Moptop Madness: Bob Dylan vs. Jake Shimabukuro, Neil Young vs. Spiers & Boden

 Posted by at 8:00 am  2 Responses »
Mar 272011
 

This March, we pit 64 Beatles covers against each other in what we call Moptop Madness.

Yesterday’s winners: The Black Keys, “She Said She Said” and Booker T. and the M.G.s, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”

It’s classic songwriters vs. folky upstarts today. First, Bob Dylan’s “Something” meets Jake Shimabukuro’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Then, Neil Young’s “A Day in the Life” faces Spiers & Boden’s “Run for Your Life.”

Listen to each pairing below, then vote for your favorite. For added sway, try to convince others to vote your way in the comments. Voting closes in 24 hours. Continue reading »

Moptop Madness: Jake Shimabukuro vs. Dirt Poor Robins, Mark Heard vs. Neil Young

 Posted by at 8:30 am  4 Responses »
Mar 212011
 

This March, we pit 64 Beatles covers against each other in what we call Moptop Madness.

Yesterday’s winners: Bob Dylan, “Something” and Spiers & Boden, “Run for Your Life”

Today’s matches take on a folk-v-rock tint. First, Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” battles Dirt Poor Robins’ guitars on “Eleanor Rigby.” Then, Mark Heard’s country “I’m Looking Through You” challenges Neil Young’s raucous “A Day in the Life.”

Listen to each pairing below, then vote for your favorite. For added sway, try to convince others to vote your way in the comments. Voting closes in 24 hours. Continue reading »

Moptop Madness: Smokey Robinson vs. Jake Shimabukuro, Neil Young vs. Cotton Mather

 Posted by at 8:00 am  2 Responses »
Mar 082011
 

This March, we pit 64 Beatles covers against each other in what we call Moptop Madness.

Yesterday’s winners: Bob Dylan, “Something” and Spiers & Boden, “Run for Your Life”

Some strong contenders today, folks. First, it’s a battle of beauty when Smokey Robinson’s voice in “And I Love Her” takes on Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Then, things get uglier as Neil Young’s roaring “A Day in the Life” butts heads with Cotton Mather’s trippy “Don’t Bother Me.”

Listen to each pairing below, then vote for your favorite. For added sway, try to convince others to vote your way in the comments. Voting closes in 24 hours. Continue reading »

Ukulele Virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro Breathes New Life into “Hallelujah” (Cover Me Premiere)

 Posted by at 5:00 pm  5 Responses »
Nov 192010
 
Photo by Danny Clinch

Like a lot of people, we discovered ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro through his six-million-views-and-counting YouTube cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Follow-up covers of “Let’s Dance” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” impressed us even more. Now the four-string star returns with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in an exclusive Cover Me premiere. We chatted with Jake about the tune, which you can listen to below. Continue reading »

Song of the Day: Jake Shimabukuro, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

 Posted by at 9:00 am  5 Responses »
Jul 262010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Last week we gave a somewhat tepid review to Amanda Palmer’s new album of ukulele Radiohead covers. No matter how good it had been though, it would pale in comparison to this. Hawaiian Jake Shimabukuro may be the world’s finest ukulele player, or at least the finest who regularly arranges classic pop songs for the instrument.

This video of him performing George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in Central Park is both technically astounding and emotionally resonant. His fingers fly up and down the small fretboard, making the strings speak with each note, much as Eric Clapton did on the original (did you know it was him playing, not George?). Difference is, Jake’s only got four strings to work with. Continue reading »

Full Albums: Led Zeppelin IV

 Posted by at 4:44 pm  10 Responses »
Jul 122010
 

Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!

Releasing your record with no identifying information whatsoever seems like a truly dumb idea. In the days before the Internet, how would anyone know who was behind it? When Led Zeppelin released their untitled/self-titled/titled-with-symbols fourth record, Atlantic Records called it “professional suicide.” Apparently 37 million people disagreed. It spawned enduring classics “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” and of course the Wayne’s World-despised “Stairway to Heaven.”

Zeppelin covers can be tricky, since many artists try to mimic Jimmy Page’s every note (and, naturally, fail). For that reason only one of the covers below would even count as rock. Otherwise, there’s gothic cello, Cuban salsa, and – why not – another dose of Tuvan throat singing.
Continue reading »

 Newer Entries