EXCLUSIVE: We Are the Willows' "Political Science" (Randy Newman cover)

Posted by Ray Padgett at 2:35 pm No Responses »
Apr 292010

Cover Commissions is a monthly series in which a featured artist covers a reader-selected song for this blog. Any artists interested in participating, email me.

We Are the Willows first hit the Cover Me radar back in December.  Minnesota songwriter Peter Miller’s ethereal singing entranced us, sounding like the Beach Boys if you removed everything but the highest harmony.  We knew that voice would create some unique covers.

Readers selected from songs by Imogen Heap and the Shins, but perennial underdog Randy Newman took the crown with “Political Science.”  As everyone knows, a Cover Commissions victory makes up for an Oscar loss.  Miller describes his approach:

I fell in love with this song because it was covered by one of my favorite bands, Pedro the Lion.  I really love basically anything David Bazan does and when I heard his cover of Political Science I really wanted to play it as well.  Randy Newman’s version is of course, also awesome.  I play this song at almost every show when I play solo.

One of my favorite parts about how this song turned out is that at the end there are these background “oooh’s” that sound like sirens and they are under the last verse about bombing all these other countries.  I didn’t really plan on that.  I recorded this song in my basement in Minneapolis, MN.

We Are the Willows – Political Science (Randy Newman)

On a roll, Miller recorded one of the other nominees: “Make the World Go Away,” by country music pioneer Eddy Arnold.  There’s a morbid humor in pairing a song called “Make the World Go Away” with one that implores us to “drop the big one.”  Well played, Peter.

This was one of my Grandpa’s favorite songs.  He was a real romantic guy and a very tender soul.  I played this song at his funeral and ever since it’s really stuck with me.  I know that seems sorta masochistic, but there is something about playing that song that keeps my grandpa alive in some way.  This song features Karin Hasse who plays in We Are the Willows when we play live.  This song was recorded by Danny Wolf in Madrid, Iowa.

We Are the Willows – Make the World Go Away  (Eddy Arnold)

Check out more We Are the Willows at MySpace, iTunes and Minnesota Public Radio.

This mp3 may be freely shared with the artist’s blessing. Post it on your blog, send it to your friends, tweet it to the world. When you do though, please include a link to this site to promote future installments of Cover Commissions.

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The Best Dylan Covers You've (Probably) Never Heard: After the Crash

Posted by Ray Padgett at 2:00 am 5 Responses »
Apr 282010

It seems every week a new “Best Dylan Covers Ever” article surfaces, but each new list reads much like the last.  Hendrix tops it (fair enough) and Peter, Paul and Mary and the Byrds follow behind (really?).  At Cover Me we like to break out of the mold though, so let us present the second and final installment of The Best Dylan Covers You’ve (Probably) Never Heard.  This week we tackle songs Dylan recorded after his fabled 1966 motorcycle crash.

Barb Jungr – Things Have Changed
Dylan’s past few albums signaled a comeback, the legendary songwriter finally matching his sharp songwriting with smart production.  His greatest song since the ‘70s can’t be found on them though, but rather as an Oscar-winning one-off for the Wonder Boys soundtrack.  [Buy]

World Wide Message Tribe – Precious Angel
True, Dylan’s widely reviled born-again period inspired a lot of Armageddon preaching from the stage, but it also sewed the seeds of the most successful dance cover of a Dylan tune to date.  [Buy]

Giant Sand – All Along the Watchtower
Once the most recognizable three chords in rock hit, Giant Sand deliver a somewhat conventional cover.  But it takes sixty seconds of cello feedback to get there.  [Buy]

Elliott Murphy – Blind Willie McTell
Mark this one as one of the best live covers of all time.  Discoveries like this utterly brilliant acoustic duet reward obsessive bootleg collectors.  [Buy]

The Everly Brothers – Abandoned Love
Dylan recorded this song in 1975, but it didn’t see official release until a mediocre studio recording on 1985’s Biograph collection (track down his 1975 live version at the Bitter End for the definitive reading).  That fantastic chord progression makes it a cover favorite, with everyone from George Harrison to Chuck Prophet having a go.  [Buy]

Townes Van Zandt – Man Gave Names to All the Animals
Many fans would rank this song up with the worst songs Dylan has ever written.  And it would be, except for that final line that turns all the nursery rhyme verses on their head.  Dylan’s least ambitious Christian song may just be his most powerful.  [Buy]

Thea Gilmore – I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
Gilmore turns up on just about every covers CD Britain’s Uncut magazine compiles, delivering superb performances of The Clash and the Boss.  This artist boasts some serious folk cred though; Joan Baez hand-picked her to open a tour and covered Gilmore’s “The Lower Road” on her latest album.  [Buy]

Delta Cross Band – Legionnaire’s Disease
What, you don’t know “Legionnaire’s Disease”?  Well, a recording of Dylan performing it has never surfaced.  Written after a 1976 outbreak of the infectious bacteria known technically as Legionellosis, Dylan handed it off to Billy Cross, his guitar player from 1977-79.  [Buy]

Richie Havens – License to Kill
Havens has spent his career covering Dylan — witness his cameo in I’m Not There.  His signature guitar tuning and strumming pattern takes the fore, laying the weight of the world upon a mediocre lyric.  [Buy]

Tim O’Brien – Father of Night
O’Brien’s Red on Blonde covers album is one of the best out there, giving tunes from the famous (“Forever Young”) to the obscure (“Lay Down Your Weary Tune”) jaunty bluegrass rhythms.  [Buy]

Read Part 1: Before the Crash.

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The Best Dylan Covers You've (Probably) Never Heard: Before the Crash

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:00 am 12 Responses »
Apr 202010

Omigod, you just have to hear this new Bob Dylan cover.  You know that folksy ballad, “All Along the Watchtower”?  Well some afro-headscarf weirdnik named Jimi rocked it so hard that…  What’s that?  You’ve already heard it?  You say it tops every single list of the best Dylan covers that has ever been made with absolutely no exceptions so don’t bother looking to try to prove me wrong?  Ah.  Well, Mr. Music Snob, try these ten lesser-known covers on for size, spanning from Bob’s folk origins until his post-Blonde on Blonde motorcycle crash.

Grand Panda ft. Dawn – Ballad of a Thin Man
This grinding synth slow-burn comes via comp curator extraordinaire Béatrice Ardisson, whose Dylan Mania contains sixteen of the most fantastically weird covers you’re likely to hear.  [Buy]

Mobius Band – I’ll Keep It With Mine
Though Dylan wrote this song in 1964, his own version didn’t see the light of day until 1985’s Biograph compilation.  It indicates he was experimenting with what he called “that thin, wild mercury music” several years before Blonde on Blonde.  [Buy]

The Roots – Masters of War
Outside of free jazz and the Dead, there aren’t many songs where a blogger must decide whether to post the ten-minute version or the twenty.  I went with the conservative length, but I’ll probably post the longer one on Twitter this week.  Now with extra ?uestlove drum solo!  [Buy]

Dion – Spanish Harlem Incident
When Dion opened Dylan’s New York concerts last fall, he missed an opportunity to deliver this swinging gem to an appreciative audience.  It’s not like he had to worry about stepping on Bob’s toes; the man has only performed it one time himself.  [Buy]

40 Thieves – Subterranean Homesick Blues
“Subterranean” has been described as the first rap song.  40 Thieves make the argument by ripping through the lyrics over a funky Public Enemy-esq beat.  [Buy]

Martin Simpson – Boots of Spanish Leather
Dylan’s finger-picking from the early days should get more credit than it does (see “Don’t Think Twice”), but even at his best he had nothing on this guy.  Listen those funky bass note slaps.  [Buy]

I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business – Positively 4th Street
This song seems even angrier in a polite acoustic guise.  By the time singer Arthur “Ace” Enders makes it to that cutting last line, you wonder what he’s capable of.  [Buy]

Mike Ness – Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
Putting Dylan’s acoustic songs to a heavy rock beat is not a novel concept, but the Social Distortion frontman handles it particularly well.  What song doesn’t improve with a little growl?  [Buy]

The Magokoro Brothers – My Back Pages
Even for critics underwhelmed by the incoherent storyline of Dylan’s 2003 film Masked and Anonymous (people, plot is so twentieth century), few could object to the cover-heavy soundtrack.  The Magokoro Bros’ translation of “My Back Pages” into Japanese works because it doesn’t.  Each line has three times as many syllables as will fit, so the singer always seems to be playing catch-up.  [Buy]

Douglas September – Girl from the North Country
The word haunting gets overused, but it has never been more appropriate.  September’s hoarse whisper is devastating and that gusting wind raises the hairs on your neck.  [Buy]

Read Part 2: After the Crash.

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Shuffle Sundays: Cold Shoulder (Adele)

Posted by Ray Padgett at 3:54 pm No Responses »
Apr 182010

Each week Shuffle Sundays features a cover chosen at random. 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.

When Adele won Best New Artist at the 2009 Grammys, viewers’ collective reaction was: who?  With Amy Winehouse the previous year’s champion, Academy voters seemed to be on a female soul revival kick.  They dug a bit deeper for a follow-up, and it looked to be Adele’s big break.

“Chasing Pavements” and her follow-up single “Cold Shoulder” got some decent airplay, but she pretty soon disappeared back into the London streets from whence she came.  Releasing as a single her bland cover of “Make You Feel My Love,” the worst Bob Dylan song since “Wiggle Wiggle,” didn’t help. 

The Marches, whose cover of Thom Yorke’s “Black Swans” we featured in February, give “Cold Shoulder” the rock and roll kick in the ass it needed.  The arresting melody gains new legs with the energetic delivery, complete with Adele-approximating falsetto.

The Marches – Cold Shoulder (Adele)  [Buy]

What do you think? Sound off in the comments section below.

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The Real Slim Shady

Posted by Ray Padgett at 3:30 pm 3 Responses »
Apr 122010

I get nostalgic remembering all the turn-of-the-century fuss over a potty-mouthed white rapper corrupting the nation’s youth.  With two wars and an economic collapse to deal with these days, such worries seem almost quaint. Eminem began his comeback last year with some hits (“3 a.m,” his show-stealing verse on Lil Wayne’s “Drop the World”) and some misses (his still-parodying-1999 “We Made You” video, most of Relapse), but the world of absurdist violence and middle-school homophobia just wasn’t the same without Marshall Mathers.

Lounge-O-Leers – The Real Slim Shady
The Lounge-O-Leers occupy the same territory as Richard Cheese, bridging the gap between music and comedy.  Here the duo recites pensive spoken word over a lounge-hop beat.  Bonus points for coming up with so many sound effects to play over the naughty words.  [Buy]

Destressed – Just Lose It
You know that jugband-bluegrass “Gin and Juice”?  Same approach here.  But with more cowbell.  [Buy]

Royal Native – Criminal
The band posted a disclaimer with this piano-and-melodica cover: “We would like to point out that all the lyrical content…is Eminem’s not ours – especially the homophobic stuff, which is most of the song.”  Helpful.  [Buy]

The Script – Lose Yourself
In many people’s minds (read: the media, parents) Eminem stands for violence and misogyny.  No doubt he’s done plenty to fuel such perceptions, but this self-empowerment anthem still sounds more honest than all the blabbering about chaining his ex-wife in the basement.  [Buy]

Tori Amos – ’97 Bonnie & Clyde
Amos set the gold-standard for Eminem covers with this heart-wrenching ballad, delivered without a hint of irony.  [Buy]

Bryce Larsen – Crack a Bottle
You may have already forgotten last year’s big comeback single “Crack a Bottle,” but believe it or not it was Em’s second ever number-one hit.  [Buy]

Aislin – Guilty Conscience
If my conscious was a screamo vocalist, I’d avoid robbing convenience stores too. Actually, I’d probably avoid that regardless.  [Buy]

Jeffrey Lewis & Laura Marling – Brain Damage
This must be the only rap song ever to use the word “ornery.”  Study S.A.T. vocab with Professor Mathers!  [Buy]

Streetwize – My Name Is
I can’t believe I did a post on Dr. Dre and never came across Does Dre, an “urban jazz” album covering songs written or produced by the Doctor.  [Buy]

Emily Reay – Sing for the Moment
When you cover “Sing for the Moment” you get two songs for the price of one, since the original so heavily samples “Dream On.”  Reay wisely avoids attempting that falsetto.  [Buy]

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Shuffle Sundays: Loch Lomond

Posted by Ray Padgett at 2:00 pm 4 Responses »
Apr 112010

Each week Shuffle Sundays features a cover chosen at random. 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.

My junior year of college I spent a term at the University of Edinburgh.  One weekend the exchange group traveled to the small island of Iona off the Western coast.  Populated more by sheep than people, it boasts an old abbey, a remnant of its role as the de facto headquarters of Celtic Christianity in the sixth and seventh centuries.

After a three-day weekend of drinking wine on the beach and poking around the grassy hills, we began the five-hour drive back east.  Due to overly ambitious planning we stopped at various towns and castles along the way, most of which we were too tired to fully appreciate.  However, one stop proved too beautiful for grumbling: Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond is one of those idyllic places we Americans assume don’t exist anymore.  If locals are making tourist bucks around the loch, we saw no sign.  Our van just pulled off to the side of a small road and there it was, flat and deserted, the cloudy sky perfectly reflected in the still surface. 

Before that day, I’d always thought of the song “Loch Lomond” as a pretty but corny tribute to a land of forest sprites or something.  Once you see the loch though, you understand why it makes old-guard Scots tear up.  I couldn’t give you a dictionary definition of a bonnie bank, but I know exactly what one looks like.

Dartmouth Aires – Loch Lomond (Trad.)  [Buy]

What do you think? Sound off in the comments section below.

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Cover News: April 10, 2010

Posted by Ray Padgett at 2:00 pm 3 Responses »
Apr 102010

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, at the bottom we post the array of cover tunes we’ve been sent in the past week. Have you recorded a cool cover? Send us an mp3! As always, follow Cover Me on Twitter for the latest news.

Evelyn Evelyn

This Week’s News

Brilliant songwriter David Bazan (who released last year’s third-best album) covers Vic Chestnutt, ruminates on the possibility of a cover album.  [American Songwriter]

Rate Your Music celebrates the Golden Hits of Yesteryear with one hit, fifteen other songs.  [Rate Your Music]

The Mates of State cover album Crushes boasts one of the best tracklists I’ve seen in a while.  Download their version of Girls’ “Laura” now.  [Mates of State]

Ted Leo interviewed Paul Weller in the most recent issue of SPIN magazine, so his cover of “Hung Up” seems appropriate.  [SPIN]

Dr. Martens are curating a drool-worthy list of covers, which they’re releasing at a snail’s pace.  [Dr. Martens]

Not another “Bad Romance” cover.  Yeah, it’s good, but still…not another “Bad Romance” cover.  [Paste]

Ok, we’ll allow one more, but only if you’re a chubby 8-year old singing into a banana.  [Videogum]

An epic cover battle rages on the ‘Tube.  “Baby” on recorder vs. “Telephone” on glockenspiel vs. “Moonlight Sonata” on crockenspiel [Video 1, 2, 3]

Shel Silverstein covers by My Morning Jacket, Kris Kristofferson, Andrew Bird and 12 more.  Cue mouth-watering.  [Sugar Hill Records]

The Jacket is everywhere, also appearing on a John Prine covers tribute.  Maybe we can get an actual album guys?  [Consequence of Sound]

A Tears for Fears cover = eh.  A Tears for Fears cover that isn’t “Everybody Want to Rule the World” = yay!  [We All Want Someone]

Amanda Palmer is like a weirder Regina Spektor, so a cover makes sense.  [YouTube]

Speaking of Amanda Palmer, she’s currently prepping to take her conjoined-twin circus act Evelyn Evelyn on the road.  Here’s their cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”  Ouch.  [Jason Webley]

Killer tracklist for this new David Bowie tribute album.  MGMT, A Place to Bury Strangers and Duran Duran (!!) tackle some lesser-known tunes.  [SPIN]

The PS 22 Chorus melts hearts with a Talking Heads cover.  [YouTube]

Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz continues his Cover of the Week series with his wedding song, the Ink Spots’ “I’ll Get By.”  Awww.  [Bill Janovitz]

This Week’s Submissions

Akasha – Rocky Raccoon (The Beatles)  [more]

Ryan Avery & Emily Zisman – Send Me an Angel (Real Life)  [more]

Coconut and The Duke – Nature Boy (Eden Ahbez)  [more]

Fade From Nothing – 31 Ghosts IV (Nine Inch Nails)  [more]

Fulton Read – One (Yeasayer)  [more]

The Inevitable Backlash – Give You Hell (The All-American Rejects)  [more]

The Morning Pages – Telephone (Lady Gaga)  [more]

Passporte Royale – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles)

Julian Shah-Tayler – In Your Room (Depeche Mode)  [more]

SPEAK – Digital Love (Daft Punk)  [more]

Ben Taylor – By Your Side (Sade)  [more]

835 – Judy Is a Punk (The Ramones)  [more]

Email your cover for inclusion!

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Full Albums: Peter Gabriel's "So"

Posted by Ray Padgett at 4:57 pm 1 Response »
Apr 062010

The first post of the month features covers of every track on a famous album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!


Peter Gabriel has never gotten much love from the indie world, but thanks to a new covers album he’s finally getting the Pitchfork articles he deserves. Scratch My Back presents a clever concept: he covers the likes of Radiohead and Arcade Fire with the understanding that they’ll return the favor. So far Bon Iver, the Magnetic Fields and Paul Simon have obliged. While we wait for more to surface, here’s a look at Gabriel’s finest hour: So.

Queensrÿche – Red Rain
This apocalyptic torrent holds up surprisingly well given a louder treatment. The best cover of this is by R.E.M. and Natalie Merchant, but Gabriel guests there so it doesn’t really count. [Buy]

Maiysha – Sledgehammer
At the Roots weekly late-night NYC jam session over the summer, Maiysha performed this one with the band. Sadly there’s no recording of that barn-stormer, but her album recording keeps the sultry teases. [Buy]

Willie Nelson & Sinead O’Connor – Don’t Give Up
Covers of this one (of which there are many) tend to be sickeningly emotional. Willie’s sing-speak gives the proceedings a more honest touch, and Sinead’s broken warble completes the picture. [Buy]

Michael Aaron – That Voice Again
Apparently the “voice” is meant to represent judgment. I prefer to think of it as paranoia. [Buy]

Tim Reynolds – In Your Eyes
This song also tends towards the über-emotional cover. While those tend to work better here, you can’t replicate Youssou N’Dour. Dave Matthews Band guitar virtuoso Reynolds tears it up with a funky acoustic instrumental. [Buy]

Fever Ray – Mercy Street
Fever Ray, the current project of The Knife singer Karin Dreijer Andersson, performed this one live a few times near the end of last year. It’s a paranoid electro-goth rush, like just about everything else she does (including her fantastic Nick Cave cover). [Buy]

Ari Hest – Big Time
Singer-songwriter Hest clearly loves this album, regularly performing covers of this, “In Your Eyes,” and “Mercy Street.” Check those out at archive.org. [Buy]

Justin Cottrell – We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37)
Anyone who’s ever taken a psych class knows Milgram’s experiments. In a nutshell, Yale scientist Stanley Milgram had volunteers quiz a “student,” giving the student a shock of ever-increasing power when he got an answer wrong. The goal was to see how long people would continue to give the shocks as the student (in reality a partner of the experimenter) screamed in pain. Some volunteers reached a point where they refused to administer another shock. Most didn’t. In one variation 37 out of 40 subjects never stopped. Chilling stuff. Read more. [Buy]

Laurie Anderson – This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)
Anderson co-wrote this with Gabriel and actually released her version first. Gabriel didn’t release his version on the first pressing of So, perhaps content to have appeared on Anderson’s recording. [Buy]

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