Zappa Tribute Update
The Cover Freak Frank Zappa Tribute (don’t worry, I’ll think of a snappier name before I release it) continues to take shape. I’ve got nine acts lined up and they’re doing a nice variety of songs. There’s still time to get involved, so if you or somebody you know would like to participate you can find details here.

…

The radio in my car has a dock connector for my iPod. When the iPod’s plugged in a display on the radio shows what song is playing. I have it set to show the artist, since more often than not a cover comes on and I recognize the song but I wonder who the heck is playing it. The downside of the radio’s display is that it doesn’t show symbols like ampersands. For some reason a lot of songs have popped up on my iPod lately by bands with ampersands in their names. I figure it must be Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand telling me to devote a post to the humble ampersand.

She & Him “You Really Got A Hold On Me” (The Miracles)
I’m in love with Zooey Deschanel. I know, that doesn’t exactly make me special. She’s got huge saucer-like blue eyes, a good singing voice, and great musical taste. What more could you possibly want from a woman? Her collaboration with Matt Ward has been growing on me lately and I’m happy to see that they have a new record out. I love the way they harmonize on this one.

Black & Blue “Take The Long Way Home” (Supertramp)
This is from another of the great cover compilations put out by Brian Ibbott over at Coverville. It reworks the unlikely classic rock staple as a smooth blues song. It’s probably the singer’s voice but it reminds me a little of the bluesier material from Was/Not Was.

Beck Bogert & Appice “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder)
Super groups generally have the lifespan of a mayfly. They come together and make music for a glorious instant and are then torn apart by rockstar egos. But the good ones leave behind wonderful music. Which is the story of Beck, Bogert, & Appice. They only made one studio album but it still stands as some of the best stuff Jeff Beck has ever recorded.

DM Bob & Deficits “Jeepster” (T. Rex)
I’m not very into glam rock but I just love this song. In fact I love the whole Electric Warrior album. I also love the way the DM Bob turns it into a raw low-fi honky-tonk number. It sounds like he recorded it in his bathroom.

Hue & Cry “Fixing A Hole” (The Beatles)
There are way too many jazz Beatles covers. Most of them are too showy for my taste, with the musicians taking a very familiar song and wanking all over it to show off their fanciest licks. This one certainly has a lot going on but it all holds together and works quite well.

Alex Chilton
Alex Chilton, of Box Tops and Big Star fame, died last week. He had an influence that far outstripped his commercial success. Much like the Velvet Underground, he didn’t sell many records but everybody who bought one decided to become a musician. He was another unfortunate example of a gifted musician and songwriter who didn’t get the fame and recognition he so richly deserved.

Mr. Chilton was an inspiration to many musicians whose work I enjoy but I never really got into his music. While I like the occasional pop song or album, the whole power-pop scene is something that never reeled me in. As a result I’m really not familiar enough with Mr. Chilton’s music to do a proper cover tribute.

I do have some Coca-Cola radio commercials recorded by the Box Tops. I don’t think they really qualify as covers, but they do include the jingle so maybe I can post them after all.

Box Tops “Coke Ad #1”
Box Tops “Coke Ad #2”
Box Tops “Coke Ad#3”

…

Now Ray Charles I’m familiar with. A brilliant musician and songwriter and a flawed man (aren’t we all?) who achieved the recognition he deserved in his lifetime.

Joe Cocker “Unchain My Heart” (Ray Charles)
Youngsters in the audience might not realize that Joe Cocker used to be a vital and exciting performer before he started specializing in sappy ballads. Here he gives this song the leather-lunged British pub singer treatment. The background vocals remind me of the joke about Brother Ray’s background singers the Raelettes. If you wanted to be a Raelette, you had to “let” Ray.

The Amboy Dukes “Let’s Go Get Stoned” (Ray Charles)
Ted Nugent insists that he was young and naive and didn’t realize that every song the Amboy Dukes did was about drugs. He didn’t realize why the cover of the album Journey To The Center Of The Mind was a collection of pipes. I think he knew exactly what those songs and album art were all about and he just wanted to get some cash from the stoner crowd. At any rate, I think the song was about getting drunk until these guys got ahold of it.

Rare Earth “What’d I Say” (Ray Charles)
I still find it hard to believe that these guys were the first white act signed to the Motown label. Did Berry Gordy think that they would be popular with his core demographic or was he also trying to grab some of that white stoner cash? I do love this song, it’s got that great Hammond B-3 organ going on.

Mo’ Horizons “Hit The Road Jack” (Ray Charles)
Mo’ Horizons is a Latin jazz outfit from Germany. This song’s got a great rhythm and more fabulous organ work. The singer isn’t  singing in English but it really doesn’t matter since you already know the words.

Ray Charles “Ring Of Fire” (Anita Carter)
Brother Ray had a way of interpreting other people’s songs that made them sound like he had written them. Here’s a case in point. It’s slower than the Anita Carter original or the more famous Johnny Cash cover, its smooth surface hiding deep passion beneath.

… the weird turn pro. That one-liner from Hunter S. Thompson adorns a T-shirt that’s popular down in Key West and has been an inspiration to me for many years. I was reminded of it recently when a fellow cover blogger mentioned that he and I had posted different versions of the same song on the same day, except that the version I posted was weirder. While I’ve always posted weird songs, I’ve never wallowed in weirdness for an entire post. Until now.

The Dead Brothers “Besame Mucho” (Emilio Tuero)
The Dead Brothers are a Swiss band that describe themselves as “the one and only Death Blues Funeral String Trash Orchestra.” Their music is an odd combination of traditional musical styles and punk attitude. If Tom Waits fronted an old-timey string band, this is what it would sound like. Between the tuba and the guy singing through the megaphone, it’s definitely weird.

Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (Iron Butterfly)
Albert Kuvezin is one of the most amazing musicians I have ever seen perform live. The things he can do with his voice are absolutely mesmerizing and otherworldly. Here he takes Iron Butterfly’s druggie gibberish and turns it into the soundtrack for a shamanistic ceremony.

Martin Denny “March Of The Siamese Children” (from The King And I)
Martin Denny was one of the pioneers of the “exotica” movement in lounge music. His music tended to feature multiple layers of bizarre percussion, odd sound effects and wild stereo separation. This song is all about the percussion and is regrettably short on the bird calls. Still, I don’t think it’s quite what Rodgers and Hammerstein had in mind.

Dokaka “Ramblin’ Man” (Allman Brothers)
Dokaka is a Japanese human-beatbox artist who has recorded with Icelandic weirdo Bjork. He has a CD out that I haven’t heard but which seems interesting as a concept at the very least. He first made his mark by recording a series of demented covers, mostly of heavy metal and prog-rock classics. So covering the Southern-rock stylings of the Allman Brothers is weird even for him.

Mutsuhiro Nishiwaki “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Queen)
There’s a whole lot of music on the iTunes Store from Mutsuhiro Nishiwaki, but they don’t have any biographical information. I can’t find any information about this guy anywhere. He apparently reprograms music boxes to play unexpected songs. He’s recorded a bunch of songs from movie soundtracks and has released a couple of Christmas albums. “Bohemian Rhapsody” sounds even sillier when it’s tinkling away on a music box.

Thanks to everybody who wished me a happy birthday last week. One of the presents I received was a 1940s-era mandolin-banjo. I messed around with it a little bit and decided to sign up for a mandolin class at the Old Town School of Folk Music. I’m looking forward to strolling into class with that unholy mutation under my arm. In the meantime I’ve been listening to mandolin music and I figured I’d share some with all of you.

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman “The Thrill Is Gone” (B.B. King)
Since Bill Monroe is dead David Grisman is arguably the greatest living mandolin player. He’s played and recorded with various members of the Grateful Dead over the years, including an album he did with Uncle Jerry in the early 90s. Here we have a jazzy take on B.B. King’s signature song featuring some great work from Mr. Grisman.

David West And Friends “Purple Haze” (Jimi Hendrix)
It’s a pleasant enough bluegrass workout that starts with Hendrix and winds its way through a few other touchstones of the classic rock canon.

Charles River Valley Boys “Ticket To Ride” (Beatles)
When searching for covers featuring the mandolin it’s hard to find ones that aren’t Beatles songs. I’m not sure if that has something to do with the Beatles or with mandolin players.

Wanda Vick feat. Kourtney Wilson “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (U2)
Longtime readers already know that I find Bono to be a pompous preening jerk and that I think U2’s music is grandiose and tedious. But even flaccid arena rock sounds warmer when it’s arranged for a string band.

Jim Richter-Kimble “Brownsville Blues” (James “Yank” Rachell)
Bluegrass mandolin players are a dime a dozen, there are plenty of jazz mandolin players and even mandolin orchestras that play classical music. You don’t hear the mandolin much in blues songs, but one of the great blues mandolin players was Yank Rachell. This song comes from a Yank Rachell tribute album that came out a couple of years ago.

FZ Tribute Update
I’ve received the first finished contribution to the Cover Freak Frank Zappa tribute album. It’s halfway to being a single! I’m damp with excitement! There’s still time to get in on the action, so if you’re a musician who might be interested or know one who might be, you can get the details on the project here.

…

It’s my birthday Tuesday. Over the last couple of years I’ve used the occasion to craft posts based on musicians who share my birthday or historical events that happened on that day. I tried doing it again this year and discovered that I’ve already used all the interesting events and musicians. So I’m just going to post five songs that I like. It’s my birthday, I can do whatever I want!

The Mike Flowers Pops “Velvet Underground Medley” (Velvet Underground)
I am going to include a Lou Reed song because he shares my birthday and I like his music. The Mike Flowers Pops had a brief moment in the sun in 1995 and haven’t done much since. I love the swinging sounds of their album A Groovy Place. The mere idea of a lounge version of “Venus In Furs” makes me giggle uncontrollably.

Duke Robillard “Sway” (Dean Martin)
I got an email just the other day informing me that the legendary Duke Robillard has a new album called “Tales From The Tiki Lounge.” With a title like that I’m in! The album is a tribute to the music of Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes “Elenor” (The Turtles)
The Gimme Gimmes are reliable when you’re looking for a cover. Whatever song you’re looking for, they probably did a punk cover of it and it’s probably pretty amusing. In a way they’re too easy a choice, like those Pickin’ On albums, so I try not to lean on them too heavily. But when this came on my iPod recently I noticed that they were singing the sappy Turtles song to the tune of “London Calling,” which for the Gimme Gimmes qualifies as the height of creativity. I’ve always loved this song for the line “You’re my pride and joy, et cetera.” They really couldn’t come up with anything better than that?

Taxi Taxi! “Oh My Darling Clementine” (Traditional)
One more Swedish song. This time we have two heartbreakingly cute twin sisters playing zither and accordion with their dad playing pedal steel. It’s fragile and shimmery and very beautiful.

Reel Big Fish “There Ain’t Nothing Like A Dame” (from South Pacific)
This is a weirdly schizophrenic song, bouncing joyously between ska and disco with alacrity.