Cover Version Challenge 2

In the past, I've made tape and cd compilations of covers for friends where I don't include a proper song list, all I include is a list of the original artists, and a list of the covering artists, and they have to figure out who covered who. I've been thinking of a way that I could do this on the blog, but with the files having detailed information about the song attached, it wouldn't be very hard to figure out. So I deleted the info. I'm posting five songs, named A, B, C, D & E; I'll give a list of the five covering artists, and a list of the five original artists. I only received two responses to last week's challenge, and my friend Mike got all five right. Here are the answers and the songs reposted with the info intact:

A - Goodbye Girl by Tarkio, originally by Squeeze
B - Secret Heart by Feist, originally by Ron Sexsmith
C - I Don't Like Mondays by Ron Sexsmith, originally by The Boomtown Rats
D - Thunder Road by Badly Drawn Boy, originally by Bruce Springsteen
E - Mushaboom by Bright Eyes, originally by Feist

Now here's this week's cover version challenge:
A - B - C - D - E

Covering Artists:
Tori Amos
Eliza Carthy
Thea Gilmore
Emm Gryner
Kathryn Williams

Original Artists:
The Clash
Death Cab For Cutie
Depeche Mode
Nirvana
Paul Weller

Next week, I'll have the answers and another five songs to guess. You can submit your guesses in the comments or e-mail them here: andthroughthewireblog@yahoo.ca . This is just for fun only, there are no prizes.

By the way, if you're looking to get your hands on more cover versions; head over to My Old Kentucky Blog. Dodge has expanded his collection of Love Will Tear Us Apart covers; and added collections of covers of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds, Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper, The Beach Boys' God Only Knows and others.

Happy Birthday Jamy

My son Jamy turns two today, so I'm going to post some of his favourite songs to sing along to.
The Beatles - All You Need Is Love
XTC - I'd Like That
R.E.M. - Stand
Bedouin Soundclash - When The Night Feels My Song
And one for falling asleep to...
U2 - MLK

Cover Versions

I guess sooner or later I had to do a post on cover versions, everyone else has. There were hundreds of different covers posted last week on the Audiography Live Journal, and My Old Kentucky Blog had a posting on Friday that had 29 different versions of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart (including the original). That said, it would be a little mundane of me to simply post a few cover versions. So I'm going to make it fun. In the past, I've made tape and cd compilations of covers for friends where I don't include a proper song list, all I include is a list of the original artists, and a list of the covering artists, and they have to figure out who covered who. I've been thinking of a way that I could do this on the blog, but with the files having detailed information about the song attached, it wouldn't be very hard to figure out. So I deleted the info. I'm posting five songs, named A, B, C, D & E; I'll give a list of the five covering artists, and a list of the five original artists. Next week, I'll have the answers and another five songs to guess. You can submit your guesses in the comments or e-mail them here: andthroughthewireblog@yahoo.ca . This is for fun only, there are no prizes.

Songs:
A B C D E

Covering Artists:
Badly Drawn Boy
Bright Eyes
Feist
Ron Sexsmith
Tarkio

Original Artists:
The Boomtown Rats
Feist
Ron Sexsmith
Bruce Springsteen
Squeeze

Fisherman's Blues

For anyone who knows me, it's no secret that The Waterboys are one of my favourite bands. Over the past few years EMI have been slowly resissuing the Waterboys back catalogue with longer versions and unreleased tracks hand picked by band leader Mike Scott. The first two albums were resissued as single discs, in 2004 This Is The Sea was given a whole extra disc of bonus material. This year, Fisherman's Blues gets reissued as a two disc set.
Fisherman's Blues was originally released in 1988, and at first listen marked a stark change in the Waterboys sound. This Is the Sea was released three years earlier, and at the time it was suggested that The Waterboys could be as big as U2. Mike Scott was not interested in this career path. Seeking a new musical direction, Scott looked for influence from different sources such as country, folk, or even traditional gospel music. He was also trying to avoid the "repeat-formula-for-success" plan that appeared to be his destiny. In 1986 Scott, along with sax/mandolin player Anto Thistlethwaite, and fiddler Steve Wickham, retreated to Ireland and immersed themselves in the local culture, and American roots music from the early 20th century. Unable to put together an album from their early sessions, the band kept recording, and recording. By July of 1988 they had recorded over 100 tracks over 17 different recording sessions. In October of '88 Fisherman's Blues was released as a single album with 13 songs (less, if you bought it on vinyl). Three years proved to be a very long time between albums, as the band's sound had evolved drastically from a large anthemic sound, "The Big Music", to something a more subtle and folky. It was really hard to draw a line from This Is The Sea to Fisherman's Blues, my reaction was "when did The Waterboys become a folk band??" As the album grew in popularity and legend, fans were asking to hear more music from that era. Another ten songs from the FB sessions were released in 2001 on the album Too Close To Heaven. Many of those songs had a bluesier sound, and the album became the missing link between This Is The Sea (I think I'll avoid the acronym on that one) and FB. This new reissue sees the release of another 14 songs, a few of which have already seen release on b-sides or compilations, and probably closes the book on this era of The Waterboys. A collection I'd like to see is a box set of their recordings, both studio sessions and live performances, from 1986, their most prolific year. Maybe I'll make my own.
To coincide with the re-release of Fisherman's Blues, the band have put together a special section on their website dedicated to the album with detailed notes on the recordings from Mike Scott, Steve Wickham, and percussionist Padraig Stevens along with a detailed list of the sessions that made up the album. You can check it out here.

Here are a few tracks from the second disc for download. If you're a fan of this album, I strongly urge you to pick up this reissue. You can get it for a good price at your local HMV or at Amazon.

The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues (alternate version)
The Waterboys - You In The Sky
The Waterboys - If I Can't Have You
The Waterboys - Rattle My Bones And Shiver My Soul
The Waterboys - Meet Me At The Station

Studio Versions vs. Live Versions

I've always been a big fan of live recordings. Many artists take advantage of concerts to reinterpret a song, or often a song isn't fully realized by the band until it's performed in a live setting. Sometimes on a live album I'll hear a song that really jumps out at me, and I'll discover that I already have a studio version of that song, but that version never really caught my attention. Often times it's a solo or instrumental section that will hook me, or maybe an acoustic song performed electric. This will be the first in a series of posts comparing live versions with their original studio counterparts. Today I offer two selections, one recent and one not so recent.

One of my favourite albums from 2005 was the Calexico / Iron & Wine collaboration In The Reins. For me, there wasn't a bad song on the album. While I missed their Toronto performance, I was excited to see that NPR in the States had posted their Washington show as part of their Live Concert Series. The song that really stood out in the show was Burn That Broken Bed, it was a good song on the album, but it's a great song live.

Download:
Calexico/Iron & Wine - Burn That Broken Bed
Calexico/Iron & Wine - Burn That Broken Bed ( live in Washington, November 2005)

The not so recent selection is from Sarah McLachlan. Her breakout album in Canada was 1991's Solace. While there were many great songs on that album, Black was not one that initially stood out for me. It wasn't until her first live album was released in 1992 that I noticed the song, and that recording really illustrates how much Sarah can really rock, if she wants to.

Download:
Sarah McLachlan - Black
Sarah McLachlan - Black (live at Harbourfront, Toronto, September 1992)

Hillside Update

Here's an update on the tickets and performers for this year's Hillside Festival. The tickets are going fast, and will likely be gone by the end of the month. Weekend passes are sold out at all price levels, and advance priced Saturday day and evening passes are sold out. They have added dates for some performers, where confirmed, and more performers to the list. You can see the list of performers here.

To add to my previous post on Hillside 2006 music, here's some more music from artists who will be playing the festival.

The Stills - In The Beginning
Martyn Joseph - I Would Never Do Anything In This World To Hurt You
Great Lake Swimmers - Various Stages
Matt Mays & El Torpedo - Time Of Your Life ('til You're Dead)
Roxanne Potvin - While I Wait For You
Republic of Safety - The Moon
Ken Whiteley & David Wall - Child Of God
Gregory Hoskins - Black Flakes
Jason Collett Band - I'll Bring The Sun
Malajube - Montreal -40ºc
The Hootenanny Revue (with Carolyn Mark, Luther Wright, Jenny Whiteley, Oh Susanna & friends)
Carolyn Mark - Not Another Other Woman
Luther Wright And The Wrongs - Run Like Hell
Jenny Whiteley - Hallelujah
Oh Susanna - Right By Your Side
The Hootenanny Revue are sometimes joined by Sarah Harmer, who will also be at Hillside. Here's one that she might do if she joins them.
Sarah Harmer - Luther's Got The Blues

Related posts:
Hillside Music
Hillside Festival On Sale Monday

Music From Saddle Creek Records

I Recently picked up Digital Ash In A Digital Urn by Bright Eyes, unfourtunately when I opened it I found the booklet was damaged. I contacted Saddle Creek Records and sent them the damaged booklet. Not only did they send me a replacement booklet, but the good people at Saddle Creek also sent me a 12 song sampler of some recent Saddle Creek releases. These may not be new to many of the indie bloggers out there, but it was all new to me. My favourites from this collection are probably Mayday and Maria Taylor, but it's all good.

Criteria from When We Break:

• Criteria - Prevent The World
• Criteria - Run Together

Orenda Fink from Invisible Ones:

• Orenda Fink - Bloodlines
• Orenda Fink - No Evolution

Broken Spindles from Inside Absent

• Broken Spindles - Inward
• Broken Spindles - The Distance is Nearsighted

Cursive from The Difference Between Houses And Homes

• Cursive - Disruption in the Normal Swing of Things
• Cursive - Sucker & Dry

Mayday from Bushido Karaoke

• Mayday - Pelf Help
• Mayday - Dave D. Blues (How to Make It Sting Like a Career)

Maria Taylor from 11:11

• Maria Taylor - Song Beneath the Song
• Maria Taylor - Speak Easy

Hillside Music

So, I recently added my blog to the elbo.ws blog aggregator and since I came up on their listings Monday, my numbers have quadrupled. A big welcome to any new readers, I hope you like what you see, and thanks to Cameron from A Robot Cometh for his personal welcome to the blog world.
I'm still going with my Hillside theme this week, and finally getting some music posted for this year's lineup.

• Feist - See Line Woman [live in Chicago, go to rbally for the complete show]
• Sarah Harmer - Open Windows (the Wedding Song) [live at Hillside 1999]
• Kathleen Edwards - Summerlong
• The Hidden Cameras - Mississauga Goddam
• Cuff The Duke - It's Over
• Final Fantasy - This Is The Dream of Win and Regine
• The Sadies - Coming Back
• The Constantines - Love In Fear

Hillside Festival Update

Wow! I knew tickets would sell fast, but I certainly didn't expect this kind of reaction. I sure am glad we got our tickets this morning! This message was posted on the Hillside website on Monday evening.

In an unprecedented streak of ticket selling, we are now sold out of all Early Bird and Advanced Weekend Passes for Hillside 2006!! But don't worry... we still have Regular Weekend Passes available for $90 at most of our outlets and online. There will also be a block of Regular Weekend Passes available from the office and ticketline(519-763-8817), both which open tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 10am. Just in case you miss out on those, there will also be Day and Evening Passes available online, over the phone (starting at 10am tomorrow), and at the office(starting at 10 am tomorrow).There has been an unbelievable amount of interest for Hillside 2006 tickets. We are incredibly pleased by the overwhelming support of our patrons and we want to thank you all for purchasing your Early Bird Weekend Passes in less than two hours and your Advance Weekend Passes in only one day! If you want to join us at Hillside this year, please don't wait to buy your tickets. We'd like to see you there too!!

I was hoping to get some music posted from this year's performers, but EZArchive has other ideas. Maybe tomorrow.