Ignore the awful quality, turn your speakers up, and be thankful that this is finally on youtube…
December 15, 2009
December 14, 2009
2009 Favorites: 6 Covers
Here’s the first of hopefully many year-end lists/mixes that should be forthcoming in the next few weeks:
-Justin Townes Earle- “Can’t Hardly Wait” (The Replacements)
Says Uncut Magazine: “The real trick here is that everything, even a cover of The Replacements ‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ feels like an old standard.”
I couldn’t agree more; hearing Earle sing “Can’t Hardly Wait,” it’s not hard to imagine Seeger singing this 1987 Paul Westerberg original as a civil-rights anthem in the 50’s. Easily my favorite song of the year.
-Levon Helm-“I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free” (Taylor/Dallas)
When Levon Helm put out his latest album “Electric Dirt” this past Spring, no one could stop talking about Levon Helm’s cover of the Grateful Dead tune, “Tennessee Jed,” but for me this take on the oft-covered standard was far and away the album’s highlight
-Drive By Truckers-“Play it All Night Long” (Warren Zevon)
Not much to say about this one other than it’s almost hard to imagine this song wasn’t written by Patterson Hood, it fits the DBT’s so damn well.
-Brian Fallon-“I Do Not Hook Up” (Kelly Clarkson)
There’s nothing more frustrating than a cutesy cover of a top-40 song by an indie artist that allows music snobs to ironically enjoy mainstream rap/pop/hip-hop without feeling guilty (I’m pointing at you, Mr. Folds). Having said that, Brian Fallon’s cover of the Kelly Clarkson hit song is so unabashedly sincere that it makes me want to hear Kelly Clarkson bust out an acoustic guitar and do an episode for VH1 unplugged. Fallon treats the song with a seriousness that’s all too refreshing… What is it about Kelly Clarkson songs and heartfelt indie rockers?
-Hold Steady-“Atlantic City” (Bruce Springsteen)
This fitting cover of “Atlantic City,” more than just cementing Craig Finn’s Springsteen obsession, is a welcome full-band take on another song I’ll never get sick of hearing. Full with a mock-Clarence Clemons sax-riff, it’s more “E-Street” sounding than any version of “Atlantic City” The E Street Band has ever played.
-Dave Rawlings Machine-“Queen Jane Approximately” (Bob Dylan)
I’ve heard this twice live in the past six or so months, and I can safely say it’s the best cover of any song I’ve ever heard performed live…
December 9, 2009
Big Ups to Rolling Stone for naming this the 28th-best song of the last decade. Check out their full list here. My biggest complaint? ”Toxic” should have at least made the top 20…
December 4, 2009
If I had a bucket list, seeing Ray Davies perform “Waterloo Sunset” at Glastonbury would have to be one of my top priorities (but only if I get to stand next to the guy at 2:35 for the whole song)
December 2, 2009
You can listen to “Harvest Moon,”a preview from Neil Young’s new live album, “Dreamin’ Man,” due next week, over at the Huffington Post. Or, you can stay here and watch a brilliant performance of the song from Jonathan Demme’s “Heart of Gold.”
EDIT: Now you can stream the whole album over at Thrasher’s Wheat.
November 30, 2009
Just in case anyone’s never seen this…
November 29, 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
David Rawlings Machine - “Ruby”
Don’t miss these guys next Wed. night, at the Cedar Cultural Center.
November 28, 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Too Blue”- 7 Worlds Collide
For some reason this little supergroup’y collaboration featuring Johnny Marr, Neil Finn,KT Tunstall, and (most of) Wilco isn’t really getting talked about at all…
"It Was a Stormy, Stormy Night in Asbury Park,NJ"...
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band just wrapped up a two-year marathon tour this past Sunday in (of all places), Buffalo, NY. Springsteen ditched his extended storytelling shtick from his live act years ago, but he decided to give the crowd a little something special for very last show in Buffalo…
(Story starts at about 1:50)
Recognize the pose at 4:30?
Hint: It’s from a sort-of famous album cover..
November 25, 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Thirteen”-Wilco
Three versions of this song aren’t enough…. What’s your favorite?
Check out Elliott Smith’s cover on “New Moon”
And finally, Big Star’s original, which can be found on ”#1 Record.” This performance is from a recent NYC reunion show.
November 13, 2009
Rumor has it The Who will be playing the Superbowl half-time show. Is it too early to start placing bets on the setlist?
Anyone willing to take 100:1 odds on Boris the Spider?
The Fine Print
If only every band’s outttakes sounded this good…
“George Jones Talkin’ Cell Phone Blues”
“T.V.A.”
November 12, 2009
Happy Birthday to Mr. Neil Young.
“And I was just getting up, hit the road before it’s light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw those thrashers rolling by,
November 9, 2009
If There Was One Place To Be Last Night...
It was at Madison Square Garden, where Bruce Springsteen performed his 1980 double album, “The River,” for the first, and most-likely last, time ever.
November 6, 2009
How A Resurrection Really Feels: The Hold Steady live at St. Olaf
I’ll go ahead and say somewhere between 50-75% of Hold Steady songs are about 20-somethings using drugs and alcohol while trying to deal with their own faltering Christianity. When the Hold Steady played at St. Olaf College a few weeks back, a Luthern liberal arts college with a strict dry campus policy (that probably gets violated just every now and then…), the setting was impossible to ignore from the very beginning, when Craig Finn called out “to raise a toast to saint Joe Strummer” in the middle of “Constructive Summer” and was met with a sea of raised hands without anything to toast.
Just a half-hour away from the Hold Steady’s breeding grounds in the Twin Cities, Craig Finn’s rambling stories about being wasted and rejecting faith and wandering around the Mississippi River never sounded more poignant. To be sure, plenty of people (myself included) had come from out of town to see the show, but the crowd was at least half-full of St. Olaf students, and it was as if Craig Finn was singing right at the characters in his songs. It would be like if Springsteen played a concert in Central Jersey at a ‘59 Chevy convention for Vietnam War Veterans. Okay, the analogy’s a bit over-the-top, but in all seriouness, is there a more perfect place in the world to see the Hold Steady than St. Olaf College ?
I can’t think of any, and during the show a few weeks ago this song, which closed the main set, had never sounded more appropriate:
“The priest just kinda laughed,
The deacon caught a draft,
She crashed into the Easter Mass with her hair done up in broken glass,
She was limping left on broken heels,
When she said Father can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?”
(“Massive Nights” and “Magazines,” at St. Olaf, including Craig Finn’s jab at the Yankees, who had just defeated his beloved Twins in the Division Series.)
The RSS for this blog is http://thepretender.tumblr.com/rss
1 of 7
next page
