Full Albums: The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead

Posted by Ray Padgett at 1:42 am 1 Response »
Sep 082009

Each song on The Queen is Dead is such a perfect alt-pop gem, listening to the whole album is almost too much. But Morrissey is not about to throw in some filler just to let the listener catch a breath. The indie movement has been trying to replicate this album for the past twenty years. They have yet to succeed.

The Ukrainians – The Queen Is Dead
Technically, this is not “The Queen Is Dead,” but rather “Koroleva Ne Pomerla.” Yep, that band name is no cute moniker. This bit Eastern European choral-punk (a new genre?) stomps and swings like whirling dervish chanting channeled through Sid Vicious. [Buy]

Cursive – Frankly, Mr. Shankly
This one goes from grunge to lounge to hard rock…and that’s just the first 45 seconds! It’s like ten covers in one, utilizing drum pounds here, cello screeches there, indie goodness everywhere! [Buy]

Pale Sunday – I Know It’s Over
You’re not quite sure whether to bang your head or try some flamenco moves in this one (I think the woodblock is the culprit here). Above it all hovers that haunting melody, accusing as much as it pities. [Buy]

Billy Bragg – Never Had No One Ever
Bragg has never been known for his singing, but on the quiet strummer his lazy drawl’s search for the tune hits you straight in the chest. This one comes off The Smiths Is Dead, another full-album tribute worth getting. [Buy]

The Very Most – Cemetry Gates
In this live one from the fine folks at archive.org, The Very Most prove that an acoustic guitar and tambourine are all one needs to accompany Morrissey’s unusual lyrics and catchy melody. When he wrote this one, Keats, Yates, and Wilde were all on his side. [Buy]

Matteo Scumaci – Bigmouth Strikes Again
Subtle guitar plucking complements Matteo’s Italian accent, carrying him gently along as he sings oh-so-sweetly about bludgeoning his woman toothless. Morrissey always was a romantic. [Buy]

J Mascis – The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
There are a lot of covers of this one, including one by Jeff Buckley that suffers from shaky recording quickly. Not so here, as the Dinosaur Jr. frontman slashes at his acoustic guitar while he snarls like he’s got a couple thorns in him himself. [Buy]

Damage Done By Worms – Vicar in a Tutu
The phenomenal band name covers a “psychobilly” acoustic punk band like the Violent Femmes with an Eastern European accent. The saloon piano solo in the middle sounds like the soundtrack to a Quentin Tarantino barroom brawl. [Buy]

Nada Surf – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
So many covers of this one stay so close to the original, I set out to find one that did something drastically different. I found several, all of which terrible. When covering a perfect song, sometimes not straying too far can be good advice. [Buy]

Supergrass – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Fellow Brits Supergrass built the alternative rock up to distortion-punk hollers. Some songs are bigger than others too, and this one is bloody enormous [Buy]

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Shuffle Sundays: Jesus, I Lift My Eyes

Posted by Ray Padgett at 4:00 pm No Responses »
Sep 062009

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.


Quite a month for Christian music here at Cover Me. First we had a tongue-in-cheek DeGarmo and Key cover for our second Shuffle Sunday, then that inspired a full-on Christian rock post. Now two weeks later, the old iTunes shuffle picks another Christian music tune.

It’s off the best album of Christian covers there is though, so I’m not complaining. In that mega-Christian post you heard “God Will Lift Up Your Head” from Jars of Clay’s Redemption Songs. To record the disc the group spent time digging through lyrics to old hymns, revitalizing songs familiar (“It Is Well with My Soul”) and obscure (“Hiding Place”) with new tunes and arrangements.

The entire album spotlights the group’s acoustic-rock strut. They’d seem relegated to your local LiteFM station if they weren’t so powerful. Singer Dan Hasseltine enriches each old-time tune with an evocative power that brings these old songs of praise straight into the 21st century. One of the album’s stand-out tracks is “Jesus, I Lift My Eyes” by Anne Steele.

Anne Steele was a prolific poet and hymn-writer in 18th-century Britain. During the course of her life she wrote over 100 hymns, taught by her pastor father to praise the Lord with her every breath. Poet Amos Wells wrote in 1914 that she was “the first woman writer whose hymns came to be largely used in hymn-books, and she is the greatest Baptist hymn-writer.” Read more about her here.

Steele was bedridden for the last nine years of her life. When she passed in 1778, her tombstone was inscribed

Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue

That sung on earth her Great Redeemer’s praise

But now in Heaven she joins the angels’ song

In more harmonious, more exalted lays

“Jesus, I Lift My Eyes” is a simple praise song imbued with a poet’s touch. Whatever you believe, it’s hard to remain unmoved by words like “Here oh my soul, thy trust repose / If Jesus is forever mine / Not death itself, that last of foes / Can break a union so divine.”

Jars of Clay imbues these powerful lyrics with a quiet persuasiveness, gently rolling along with subtle swirls of organ and an insistent kick-drum thump. The group’s renowned harmonizing is in full swing on the building gospel chorus, lifting your soul as they lift their eyes.

Jars of Clay – Jesus, I Lift My Eyes (Anne Steele)

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

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Cover News: September 5, 2009

Posted by Ray Padgett at 4:59 pm No Responses »
Sep 052009

This Week’s News

Look to your right. First off, notice the link to our new Twitter page. Follow us there to keep up to date on the blog and get exclusive songs and videos that will only be shared there.

Not cast your eyes below the Twitter pic and see our current Cover Commissions poll for the phenomenal Peculiar Gentlemen. Head here to listen to the band and the choices, then get voting!

Hey, remember that singer Michael Jackson? Well the fine folks at CLLCT have put together a new tribute album for him which, if I’m being honest, is better than most of the others out there. Sha-mon!

It looks like Nancy Sinatra’s boots are still walking. Coming up later this month, a new disc of outtakes that includes a take on “Ain’t No Sunshine” that I’m sure will be something special plus some more covers.

Say what you will about Tenacious D, but I was thrilled when they were asked to replace the ailing Beastie Boys at last weekend’s Outside Lands festival. They’re one of the only groups that didn’t cover the B-Boys (M.I.A. did and I’m still waiting for video of her “Intergalactic” or “Sabotage” to surface) but they did do a killer medley of The Who’s Tommy.

Speaking of M.I.A./Outside Lands, Street Sweeper Social Club – the new duo of Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and The Coup’s Boots Riley – did the 1582nd “Paper Planes” cover.

Beck continues to blow the minds of cover freaks everywhere. He wasted no time after finishing his full album cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico and has moved on to a personal favorite, Songs of Leonard Cohen, with the help of MGMT, Devendra Banhart and Wolfmother! Dude’s gonna put me out of business.

Speaking of mind-blowing multitaskters…Jack White’s latest outfit the Dead Weather performed Pentagram’s “Forever My Queen” on Jimmy Kimmel.

One-man Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan has started a new group with Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro. Spirit in the Sky started as a tribute to the late Sky Saxon, but busted out plenty of non-Seeds covers as well during their debut performance, from the Grateful Dead to Jethro Tull. Best of all: they DIDN’T play “Spirit in the Sky.”

Australia’s Undercover magazine gained global prominence this past week by circulating the blatantly fraudulent claim that Charlie Watts was quitting the Rolling Stones. Even though the Stones’ management issued a firm denial, their story’s still up! Hopefully they’re not as wrong about Nirvana’s upcoming Live In Reading DVD, which features two covers as well as the famous – and hilarious – “More Than a Feeling” tease.

Speaking of Reading, at the more recent 2009 incarnation, Marina and the Diamonds covered Late of the Pier. Admittedly I’ve never heard of either of these groups, but still.

Hey punk fans, Youth Brigade and BYO Records are putting together an anniversary comp of 31 punk covers. The first, of Pennywise covering 7 Seconds (whom the Hold Steady name-checked on last year’s Stay Positive) is a free download here.

I love Wilco. I love Blitzen Trapper. I love Woody Guthrie. When the first two join to cover the third…I’m in love.

I’ve been planning on doing a Hendrix cover post for a while now, but maybe I’ll hold until some of these Wolfmother covers arrive.

Low-fi 8-bit music is getting quite a bit of play lately courtesy of Crystal Castles and the like. So needless to say, plenty of “8-Bit Tribute To” albums have arrived, including Weezer and Miles Davis.

Drive-By Truckers have released an outtakes collection that includes covers of “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Rebels” and others.

This Week’s Submissions

Leftover Cuties – Poker Face (Lady GaGa)

Setting Sun – You Got Lucky (Tom Petty)

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Cover Commissions: Peculiar Gentlemen

Posted by Ray Padgett at 2:20 am No Responses »
Sep 042009

Cover Commissions is a monthly series in which a featured artist produces a special cover for this blog. The song to be covered is usually chosen by blog readers via a poll or suggestions form. Any artists interested in participating in a future installment, please email me at the address on the right.


Only in New York. Where else could a folk guitarist who goes by “Sweet” Willy Jive and a hip-hop keyboardist named E-Beats come together to form a band? Peculiar Gentlemen indeed.

Add in bass, drums, two back-up singers, and the occasional tag-along you have the current configuration of this ramshackle group. It’s the Dresden Dolls meets the Supremes as channeled by hip Brooklyn urbanites. Before reading further, I suggest you check out their MySpace.

The two YouTube videos below give you an idea of their funky flexibility, moving from cabaret-blues on “The Part That I Love” to soul-rap with “The Difference.” Who got the good shit? They got the good shit!

That good shit continues right here on Cover Me, with Peculiar Gentlemen having volunteered to perform a cover. A cover of what? As always, the choice is yours.

Below are ten songs, each linked to a YouTube video. Check out any you don’t know, check out the band’s music, then go vote on the left what song you want them to perform! Voting is open for one week, and after that the band will get to work (so check back later this month for the finished product!)

For Your Consideration:
Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves the Sunshine (5 votes)
Beyoncé – Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (29 votes)
Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling (15 votes)
Ray Charles – A Fool for You (9 votes)
Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions – It’s All Right (8 votes)
Michael Jackson – You Rock My World (11 votes)
Phoenix – Lisztomania (21 votes)
Prince Paul – Beautifully Absurd (3 votes)
Sly & the Family Stone – Hot Fun in the Summertime (13 votes)
Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love (23 votes)

Voting closes in one week, so hop to it on the right! The band’s latest album The Difference is available at Amazon, CDBaby, and iTunes. And don’t forget, last month’s Commissions artist Broken Chimneys’ Springsteen cover is coming soon!

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