Song of the Day: Brave Saint Saturn, “Here Is the News” (ELO cover)

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane;
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

That snippet of Dylan Thomas’ “And Death Shall Have No Dominion” opens today’s tune. Spoken in a low James Earl Jones-meets-HAL 9000 baritone, it sounds like the opening credits to a film called, let’s say, Brave Saint Saturn. It isn’t. It is, however, the opening to an album by a band called Brave Saint Saturn. Close enough.

The super dated synths of Electric Light Orchestra’s original “Here Is the News,” off their much-derided Time album, get a boost with some new patches for a fresh 2001: A Rock Odyssey sound. Like a harder-rocking “Space Oddity,” it’s totally absurd and totally epic.

Though we’ve never posted anything by Brave Saint Saturn before, we have posted something pretty close. Brave Saint Saturn is three members of Five Iron Frenzy, whom we recently Song of the Day-ed for their cover of another ELO song: “Sweet Talking Woman.” Singer Reese Roper blasts the heck out of both, making us want him to record a full ELO covers album with whatever band he’s part of (actually, I think he’s currently in nursing school).

MP3: Brave Saint Saturn – Here Is the News (ELO cover)
[audio: SOTD1010/HereIstheNews.mp3]

Check out more Brave Saint Saturn at their website.