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Published
July 16th, 2008
in
Commercial Madness, Covers, TV, Video |
3 Comments »
As stated in previous posts, I’ve begin to hunt by artist in an effort to prove that no one is safe from the sellout. NO ONE. I will not rest until my task is complete (or until our capitalist economy crushes under its own weight).
Anyways, back in the day, Cat Power was featured in not one, but two commercials: a very uplifting Cingular commercial (ahhhh… cellular love) and an extremely powerful diamond ad in which all us men get the point: she won’t love you until you purchase some ice.
Interestingly, both songs are covers. The Cingular commercial features “Hanging on the Telephone,” originally by The Nerves and made famous by Blondie (from Parallel Lines). Cat Steven’s “How Can I Tell You” was the focus of DeBeers’ ad.
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Published
July 10th, 2008
in
Covers, MP3s, Music, Video |
6 Comments »
I have no idea what to make of this. Everlast (House of Pain) has a new album, “Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford,” due out September ‘08. The lead single is an unfortunate cover of Johnny Cash’s legendary “Folsom Prison Blues.” He also released an exclusive video on Crackle to go with it.
The cover is bad enough on it’s own, but then they jammed in the “Insane in the Brain” sample that was all over House of Pain’s “Jump”.
Sounds to me like someone in marketing thought this one up: “Let’s take a song by someone really famous with a badass image and have our guy sing it. Oh, and we can mix in his old band’s only famous song too! The kids are gonna love this…”
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Published
June 25th, 2008
in
Covers, MP3s, Music |
No Comments »
One of my current favorites covering a favorite from my angsty teenage days? Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. A recording of Spoon covering The Smiths’ “Panic” from a recent show found it’s way onto the internets, and we’ve posted it here for your listening pleasure.
God, one of the things I love about Spoon is their ability to cover a song faithfully, while still making it their own (see: “Peace Like a River,” “Don’t You Evah“, “Tear Me Down,” etc.).
MP3s:
Spoon - Panic [The Smiths cover]
The Smiths - Panic
Published
May 17th, 2008
in
Covers, Music, Video |
2 Comments »
Scarlett Johansson gave AOL Music a live performance in support of her album of Tom Waits covers. I gave a less-than-complementary review of the album a few weeks ago, but I have to admit that this performance somehow adds a little life to the song. Where the album version plodded, this one benefits from a looser rhythm section - ScarJo still clunks along, but Waits’ melody is enough to keep it afloat.
Scarlett Johansson - “Falling Down”
(Sorry, the only version available has a pre-roll ad.)
Published
May 15th, 2008
in
Concerts, Covers, MP3s, Music, News, San Francisco, Video |
1 Comment »
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 8 is coming back to Golden Gate Park October 3-5. This year’s lineup is as impressive as we’ve come to expect, featuring a good mix of bluegrass (Del McCoury Band, Earl Scruggs, Hazel Dickens, etc.), bluegrass-friendly (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Loudon Wainwright III, etc.) and distinctly non-bluegrass (Gogol Bordello) artists.
Personally, I’m excited to see a few of my favorite bluegrass musicians, as well as finally catch Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie and Greg Brown — two favorites that I’ve never seen live before (although I did literally bump into Will Oldham at the Cat Power show a few weeks ago).
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Published
May 9th, 2008
in
Concerts, Covers, Music, News, Video |
10 Comments »
Yes, it’s true. There is actually something called the Jammys – an award show that focuses on the crème de la crème of the jam band world. Surprisingly, it’s been going on for the past seven years.
Admittedly, I find the jam band thing a little tiresome, but I will surely recognize the dominance of Phish and can’t believe they had to wait until the award show’s seventh – and sadly, final – year to get a lifetime achievement award.
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Published
April 29th, 2008
in
Concerts, Covers, Music, News, Video |
2 Comments »
Prince gave the purple treatment to Radiohead’s now-ostracized breakthrough single, “Creep” at Coachella (ella, ella, hey, hey) this weekend.
“The Artist” nails it per usual, but it comes off sounding… well, like Prince covering Radiohead. I guess I was hoping for something more, like 2+2=5. (Sorry, had to.) I’d gladly listen to Prince and/or Radiohead live over just about anyone out there, so I’m not complaining.
Prince - “Creep”
VP, as our Senior Radiohead Correspondent, what do you think about this?
Published
January 15th, 2008
in
Covers, MP3s, Music, TV |
2 Comments »
HBO’s “The Wire” started it’s fifth and final season earlier this month, meaning that my next 12-13 Sunday nights are accounted for.
The show is easily my all-time favorite. The Wire is a groundbreaking examination of all the institutions that contribute to drugs and urban crime. The creator, David Simon, resists all of the Law and Order/CSI crime clichés and instead turns in something far more powerful, by looking deep into the “why” and not just the “what”.
Plus, it’s based in my hometown, and the theme song is by Tom Waits, one of my all-time favorite musicians. Simon leans more of the song’s feeling (dark subject manner and driving rhythm) without relying on the song’s meaning — a theme throughout all of the series’ musical choices. (more…)
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