Aug 312020
 
irish artists cover van morrison

It’s a fantastic time to be a Van Morrison fan. Between Aug. 3 and Sept. 15, Ireland’s Hot Press Magazine is posting 75 new covers of Morrison’s songs by Irish artists. The YouTube event is in celebration of the Belfast native’s 75th birthday today. Most people will recognize a couple of big-name artists mixed in with many up-and-coming Irish musicians participating in the event. Continue reading »

Jan 302015
 

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

Kirsty MacColl was still in her teens when she wrote and recorded “They Don’t Know.” It should have been a major smash, and in a way it was, peaking at #2 on a UK airplay chart; unfortunately, her distributor picked a horrible time to go on strike, which meant the single never got released, which meant it never placed on the sales-based UK Singles Charts. It took Tracey Ullman’s near-soundalike cover four years later to bring the song into the top ten where it belonged. Kirsty helped out with the backing vocals (that’s her a cappella “BAY-ee-BEE-ee!”), and she never resented Tracey for coming up with the brass ring that in a perfect world would have been hers; instead, she said things like “I don’t mind a bit of reflected glory” and “I’m grateful for (her) paying the rent.”
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