Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time - Episode 2

I see your Michael Jackson and raise you a Jennifer Paige.

You know who Jennifer Paige is? Here she is, on a swing-


















[Jennifer Paige- about to crush some stupid-haired guy]

EVERYONE knows this song, but you might not have it to hand- I didn't until a friend chanced upon it while scouring the net for cheesy pop classics- so here it is for everyone's enjoyment.

Jennifer Paige- Crush


This time it's The Dismemberment Plan dishing it up. Yeah, they were the band I covered in my FIRST EVER RP post-

















[The Dismemberment Plan- about to be crushed]

The D-Plan substitute their polyrhythmic anthemic approach for something more sedate. MUCH more sedate. The previously chirpy tempo is racked over three hundred and seventy-four seconds, mostly just Travis Morrison's vocal accompanied by a bone-dry electric guitar.

I've noticed a lot of covers- let's leave aside the desperate eye-gouging-inducing pub-rock strumathons- either rock up a quiet song or hush down a loud song.

I'm trying to pick covers that do much more than that, where the performer(s) digest(s) the original song and spits it back up rearranged and with something new and different and most of all EXCITING.

It's the creepy as hell synth noises that make this track for me.

Dismemberment Plan- Crush

Enjoy!

Official D-Plan site
Previous D-Plan blog (+ tunes) on RP
Official Jennifer Paige site

Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time - Episode 1

Welcome to the first in yet another series of infrequently updated themed blog posts. This time, as the title states, the onus is on Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time.

In short this is a topic which allows me to cut loose from all the credible music and painstaking research that goes into my normal blog posts (slight exaggeration, but bear with me), and have some fun instead.

Everybody loves cover versions. It’s a scientific fact. So, in honour of this, I present to you the first unexpected cover version for your aural delight…

(Chris Cornell, looking pretty damn cool)

Chris Cornell covering Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, live and acoustic. Unplugged I believe is the popular word for this phenomenon. I heard this for the first time on Tuesday night on Radio 1’s Black Hole, where they basically play any old shite and pass it off as “random” or “experimental”. For once however, they got it spot on. Cornell (ex-Soundgarden and Audioslave rock god of dubious merit) brings his surprisingly strong vocals to MJ’s classic disco filler Billie Jean. And it works. Honestly.

I’m not even going to attempt to review the song. Just listen to it with no expectations and an open mind. Personally it’s one of my favourite cover versions ever, but I’ll leave it with you to form your own opinions.

Chris Cornell - Billie Jean

Of course, I couldn’t upload that without uploading the original. Is Michael Jackson still cool? Perhaps not. Is his music still cool? You bet it is. Billie Jean is responsible for some of the worst dancing of our generation - an identical scene of foolish drunken men failing miserably to recreate the moves played out in nightclubs and indie haunts around the world. A modern day Shakespearian tragedy if you will. Only MJ himself truly had the moves to do this song justice.

(Michael Jackson, back in the day)

As before, I’m not going to delve deep into the subject matter, i'm just going to post the track. I suspect you have this one already (you really should have, especially if you’ve ever thrown a house party), but just on the off chance that you don’t, here it is anyway…

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

You can find out more about either artist by clicking the following links:

www.chriscornell.com

www.michaeljackson.com

Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris

Ah yes, we’ve arrived at Sufjan already. As much of a cliché as it is to blog about the much hyped American wonderkid, it’s easy to forget he’s such an exceptionally talented artist with possibly the most glorious ear for melody currently producing material on a regular basis.

Producing material is something he does a lot. A hell of a lot. Seven albums (one of them spanning five discs) in the last few years, and you have something of a prolific writer on your hands. He had 63 officially released songs in 2006 to be exact. But - get this - every single album is good, usually better than the last. Remarkable.

But then, you read blogs; you already know this no doubt… so I’ll leave the introduction to Sufjan at that…

The reason for this torrent of praise? Sufjan covering the legendary Joni Mitchell, one of “the greatest songwriters ever” (Rolling Stone, 2002). "It has to be worth a listen" I thought when I stumbled across it to download. Oh my, it was indeed.



In typical Sujfan tradition he’s entirely fucked the song up, twisting and beating it into a pulp of its former self only to leave it bloody and bruised and more beautiful than ever.

Without further ado, I present to you, Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris:

Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris (Joni Mitchell)

While I’m at it I may as well upload his other two rare covers of note - What Goes On (The Beatles) and The One I Love (R.E.M.) - The Beatles cover is a personal favourite, and ranks high amongst even the choice cuts from Stevens own arsenal.

Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On (The Beatles)
Sufjan Stevens - The One I Love (R.E.M.)

You can check out Sufjan or Joni on the following links...

www.sufjan.com
www.jonimitchell.com

Simon x