david coverversion: clinic vs. arcade fire vs. calexico

so clinic's oddly chill number, 'distortions', is possibly their best song, and it's certainly the best off of 'internal wrangler'. this summer clinic released a b-sides comp called 'funf' that is probably tits as well. i think it was buddyhead who described clinic's music as 'that scene in the devil's advocate where keanu reeves goes outside and is alone in the city but minus the dork actor and satan...ok add satan.' sounds about right. when i first heard arcade fire gave a take recently in the live setting, i wasn't surprised. to me it just seems like an arcade fire chord progression and vocal melody. even though win butler kinda botches the lyrics, it's still a pretty sweet like take. once again kicker favorite calexico serves up another southwestern flavored cover. this time it's 'ocean of noise' from arcade fire's funeral after-party 'neon bible'. do yourself a service and check out calexico's live show if it comes to a venue near you.

clinic - distortions
arcade fire - distortions
arcade fire - ocean of noise
calexico - ocean of noise


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more closers

tupac's 'don killuminati: the 7 day theory' could possibly be the best hip-hop/rap album ever. also i'm surprised that skalpel isn't bigger in the trip-hop/lounge/downtempo fields.

billy bragg & wilco - the unwelcome guest from 'mermaid avenue'
skalpel - sculpture from 'skalpel'
smoking popes - on the shoulder from 'born to quit'
tupac - against all odds from 'don killuminati: the 7 day theory'
deerhunter - heatherwood from 'cryptograms'
beirut - after the curtain from 'gulag okestar'
comets on fire - blue tomb from 'blue cathedral'
the pogues - the band played waltzing matilda from 'rum, sodomy, and the lash'


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lost seinfeld episode

boss tuneage tuesday 9/25

this almost was a wack tuneage wednesday.

elvis presley - his latest flame (marie's the name) take 4
a hawk and a hacksaw - a black and white rainbow
cheeseburger - cocaine
buddy holly & the crickets - rave on
curtis mayfield - (don't worry) if there's a hell below we're all gonna go
dj krush & toshinori kondo - mu-getsu
final fantasy - this lamb sells condos
gram parsons - that's all it took
great big sea - the chemical worker's song (process man)
heartless bastards - searching for the ghost
interpol - mammoth
medeski martin & wood - your name is snake anthony


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david coverversion: pavement vs. echo & the bunnymen

pavement is to the fall as the vines is to nirvana. only not as obvious. still they proved that indie could make it in a major label world. even if it was indie noodling from dudes who were way too stoned. they 'ironically' gave a cover of echo & the bunnymen's 'the killing moon' for the ep 'major leagues'. i first heard 'the killing moon' in the movie 'donnie darko' and have been meaning to look into echo's back catalog but haven't gotten around to it yet. pavement's takes also comes from the matador comp 'what's up, matador?'. first time listeners looking to get pavemented should check out the deluxe reissue of 'crooked rain, crooked rain' first. bring joints.

echo & the bunnymen - the killing moon
pavement - the killing moon


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david coverversion: johnny cash vs. neil diamond vs. urge overkill

urge overkill seemed like they knew from cool. maybe this is why quentin tarantino excellently used them for a crucial 'pulp fiction' scene. toting their christian names nash kato, king and blackie onassis and an unbelievable taste for smack, urge overkill hit the chicago scene around the mid 80's until collapsing in 1997. i guess they've since reformed and are writing up another album about how much they love drugs, booze and pussy. sounds good to me. so, back in the day they recorded a bunch of ep's and on 'stull' they gave a tremendous cover of neil diamond's 'girl you'll be a woman soon'. neil diamond was one of the two reasons that seeing 'saving silverman' was good. neil diamond rules. and speaking of neil diamond, johnny cash won a grammy for his take of neil's 2nd greatest song--'solitary man'. johnny cash rules.

urge overkill - girl you'll be a woman soon
neil diamond - girl you'll be a woman soon
neil diamond - solitary man
johnny cash - solitary man


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fuck

pulp fiction


casino


the big lebowski


snatch


south park: bigger longer and uncut


the departed

better than mtv

peter sellers - cigarettes whiskey and wild wild women


dr dre with snoop doggy dogg - nuthin' but a g thang


pulp - like a friend


the crystal method - comin' back


ween - buckingham green

david coverversion: badfinger vs. harry nilsson vs. lcd soundsystem vs. franz ferdinand

i don't usually like doing a 4-way-around-the world of sorts, but these david's keep piling up and there will always be coverversions. kicker favorite harry nilsson released his magnum-opus 'nilsson schmilsson' ten years into his solo career. upon it, he took a then little known badfinger song and turned into a #1 hit here, the uk and in canada. lcd soundsystem took harry's 'jump into the fire' and made it all electro-y..sorta..it bounces though. this year lcd soundsystem released another collection of bumping dance-punk numbers. from 'sound of silver' franz ferdinand contributed to the single release of 'all my friends' by giving the same song a shot. you guessed it, it sounds like franz ferdinand covering lcd soundsystem. john cale gave a version of the same song for the same dealy as well. so i guess this could be badfinger vs. harry nilsson vs. lcd soundsystem vs. franz ferdinand vs. john cale, but that would be gay. it appears that harry nilsson is also a martin scorsese favorite as both 'without you' and 'jump into the fire' were featured in the movies 'casino' and 'goodfellas' respectively.

badfinger - without you
harry nilsson - without you
harry nilsson - jump into the fire
lcd soundsystem - jump into the fire
lcd soundsystem - all my friends
franz ferdinand - all my friends

john cale - all my friends


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david coverversion: cowboy junkies vs. the velvet underground vs. bryan ferry

the cowboy junkies once again serve up another track from their 'trinity session' disc. this time it be 'sweet jane' from everyone's favorite (f)artsters--the velvet underground--though it's based on the live release not the studio take. it was also featured in the quentin tarantino scripted and oliver stone directed film 'natural born killers'. you might not know the name bryan ferry. you might know the band he led that made him famous--roxy music. thru-out the years before, during and after roxy music, bryan has released various solo records, some with originals and some with covers. his 1993 album 'taxi' gives us his take on vu's 'all tomorrow's parties'. now he may not have used ostrich tuning on his guitars for this like lou did for his 'velvet underground & nico' take, but it's still a competent take. ostrich tuning was named after the way lou reed tuned his guitar (all strings tuned to d--low e string tuned down, a up, d stays normal, g down, b up, and high e down) on his early song 'the ostrich' and can also be heard on 'venus in furs' from the same album. maybe think of roxy music as a guilty pleasure and not faggy synthrock. once again, calexico delivers another stellar offering--this time in the form of 'all tomorrow's parties'.

bryan ferry - all tomorrow's parties
the velvet underground - all tomorrow's parties
the velvet underground - sweet jane
cowboy junkies - sweet jane

the velvet underground - venus in furs
calexico - all tomorrow's parties


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david coverversion: the beach boys vs. barry mcguire vs. the turtles

i first remember hearing the turtles in the movie 'ernest goes to camp', singing 'happy together' to the scene of ernest removing the turtle that had bitten his nose. and they say comedy isn't art. the turtles also took a take on the p.f. sloan protest song 'eve of destruction' as it was first rejected by the byrds. barry mcguire's session was the most noted, being released shortly after the turtles and being his only top forty hit (#1). i tend to agree with the consensus that 'eve of destruction' is the 'epitome of a protest song' although bright eyes' 'when the president talks to god' is a close second. barry mcguire also gave a version of 'sloop john b', the traditional west indies folk song made famous by the beach boys. a field recording of the song was taken by alan lomax back in 1935 and released on the compilation 'bahamas 35: chanteys and anthems from andros and cat island'. barry mcguire has since become a born-again christian and while falling off the map he probably went double myrrh. also added is his take of 'it's all over now baby blue', continuing the streak of adding that song whenever possible. the closing track to the new okkervil river album 'john allyn smith sails' segues nicely into sloop after sorta hocking the melody. i never did see the last ernest movie, 'ernest goes to heaven', even though ernest probably knew that bob dylan is for the byrds.

the turtles - eve of destruction
barry mcguire - eve of destruction
barry mcguire - sloop john b
the beach boys - sloop john b

okkervil river - john allyn smith sails
barry mcguire - it's all over now baby blue
bright eyes - when the president talks to god


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super ghouls n ghosts killed

part1


part2


part3


part4


part5


part6


part7

i changed it from enjoys alcohol

david coverversion: placebo vs. robert palmer vs. sonic (ciccone) youth

as far as my tastes go, not much of sonic youth's catalog is better than the song 'the diamond sea'--20 minutes of pure youth--tripping noodley leads, obscure lyrics, a deliberate freak-out, and a build-up reminiscent of glenn branca's 1981 guitar ensemble masterpiece 'the ascension' (not necessarily in that order). i'm not sure which tuning they employed but they've used hundreds thru-out their career, out of the possible 15,625(?!) available on a six stringer. i'm pretty sure that the synths used in their version of robert palmer's 'addicted to love' were standardly tuned. this take can be found on 'the whitey album' which was originally going to be a recreation of some beatles album, but eventually became a tribute of sorts to madonna and her scene. (as they cover 'burning up' for it). this was released under the moniker of ciccone youth. another band known for using a non-standard tuning are placebo. they played most of their guitars tuned to f bb eb g# c c (low to high). they also took palmer's 'johnnny & mary' from the shallow grave we call the 1980's and removed many cheesetit elements and replaced them with their own. except it swings. i've always been a believer that if placebo released an album of only instrumentals, shit would be hot.

placebo - johnny & mary
robert palmer - johnny & mary
robert palmer - addicted to love
ciccone youth (sonic youth) - addicted to love

sonic youth - the diamond sea
glenn branca - light field (in consonance)


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daniel dumile

aka mf doom, viktor vaughn (venomous villain, vaudeville villain), king geedorah (in monsta island czars with mf grimm, gigan and others), nastradoomus (remixing nas' 'nastradamus' lp), metal fingers, madvillain (with madlib), dangerdoom (with danger mouse), zev love x (in kmd with onyx the birthstone kid and dj subroc). almost as many faces as kool keith. if all of kool's faces wore a metal mask not unlike the gladiator. some people say that dizzie rascal and the streets are the best mc's from england. bollocks! mf has hinted at future project for dangerdoom, madvillain, viktor vaughn, and king geedorah. not bollocks! doom is also quite an accomplished producer, as metal fingers, remixing various wu-tang tracks and the beatles, isaac hayes and steely dan among others on the 'metal samples' disc. check it all out, it's good.

kmd - sweet premium wine
monsta island czars - gunz n swordz
viktor vaughn (as vaudeville villain) - let me watch feat. apani b
viktor vaughn (as venomous villain) - doper skiller feat. kool keith
mf doom & mf grimm - impostas
mf doom - beef rapp
nastradoomus - the flyest angel
metal fingers - pennyroyal
king geedorah - i wonder
dangerdoom - benzi box feat. cee-lo
madvillain - america's most blunted
mf doom (enter the 36 chambers of doom) - track 4
mf doom - tick tick feat. mf grimm (from 'glass onion' by the beatles)
mf doom - gas drawls (from 'black cow' by steely dan)
gorillaz - november has come feat. mf doom


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boss tuneage tuesday 9/18

this week is brought to you by the numbers 1, 9, 6 and 7. in that order.

lemon pipers - green tambourine
the beach boys - heroes and villains
the electric prunes - i had too much to dream last night
the turtles - she'd rather be with me
moby grape - omaha
the moody blues - nights in white satin
procol harum - whiter shade of pale
the velvet underground & nico - i'll be your mirror
the jimi hendrix experience - third stone from the sun
pink floyd - bike
strawberry alarm clock - incense and peppermints
the beach boys - country air

ps. smiley smile and wild honey were the two albums the beach boys released that year. sorta.


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david coverversions: save the last dance for me

the songwriting team of doc pomus and mort shuman cranked so many tunes that saying you've heard them all is ludicrous speed; 'this magic moment', 'teenager in love', 'viva las vegas', 'his latest flame (marie's the name)', and 'save the last dance for me', to name a very few. lots and lots of people have played their songs, but here are some of my personal favorites: dion, the beach boys, the coasters, manfred mann, and elvis presley. there are a-many version of 'save the last dance for me', which was written in 1960 and was first recorded by the drifters. it was the only #1 hit for the group. the harry nilsson performed and john lennon produced album 'pussy cats' revisited the song, as well as 'subterranean homesick blues' by bob dylan, back in 1974. fast forward 32 years and you will hear a song-for-song cover of the album done by the walkmen. emmylou harris and dolly parton both gave country fried versions that hit the top ten back in 1979 and 1984 respectively, although dolly's take takes many a-cue from the cheesiest parts of the 80's scene. so, other versions??

the drifters - save the last dance for me
emmylou harris - save the last dance for me
dolly parton - save the last dance for me
harry nilsson - save the last dance for me
the walkmen - save the last dance for me
bruce willis - save the last dance for me


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happy birthday moms

today is my mother's birthday. so, happy birthday moms. here are some tunes to get you thru a monday birthday.

the beatles - birthday
the jesus and mary chain - birthday
mission of burma - birthday
junior boys - birthday
weird al yankovic - happy birthday
the veils - a birthday present
guided by voices - burning flag birthday suit
andrew bird - the happy birthday song


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better than mtv

the verve - sonnet


mf doom - my favorite ladies


the rolling stones - paint it black


bjork - human behaviour


the decemberists with gillian welch and david rawlings - sin city

david coverversions: take me home country roads

written by john denver and a couple of pals, this song was his first top ten hit (reaching #2 in the u.s.) of his illustrious career in which he released over 300 songs, composing around half of them (on over 30 albums). this feat earned him the title of 'poet laureate of colorado' in 1977, only 8 years after going solo. many artists have found a gloryhole using john denver's songs-- peter paul and mary had their highest charting with 'leaving on a jet plane', and olivia newton john reached #6 with 'take me home country roads' in japan, to name a few. we all know the ride 'the john denver experience' is an homage to how the man died, it can partially be seen here. once again i am revisiting the country gentlemen's 'live in japan', the album i have many a-time mentioned and posted from. chucky waller and co. again kill some notes and some chords and some words to spine-chilling perfection. toots & the maytals recorded a saaaaaweet reggaed up version replacing the word virginia with their home of jamaica. alt-country pioneers and punkish rockabilly enthusiasts jason & the scorchers honky-tonked the living fuck out of their 1995 take which caused me to check out the rest of their back catalog, which is tits. as always, send us a version we ain't gots.

john denver and johnny cash - take me home country roads


john denver - take me home country roads
toots & the maytals - take me home country roads
the country gentlemen - take me home country roads
jason & the scorchers - take me home country roads


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boss tuneage tuesday 9/11

it took a little longer than usual because i had a 7 hour moment of science today.

dj shadow - stem (cops n robbers mix)
desaparecidos - manana
sons & daughters - red receiver
blackfeather - long legged lovely
townes van zandt - rake (live)
the caesers - suzy creamcheese
doves - satellites
smoking popes - megan
ours - drowning
okkervil river - black
moth - thinking please
danger mouse - encore


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free cd day!

so, somehow, people have decided to send us free cds. said free cds are to be reviewed for this blog. while we are still working out a review system that is both funny and unhelpful, we will be starting up these reviews very shortly. if you are reading this and are thinking, 'maybe this medium will be the big break my dashboard confessionals rip-off band needs', then by all means send us some free shit. just don't get pissed if we flame your lame shit. love, pigeonkickers.

david coverversion: the equals vs. the clash vs. dropkick murphys

i was surprised very much to hear dropkick murphys in martin scorsese's movie 'the departed'. i am not surprised very much to see that they covered a song by the clash. from taking cues from oi!, irish and punk/hardcores scenes, these bostonians make up quite a catchy racket. i know the term punk has become trite and should be directly laughed at, but these irish honkies have stayed true to their roots thru-out their career. and i guess that means covering the clash. now the clash here combine their punk roots with reggae, ska and rockabilly--to name a few. that's why it's no surprise that they decided to give the equals 'police on my back' a shot. the equals were a reggae/pop band out of the uk back in the 60's and 70's. also added are a few other excellent takes on 'the guns of brixton', especially calexico's.

dropkick murphys - the guns of brixton
the clash - the guns of brixton
the clash - police on my back
the equals - police on my back

calexico - the guns of brixton
honeydippers - the guns of brixton
mc chris - blastic

updated 9/19: while listening to 'dungeon master of ceremonies' i noticed that the beat sounded familiar.


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david coverversion: bob howard vrs. lorrain walton vrs. wayne hancock

writing songs about weed didn't used to automatically take you out of the running for mainstream popularity like it does now. especially a song like "If You're A Viper" which talks about how everything is great when you get drymouth and get yourself some peppermint candy. and then stop caring about paying your rent. good stuff. this old jazz classic translates pretty well into other genre, like wayne hancock's texas swingy version.

Bob Howard - If You're A Viper
Lorrain Walton - If You're A Viper
Wayne Hancock - If You're A Viper

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david coverversion: arcade fire vs. foo fighters vs. gerry rafferty

i don't know that the foo fighters have given that many covers over the course of their musical tenure. four were given for the 10th anniversary release of 'the colour and the shape', and of the four, they gave gerry rafferty's homage to busking--'baker street'--a sleek and rocky makeover originally for the b-side to 'my hero'. everyone should know gerry from his one hit wonder with fellow scotsman joe egan 'stuck in the middle with you' when they were stealers wheel, which was made aware to whole new generation thanks to 'reservoir dogs'. more recently--well like three weeks ago, the foo fighters did a cover of arcade fire's 'keep the car running'. this version comes courtesy of a radio spot that the foo fighters did for bbc radio. pretty boss.

gerry rafferty - baker street
foo fighters - baker street
foo fighters - keep the car running
arcade fire - keep the car running

stealers wheel - stuck in the middle with you


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better than mtv

the black angels - the prodigal sun


tapes'n'tapes - insistor (liveish)


the penetrators - harder to breathe & first date


acid mother's temple - pink lady lemonade


rage against the machine - sleep now in the fire

david coverversion: franz ferdinand vs the beatles vs. pulp

art school nerds franz ferdinand released an excellent debut record a few years back. then they released a totally forgettable follow-up. one of the rare recent not great sophomore releases. meh, there's still a few gems on it but for the most part it's a lametown letdown. recently, for the bbc radio, they gave a cover of the beatles 'it won't be long'. you guessed it, it sounds like franz ferdinand covering a (beatles) song, doesn't matter who it's originally by, it sounds like franz ferdinand. this is a good thing, as most of the franz ferdinand songs bounce around the room with catchy, jumpy leads and discotheque drums. unfortunately, this is not the case for their version of pulp's 'mis-shapes', which kicks off pulp's masterpiece #1 'different class' . rumor has it that franz might be working with the snoop in the near future.

the beatles - it won't be long
franz ferdinand - it won't be long
franz ferdinand - mis-shapes
pulp - mis-shapes


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david coverversion: my morning jacket vs. elton john vs. berlin

i've always thought that my morning jacket's best song are the ones featuring jim james' pipes and acoustic guitar with little to no production behind it. see 'one in the same', 'i needed it most' from 'at dawn', 'i will be there when you die' from 'the tennessee fire' or 'knot comes loose' from 'z'. don't get me wrong, these cats can fuck your face directly off with a serious case of the shreds if they do so desired (which they usually do so desire), but we all know their secret weapon is ol' jimmy james' voice. you can almost see the smoke rolling thru while listening to this version of captain fantastic's 'rocket man' as it's sung out to the stars. they give us this version courtesy of the 'early recordings: chapter 1: the sandworm cometh' album showcasing early unreleased nuggets. i was gonna have elton john and the who square off over 'saturday nights alright for fighting' but after revisiting the who's take, i realized that although it sounds exactly like a who song, it's one that was crammed thru a pussy-ass cheeseball filter. so i've opted to go a less cheesy route and stack my morning jacket up against berlin with various renditions of 'take my breath away'. yes, it's from this movie and mmj's take comes courtesy of 'early recordings: chapter 2: learning'.

elton john - rocket man
my morning jacket - rocket man
my morning jacket - take my breath away
berlin - take my breath away

my morning jacket - i needed it most


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david coverversion: frank black vs. the beach boys vs. the descendents

brian wilson's psychotic influence spans the musical globe like a concord piloted by margot kidder. for once being a stunted man-child with auditory hallucinations totally helped someone out. rumor has it that it was brian wilson and his beach boys who introduced the beatles to 7th chords. the descendents were a punk group from back when the term punk was still relevant. writing excellent songs about beverage containers and disdain for the world led them to many an-opening slot on the warped tour, at least for the 45 seconds that that cocktasting pigeonshit mattered. between when the pixies broke up (the first time, so far) and frank black ate a plethora of balding twinkies and when the pixes got back together, franky gave us a competent take of the beach boys' 'hang on to your ego' which is a bonus track on the 'pet sounds' reissue. the song eventually became 'i know there's an answer' which was on the original release. frank also did a version of 'where is my mind' with placebo on their live dvd from a few years back. most of placebo's catalog is sweet, as you might soon hear about with their covers and b-sides. can the kids hear this? dig.

frank black - hang on to your ego
the beach boys - hang on to your ego
the beach boys - wendy
the descendents - wendy


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boss tuneage tuesday 9/4

widespread panic - blue indian
clinic - walking with thee
these arms are snakes - your pearly whites
the groggers - throw your red paint
the fever - bye bye betty blue
the fuzzy mountain string band - shortening bread
the monks - nice legs shame about her face
ursula1000 - full on cheetah
king missile - gay-not gay
radish - little pink stars
avatars of dub - sex elevator music
seaweed - start with


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anton newcombe with the black angels

part one


part two

better than mtv

dolores o'riordan and angelo badalamenti - the butterfly


konono no.1 - lufuala ndonga


mum - they made frogs smoke until they exploded


they came from the stars (i saw them) - it's time


foo fighters - everlong