zevon)
Zevon is blessed with two excellent tribute albums. Enjoy Every Sandwich features an A-list group of musicians and peers, but the lesser-known Hurry Home Early features some true gems. This is one. [Buy]

Amanda Palmer – On the Radio (Regina Spektor)
Now I love Amanda Palmer, but this one seems almost TOO easy. Spektor and Palmer share the same eastern-European oddball appeal like cabaret-pop twins separated at birth. When I saw Spektor do this one live, she was too drunk to do it justice. Palmer gets it right. [Buy]

Masters of Reality – Devil’s Radio (George Harrison)
The radio intro here includes everything you might hear, from music to war, new cars to pop stars. Harrison included this on his 1987 comeback album Cloud Nine that itself featured a hit cover, of Got My Mind Set on You (great video too). [Buy]

Bruce Lash – Mexican Radio (Wall of Voodoo)
Is this jazz or folk? Sincere or ironic? All I know it’s off Lash’s second Prozak for Lovers all-covers album, which is worth getting your hands on. [Buy]

The Wrong Trousers – Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles)
Fun fact: This was the first music video ever played on MTV. Maybe it was the last too; the age of the music video came in with a boom and went out with a whimper. Prepare for the upcoming sequel: “MTV’s Relentless Obsession with Crappy Reality Television Killed the Video Star.” [Buy]

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Shuffle Sundays: Mamma Mia

Posted by Ray Padgett at 10:53 pm No Responses »
Sep 272009

Shuffle Sundays is a weekly feature in which we feature a cover chosen at random by my iTunes shuffle. The songs will usually be good, occasionally be bad, always be interesting. All downloads will only be available for one week, so get them while you can. After you listen, discuss this week’s tune in the comments.


There’s an unwritten rule in cover songs that the cheesier the pop hit, the better the indie cover potential. By that token, Swedish sensations ABBA, the scourge of lite-FM stations everywhere, are ripe for semi-ironic tribute.

Admittedly, the most prominent ABBA cover kids are the A*Teens. Perhaps these chirpy kids should be commended on performing the remarkable feat of making ABBA tunes sound even worse than they did before, but they do discredit to wannabe ABBA archaeologists everywhere.

Arizona’s own Miniature Tigers has a bit more to offer than the ‘Teens. They’ve been named on of the “25 Best Bands on MySpace” by Rolling Stone (do you agree?) and got a recent buzz-building write-up on SPIN.com. Even praise like that may not save them when they take on the formidable challenge of redoing an ABBA song so twerpy they named the musical after it.

Known as “the song that saved ABBA” (damn), “Mamma Mia” puts the guilt in “guilty pleasure.” You get a perverse kick out of the chirpy pop bounce the first few times you hear it, but it wears out its welcome fast. The song seems truly misogynistic – ironic, since it’s sung by a woman – but it’s best not to think about the lyrics too deeply.

The Tigers clearly don’t. Their indie-pop sheen doesn’t reinvent the song so much as recast it, breathing a little more life into the insipid melody. You may get sick of the song all over again after a few listens, but I consider the ability to subdue the bile this tune induces even temporarily to be a triumph.

Miniature Tigers – Mamma Mia (ABBA) [more]

What do you think? Discuss this song in the comments section below.

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Nine Inch Nails

Posted by Ray Padgett at 9:03 pm No Responses »
Sep 222009


Strange but true: I liked Trent Reznor before I liked Nine Inch Nails. Every article you read situates him as the pinnacle of a new-media artist. An internet whore in the best way possible, he gave away his last album for free, tweeted actually interesting content until belligerent fans jealous of his new marriage made him quit and, gracious pioneer that he is, posted a lengthy how-to for new bands to become successful on his fan forum. It seems strange, but the embodiment of early ‘90s fury seems to be a genuinely good guy.

I didn’t think much of his music though until, on the recommendation of a friend, I went to a Nine Inch Nails concert on their audio-visual explosion known as the Lights in the Sky tour (review here). After seeing him surrounded by mesh screens shifting between transparent and opaque, commanding an army of ace players including old crony Robin Finck, conversion came easy. NIN just played their last live show a few weeks back, so to honor their legacy, let the covers begin.

Johnny Cash – Hurt
We’ll get the obvious out of the way first. This cover is arguably more widely known than the original (plus it’s referenced in our logo above). By way of comparison, the leading video of NIN performing this has 1.7 million views on YouTube. The Cash version? 22 mil. Reznor was right when he said about hearing the cover for the first time, “[I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore.” [Buy]

Lady Dead Life Urban Sky – Piggy
A gothic NIN cover doesn’t seem like much of a stretch, but these dark crooners truly create something new, slowing the Downward Spiral classic down with cello and world-weary anger that fits the sound perfectly. Bonus points for the chick singer’s sultry croon seducing despite the rage. [Buy]

The Pluto Tapes – Reptile
From the first brushed drum stroke, this one will make you sit up and take stock. It seems so perfect in this subtle acoustic take that it’s hard to even remember how aggressive the original is. [Buy]

Nine Inch Richards – Closer
A barnyard country version of one of Reznor’s most sexually aggressive songs? It’s just as strange as it sounds – they actually call it “Closer to Hogs” – and is certainly meant as a joke from the horny-farmer asides and classic-rock quotes. It sort of works though, in a completely insincere way. “Did I tell you I knew Lassie personally?” [Buy]

Devo – Head Like a Hole
I can never quite decide whether Devo are some of the best cover artists around or some of the worst. They certainly take an interesting approach – remember their “Satisfaction”? They replace most of the angst with danceable synths, but keep a bit of the original flavor for the chorus. [Buy]

Scala & Kolacny Brothers – Underneath It All
We first heard from this Belgian choir a few weeks back in our Choral Covers feature. Well this female-fronted lament oozes sorrow with no need for crunchy guitars or spastic programming. [Buy]

Tiga – Down In It
This one seems like it’d be great fun to dance to if it was about three times as fast. As it stands, it’s a slow electro rattle, the pretty-boy voice offset by the cracking snare shots. [Buy]

Mae – March of the Pigs
Christian light-rockers Mae seem like a strange choice to cover NIN, but they unleash all their inner anger here on the Punk Goes 90s comp. [Buy]

Jennifer Hope – Terrible Lie
This one comes off the Gothic Tribute to Nine Inch Nails tribute disc, but is as much late-era Beatles as it is Marilyn Manson. Sitar and strings waver in and out, but Hope’s voice is really all you need. [Buy]

Ark Sano – The Day the World Went Away
Piano player extraordinaire Sano has a whole disc of NIN covers that you won’t believe. The dark anti-chords and angry phrasing translate beautifully into pounding bass or brooding tinkling. Seek out “The Downward Spiral” cover as well to hear him strum the inside of the piano and pound its wooden sides. [Buy]

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Shuffle Sundays: The Sign

Posted by Ray Padgett at 6:45 pm No Responses »
Sep 202009

Shuffle Sundays is a weekly feature in which we feature a cover chosen at random by my iTunes shuffle. The songs will usually be good, occasionally be bad, always be interesting. All downloads will only be available for one week, so get them while you can. After you listen, discuss this week’s tune in the comments.


I first encountered Rhode Island’s Math the Band on the spastic Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo tour (review here). They were joined on the road by Harry and the Potters and Uncle Monsterface, but held their own with the summer camp-themed exuberance. Their choreographed dance to the Step By Step theme song kicked things off in high gear, and most of their show consisted of the three-piece jumping frantically around stage while their laptops did their music-making for them.

Their glitchy synth-pop would be jarring if it weren’t so endearing. Unfortunately I have yet to come across a recording of the rave-bop “Home on the Range” they performed that night, but their free Covers EP contains enough devil-may-care dance-alongs to keep even the most A.D.D. pre-teen breathless. Highlights include “You Shook Me All Night Long,” the Zelda theme, and “The Sign.”

Sweden’s Ace of Base turned up in the early nineties with this smash single. You were never sure how seriously they took themselves, but with this Math the Band cover that question never arises. This electro-pop tune is played many times faster than it was ever meant to go, like a pimped-out soccer-mom sedan that can’t handle the pressure. The two singers’ parts never perfectly sync up and the exuberant shouting never veers too close to the tune.

Now I don’t mean to say these guys don’t have talent, it’s just that their real skill comes in how well they hide it. Music this absurdly high-voltage takes work, but it sounds like something you and your middle school friends might have recorded at the tail end of an up-all-night slumber party. Craftsmanship and second takes are of less concern than who can leap the highest.

So get your jumping shoes on and go see the sign. Then try to record a cover this silly yourself. I think you’ll find it’s not so easy.

Math the Band – The Sign (Ace of Base) [Buy]

What do you think? Discuss this song in the comments section below.

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Cover News: September 18, 2009

Posted by Ray Padgett at 10:00 pm No Responses »
Sep 182009

Cover News is a weekly feature keeping you up to date on the goings-on in the world of cover tunes, tribute albums, etc. Plus, in Submissions we post our array of cover tunes we’ve been sent in the past week. Have you recorded a cool cover? Send an mp3 to the email address on the right!

This Week’s News

Yesterday our Twitter followers got a heaping dose of Animal Collective covers and on Tuesday I’ll put up a set of Beyoncé covers for followers only. After Kanye’s performance at the VMAs, the gal could use some cheering up. Letting Taylor take over her acceptance speech was a classy move, but can someone explain how Beyoncé won best video and Swift won best female video? Anyway, follow our account and don’t miss out!

Speaking of the T-word, I mentioned (ahem, “tweeted”) a few weeks back the great acoustic Neil Young cover Woldmother played for us at SPIN. Well the video’s up!

Radiohead is releasing a gorgeous-looking record of early demos, including covers of Blondie and Tim Buckley. And it comes on green vinyl! Green!!

I’ve mentioned the new Judee Sill tribute before, and now Beth Orton is giving you a first listen to her cover of “Reach for the Sky.”

Britain’s Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle sang a knockout version of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” last night. The L.A. Times analyzes.

Everyone else has a tribute album these days, so why not W.A.S.P.? I’ve never heard of any of these musicians, but with names like Vykyng, Gods of Hate, and Kneipenterroristen, how can it be bad?

I have heard of Mary J. Blige and Musiq Soulchild though, both of whom appear on a new tribute album to soul pioneers Maze.

Beck’s all-covers Record Club keeps trucking along with Leonard Cohen’s “Winter Lady.”

I don’t know who ArmsBendBack are, but that’s a heck of a band name. Their new cover of “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” isn’t half bad either.

This Week’s Submissions

James Eric – I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (The Beatles)

Eskobar – Eh, Eh (There’s Nothing Else I Can Say) (Lady GaGa)

The Idles – Memorial (Michael Nyman)

Last Tide – Memories Can’t Wait (Talking Heads)

Marshmallow Pop Orchestra – Do It Again (Beach Boys)

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Choral Covers

Posted by Ray Padgett at 3:46 am 1 Response »
Sep 172009

An exciting day for Cover Me today, as we unveil our spiffy new logo (which you saw above). All the contest entries were great, but that cover-tastic design above comes from winner Gabrielle C. She describes her approach:

I knew what I wanted to do pretty much as soon as I saw the contest announcement. I’m not very versed in popular music, so I emailed to ask for some well-known covers in order to round out the original three I had. For the artists I wasn’t familiar with, I listened to some of their songs in order to get a sense of what kind of design would be appropriate (picking fonts was actually one of the most time-consuming components of the whole project). Everything save for the wood texture was created using Photoshop, including the records themselves.

As part of her prize she got to choose a post’s theme, coming up with the great idea of choral covers. Even excluding “Ave Maria” and Handel’s Messiah, there’s a lot to choose from, famous choirs the world over reaching across genres to tackle a pop tune.


The Red Army Choir – Down Under (Men at Work)
This was the song Gabriella suggested to get the idea going, and it’s top-notch. All the joy of choral covers with the oddball charm of nonstop accordion. They do a cover of “Sex Bomb” that’ll knock you out. Maybe I’ll tweet it sometime. [Buy]

Scala and Kolacny Brothers – Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
This Belgian choir has a full disc of pop hits that will knock you out. This Verve hit somehow sounds perfect for the over-the-top pomp when dozens of women blast out every line. [Buy]

Traces Gospel Choir – Walk Don’t Walk (Prince)
The Artist Currently Known as Prince is a devout Jehovah’s Witness, so a gospel cover seems more than appropriate. I have to imagine Prince borrowed the title from the instrumental classic “Walk Don’t Run” (amazing cover here), but this one sounds more Van Morrison than Ventures. [Buy]

Vienna Boys Choir – Message In a Bottle (The Police)
These prim and proper rascals are so well-trained they can’t bring themselves to copy Sting’s vocal inflections. Hearing “sea” instead of “sea-oh” might throw you off at first, but the accents more than compensate. This one’s off Goes Pop, an album of all pop covers. [Buy]

Hell Blues Choir – Swordfishtrombones (Tom Waits)
These guys have put two albums out, one of Tom Waits covers, the other tackling Ray Charles. You can imagine how their takes on “Downtown Train” and “Jersey Girl” sound, but this twisted tune is a brave choice indeed. They make this lesser-known gem swing along without losing its carnival macabre. [Buy]

VoiceWorks – Grace Kelly (Mika)
Indie-pop favorite Mika’s got a new album coming out this fall, so what better time to remember his phenomenal debut? Believe it or not, Australian television hosted an American Idol-style contest called Battle of the Choirs. This Queensland Youth Choir busted this out in the quarter finals. What did they sing the previous round? “Down Under”! [Buy]

Young@Heart Chorus – Fix You (Coldplay)
These septuagenarian singers got a lot of notice recently the with Young@Heart documentary, but this comes from a live album released before then. This one sounds like later-period Johnny Cash. The prequel to “Hurt,” perhaps. [Buy]

Perpetuum Jazzile – Africa (Toto)
Most of the world couldn’t locate Slovenia on a map (can you?), but over nine million have watched this choir on YouTube, making them the country’s greatest national export. The video to this is worth watching to see how they create the rain sounds. [Buy]

PS22 Chorus – Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
These adorable elementary schoolers have become YouTube sensations with their covers of pop tunes (hear more). Thankfully they haven’t yet reached the age where enthusiasm is uncool, earning them an appearance on the recent Passion Pit album. [Buy]

Capital Children’s Choir – Chinese (Lily Allen)
Gentlemen, get ready to melt. These kids take one of Lily’s few songs not about partying or sex and add a heartbreaking vulnerability you’d never get from someone older. [Buy]

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Shuffle Sundays: Convoy

Posted by Ray Padgett at 7:23 pm No Responses »
Sep 132009

Shuffle Sundays is a weekly feature in which we feature a cover chosen at random by my iTunes shuffle. The songs will usually be good, occasionally be bad, always be interesting. All songs will only be available for one week, so get them while you can. After you listen, discuss this week’s tune in the comments.


Songs with truly unique plots don’t come along too often, but this here’s one. C.W. McCall’s “Convoy” is about a good-old-boy trucker rebellion, fighting the fuzz as the roll down the road. Our narrator Pigtail Dick (Rubber Duck in the original) leads the impromptu pack of cross-country truckers, talking mostly to the Skipper (Pig-Pen) over CB radio. As they head out from L.A. more and more trucks join in. They avoid police when possible, crashing through the road blocks when not.

By the time they hit Jersey they’re a thousand-trucks deep, but someone’s been left behind. Poor Skipper is hauling hogs that smell so bad that Pigtail keeps insisting he back off a bit a bit more. Well, by the time the crew hits Jersey, he’s only as far as Omaha. “They oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer sure,” Dick quips.

It’s convoluted as heck, but once you get the drift (combine the lyrics with the Wikipedia plot summary for help) it’s funny as hell. The trucker slang provides even more amusement, referring to the police as “bears” (pronounces “bahrs”) instead of pigs. After all, there are real pigs to deal with! The narrated tone of the CB radio conversation is so perfect you feel like writer C.W. McCall (real name Bill Fries) must have put in some miles hauling freight. An example:

By the time we got into Tulsa-Town 

We had eighty-five trucks in all 

But they’s a road block up on the clover leaf 

An’ them bears ‘as wall to wall 

Yeah them smokies ‘as thick as bugs on a bumper 

They even had a bear-in-the-air 

I sez callin’ all trucks, this here’s the Dick

We about to go a huntin’ bear

Bill Fries got his start as an ad man, creating a hit campaign for the Metz Baking Company that featured fictitious trucker C.W. McCall (played by actor Jim Finlayson). He wrote a bunch of catchy tunes for the ads with Mannheim Steamroller’s Chip Davis before heading out on his own with “Convoy.” Here’s one of the ads.

The novelty hit was so popular it hit #2 on the Billboard charts in ’75 and spawned a pirate-themed sequel the next year called “’Round the World with the Rubber Duck.” It’s also made regular appearances on the boob tube, most notably on the Simpsons parody “Christmas Convoy,” which you can hear here.

Chicago’s New Duncan Imperials do this one right, all the radio effects and absurd accents in place as the outlaw-country drums snap along. Combining over-the-top cheese with a heavy dose of catchiness is a tough feat, but anyone who can take on all them bahrs can probably do most anything.

New Duncan Imperials – Convoy (C.W. McCall)

What do you think? Discuss this song in the comments section below.

Shuffle Sundays

Cover News: September 11, 2009

Posted by Ray Padgett at 4:00 pm No Responses »
Sep 112009

This Week’s News

As many of you know, Cover Me recently launched its very own Twitter page! To gather followers, here’s an incentive. If Cover Me gets 100 followers by Monday night, I will tweet an exclusive set of Animal Collective covers (to followers only). So get on board!

In other exciting site news, our beautiful new site logo goes up on Monday! Here are some key words to whet your appetite: Radiohead. The Beatles. Nine Inch Nails.

Highly Rec’d's monthly mixtape is cover-themed. Go to their box.net to download covers of Weezer, Michael Jackson, Guided By Voices and 19 more!

Another covers mix is this DJ mashup with 32 tracks!

Wednesday was the Day of the Beatles, with their amazing-sounding remasters and Rock Band video game coming out. Beatles cover action has, needless to say, a bit stronger than usual. For you Brits, MOJO magazine‘s newest issue comes with a CD of Abbey Road covers. They’re excellent. Not as good are these Ten Beatles Covers That Are Worse Than Yours. Oh, Mrs. Miller…

Roseanne Cash has a new covers disc coming out with a cool backstory. When she was young her dad (some guy named John) gave her 100 songs he said she needed to learn to play. Well she did, and some of them are coming out on her new album The List. She’s premiering some via web stream on the 23rd.

Blogger Marc Cohen is setting up a website of 33-cent cover tunes. It doesn’t debut ’til November, but he’s asking for submissions now.

I mentioned last week that Beck’s latest is covers of the entire Songs of Leonard Cohen album. As that project unfolds, catch up on his last by downloading the full set of Velvet Underground & Nico takes.

Let the live cover rumpus begin! The Killers covered Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” with Wolfmother a few days ago, perhaps right as Britney Spears was covering “Ironic.” Even the latter was reportedly better than Katy Perry covering Queen at Bumbershoot.

Speaking of concerts, Nine Inch Nails performed live for the final time last night, busting out a couple Joy Division covers.

Emo-punks Paramore have been going cover-crazy in support of their latest release, first tackling Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” before moving on to buzz band Phoenix’s “Long Distance Call.”

A less annoying brand of glam-rock comes your way via Anberlin, who recently took on New Order’s “True Faith.” Pick it up for a buck here.

Muse has covered West Side Story‘s “America” as a VMA promo. They based their version on this 1968 gem by The Nice.

Not many people have noticed though — the TV world is too busy drooling over Glee. It’s a covers-friendly comedy and the cast talked to Rolling Stone about their favorite re-versions.

I’m a little sad “I Gotta Feeling” didn’t win our Cover Commissions poll, but this guy does a nice acoustic version. Well, nice until he’s tackled.

Where my Vashti Bunyan fans?? Hello? Anyone? Well apparently she’s the “Godmother of freak-folk” (I thought she was Paul Bunyan’s kid sister or something) and Fever Ray pay tribute.

This Week’s Submissions

Jer Coons – I Want You Back (Jackson 5)

David Gray – Friday I’m in Love (The Cure)

Orba Square – All Apologies (Nirvana)

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