Of all the artists with the potential to make a comeback in 2011, few seemed less likely that Jeff Mangum. Yet here he is, on an honest-to-god tour, playing full sets before actual audiences. With Neutral Milk Hotel’s discography so limited though, he’s been fleshing out sets with covers. The latest cover comes from a Toronto performance where he performed Roky Erickson’s “I Love the Living You.”
The little-known song was previously covered by Elf Power, a fellow Elephant 6 band with whom Mangum worked extensively. Who’s to say whether that version informed his selection, but the acoustic performance shows Mangum at his stripped-down finest. Download it below, then snag the full concert recording at Southern Souls.
MP3: Jeff Mangum – I Love the Living You (Roky Erickson cover)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Check out more Jeff Mangum at Myspace.
[...] On Monday, we posted audio of Jeff Mangum performing a few Neutral Milk Hotel songs live at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto, as part of his first tour in over 10 years. Another recording from that show has surfaced: Mangum’s haunting cover of “I Love the Living You“, a Roky Erickson song his Elephant 6 pals Elf Power also covered for their 2002 collection Nothing’s Going to Happen. Hear Mangum’s Toronto 2011 take at Cover Me. [...]
[...] for their 2002 collection Nothing’s Going to Happen. Hear Mangum’s Toronto 2011 take at Cover Me. Pitchfork: Latest [...]
[...] Let’s get psyched for the show by reminding ourselves of five reasons why Jeff Mangum is magical and revisiting some of our favorite Mangum moments (like the time he covered Roky Erickson’s “I Love The Living You”). [...]