Just when we get ready to crown Kate Nash the new British popster of the moment, here comes Lily Allen comes again, with a surprisingly infectious left-field cover.
The track is ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" and Allen apparently took it on for a French cell phone add. Rather than subject you to that (you can see it here if you like) we've instead got the entire track courtesy of a 60s-lovin' still of Allen, and the magic of YouTube. Enjoy.
We've got to start reading our issues of Billboard more carefully - P-fork uncovered this little nugget at the end of this edition's "Inside Track" column: "...Word is that an album featuring Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, and Love as Laughter covering each other's material is in the pipeline for release by Epic next year."
The article's focus was on news that The Shins are being "heavily courted" by Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace label, but the possibilities of this covers album are endless. Off the top of our heads, we'd love to see alternate takes on "Third Planet," "Gravity Rides Everything" and maybe "Stiff Animal Fantasy." If you guys have other picks, holla back with a comment.
Madonna fans, count your "Lucky Stars." (Ugh, that was awful, sorry.) SS rarely gives any ink to the Material Girl, but when one of her most famous songs ("Like a Prayer") gets covered by a band we actually dig (Lavender Diamond), it makes for a worthwhile post.
The song is part of a forthcoming Madonna tribute disc entitled Through the Wilderness: A Tribute to Madonna. We're not sure what that means, or why the cover is a nudie shot from Sex, but seeing how the indie kids handle one of the seminal pop songs of the 80s is interesting nonetheless. Check it out at the album's official MySpace page.
As the Springsteen tour train continues to roll on to more accolades, indie rock's suddenly adoptive father gets yet another cover treatment this week in Josh Ritter's countrified-take on "The River." Coming from a September gig in Berlin, Ritter may not quite conjure the pathos of its originator, but still does the spare, mournful Boss classic proud. Check it out at Spinner, and watch another Springsteen classic get the indie treatment after the jump.
We've been hooked on the new Ryan Adams EP for the last week or so, in particular his cover of Alice in Chains' "Down in a Hole." Adams faced down the same addiction demons (thankfully though, with better results) and romantic troubles as Layne Staley, so he sells it with equal pathos. Great cover. Great rainy day music. Check out a live take after the jump.
After reaching for Springsteen-esque rock grandeur on the ill-fated Sam's Town, it looks like The Killers are falling back into their pop roots. But as if they need another reason to piss off the hipsterati, their cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay" is being used for Control, the band's forthcoming biopic. It's actually not a bad little tune, but it definitely eschews the brooding quality of the original for a more upbeat feel. The Joy Division diehards will probably tear it to shreds. Take cover Brandon!
The Killers' take on "Shadowplay" will also be featured on the band's forthcoming B-side disc, Sawdust.
Teddybears' 2006 LP Soft Machine was one of those happy surprises that looked awful on paper (former members of a Swedish grindcore act dish out electro rock while wearing giant stuffed bear heads), but sounded great on our iPods ("Punkrocker" would rank in our top 10 singles of last winter). So when we heard that they were remixing The Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive," we were jive talkin' with glee like we hadn't since the "Barry Gibb Talk Show" first aired.
Spinner has the tune available for streaming. It's pretty straightforward, just dropping a few beats and electro riffs that muscle up the track, but it works quite. It's like a shiny new remake to a classic movie - A nice update that the club kids will dig, but takes nothing away from the falsetto-laden brilliance of the original.
Spinner reports the song as part of a new Bears release called "Greatest," but the band's MySpace blog has it as a hidden track for an upcoming Rhino collection. Our money is with the talking bears.
We were going to write a post about the crapfest that was last night's "very special" American Idol. But since we didn't really watch it, we'll just share the one actually cool clip we found today - Jack Black's rendition of Seal's "Kiss From a Rose."
Calling Franz Ferdinand's take on LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends" a cover really doesn't do it justice...
Gone are the subtle electronics and piano, replaced by 80's-style riffs and and a new wave feel that takes the track in a whole new, shiny direction. Is it better than the original? No. But if these two acts got together for a co-headliner, we'd be camping out for those tix.
Stream Franz Ferdinand's cover of "All My Friends" at MySpace.
Madonna leads Hall of Fame inductees but Beastie Boys get snubbed
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