This is Volume 8 of Covered With Soul , and there is no end in sight (unless a lack of comments suggests there should be). Check out the re-interpretation of Wichita Lineman, Be My Baby, Won't Get Fooled Again, Fever, Sunshine Superman and Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. Perhaps the most radically reworked cover here is David Porter's take on that old crooners' favourite All The Way. It's not how Sinatra sang it (he certainly had no harp in his version). But my favourite cover here might be Esther Phillips ' of Gilbert O'Sullivan Along [...]
In the 6 th volume of soul covers, we have the great Grady Tate's interpretation of the Theme of M*A*S*H and versions of songs previously recorded by Gil Scott-Heron, Bob Dylan, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Elvis Presley, James Taylor, Righteous Brothers, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Joe South, Rolling Stones, Credence Clearwater Revival, James Brown, Cream , Peggy Lee, The Beatles, The Flamingos, Julie Andrews, Nat 'King' Cole, Billy Joel and Cat Stevens. Quite a mixed bag. This mix features a fair number of country songs remade as soul songs, showing how close the two [...]
We're less than 24 hours removed from a thrilling overtime gold medal victory and the tributes for our men's hockey team are starting to come in. This one is from Toronto-based singer/songwriter David Porteous. Check out this video for his song "Go, Canada, Go". Enjoy: David Porteous' website David Porteous' Myspace
As you've no doubt learned from any imaginable media outlet over the last several days, today is National Beatles Remasters Day. Yep, 9/9/09 marks the release of the re-massaged material , and although the new CDs were already on display in the checkout line of my local grocery store yesterday afternoon, record shops everywhere are parlaying today's official street date with in-store Beatles galas. Take Amoeba , which is gearing up for a day of Beatles trivia, look-alike contents, auctions, giveaways and DJ sets across its three California locations. Get down to your local [...]
I eventually did get out of the house by Thursday night, touring both floors of Amoeba Music prior to fading down Vine St. to 3 Clubs. Briefly fashionable after the 1997 movie Swingers, this venue I've long associated with dreadful music and gave the place up entirely after I quit martinis. Still, the Rumble's night of indie-squawk sounded promising enough outside muffled through the walls. Both light and prospects were considerable dimmer inside, as French Miami- a trio of Bay Area collegians beloved of NME -was onstage thrashing around inside a math rock that was obviously failing to carry its [...]
Ima Dancin' Wit Mice El-Elf: This past week was like the glory daze at CityBeat, what with sitting at the computer besieged as deadlines explode overhead like the Ninth Battle of the Marne. This phase of la vie litteraire imposes a hermitlike—if not actively cranky—solitude that seldom fails to make sallies out of Boyle Heights [...]
When you own one of the most heavily sampled catalogues in hip-hop history, it's something of a no-brainer to streamline it into one easy-to-access anthology. Accordingly, Concord Music Group, who re-launched Stax in 2007, are attempting to cash-in with this very well-curated starter's guide. If for some reason, you don't know about Stax, Netflix Wattstax immediately. In the meantime, this compilation gathers the usual suspects: The Emotions' "Blind Alley" ("Ain't No Halfsteppin'); Isaac Hayes' "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalym istic"("Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos") and "Hung Up On My Baby" ("Mind's Playing Tricks on Me"); Wendy Rene's "After the [...]
Hip-hop is clearly the most impactful and important musical genre that has emerged in the past thirty years. And much of it has been built on the rhythmic foundations of soul. Stax has just released The Soul Of Hip Hop , a compilation of Stax songs that were used for tracks and beats in famous hip hop songs, including De La Soul, Rakim, DJ HiTek, Cypress Hill, DJ Muggs, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, DJ Quik, Ice Cube, Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan, RZA and more [...]
Cover version of MGMT's Electric Feel David Porteous - Electric Feel (MGMT) Another unusual cover: here, Canadian songwriter David Porteous makesthe MGMT hit into something slow and serious, using just a grungey blues guitar sound a la The Black Keys. Although the lyrics don't really stand up without MGMT's falsetto, this works surprisingly well. MySpace photo by hektpr Posted in Song [...]
--Edit: Reposted, with the offending link removed.-- Didn't best of 2008 lists get played out in, oh, 2008? Yes. I even already had a post on the best covers of the year. So what is this? Well, I get a kick out of year-end lists, so I really enjoyed seeing the Hype Machine compile hundreds of them into one master list of the fifty most highly-rated albums on the blogosphere. You can read it most easily here, though there aren't too many surprises. Regardless, I though I'd throw up all the covers [...]
Didn't best of 2008 lists get played out in, oh, 2008? Yes. I even already had a post on the best covers of the year. So what is this? Well, I get a kick out of year-end lists, so I really enjoyed seeing the Hype Machine compile hundreds of them into one master list of the fifty most highly-rated albums on the blogosphere. You can read it most easily here , though there aren't too many surprises. Regardless, I though I'd throw up all the covers I had of [...]
I've got a confession: I think Justin Timberlake has talent. Lots of it. That isn't to say I actually listen to him very much, but he seems to be able to make popular culture work for him, rather than just being swept along like so many other hitmakers. The guy's got charisma to spare, and with the inevitable Dick in a Box spin-off season coming up soon, why not celebrate his many hits? Shawn Lee's Ping-Pong Orchestra - Rock Your Body Bossa nova horn disco reggae lounge [...]
With one year of this blog behind me, I decided to take on my most ambitious full album post yet. My general rule of thumb with these has been the album has to be at least ten years old. I broke this once already, with Tom Wait's Mule Variations , but it's still nine years. Today I give you an album that's one year old. For most albums that wouldn't be enough time to amass one cover, much less all. But most albums are not In Rainbows . And [...]
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. passed away yesterday after being found unconscious near a treadmill in his home in Memphis. He was 65. It would be difficult to overstate Hayes' importance to '60s and '70s music. Hayes' work with Stax/Volt Records in the mid-'60s layed the foundation for the Memphis soul sound. His hugely important solo career furthered the range of soul and R&B, and also contributed to both disco and rap. Hayes joined Stax Records in 1964, and his first gig was as a pianist for Otis Redding. As a [...]
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. passed away yesterday after being found unconscious near a treadmill in his home in Memphis. He was 65. It would be difficult to overstate Hayes' importance to '60s and '70s music. Hayes' work with Stax/Volt Records in the mid-'60s layed the foundation for the Memphis soul sound. His hugely important solo career furthered the range of soul and R&B, and also contributed to both disco and rap. Hayes joined Stax Records in 1964, and his first gig was as a pianist for Otis Redding. As a [...]
Isaac Hayes had the coolest voice I've ever heard - deep, sexy, velvety, totally commanding and thoroughly vulnerable. It was imposing as well; he may have sung about the bad motherfucker that was John Shaft, but I always thought of him as the truly bad mofo. After all, he was real and Shaft was fiction. But beyond the wonder of his voice (and his sublime 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul ), I'm most grateful to Isaac Hayes for the incredible soul classics he wrote with his songwriting partner, David Porter . "Hold [...]
For some reason the "I Shot Ya (Remix)" by LL featuring everybody has been looping in my mind all week, so here's a few tracks that were sampled by Mr. Ladies Love and a waaay too young to be talking about her ill na na, Foxy Brown. Speaking of "I Shot Ya", what ever happened to the dope hip-hop posse cut? 1. Steve Arrington - " Nobody Can Be You " from LL Cool J - "Nobody Can Freak You" 2. Angela Winbush - " I'll Be Good " [...]
I've had a couple of emails asking for a re-up of the Wu Originals Mix I originally posted about back in October, so thought I'd share it again: Wu Originals Mix - Tracks sampled by the RZA (MP3) The tracklisting is available on my original post linked above, 30+ tracks - some you'll recognise, some I'm sure will be new. If you like this kind of thing, there's a rather wonderful compilation available at Amazon entitled Shaolin Soul [...]
Any Major Dude With Half A Heart
Snob's Music
The Ear Hole
L.A. RECORD
The Passion of the Weiss
A Deeper Shade Of Soul
See What You Hear.com
Cover Me
The Stranger Dance
Palms Out Sounds
The Mark Out
![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Chromatics: “Into The Black”
Download: The Violet Lights - "Sex and Sound"
Sunday Means Eight Of The Best
Whitney Houston uncovered
