Wow! Just discovered this on an awesome Norton Records Flamin’ Groovies compilation called “Slow Death.” All of the songs on “Slow Death” were recorded between 1971-1973 and this is an earlier, slower, janglier, and spectacularly cool alternate take on the Groovies signature song. Don’t know if I like it more than the best-known version recorded with Dave Edmunds in 1976, but it’s still pretty f–king cool.
After “Bell Boy,” this is my favorite song from the Who’s amazing and brilliant rock opera “Quadrophenia,” an album that gathers deeper meaning the older I get. The 1979 film (directed by Franc Roddam) is damn good too.
From her 1997 album “20th Century Blues,” Marianne Faithfull performs a moving cover of one of Harry Nilsson’s best (and least-known) songs. Faithfull gives a nice tribute to Nilsson at the beginning of this. I can’t think of any one better to cover this song, except (maybe) for Tom Waits.
Nilsson’s original version is from his album “Pussy Cats,” credited to both Nilsson and John Lennon and recorded during Lennon’s infamous “lost weekend” period in the early-mid 1970s. You can find Nilsson’s original version of this elsewhere on Dave’s Strange World.
My all-time favorite Go-Go’s song that really should have been a huge hit for them, circa 1984. However, I think the video for this song may have had something to do with why the song stalled out. While it’s very cool on a meta-pop cultural level, the vision of the Go-Gos in male drag probably freaked out a lot of their core audience. Since I can’t find the video, you’ll just have to groove to the Go-Go’s finding their inner Buzzcocks … the band, that is.
POSTSCRIPT: Loose Handlebars has kindly provided a link to the video, located currently at Daily Motion:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zdc7_the-go-gos-turn-to-you_music#.UPnauSepDuQ
And while you’re at it, check out Loose Handlebars’ terrific music blog:
Carrying on the theme of rockin’ greetings from my last post, this is the lead-off track from Cheap Trick’s terrific 1977 album “In Color.” It was also used memorably at the beginning of Jonathan Kaplan’s seminal 1979 troubled youth film “Over the Edge.”
From Courtney Love’s criminally underrated 2004 album “America’s Sweetheart” is this raver, which (aside from “Celebrity Skin”) may be the best thing she’s ever done.
A great, soulful Leonard Cohen cover from Roberta Flack’s debut album “First Take.”
From Reed and Cale’s tribute to Andy Warhol “Songs for Drella,” “Hello It’s Me” is the very moving, final song on the album: a blunt, but loving eulogy by Reed and Cale for their former mentor Warhol. Goodbye, Andy.
An absolutely amazing cover of one of my all-time favorite songs. Given the subject matter, you would have thought that Ferry would have composed this song himself. However, it was written and performed by Tim Buckley in the late 1960s and Ferry’s version was from 2010.
Bryan Ferry just keeps getting better as he gets older. It’s almost like he’s been waiting his entire life to grow into the Serge Gainsbourg-like world-weary European gentleman he’s become. The studio version of “Siren” on Ferry’s “Olympia” album is stellar, but this live version is very special. Also, highly recommended is his 2007 album of Bob Dylan covers “Dylanesque.”
The Pistols cover the Monkees. One of my all-time favorite covers and one of my all-time favorite Sex Pistols tracks. From “The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle” soundtrack (though, for the life of me, I can’t remember where or when the song appeared in the film).
Dave's Strange World 