Sep 082023
 
crisis actor pusherman

There are many different techniques in sales, even if your product is “coke and weed”, and you are the “Pusherman”. Crisis Actor’s new update of Curtis Mayfield’s classic shows a character very different from his predecessors, where gentle persuasion is replaced with paranoia and fear.

Curtis Mayfield and his band introduced the song as diegetic music in the classic 1972 Blaxploitation flick SuperFly. At that stage of the movie, Youngblood Priest is enjoying the fruits of his profession, in his element in Harlem. Priest enters a nightclub where Mayfield and his band are completing their rendition of “Pusherman.” The song is one of a salesman who is only apparently comfortable in his world, but beginning to harbor doubts. The song’s sales technique is one of seduction and glamour, his products providing a glimpse into his aspirant milieu. The sound is enticing and warm, Mayfield’s peerless falsetto complementing the astute guitar work over a funky bassline. You don’t have to think that drugs are actually glamorous to accept that the Pusherman is presenting them that way, and his customers are buying the lifestyle. Continue reading »

Jul 192022
 
The Veldt Check Out Your Mind

Ahead of the release of their new album, Entropy is the Mainline to God, veteran New York rockers The Veldt have released a cover of The Impressions’ “Check Out Your Mind” as a single.

Penned by Curtis Mayfield, this classic of psychedelic soul somehow maintains the same pace, but becomes drenched in a druggy, sludgy mix of guitars and keyboards. The vocals float through the middle of the mix, making you feel like you can’t tell which way is up, down, left or right – and that’s without some mind-enhancing substances. Continue reading »

Aug 102021
 

In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!

20th Century

People come up with crazy schemes all the time – what’s less common is when someone actually goes through with said crazy scheme. Americana legend Peter Stampfel, formerly of The Holy Modal Rounders and The Fugs, is that someone. Continue reading »

Jan 112021
 
jon batiste covers the impressions

Curtis Mayfield has adorned the walls of many college dorm rooms, record shops and hipster apartments thanks to his work on the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film Super Fly. Mayfield’s name and photo appear on the iconic poster just underneath the image of the Youngblood Priest – the dope dealer looking to go straight.

On Christmas Day, Mayfield’s music was heard in a different sort of film. A new cover of the 1963 hit “It’s All Right,” which Mayfield recorded with his group The Impressions, played during the closing credits of the Disney/Pixar film Soul. The film tells the story of Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher who embarks on a journey through the afterlife after scoring his dream job as a jazz musician. The song was covered by Jon Batiste who is best known as the band leader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Continue reading »

Aug 082019
 
david byrne cover songs

Talking Heads only ever recorded one cover, and when I talked to David Byrne about it for my book, he seemed to have mixed feelings on the subject. “There’s always a little bit of resistance to recording a cover like that because it’s kind of a crowd pleaser,” he told me. “I’d seen it happen before, where radio DJs who pick what they’re going to play will often pick a cover song… So then a band gets known for covering somebody else’s song as opposed to writing their own material. They have to go through a struggle for years to get identified with their own songs.”

Talking Heads recorded “Take Me to the River,” it became their biggest hit up to that point, and Byrne said: That’s it. No more covers. The band never followed it up with a second.

He’s relaxed the rules a bit more in his solo career, most recently covering Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout” on tour (he says he’s bringing the cover to Broadway, too). And clearly he’s been listening to covers. For his DB Radio show on his website, he just compiled a wonderfully eclectic mix of his favorite covers. The theme, he says, is artists doing the unexpected, from Sonic Youth covering The Carpenters to Miley Cyrus covering Nine Inch Nails. And when the song choice itself may not be surprising – Patti Smith covering the Rolling Stones, say – the arrangements are. Here’s what he wrote on his website: Continue reading »

Apr 302019
 
best cover songs of april
Beyoncé – Before I Let Go (Maze cover)

Last week, Beyoncé surprised-dropped her live album Homecoming. It accompanied the Netflix film of the same name, which immortalized her lionized 2018 Coachella performance. The biggest surprise of all was the bonus track: a cover of Maze’s 1981 “Before I Let Go.” The original song wasn’t a huge hit when it first came out, but has grown to be referred to sometimes as the “black national anthem.” Beyoncé brings it right up to the present with a big production including marching band, new rap verse, and a sample of New Orleans bounce artist DJ Jubilee. Continue reading »