Steve Albini died today. In addition to being a musician in his own right, he was a legendary engineer (he refused to be credited as “producer”) who recorded Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, and many others. He recorded hundreds of albums, for bands big and small, right up through his passing.
There are a million ways to honor him, but, for now, I thought I’d share some covers that he produced recorded. Not for his own bands like Big Black and Shellac—we may have a separate post devoted to that—but for other people’s.
The first couple covers are iconic, mainstays of “The Best Covers of All Time” type lists. The rest are more obscure. But they all have the Albini touch—which, as he would be the first to point out, was a light one. These lean towards the alt-rock and punk, with some weird-folk excursions, but ultimately as an engineer he worked to help the bands get the sounds they wanted. Including when they wanted to do covers.
PJ Harvey — Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan cover)
The Breeders — Happiness Is a Warm Gun (The Beatles cover)
Killdozer — When The Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin cover)
Will Oldham — Every Mother’s Son (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
The Stooges — I Wanna Be Your Man (The Beatles cover)
Fred Schneider — Coconut (Harry Nilsson cover)
Low — Transmission (Joy Division cover)
The Wedding Present — Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel cover)
Silkworm — Ooh La La (The Faces cover)
Zao — Black Coffee (Black Flag cover)
Gogol Bordello — Mala Vida (Mano Negra cover)
Pussy Galore — Penetration in the Centerfold (Devo cover)
Urge Overkill — Emmaline (Hot Chocolate cover)
Scout Niblett ft. Will Oldham — Do You Want to Be Buried with My People? (Trad. cover)
The Breeders — Chances Are (Bob Marley cover)
PS. Find streaming playlist versions at Patreon.
Came here not expecting to see the Wedding Present; left corrected. Thank you. Apparently Steve Harley’s favourite cover of it.