Sep 062011
 

It would be hard to mention Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” without noting its prominent resurgence in the past few months. Thank Kanye West and Jay-Z, who prominently featured a chopped-and-screwed sample in Watch the Throne single “Otis.” If that reimagining was a little too off-kilter for you, perhaps you’ll enjoy Peter Bjorn and John’s new cover, recorded as the second-to-last song for A.V. Undercover. Continue reading »

May 182011
 

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

In “Funeral,” the glee club prepares for their pending trip to Nationals, but are hit surprisingly hard by the death of club nemesis Sue Sylvester’s sister.

I imagine some viewers out there feel cheated by the identity of the person who dies in “Funeral.” I thought for sure the smart money was on Kurt’s dad Burt (Mike O’Malley). On last week’s post commenter Jason supposed it’d be Karofsky, closeted football player and Kurt’s one-time enemy, whose death would’ve provided a surprising end to his arc but didn’t seem impossible. Yet “Funeral” took from us Sue (Jane Lynch) Sylvester’s sister Jean, an almost non-character who appeared a few times throughout the course of the show to remind viewers that Sue indeed had a heart. Continue reading »

Feb 112011
 

Live Collection brings together every live cover we can find from an artist. And we find a lot.


Hailing from Chicago, IL, the Smashing Pumpkins helped blaze a trail for the wave of apathy that infected most ’90s alternative rock. They also gave hip kids from the Midwest the first nationally-recognizable band they could take pride in since Cheap Trick. Formed in 1988, the Pumpkins enjoyed over a decade of fame and influence until noted in-fighting brought about their dissolution at the turn of the millennium. After numerous side-projects and member-shuffling, the Pumpkins have once again taken to the stage under the leadership of Billy Corgan, perhaps one of rock music’s true auteurs.

The Pumpkins have celebrated their diverse influences via cover songs throughout their career. A quick scan of their recorded catalog reveals studio takes of tracks originally by acts like the Cars, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, the Cure and Missing Persons. Their live shows are similarly peppered with covers that one might not expect to hear from these iconic slackers. Some of these do seem like a natural fit though: it’s not too hard to draw a line to the Pumpkins from Neil Young, Depeche Mode or Pink Floyd, for instance. Continue reading »