Cover Classics: Trill It Like It Was by the Templeton Twins

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 9:30 am No Responses »
Apr 012013

Cover Classics takes a closer look at all-cover albums of the past, their genesis, and their legacy.

Have you heard of Ted Templeman?
Anyone who knows their ’70s record producers should recognize the name.
Perhaps you know the albums he produced: Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey, Little Feat’s Sailin’ Shoes, and all the ’70s records by the Doobie Brothers.
Probably his signature production work is on all the Roth-era Van Halen albums (he’s the guy who says “C’mon, Dave, gimme a break” in “Unchained”).
Yet Templeman has one highly unusual skeleton in his closet, and that’s what we’ll be looking at today. Continue reading »

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The Flaming Lips Go Straight for the Heart with "All You Need Is Love"

Posted by Maggie Clancy at 12:00 pm 1 Response »
Feb 142013

Leave it to The Flaming Lips to hide USBs of new music inside an edible anatomically correct heart. The band has teamed up with Dude, Sweet Chocolate to help them release their latest, Songs of Love. Part of this bizarre release is a cover of The Beatles‘ “All You Need is Love” featuring Alex and Jade of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The chocolate is reportedly  “72% South American dark chocolate studded with hazelnut mini whoppers and waffle cone crunch,” and the cover itself is roughly 60% surreal and 40% dreamy and romantic. Continue reading »

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Under the Radar: The Bobs

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 5:00 pm No Responses »
Sep 282012

Under the Radar shines a light on lesser-known cover artists. If you’re not listening to these folks, you should. Catch up on past installments here.

The Bobs are an a cappella group that pride themselves on their originality – and when you’re writing songs with titles like “Mopping, Mopping, Mopping,” “Andy Always Dreamed of Wrestling,” and “Please Let Me Be Your Third World Country,” there’s clearly a lot of originality to be proud of. There’s just as much originality in their renditions of songs they didn’t write, and they’ve been entertaining audiences across the US and Europe with them for almost a third of a century with nothing but voices and self-percussion. Continue reading »

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Full Albums: The Beatles' "Let It Be"

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 5:00 pm 3 Responses »
Aug 102012

Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!

Let It Be was the soundtrack of a band falling apart. That was never the plan, of course – the Beatles conceived the album as a back-to-basics effort, in which they would rediscover the joys of playing together without overdubs, only to find themselves bored, angry, and miserable, each one trapped with three bandmates who couldn’t understand what he was going through. They were unhappy with the results and shelved them, but a known goldmine won’t stay untampered, and Phil Spector was brought in to make something of the mess. Upon its release, the highest praise any Beatle gave it came from John, and his quote – “When I heard it, I didn’t puke” – scarcely counts as a ringing endorsement. Continue reading »

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Arctic Monkeys "Come Together" for Olympic Opening Ceremony

Posted by Caroline Lees at 10:00 am No Responses »
Aug 012012

Last week’s Olympics opening ceremony has gotten a lot of news coverage for Danny Boyle’s fantastical re-imagination of centuries of British life, from agrarian idyll to the Queen skydiving with James Bond. Friday’s spectacle also showcased some of Britain’s most noteworthy musicians. Paul McCartney closed the ceremony with “Hey Jude,” and the Arctic Monkeys– sometimes touted as this generation’s answer to The Beatles – covered “Come Together” with the former Beatle looking on. Continue reading »

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Cover Classics: Innocence & Despair: The Langley Schools Music Project

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 5:00 pm No Responses »
Jul 272012

Cover Classics takes a closer look at all-cover albums of the past, their genesis, and their legacy.

I never liked conventional “children’s music,” which is condescending and ignores the reality of children’s lives, which can be dark and scary. These children hated “cute.” They cherished songs that evoked loneliness and sadness. – Hans Fenger

Hans Fenger was a musician who accepted a job teaching music in a western Canadian school district. He dismissed hi-ho-the-merry-O children’s music in favor of current pop favorites, and his pupils responded enthusiastically enough that he recorded two albums of their performing, pressing 300 copies. More than twenty years later, WFMU DJ and outsider music scholar Irwin Chusid heard the albums and set out to get them released to the world; the end result, Innocence & Despair: The Langley Schools Music Project, wound up on multiple best-of lists at year’s end. Continue reading »

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Cover Classics: Sgt. Pepper's by Big Daddy

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 5:00 pm 3 Responses »
Jul 132012

Cover Classics takes a closer look at all-cover albums of the past, their genesis, and their legacy.

In 1992, the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was celebrating its silver anniversary. Some claimed the silver had tarnished, that Pepper wasn’t even in the top-five of Beatles albums (but don’t tell Rolling Stone that); however, this was overlooked for the sake of celebration, as musician after musician paid tribute to Messers L, M, H & S. But the greatest tribute may have come from a California novelty act that airbrushed a few thousand more gray hairs into the picture and came up with an album that’s just as fun, just as memorable, and – at the very end – just as emotionally overwhelming. Continue reading »

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Five Good Covers: Norwegian Wood (The Beatles)

Posted by Patrick Robbins at 5:00 pm 2 Responses »
Jun 272012

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

John wanted to write about an affair he had without letting his wife know. Paul suggested ending the song with the protagonist burning the house down. George thought the song needed something special, and spontaneously picked up the sitar he’d recently bought. Ringo laid off the drums and gave the song the gentler percussion it needed. Together, they crafted “Norwegian Wood,” one of the highlights of Rubber Soul and the entire catalog of the Beatles. Continue reading »

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