Cover Me Q&A: What’s your cringiest cover song?

 Posted by at 12:00 pm  4 Responses »
Jul 312024
 

Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.

cover of instrumental

Here at Cover Me Q&A, we’ll be taking questions about cover songs and giving as many different answers as we can. This will give us a chance to hold forth on covers we might not otherwise get to talk about, to give Cover Me readers a chance to learn more about individual staffers’ tastes and writing styles, and to provide an opportunity for some back-and-forth, as we’ll be taking requests (learn how to do so at feature’s end).

Today’s question comes from one of our readers, Micah Goldfus. He wants to know:

What’s your cringiest cover song?

You’ll find his answer below, along with plenty more from the Cover Me gang…
Continue reading »

Review: Chrissie Hynde, ‘Valve Bone Woe’

 Posted by at 10:00 am  No Responses »
Sep 092019
 

Valve Bone WoeThe temptation to dismiss Chrissie Hynde’s new album Valve Bone Woe as aging rockstar populist folly might be tempting. But I would beseech you not to, at least not yet, no matter how the rocky (rockers?) road to hell may be littered with many a late career jazz diversion of dubious content, however lucrative. (As in, please don’t sing it again, Rod.) This is more in the territory of a respectful nod to another genre, rather than any bandwagoneering, and is perhaps a brave choice for Hynde, if certainly unexpected. Plus, this album comes at a time when her day job is far from faltering, the Pretenders currently riding a prolonged late summer of renewed acclaim. So what has she got to prove?
Continue reading »

HBO’s Boardwalk Empire Showcases Old Timey Tunes By Modern Musicians

 Posted by at 12:00 pm  No Responses »
Dec 212012
 

The third season of HBO’s crime drama, Boardwalk Empire has just finished. Having spent a good deal of time in the Atlantic City area when I was young, I have become a big fan of the show which is based on historical criminal figures. There is a lot to like about the show and many focus on the once-in-a-lifetime role of gangster Nucky Thompson as played by Steve Buscemi. Indeed he is incredible. But what transports you into 1920’s prohibition era South Jersey shore are the sets, costumes, cinematography and perhaps most importantly, the music. Continue reading »

Glee Covers Roundup 9/27/11: I Am Unicorn

 Posted by at 10:00 am  1 Response »
Sep 282011
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.

In “I Am Unicorn,” McKinley High gears up for their production of West Side Story, with several of our principal characters battling for the leads. Meanwhile, Kurt makes a run for class president, and music coach Shelby Corcoran (guest star Idina Menzel) steps back into the lives of Rachel (her biological daughter) plus Quinn and Puck (the parents of her adopted child).

Last week in this column we talked about Glee’s apparent attempts to carry out season three with a purpose many claimed the show lacked last year. One of the through-lines established in “The Purple Piano Project” was the performance of the school musical, which we learned would be West Side Story. I assumed they’d save its whole production for a few episodes down the line (much like last year’s Rocky Horror), but it seems the show is really taking to heart the notion of letting plots build throughout a season. Here we get only part of the West Side story in the form of auditions, with several of our main characters (namely Rachel and Kurt, but also Kurt’s boyfriend Blaine) attempting to claim the leads. That’s a serious change of pace from last season, where Rocky Horror was announced, produced, performed and cancelled in the span of 45 minutes. Continue reading »

Glee Covers Roundup 4/26/11: Born This Way

 Posted by at 10:00 am  No Responses »
Apr 272011
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.


In “Born This Way,” Coach Schuester tries to teach his glee club students to accept the things that make them self-conscious, and how better to impart that lesson than with Lady Gaga’s new single?

It seems every time Glee does Lady Gaga, Fox will promote the show as though she fills the whole episode when really we only get a song or two. Last season’s “Theatricality” brilliantly paired Gaga with KISS, arguing that the four-piece arena rock band was the male equivalent of pop music’s current mistress (Alice Cooper might actually provide a better analogy, but whatever). This episode was not as focused musically, offering Glee‘s usual genre-spanning mix and capping the episode with “Born This Way,” marking the first time Glee‘s ever featured a song before the album it’s on even comes out. Way to stay ahead of the curve, Glee. Continue reading »

Glee Covers Roundup 10/12/10: Duets

 Posted by at 11:30 am  No Responses »
Oct 132010
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.

Hello, Glee readers (Gleaders?)! Two important things have happened since last week’s post went up. First: Glee topped the Beatles‘ record for number of entries on the Billboard Hot 100; last week’s releases brought them up to 75 charting tracks, versus the Beatles’ paltry 71 (ironic that last week’s songs included the show’s first #1 Beatles cover, no?). We’re only four episodes into the series’ second season at this point and the show doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, so I can’t imagine what Glee’s record will look like at the end.

Second, I received some feedback that readers might like me to be a little more critical in these roundups—not to tear the show apart (unless it needs it), but to call out performances that maybe weren’t great and spotlight those that were. I’m going to try that out this week and I’d like to start by retroactively saying that I find Rachel’s character insufferable this season, so when “Grilled Cheesus” delivered her singing an awful Barbra Streisand song from a movie that I’m sure would make me want to claw my eyes out, her case was not helped in the slightest. Continue reading »

 Older Entries