U2 has released their Shane MacGowan cover in anticipation of the tribute album to the late Pogues singer/songwriter. “Shane MacGowan was full of contradictions — and that’s where the truth of him lived,” said U2 guitarist The Edge in a press release. “He could be precise about what mattered and gloriously careless about everything else. If that sounds like a kind of performance, maybe it was. But as Oscar Wilde put it, ‘a mask tells us more than a face.’” Continue reading »
The Dropkick Murphys have released their cover of The Pogues‘ “The Body of an American,” for the the upcoming tribute album released in lead singer/songwriter Shane MacGowan‘s memory. We’ve previously covered the release of the Bruce Springsteen song that will be on the record, and the Murphys have released a lyric video to mark this release. Continue reading »
Another track from the upcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album, 20th Century Paddy – The Songs of Shane MacGowan, has been released and this one features a duet between Johnny Depp & Imelda May. (We covered the Springsteen song a few weeks ago.) Continue reading »
Jennifer Alvarado has released a cover of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” to all streaming platforms. The cover comes on the heels of Alvarado’s springs EP Lately. “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” first appeared on The Proclaimers’ second album, 1988’s Sunshine on Leith.
Alvarado’s take hews close to her other work, focusing on a more folk/Americana instrumentation than the original. With a slower, but still persuasive tempo, she removes the Proclaimers’ more shouty vocals and instead goes with a more traditional vocal line. But it doesn’t blunt the emotion of the message of the song, which still comes through loud and clear. Continue reading »
Back in the 1970s, Alice Cooper was president of The Lair of the Hollywood Vampires. It was a drinking club of various rock stars that hung out in the loft at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in L.A. Members included Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson and Micky Dolenz. (John Lennon was also an honorary member.)
Recently, Cooper brought back the Hollywood Vampire name for a super group that includes Johnny Depp, Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Paul McCartney, Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction), Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters), Brian Johnson (AC/DC), Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Slash (G-n-R), Joe Walsh (Eagles), Orianthi and Kip Winger. (And that’s not even all of them.)
The album, which hits stores on Friday, features covers from Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, Small Faces and Badfinger. (Along with a couple of new songs written by Cooper.)
Here is their cover of The Who’s “My Generation”.
More about Hollywood Vampires can be found on their website and on Facebook.
Fifty years ago, a covers album wasn’t called a “covers album.” It was called an album. Full stop.
Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Billie Holiday – most albums anyone bought were “covers albums” as we’d think of them today, but that’s not how folks thought of them then. Once the public began putting a premium on singers writing their own songs in the ’60s the concept of course shifted, so that an artist doing a covers album has to be like Michael Jordan playing baseball – an okay diversion but let’s get back to the main event please.
More so this year than ever before though, that pendulum seems to be swinging back in small but meaningful ways to what an album originally meant. More and more artists are releasing LPs saying, this is not my new quote-on-quote “covers album,” this is my new album (that happens to consist of covers). The attitude showcases a confidence and surety of purpose that shows they take performing other peoples songs every bit as seriously as they do their own.
That holds true for both of our top two covers albums this year, and plenty more sprinkled throughout. Which isn’t to knock anyone doing a covers album as a lark, novelty, tribute, or side project – you’ll see plenty of those here as well – but any blurred lines that put a “covers album” on the same level as a “normal” album have to be a good thing.
Start our countdown on Page 2…