Kings of Covers

I can't stop thinking about covers. Ever since Thursday's post about the worst covers of all time, I've found myself constantly listening to re-workings of different songs. It's got to the point now where I'm not sure what's original and what isn't. Now when I look in the mirror, I don't see myself any more, but a rather poor rendition of Gary Jarman's face.

So, considering last week I told you all about when cover versions go wrong. I thought I might as well show you the other end of the spectrum. My initial idea was to simply do a list of some of my favourite covers. However, when I started listing them, I realised that the majority of them came from a small cluster of bands.

As a result I'm just going to give you a list of people who can well and truly conquer the cover. The kings of covers. Once again, there's no particular order, and if you want to listen to any of the songs I've mentioned, there's a playlist at the bottom.

1. Ramones/Joey Ramone
Despite being founding members of the punk scene in 1976, the Ramones were heavily influenced by some of the more straight-laced bubblegum pop that was around in the 1950s and 1960s. When covering other songs, the Ramones often approached the task in one of two ways. Either by doing it like for like ('Needles and Pins', 'Baby I Love You') or giving it their own punk twist ('California Sun', 'Do You Wanna Dance' and Joey Ramone's version of 'What a Wonderful World'). Whichever way they would choose, it worked every time.

2. Franz Ferdinand
Despite predominantly being a guitar band, it's always been possible to tell that Franz Ferdinand have very pop style sensibilities. This is probably why more often than not they choose to cover songs that either were chart classics ('Sound and Vision', 'Call Me') or songs that could be considered classics in the future ('What You Waiting For?', 'Womanizer'). The thing that makes them a great cover band is that they decide to have fun outside of their typical style of music.

3. Oasis/Noel Gallager
Say what you want about Oasis, but they produced some exceptional material in their time. Usually having an album of their own material (insert Beatles sound-a-like joke here if you wish) and then releasing a reworked classic as a B-Sides to their singles. Songs of choice usually came from their influences, such as The Beatles ('I am the Walrus') and The Who ('My Generation'). Noel's also been known to cover a few classics while doing his own shows.

4. The Cribs/Ryan Jarman
The Cribs don't often cover songs that the majority have heard of (perhaps with the exception of The Smiths classic 'Panic'). However, whatever they choose to do, they always manage to make it their own. Song choices usually come from their influences (Huggy Bear's 'Concrete Life', Comet Gain's 'Saturday Night Facts of Life', The Replacements' 'Bastards of Young'), friends (Kaiser Chiefs' 'Modern Way) or a girlfriend (Kate Nash's 'Do-Wah-Doo').



There you go. If you want to listen to any of the songs (including the originals), then just click here. The only exception is 'Saturday Night Facts of Life', which is apparently too good for the likes of Youtube. Anyway, you can listen to The Cribs' version of that by clicking here.

Inspired By The X-Factor

It's got to that time of the year where you can't go anywhere without seeing or hearing about The X-Factor. By now the most overly bombastic show on British television is in full swing, and every Saturday and Sunday between 7pm and 10pm your social network homepage gets filled with comments such as "WTF CHER LLOYD? U IZ CRAP" and "I <3 MATT C, HE CAN LEAVE HIS HAT ON!" As a result, you either have to watch every weekend without fail, or just go into hibernation and hope that you wake up on a Monday morning to find that the show has been cancelled forever. If only.

Anyway, after years of avoiding The X-Factor as if it were the bubonic plague, I've decided to give in to popular culture and just watch it. It's been about four weeks since I started watching and at the moment I'm quite overwhelmed by how average a lot of the contestants are. In fact, such is the averageness of the performances of many of the contestants, I've decided to make this post a tribute to the worst cover versions of all time.

There's no order to it, and my list is definitely not an exhaustive one, I just want to highlight some particularly awful renditions of good songs. Click on the titles to see or hear them.

Robbie Williams - Song 2 (Originally by Blur)
Everyone always assumes that Robbie Williams was obsessed with Oasis, they are obviously all right, as Williams manages to forget nearly all the words to the first verse. It's also fair to say that his backing band struggle to recreate the guitar work of Graham Coxon, using two guitars to Coxon's one and still sounding 75% more atrocious.

t.A.T.u - How Soon Is Now? (Originally by The Smiths)
Remember Tatu? They had a hit single in 2003 with 'All The Things She Said'. Three singles later and the band released 'How Soon Is Now'. Luckily the US and the UK managed to get away with not having it released in their countries. Somehow they have managed to remove all the angst from the original and turn it into a school girl rendition at a karaoke party. I'm extremely worried that their voices aren't going to ever leave my head.

Lostprophets - Boys Don't Cry (Originally by The Cure)

They don't sound like they're from Pontypridd do they? Here, Ian Watkins does an amazing impression of a 33 year old Welsh man pretending to be a 13 year old American singing in front of his mirror. Unfortunately in the process he has ruined the song.

Duran Duran - Instant Karma (Originally by John Lennon)

I know it's for charity, but no. Just, no.

Mark Ronson - Just (Originally by Radiohead)

Trumpets will never be an acceptable replacement for the guitar of Jonny Greenwood. Alex Greenwald will never be an acceptable replacement of Thom Yorke. Mark Ronson will never hold any sort of place in my heart, he could go on to rid the world of Cancer or HIV and I would still feel nothing for him after making this cover happen.

David Kitt - Teenage Riot (Originally by Sonic Youth)

This song manages to take all that was great about the original - The memorable guitar hooks, the pulsing drums, Thurston Moore's effortless vocals - remove it, and consequently perform the blandest song of all time. Nice one David, I don't even know who you are, but you have effectively ruined my life. You may as well be on X-Factor.

Anyway, those are my picks, if you have any horrendous cover versions you would like to share, then just leave a comment.

I'm Not Angry, I'm Just Disappointed

Sonic 4, wondering what to have for tea tonight, having a hangover, the prospect of an infinitely busy couple of weeks. Those are just some of the things I am more excited about than the release of Kings of Leon's new album.

Yes, Monday will see the Tennessee band release Come Around Sundown, their fifth (not second, fifth) studio album, but I don't think I will be rushing out to buy it this time.

I remember going back to my house two years ago with my copy of previous album, Only By The Night. I started playing the CD and I was well and truly blown away. However, within a few more listens, the original force nine wind had settled into one of those annoying little breezes, one that messes your hair up without you even noticing. It was from here that I realised Kings of Leon were never going to make anything like this ever again.

I'm not quite sure which I find more annoying, the new music or the new fans, the ones that think the earth orbits around an mp3 download of 'Use Somebody'. They go jogging each morning before work and listen to Kings of Leon next to Kanye West and Lady Gaga. As far as they're concerned, 2008 is KOL's year zero.

Before the release of new single 'Radioactive', I heard that the band were going back to their roots for the new album. This made me feel a bit more optimistic, I thought maybe there was hope for me yet, and then I saw this. I watched the whole video, and I was speechless. Six weeks have passed and I'm still speechless. I can't find any metaphors to explain how horrific it is.

To summarise, I don't think I can ever love Kings of Leon properly again. Sure, I might enjoy the odd single, I might  be a little bit impressed with a live performance and I'll still get a shiver down my spine whenever I listen to Aha Shake Heartbreak. But I will never love them again. However, if I was in their position, I doubt I would care.

My New Favourite Weapon

This week I managed to stumble upon something that can only be described as audio brilliance.

Before I let you listen though, I should probably warn you, this isn't the audio brilliance that you're probably thinking of, it's no OK Computer, it's no Is This It and it's almost definitely no song by Katy Perry. No, this is something on the other end of the spectrum. It's genius, but in a different kind of way, a much, much darker way. You only break this out when your back is against the wall and you've no other option.

Here's a scenario, your next door neighbours are throwing a party, which is fine at 8 in the evening, but before you know it, it's 1am and the noise is failing to cease, you can hear people talking, gossiping about how work is such a drone lately and how their outfit didn't quite compensate for the weather conditions of the evening. It's making you re-evaluate your life. It's making you realise you had a house with thinner walls.

It's at that moment that you break this out. Turn the your stereo up as loud as it will go and place the speakers at the walls. They'll soon shut up.

Yes, it's a whole album of feedback. You know, the noise audio equipment makes when something's a bit too close to it's amplifier. It's a little bit uncomfortable to say the least. But at times like this it's bloody brilliant.

For those who are wondering who the hell produces an album that is nothing but noise, I'll provide a bit of context. The band are Sonic Youth, a New York based rock band well known for experimentation. Anyway, this album came about when recording one of their many studio albums. The band in the studio above were waking way too much noise, so SY turned all their amps up to 11 and found as many instruments as possible to place against them, just to piss everyone off.

Anyway, you might think it's completely and utterly pointless, but for me, this is amazing. I give you my full permission to use it against anyone who's winding you up, or even anyone you want to annoy. Feedback is a beautiful thing, and more people should get to know it. It's audio brilliance.