A relatively minor hit for The Rolling Stones despite its reputation and popularity, “Wild Horses” is a tender, almost entirely acoustic ballad of the kind they usually reserved as album tracks. (“Tears Go By” would be another exception to the rule.) It only made the Top 30 in the US and doesn’t seem to have initially charted in the UK, despite eventually going Gold. Of course now it is one of their most popular songs—and one of their most popular songs to cover. First covered, fittingly, by American country rock band The Flying Burrito Brothers in a similar arrangement to The Stones’, most covers stick to the arrangement of the original. (Funnily enough, due to contractual problems, The Stones’ version actually came out after The Burritos’ version.)
Alexis Taylor is best-known as the lead singer of British synth pop band Hot Chip. But he’s been putting out solo records for nearly two decades and his most recent one was released a few months ago. It contains a new cover of “Wild Horses.” And, as befits a cover by a musician known for playing synth-pop, there is nary an acoustic guitar to be found.
Taylor’s version begins with an echoy, stabbing keyboard accompanied by more ethereal synths which obviously sounds nothing like the original. But Taylor sings the vocal melody very close to the original which makes the song instantly familiar. Halfway through the first verse, he adds all sorts of electronic percussion to give the cover a little more propulsion. For the chorus, new synths come in, including one which plays a new melody. Throughout the rest of the arrangement the main keyboards compete with the percussion and various other noises in a dense arrangement which only occasionally drops back down to a couple of instruments.
Though it’s entirely recognizable due to Taylor’s vocal performance, every other aspect of the cover – save one slide guitar part buried in the mix during the third verse – is totally fresh and would render the song unrecognizable. It’s an approach that manages to be both very familiar and very alien at the same time. Check it out:
Very nice.