Love these, Mark. I have a HUGE covers playlist that I need to go through and sort by mood or genre or something. Near the top of my favorite cover albums was an EP by Angel Olsen titled Aisles, which she released in 2021. Here's her take on "Eyes Without a Face." I think I like the Marsheaux version better -- it's more adventurous -- I do like Angel's take as well.
Also, one of my early Earworm posts was Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face." I should repost that one since I had about 150 fewer followers. Here's the link to it if you want to see what you missed!
Thanks for the Angel Olsen EP recommendation as I missed that when it came out. Angel Olsen can be quite hit and miss for me. I’m still an album guy and although she has some amazing songs, some of her albums in their entirety don’t work for me.
I do love a good cover. One that's been on my mind (after the discussion of Prince in the most recent Tune Tag) is the Nouvelle Vague cover of "When Doves Cry" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSiMUiTyqg8
Oh my gosh Mark, thank you for including my article on Bronski Beat! For some reason, I didn't get notified of this tag and just stumbled upon it now. What a lovely surprise. And, this Orville Peck cover is a super interesting take on the original. I don't usually love a cover but this one is pretty great.
I realize it was done over a decade ago but a cover song that sticks with me and ends up on my "chill" or "vacation" themed playlists is Poolside's cover of "Harvest Moon." It's a favorite..... https://youtu.be/suWbFPaVoEA?si=h27laj8mSKX_HrE7
You’re welcome, your article was such a wonderful piece! That cover by Poolside was gorgeous! When the song started and the beats kicked in I was like, “Hmmm. How on earth are they gonna turn this into Harvest Moon?!?” but it was beautifully done.
I also wanted to say that I just saw Durand Jones perform in concert last week and it was excellent. His first solo album, Wait Til I Get Over, which came out earlier this year, is excellent. Hope it makes your best albums of 2023. Definitely will make mine!
And that Chromatics cover of "Into the Black," is indeed sublime.
I’ve sampled the latest Durand Jones record and surprisingly I wasn’t really able to get into it. I don’t think I’ve given it a thorough enough listen though and am planning to get back to it this week.
My top 50 list is starting to come into focus and time is running short for new candidates. But this happens every year. There are usually at least a few albums that don’t make it into the first cut in Oct/Nov that end up making it after further listens.
I find that a lot of my favorite albums are ones I didn't "get" at first. That required a few listens to plumb their depths. That's how the Durand Jones album was for me. It helped that the album was chosen for an 'album of the month' zoom discussion I participate in. So I had to listen to it many times to be able to talk intelligently about it. It's an extremely personal album for him, about growing up gay and black in the south. With lots of nods to Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding.
I was planning to include a batch of covers that were better than the original and that people didn’t even know weren’t the original versions. Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower would’ve been one of my picks because his version is the definitive version for me and far superior to the original. I would also include Santana’s Black Magic Woman in that list as well. Will check out those covers you suggested, thanks!
Love these, Mark. I have a HUGE covers playlist that I need to go through and sort by mood or genre or something. Near the top of my favorite cover albums was an EP by Angel Olsen titled Aisles, which she released in 2021. Here's her take on "Eyes Without a Face." I think I like the Marsheaux version better -- it's more adventurous -- I do like Angel's take as well.
https://youtu.be/4WtWd6neFEE?si=Sq_KIHRJ-keiWGVv
Also, one of my early Earworm posts was Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face." I should repost that one since I had about 150 fewer followers. Here's the link to it if you want to see what you missed!
https://earworm.substack.com/p/billy-idol-eyes-without-a-face
Thanks for the Angel Olsen EP recommendation as I missed that when it came out. Angel Olsen can be quite hit and miss for me. I’m still an album guy and although she has some amazing songs, some of her albums in their entirety don’t work for me.
I do love a good cover. One that's been on my mind (after the discussion of Prince in the most recent Tune Tag) is the Nouvelle Vague cover of "When Doves Cry" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSiMUiTyqg8
That’s an interesting cover! Very laid back and mellow. I’d totally forgotten about Nouvelle Vague, thanks for putting them back in my radar.
Oh my gosh Mark, thank you for including my article on Bronski Beat! For some reason, I didn't get notified of this tag and just stumbled upon it now. What a lovely surprise. And, this Orville Peck cover is a super interesting take on the original. I don't usually love a cover but this one is pretty great.
I realize it was done over a decade ago but a cover song that sticks with me and ends up on my "chill" or "vacation" themed playlists is Poolside's cover of "Harvest Moon." It's a favorite..... https://youtu.be/suWbFPaVoEA?si=h27laj8mSKX_HrE7
You’re welcome, your article was such a wonderful piece! That cover by Poolside was gorgeous! When the song started and the beats kicked in I was like, “Hmmm. How on earth are they gonna turn this into Harvest Moon?!?” but it was beautifully done.
I also wanted to say that I just saw Durand Jones perform in concert last week and it was excellent. His first solo album, Wait Til I Get Over, which came out earlier this year, is excellent. Hope it makes your best albums of 2023. Definitely will make mine!
And that Chromatics cover of "Into the Black," is indeed sublime.
I’ve sampled the latest Durand Jones record and surprisingly I wasn’t really able to get into it. I don’t think I’ve given it a thorough enough listen though and am planning to get back to it this week.
My top 50 list is starting to come into focus and time is running short for new candidates. But this happens every year. There are usually at least a few albums that don’t make it into the first cut in Oct/Nov that end up making it after further listens.
I find that a lot of my favorite albums are ones I didn't "get" at first. That required a few listens to plumb their depths. That's how the Durand Jones album was for me. It helped that the album was chosen for an 'album of the month' zoom discussion I participate in. So I had to listen to it many times to be able to talk intelligently about it. It's an extremely personal album for him, about growing up gay and black in the south. With lots of nods to Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding.
It's definitely on my 2023 list! I agree with Mark that it doesn't have quite the same oomph as an Indications record, but I still quite like it.
I need to amend my list -- as I forgot to include it in my year end bests! So much good music, so little time to listen to it all!
I was planning to include a batch of covers that were better than the original and that people didn’t even know weren’t the original versions. Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower would’ve been one of my picks because his version is the definitive version for me and far superior to the original. I would also include Santana’s Black Magic Woman in that list as well. Will check out those covers you suggested, thanks!