LIST 217 - 09/12/16 (another cover versions collection)

Hello again,

Ohhhhh, this was so much fun to put together.  Where to start in what to recommend in particular?

Perhaps Björk, still three years before the solo career proper, recording an Icelandic version of mambo standard "¿Quién será?" aka “Sway” with the jazz trio featured previously.  Or Low covering The Smiths.  Or Morrissey covering Bradford, one of several acts he endorsed in the late-1980s that never quite made it big, but had the material to.

Maybe Oizone's remorseless Oi! punk dismantling of B*Witched.  Or Roots Manuva's less aggressive but still warped reading of The Beatles.  Or Robert Lloyd of The Nightingales uncorking his inner Ray Davies.

I have three firm faves in this List, if you'll permit me.  It's possible you'll have heard Stopp, Seisku Aeg by Estonian pop mainstay Velly Joonas not so long ago, after a re-release of this now 33-year-old cover version of a Frida Lyngstad track gained traction at lots of clubs I'm not cool enough to go to.  The scrapy violin riff and gloopy basslines do set it apart from much else I've listened to - I'd love to explore Joonas's work further.

Belle & Sebastian require no such introduction, but theirs is a singularly lovely take on Young Marble Giants' Final Day; whilst Pete Green's solo vocal version of a My Favorite track is a brave and extraordinary interpretation (as well as the middle leg of a Trifecta of major highlights slap bang in the middle of his current and recommended-to-the-hilt album We're Never Going Home).

J xx


GILLAN - New Orleans (1981)

POSTAL BLUE – Brighter (2016)

DISCOUNT – Accident Waiting to Happen (1998)

BJÖRK GUðMUNDSDÓTTIR & TRÍÓ GUðMUNDAR INGÓLFSSONAR – i Dansi Med Per (1990)

LOW - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (2001)

MORRISSEY - Skin Storm (1991)

VELLY JOONAS – Stopp, Seisku Aeg! (1983)

JUNIOR BOYS – What You Won’t Do for Love (2015)

OIZONE – C’est La Vie ()
 
ROOTS MANUVA - Yellow Submarine (2002)

THE NIGHTINGALES – There’s a New World Just Opening for Me (2006) 

A CERTAIN SMILE - Sarah (2011)

WHY? – Close to Me (2011)

RONNIE SPECTOR – You Can’t Fold Your Arms Around a Memory (1999)

BELLE & SEBASTIAN – Final Day (2003)

WASIS DIOP – Once in a Lifetime (1998)

STURGILL SIMPSON – In Bloom (2016)

THE FALL – Pinball Machine (1988)
 
TENDER AGE - Dream Lover (2016)

PETE GREEN – Homeless Club Kids (2016)