Hosting a large family gathering on Thursday has left me with less time than usual for theme-mongering. So here’s a nice selection of random stuff.

Dolapdere Big Gang “Smoke On The Water” (Deep Purple)
Generous reader Steve Wiles sent me this song all the way from Turkey. He tells me that these guys are a Romany band whose debut album consisted entirely of 80s/90s songs covered in this style. It makes me want to belly dance.

Rob Wasserman and Lou Reed “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” (Frank Sinatra)
Session bassist Rob Wasserman put out an album in the early 90s called Duets where he played duets with various artists. Presumably all the ones that owed him a favor. It was a hit-and-miss affair but I really like this song.

I went to see Lou Reed when he was touring for his New York album. He played pretty much the entire album, took a break, and came out for a second set, which he started with this song. Very cool.

Violent Femmes “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” (Culture Club)
Gordon Gano’s adenoidal vocals just fit this song so well.

Ol’ Yeller “In God’s Country” (U2)
I don’t like U2. I find their music prententious and I think Bono is a preening self-righteous prick. But this song does work well with pedal steel guitars weeping all over it.

Lou Rawls “Evil Woman” (Spooky Tooth)
You probably haven’t heard of Spooky Tooth. You probably have heard of Gary “Dreamweaver” Wright. Spooky Tooth was his band before he set out for a solo career. ST were pretty big in England but never really made it in the U.S. I’m sure that some reader in the U.K. will get a kick out of this one. Even if you don’t know the original you can still enjoy this great funky version of it.

When I was a child I would go to family parties where my uncle would haul out his accordion and regale us with horrible oom-pah music. It took many years for me to recover from the trauma and realize that the accordion can be a pretty cool instrument in the right hands.

Blackstrap “St. James Infirmary Blues” (Traditional)
A very old-timey feel to this old folk tune. It comes to us from a wonderful compilation of “deviant twang” music on Warning Sign Records called Someday Coming Down.

They Might Be Giants “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” (The Four Lads)
A lot of people don’t know that this is a cover. It took me awhile to find out. Even if you’ve heard it before it’s still a fun klezmer/accordion dance tune.

Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band “Rockin’ Robin” (Bobby Day)
Something about this song makes me feel like it’s early in the morning and I’m in a dark, sweaty, smoky bar. Probably because that’s the only time I ever hear a band play it live.

This tune has some great interaction between the accordion and the saxophone.

Flaco Jimenez and Dwight Yokam “Carmelita” (Warren Zevon)
Flaco Jimenez is widely regarded as the Jimi Hendrix of Tex-Mex accordion. Here he pairs up with Dwight Yokam of all people for a song about being strung out on heroin.

Mr. Yokam makes one small change to the original lyrics. Warren Zevon sang about pawning his Smith Corona to pay for heroin. Yokam sings about pawning his Smith And Wesson, I guess to seem more “country.” The problem is there’s a later line about playing solitaire with a “pearl handled deck.” Which makes sense if you pawned your typewriter. But how could you be playing with your gun if you already pawned it like Yokam did?

Myron Floren “Beer Barrel Polka” (Traditional)
I know what you’re thinking, more horrible oom-pah music from Lawrence Welk’s bandleader. But it’s more than that. Much More. It’s Disco Accordion! Seriously.

Now I can die a happy man, I’ve finally found a song that combines the cheesy syncopation of polka with a thuddng disco beat. Back in the day everybody put out a disco album, even Ethel Merman.

The broad term “Country and Western” encompasses a very wide variety of music. You’ve got your bluegrass, your waltzes, your Western Swing. Here are a few examples.

Vernon Tonges and the Inepti “Slow Poke” (Pee Wee King)
Every year cartoonist Heather McAdams puts out her Country Calendar. It celebrates country and western artists famous and obscure. Every December she and her husband Chris Ligon put on a show to promote the calendar. Chris and Heather’s Country Calendar Show is a Chicago legend. They invite their many musician friends to each play a few songs from the artists featured on the calendar. This recording is from one of those shows.

I know that Chris really likes Vernon Tonges. He’s told me so more than once. Most of the people I know who have seen Vernon play live refer to him as “the fat guy who shouts.” But his style works well on this little ditty.

The Meat Purveyors “Round And Round” (Ratt)
The Meat Purveyors were a great live band. Their shows always featured a killer cover or two, along with original songs about getting wired on trucker speed.

Danny Barnes “Sympathy For The Devil” (Rolling Stones)
The former banjo/guitar player for the Bad Livers is still recording and performing, bless his heart. I think that’s the Devil on fiddle.

Sally Timms “Cry, Cry, Cry” (Johnny Cash)
It’s just not possible to do a collection of country covers without at least one Johnny Cash song. Here Sally Timms makes a radical departure from her work with the Mekons to lend her glorious voice to a charming waltz. This is from an album she claims never to listen to called Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments.

The Handsome Family “Faraway Eyes” (Rolling Stones)
A second Stones song, but this is their country song.

The Handsome Family is the husband and wife team of Brett and Rennie Sparks. They usually play happy-sounding country and folk songs about mayhem, death and insanity so this is a change of pace for them. Brett has one of the best baritone voices this side of Johnny Cash.

I was recently corresponding with somebody who had unkind things to say about Britney Spears’ musical talents. It made me want to post covers of songs by my favorite pop tarts.

The BossHoss “Toxic” (Britney Spears)
Yes, Britney Spears is a freakshow with no discernable talent. She’s not even hot any more. But many of her songs are well-crafted pop tunes written by talented professionals.

This one holds up well to the (literally) galloping country and western treatment by The BossHoss. It freaks me out to think that these guys are German.

Seether “Rehab” (Amy Winehouse)
My wife likes the original version of this song. I think that Amy Winehouse is okay but a tad overrated. The fact that she’s another train wreck meth skank only adds to her appeal. But if you really like young British woman singers Joss Stone has much better pipes.

Alert Reader Dexter pointed out the video of this song to me. I peeled off the audio so I could share it with all of you.

Detholz “Like A Virgin” (Madonna)
The roots of pop-tartdom reach back at least to Joey Heatherton, but Madonna was the first modern (or is that postmodern?) pop tart. Madonna’s early-Eighties persona seems almost quaint today. Now she has to wrest African children away from their parents to get the attention she seeks.

Something For Kate “Genie In A Bottle” (Christina Aguilera)
Rub-a-dub-dub me, baby. A nice earnest acoustic version.

Luna “Straight Up” (Paula Abdul)
Paula Abdul sounded pissed off, this guy just sounds confused. Really great washes of atmospheric guitar float through the whole song.

This comes from the very excellent Guilt By Association compilation CD recently put out by Engine Room Recordings. It features independent artists covering their favorite “guilty pleasure” songs.