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Cover Classics: Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen

 Posted by at 5:00 pm  2 Responses »
Oct 302015
 

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

Light_of_Day

Bruce Springsteen may not be rock ‘n’ roll’s future anymore, but he’s been so prolific – by 1998, three-quarters of his catalog consisted of unreleased songs – that we could very well see new albums coming out from him long after he’s gone. That abundance of gifts he’s given have not only made him a natural for the tribute album treatment, they’ve also given the covering artists a lot to work with – top-ten hits stand shoulder to shoulder with the barely bootlegged, and with no loss in song quality. The 2003 tribute album Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen showcased the breadth of Springsteen’s catalog – two and a half hours long, holding over three dozen songs – just as surely as it showcased the depth of his songwriting.
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NYC (and SOS)

 Posted by at 10:28 pm  No Responses »
Jun 182009
 

Edit: All files are back up for now.

It’s a time of transitions here at Cover Me. For one, box.net is getting fed up with the bandwidth we’re using (though they advertised it as “unlimited), so I need to find another place to host the songs. Anyone with experience have any suggestions, either another hosting site or my own domain name? We’re going for cheap here, but with lots of bandwidth. If I could migrate everything over from box.net that would be ideal; otherwise there will be a whole lot of dead links come July 1st. This thing’s not dead yet but readers, I need your help! Post a comment or email me at covers86{at}gmail{dot}com if you can offer assistance.

Also some personal transitions going on. For one, I graduated school on Sunday (hence my absence from here) and am headed to start interning for Spin music magazine in New York. To celebrate my new locale, here are some tunes about the city that swings.

Tea – Summer In the City (The Lovin’ Spoonful)
I guess there’s nothing in this song that makes it specifically about New York City, but could it really be anywhere else? One tune that never disappoints when it comes on oldies radio, Tea’s take amps up the funky swagger with plenty of horns and guitar-ing. [Buy]

Pete Yorn – New York City Serenade (Bruce Springsteen)
Pete Yorn is one of those musicians I’m not real familiar with, but about whom I just think “blech.” Associations with James Blunt or something. Which is probably unfair as this cover, the only thing I have by him, is excellent, breaking down one of Bruce’s most musically complex songs into a simple story. [Buy]

Gov’t Mule – Down and Out in New York City (James Brown)
A jam band for those who don’t like jam bands, Gov’t Mule grooves out on their excellent The Deep End Vol. 1. Screw Clapton; Warren Haynes is God. [Buy]

Kid Harpoon – First We Take Manhattan (Leonard Cohen)
I posted this one in my very first post here, so needless to say it’s been unavailable for quite a while. The Kid busts out one of my favorite Lenny covers in this frenetic attack of an acoustic jam. [Buy]

Nekked – The Boxer (Simon and Garfunkel)
A little bit of laptop-funk from this well-named crew, adding in blips and thumps that never threaten to obscure the pretty harmonies. Very different than the original, yet totally true to it. [Buy]

Tufts Beelzebubs – City of Blinding Lights (U2)
I recognize that a cappella’s a love-it-or-hate-it genre, but if you have any inclination towards that collegiate sound you should snatch 2008’s Pandaemonium, which won basically every a cappella award there is to win (including best album). [Buy]

Waitswatcher – Bronx Lullaby (Tom Waits)
Tom at his jazziest, Pascal Fricke adds a sweet female voice to his usual instrument, baring the song’s soul with some nylon-stringed plucking. To quote from another of Waits’ songs, “a little trip to heaven.” Enjoy this take, then watch Tom himself do it. [Buy]

Razorlight – Englishman in New York (Sting)
Sting purportedly wrote this tune about gay icon Quentin Crisp. The rest of the story’s in the song. [Buy]

Dion – Spanish Harlem Incident (Bob Dylan)
You probably know this “…and the Belmonts” singer from ‘60s hits like “Runaround Sue” and “A Teenager in Love,” but this more obscure gem takes a simple Dylan acoustic number and really makes it feel like Spanish Harlem. Fun fact: on his 1999 co-headlining tour with Paul Simon, Dylan covered Dion’s “The Wanderer” eleven times with Paul. [Buy]

My Morning Jacket – Across 110th Street (Bobby Womack)
I missed Bonnaroo for the first time in a few years this past weekend (stupid graduation). Luckily I was there to catch this last year, busted out during the Jacket’s three-plus hour midnight set in the pouring rain. Epic. [Buy]

Brian Chartrand – New York State of Mind (Billy Joel)
Chartrand’s partial cover disc Sleeping With Giants proved tough to track down, but it was worth the wait. Instead of overly emoting this crooney number like so many schlock lounge singers do, he swings it along with some funky picking. And don’t say he’s not versatile; on this same album he also covers Justin Timberlake and Lauryn Hill. [Buy]

BRUUUUUUUUUUCE

 Posted by at 6:09 pm  No Responses »
Feb 252008
 

I’m seeing Bruce Springsteen for the first time this Thursday with the E Street Band, and that seemed as good a reason as any to choose a theme. I’ve got dozens, if not hundreds, of Springsteen cover songs and, I gotta be honest, most of them are pretty good. Maybe it’s the basic rock structures he uses that lend themselves to reinterpretations, or the simple lyrics everyone can relate to. I’ve omitted songs from Born to Run and Born in the USA here, as those are both albums I may do a full album post on later. Incidentally, look out for next week’s Full Albums Covered post which should be, well, thrilling…

The Band – Atlantic City
My favorite off of the overrated Nebraska, most of which puts me to sleep. The Band rocks this one out with backporch swing and stomp. Mandolins, banjos, organs and Levon’s vocals propelling it forward, there’s an energy Springsteen borrowed from when he rearranged the song for his hootenanny folk revival tour in ’06.

Paradise Brothers – Souls of the Departed
I can’t find any more information online about this group other than this cover, so who knows if they’ve even done anything else. I hope so though, because the sound here with wailing guitar and a pounding bass drum lends a raw anger to the song only implied in the original. This one, along with several others, is off the excellent Light of Day tribute album.

Steve Earle – State Trooper
A lot of covers of this one, I’m not completely sure why it’s so popular (so much that Arcade Fire played it with him last fall). It tends to get a treatment like the original, aggressively acoustic. Earle realizes where it needs to go though, so he plugs in and rocks out in this live version from ’87.

Nils Lofgren – Man at the Top
If anyone should know how to do a Bruce cover, it the man’s guitarist himself. Beautiful acoustic takes like this one highlight Lofgren’s phenomenal picking abilities, and make me think Bruce should use some of this in his concerts.

Pete Yorn – New York City Serenade
I never took much notice of the original from Bruce’s pre-fame jazzy days. It changes tunes and dynamics so much I couldn’t keep track of what the song actually sounded like. It still has about fifty different parts here, but Yorn keeps the same feel throughout and keeps you awake with emotive vocals and harmonica.

Link Wray – Fire
Mr. Rumble himself, the defacto inventor of distortion, lends his angry guitar crunch to turn in a seven minute thrash of a cover. Springsteen returned the favor when Wray passed, opening several shows with his signature tune.

Marc Broussard – Back In Your Arms
The 80’s sound of the original, courtesy of Max Weinberg’s drum machine-like playing, is gone here, replaced by horns, a gospel choir and an absolutely killer vocal performance.

The Clarks – The River
My favorite Springsteen song, I go back and forth on whether this cover works. It seems somewhat inappropriate to have a hard-rocking version of such a sad song, but it’s well done and jumping. I’ll leave you to decide.

Ani DiFranco – Used Cars
Originally a snoozer off Nebraska, DiFranco employs wavery guitar and some weird vocal effect to create a real slow-burner you can’t ignore.

Johnny Cash – Further On (Up the Road)
The master of the cover teams up with Rick Rubin again for his final album, released posthumously, which gives the song a whole new meaning. Beautiful and bittersweet, his voice is resigned but hopeful. This wasn’t recorded long before he passed, so I hope he met whoever he was singing to.

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