Album Cover Art: Grateful Dead - (Skull and Roses)

Grateful Dead: Playing in the Band

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How often does the album cover art give an album its name? This one came out as simply Grateful Dead in 1971. But the band’s debut album from four years earlier was also called Grateful Dead. The title Live Dead was also already in use. So, over the years, this one has come to be known as Skull and Roses. I put that in parentheses above, because it is not the official title of the album. The skeleton was actually drawn for something else entirely, a 1913 edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, That illustration was by Edmund Joseph Sullivan. Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse added the lettering and color, to create the image seen above. The skeleton with roses became a visual motif that was identified with the Grateful Dead for the next 25 years. Playing in the Band is the song I always hear in my head when I think of this album. The singer on this one was Bob Weir.

Album Cover Art: Joseph Arthur - Come to Where I'm From

Joseph Arthur: Chemical

[purchase]

When I first read about this week's topic, my mind went straight to musical artists who are also visual artists.  I'm a sucker for artists who create their own cover art.

Akron, Ohio's Joseph Arthur has been responsible for the artwork on several of his releases, but his first foray into cover art design was with his 2000 release Come to Where I'm From.  While the image itself doesn't really do much to present a theme for the record or add any meaning to any of the songs, it does do a nice job of establishing the tone of the album.  Arthur's artwork, like his songwriting and arrangements, can often be described as abstract.  Few things say abstract quite like a stylized human head with scarabs for eyes.

Musically, this album ranks as one of the most important of Arthur's career (although 2004's Our Shadows Will Remain will always be my favorite) due to the exposure he gained from its breakthrough track "In the Sun."  It's also interesting due to the fact that it was produced by the Americana Midas, T-Bone Burnett.  It's an odd collaboration that finds Burnett expanding his typical palate while also reigning in some of Arthur's more adventurous eccentricities.

Since many of you may already know "In the Sun," I'm going with another track from the record here.  For more of Arthur's artwork, check out his Museum of Modern Arthur.

Album Cover Art: Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

Donald Fagen: The Goodbye Look

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This week’s theme is right up my alley: I’ve run a batch of articles on some of my favourite album cover art over at my joint. And for your benefit (or really mine, for I am crazy busy at the moment), here’s a recycled post from that series, which also features the cover in Geoviki’s post which precedes this one.

Released in 1982 and Donald Fagen’s first solo outing, The Nightfly album evoked the sounds and spirit of the 1950s and early ’60s, without sacrifice of Steely Dan’s jazz-tinged rock. The cover concept clearly seeks to communicate the content, and it is simply executed with Fagen as an old-school radio DJ burning the nightshift with the help of Chesterfield Kings and copious amounts of black coffee. He is the sardonic DJ Lester, still unfettered by playlists, on the independent Baton Rouge station WJAZ who speaks to us, through the RCA 77 DX mic, on the title track.

Look long enough at the cover and listen to the title track, and armed with clues you may begin constructing your own backstory. In front of him is a Sonny Rollins album, so we know DJ Lester specialises in jazz and, as the lyrics advise, communication. What else does he play when he is not condescending his listeners with cynical tales about the absence of love in his life (which explains his nightfly existence)? Surely some more jazz, Coltrane or Parker perhaps. I like to think he branches out into some R&B to lighten up the pre-dawn darkness of 4:10am.

There is a rich irony in the cover’s relationship to the music it seeks to illustrate. Where the graveyard shift DJ is spinning crackling vinyl platters and the lyrics recall the Cold War (just on New Frontier, there are references to The Reds and nuclear shelters, Dave Brubeck as the latest thing, the young Tuesday Weld), The Nightfly was one of the first albums to be recorded entirely digitally. Issued before we were dealt the cursed dominance of the compact disc, this is a quintessential CD album whose charms are not, unlike much other music, boosted by the warmth of vinyl.

The photo itself, by James Hamilton, was shot in Fagen’s New York apartment, in which the radio studio (presumably just the two walls we can see) was temporarily built. Fagen might have assumed the collective persona of the DJs he listened to when he was much younger, but he cannot be accused of method acting: the photo had to be reshot when an engineer in the recording studio pointed out that the microphone had been incorrectly positioned…

Album Cover Art: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream and Other Delights

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream

[purchase] – but if you can't find it at a yard sale, you're not trying.

You knew someone would have to post this one.

My family owned an actual stereo in 1965 with approximately seven LPs to play upon it. Like nearly all of America, we had this very popular album in our meager collection. I remember staring at the cover in fascination, trying to work out how they got all that whipped cream all over that lady (I found out later, it's shaving cream), and why they didn't manage to completely cover up her boob while they were at it…Okay, I was 9, and a girl, so that's almost as far as my imagination went. Any other thoughts I'll just keep to myself.

The title track was written by New Orleans musician/producer/writer Allen Toussaint. If you're old enough, you might remember it from The Dating Game, when the bachelorettes were introduced.

Independence => Album Cover Art: The Who - Tommy

The Who: I‘m Free

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If you are familiar with the story of Tommy, bear with me for just a moment. Tommy is a rock opera, complete with recurring musical motifs and an overture and “underture”. The story tells of a boy who escapes from the horrors of his life by retreating into himself, giving up his hearing, sight, and power of speech. This leaves Tommy in an inner world with no visual component. Nevertheless, it fell to artist Mike McInnerney to create a visual representation of this for the album cover. Being 1969, the album was released on vinyl on two records, with an extensive booklet with lyrics and notes. So the album cover would have two fold outs, and the whole thing measured 36 inches wide by 12 inches high. McInnerney came through with the image you see above. The large alien shape represents both the otherness of Tommy’s world and the fact of his imprisonment. But the fist shows that Tommy will eventually break free and rejoin the world. I’m Free is the song that describes that breakthrough. It seemed to me to be the perfect choice as a transition from our Independence theme.

Independence: Sign in Stranger

Steely Dan: Sign In Stranger

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There are two parts to the concept of independence. The obvious one is freedom or liberation, and it’s always a positive. But you also have to be independent from something, and that’s where the darkness creeps in. Leave it to Steely Dan to explore that side of things eloquently. In Sign In Stranger, the independence is from a person’s past. Mizar Five is a haven for criminals and lowlifes who seek a fresh start, and sometimes a new identity. The song does not suggest that any of them will change their ways, only that they will be free of their records. So here is independence with a sense of menace.

Independence: The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

The Waterboys: The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

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There is a common motif in folk songs, where a wealthy woman, often a noble, seduces or goes off with a man with no money. The husband discovers this, and goes after her or finds her in the act. From here, either the husband kills the lover and sometimes the wife as well, or you get something like what happens here. In The Raggle Taggle Gypsy, the husband reminds his noble wife of all that she is giving up, and begs her to return. She makes her choice, and leaves with the gypsy, and the husband lets her go. Why does he let her go so easily? Remember that she is a noblewoman, and that means that she is in an arranged marriage. These kinds of marriages were all about status, with love being an occasional happy accident. In this case, he does not seem to love her any more than she loves him. Her escape is a declaration of personal independence, although the actual declaration comes at a point earlier in the song, and most people miss it. The gypsy comes to her door, and she goes upstairs to change clothes. In The Waterboys’ version, the lady “put on her suit of leather-o”. Other versions make it even clearer, saying, “Then she pulled off her silk finished gown and put on hose of leather, O!” This isn’t simply a matter of practicality. The changing of clothes here is a ritual act that represents casting off her old life in favor of the new.

Independence: Free

VAST: Free

[Purchase]

This was the first song that came to mind when I thought of celebrations of freedom because to me it's quintessential to the topic. This song is an anthemic fist pump about liberation by an industrial band called VAST (which supposedly stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater) whose frontman, Jon Crosby, is also the songwriter. This particular album "Music for People" was released in 2000 which was at the boom of the rap/metal craze which, as a fan of sappy female singer-songwriters, embittered my heart. But I am reluctant to lump VAST with most of the other bands of that era, despite it having a similar dark feel. But it is easy to hear the rebelliousness of youth in the song, it most certainly sounds like a teenager yelling about not wanting to be told what to do, but the theme is general enough to want to to blast the music in your car after a break-up, or after quitting your job, or just about any situation where you felt like your freedom was infringed upon and you finally got it back.

Frontman Crosby now is a solo artist doing music which is much softer, apparently. But VAST was his bread and butter and is apparently where his talents lie. I'm not much for industrial or anything hard, but I immediately loved this song when I heard it. I think this feeling of getting out of a bad situation is something we've all felt and wanted to celebrate.

Independence: The Sun Hasn't Set On This Boy Yet

Nils Lofgren: The Sun Hasn't Set On This Boy Yet

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Could one of rock's great declarations of independence have really come from one its most famous sidemen? Absolutely!

Before he joined Springsteen's E-Street Band or toured with Neil Young, Nils Lofgren was a 17 year old B-average senior who dropped out of his suburban Maryland high school to become a rock star.

As he recently told The Wall Street Journal, "Nobody dropped out of school where I was, except the juvenile delinquent that was pumpin' gas and had knocked up his girlfriend and his life was already over." Lofgren's life was just beginning. By age 18, he was living in Topanga Canyon, playing piano and singing harmonies with Neil Young on After the Gold Rush . He parlayed the Neil connection into a record deal for his own band, Grin ( returning to record with Neil on Tonight's the Night). When Grin broke up in 1974, Nils recorded his self-titled solo debut--a critically acclaimed gem featuring a Keith Richards mash note, "Keith Don't Go", as well as a number of radio friendly songs, including this autobiographical statement of self-determination which reminds all of us of our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Guest post by 1001 Songs

Independence: Chimes of Freedom

Bruce Springsteen: Chimes of Freedom (Bob Dylan cover, live)

[purchase]

Earlier today [July 3, 1988] Amnesty International announced a worldwide tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Declaration Of Human Rights. The Declaration Of Human Rights is a document that was signed by every government in the world* 40 years ago, recognizing the existence of certain inalienable human rights for everyone regardless of your race, your color, your sex, your religion, your political opinion, or the type of government that you're living under. I, I was glad to be asked to participate… in a tour that's gonna begin in early September…. So, I'd like to give, dedicate this next song to the people at Amnesty International and their idea. And so when we come to your town, come on out, support the tour, support human rights for everyone now, and let freedom ring.

* not precisely: 48 members of the UN General Assembly voted for it; the Soviet bloc countries, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia abstained.

Independence: Independence Day

David Byrne: Independence Day

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I am a firm believer that “none of us is truly free until all of us are”. From this point of view, the process of achieving our nation’s independence is ongoing. This week, an important step was taken. New York became the first state in the United States to legalize gay marriage by a legislative act. The states which previously recognized this right did so by court order. David Byrne’s song Independence Day, from 1989, is set in New York City, and it looks forward to this day. But in 1989, legal gay marriage seemed like an impossible dream. So, I thought this song was a perfect way to launch our weeklong celebration of independence here on Star Maker. New York State, I salute you. Let me be the first to wish our American readers a happy and safe Independence Day. To our Canadian readers, a belated happy Canada Day. And to all others, my best wishes for your independence and freedom, in what ever form they take.

Reproductions: The Dawntreader

Joni Mitchell: The Dawntreader

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This week, we have looked at songs that were reimagined in cover versions. But there are also times when an artist radically reimagines their own song. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is Joni Mitchell. Over the course of her albums Both Sides Now and Travelogue, Mitchell revisited her songbook to create fully orchestrated versions of her songs. This is disconcerting enough when it happens to her later songs, which were at least done originally done with some kind of band. But The Dawntreader comes from Mitchell’s first album, and was originally arranged for just voice and acoustic guitar. Now it has a lush orchestral setting. The original had a stark quality, which is mostly gone, but amazingly enough, the intimacy of the song is preserved in the new version. The original was a dream of love in black and white. Now it’s in full color, but the dream is still very much there, now in rich detail.

Reproductions: Comfortably Hot in Herre

Scissor Sisters: Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)

[purchase]

Tiga: Hot in Herre (Nelly cover)

[purchase]

Some people can dance to anything: wind chimes, lawn mowers, ring tones. Others need the help of a strong and audible beat. These two cuts are guaranteed to have you shaking your booty in no time!

The nu-disco version of the Pink Floyd chestnut rocketed the Scissor Sisters to stardom in Europe in 2004 (they're lagging a bit in their home country, the USA). Their version was nominated for a Grammy as Best Dance Recording, and even the members of Pink Floyd have confessed that they enjoy it.

Yes, it has a high-pitched male vocalist, why do you ask?

That vocalist, Jake Shears, is featured in the cover from his buddy Tiga, a Montreal-based DJ/producer/performer. Jacking up the tempo and tossing in a lot more synthesizers has turned Nelly's hip-hop classic, Hot in Herre, into an electro-house barn burner.

Reproductions: Every Little Thing

Yes: Every Little Thing

[purchase]

Some strains of psychedelia where turning into prog rock in 1969, and Yes' self-titled debut shows a band pointing towards prog. Their take on the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" follows the mold of Vanilla Fudge and the early Deep Purple, who both created such elaborate arrangements of other people's songs they were almost new songs. But where both of those bands had a tendency to slow down faster songs, Yes come out firing on all cylinders. It's a tour de force that was probably a calling card for the band in their early days.

Over the top? Yes. But you have to admit, it has an energy that matches the lyrics much better then the comparatively tame original.

Reproductions: The Lounge Version

Pat Boone: Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)

[purchase]

Richard Cheese: Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-a-Lot cover)

[purchase]

Mike Flowers Pops: Velvet Underground Medley

[purchase]

Pastel Vespa: White Wedding (Billy Idol cover)

[purchase]

Bad cover songs are nothing new. While poking around some of my more horrible examples, I uncovered a multitude of 60s easy listening groups who tried to emulate the groovy sound of what those crazy kids are listening to now! We had the Four Freshmen doing Hurdy Gurdy Man in a pretty funereal style; the Lettermen butchering a Doors medley; the Johnny Mann Singers crooning an utterly soulless take on the Yardbirds' Heart Full of Soul; and an appalling adaptation of Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People by the Ray Bloch Zombies Singers. I'm sure there are many, many more "hits" on this wall of shame. Any PBS rerun episode of the Lawrence Welk show will have at least one or two.

Deliberately bad cover songs, though, they're more recent. I'm trying to remember when I first noticed it. Maybe Bill Murray's memorable "Nick the Lounge Singer" character – his first appearance on Saturday Night Live was in 1977; his most famous cover was the Star Wars Theme (with lyrics!).

White-buck-wearing Pat Boone made his career in the 50's covering (some say "ripping off") R&B songs of black artists when radio was segregated. In 1997, he unexpectedly released In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, an album of metal band covers. Needless to say, it deeply shocked his fans and got him kicked off a gospel show for a time.

Other artists began to embrace satirical stylings, blithely covering alt rock, industrial, hip-hop, metal, or grunge in a deliberately retro style – usually lounge. One well-known singer is Richard Cheese, who probably comes closest to the "Nick" sound. Mike Flowers Pops goes for that immortal Ray Bloch Singers approach, and Pastel Vespa takes it from the female angle.

Reproductions: Fly Like an Eagle

Jaymz Bee & the Royal Jelly Orchestra w/ Elizabeth Shepherd: Fly Like an Eagle

[purchase, price in Canadian dollars]

In my roamings looking for music for my own blog, Oliver di Place, I have found out a little about the music scene in Toronto Canada. From what I can tell, the musicians there feel free to ignore genre boundaries, and make whatever music they feel. So it isn’t that surprising that a Toronto jazz band would consider the song Fly Like an Eagle fair game. So imagine what might have happened if the classic Miles Davis quintet heard on the album Kind of Blue had had a singer, and you will have some idea what to expect here.

As far as I can tell, Jaymz Bee is strictly a local act in Toronto. As such, you can only get this album from the American version of Amazon at a collectable price. The more economical option by far is to get the album from Amazon’s Canadian site, so that is the link I have provided. As a solo artist, singer Elizabeth Shepherd is evidently better known. Her albums can be found on the US Amazon for a reasonable price, and they are well worth seeking out.

Reproductions: Let 'Em In

Billy Paul: Let ‘Em In

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When Paul McCartney sang Let ‘Em In, he issued a roll call of family members, friends and musical inspirations. There was Sister Suzie (Linda McCartney, who once recorded as Suzie And The Red Stripes), Brother John (Linda’s sibling, John Eastman), Martin Luther (John Lennon, whom the Beatles used to call Martin Luther Lennon), Phil & Don (Everly), Brother Michael (Mike McCartney), Auntie Gin (Paul’s aunt), Uncle Ernie (Keith Moon’s character in The Who’s rock opera Tommy), and Uncle Ian (Auntie Jin's son). It’s all a bit a folky scene, even with that martial drum beat. You could bake white bread to it.

Billy Paul quickly covered the song, and gave it a bit of funkified political spice, with an urgent bassline, disco strings and insistent horns. The singer, who once alienated record execs by calling an album Am I Black Enough For You?, sets out his stall early as a recording of Malcolm X intones: “You’ve been had, you’ve been misled, you’ve been took.” We immediately develop a hunch that kindly Auntie Gin won’t get much of a look-in on this version.

In the Philly Soul man’s take, we are asked to let in a succession of black icons, not all of whom are widely known today. He seems to have a special place for Louis Armstrong, though. It’s interesting that Satchmo, often derided as an Uncle Tom figure by some people, makers it into Billy Paul’s pantheon, alongside MLK and Malcolm X. The song is interspersed with soundbites from Martin Luther King Jr, some eight years after his assassination.

Reproductions: Your Cheatin’ Heart

James Brown: Your Cheatin' Heart

[purchase]

Good God!

In 1969, coming off five singles with the word "popcorn" in the title, James Brown teamed up with a 20 piece big band to try a brand new bag.

‘At heart,” James told jazz writer Leonard Feather, “I’ve always been a jazz man. When I was just a kid in Macon, Ga., doing amateur shows, I went up on the stage with some of those great name bands that passed through town. I’ve never forgotten the impression those big band sounds made on me.”

With arrangements by Oliver Nelson and an orchestra led by jazz drummer Louie Bellson, JB brought his larger-than-life "soul power" to showtunes, jazz standards, a couple originals and this 1952 Hank Williams classic. Best known as a slow burning country blues ballad, "Your Cheatin' Heart" gets the full Godfather of Soul treatment with special thanks to Maceo Parker, Jr. for his incendiary sax solo. Pretty sure there isn't a version anywhere of Hank Williams singing "Can you.Gotta,Gotta,Gotta,Woah,Ow!"

Guest post by 1001 Songs

Reproductions: Alma Mater/Tusk

USC SoCal VoCals: Alma Mater/Tusk

[purchase]

This week features a more complicated theme than last week's; therefore, this complicated song also takes a bit of background info to appreciate its full effect.

The USC (University of Southern California) SoCal VoCals is a collegiate a cappella group, a genre growing in popularity in the US. A lot of the boom can be attributed to the switch from more sedate (read: dated) songs to pop, rock, hip-hop and other current styles more in sync with the students' usual musical preferences. In addition, a competitive annual championship drives groups to come up with more creative, complex arrangements than those other schools. This song is a great example: it's a clever mashup of old- and new-style a cappella music, with a highly structured arrangement. Also showcased is the beatboxing percussion – all human-vocalized, of course, in keeping with the non-instrumental requirements of the style. Note: this song is best heard loud!

Some of you old timers will remember what makes Fleetwood Mac's Tusk a perfect choice for this group. That 1979 platinum hit prominently featured the USC Trojan Marching Band, making that song as much a part of the school's heritage as the more traditional Alma Mater.

Incidentally, USC, a private Los Angeles university, has a cross-town rivalry with UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). Listen for an "acknowledgement" to said rivalry in the ending lyrics.

Acoustic Versions => Reproductions: Stairway to Heaven

Dolly Parton: Stairway to Heaven

[purchase]

Of course, the original Stairway to Heaven started with a folk feel, and then erupted into rock, with Robert Plant going from his calmer lower pitch singing to the screaming almost-falsetto for which he was best known. At the same time, the acoustic guitars vanish, overwhelmed by the roar of the electric ones. Result: rock classic. Dolly Parton reimagines the whole thing, and does it entirely with acoustic instruments. Now the song begins as a bluegrass ballad, and swells with arrival of a gospel choir and some intense fiddle. Parton also adds drums for the song’s climax.

For me, these different approaches yield different meanings. The Led Zeppelin original comes off as an example of mystical seventies rock. But Dolly Parton makes the song an affirmation of faith, Southern style. For sheer volume, Zep wins hands down. But for power, my vote goes to the Parton version.

Acoustic Versions: Double Shot of Townes Van Zandt

Townes Van Zandt: The Hole

Townes Van Zandt: Marie

[purchase]

This song is from 'No Deeper Blue', one of the post-Poppy Records albums of Townes Van Zandt's that shines very brightly.for me. There's a one-two punch here for me. 'The Hole' and 'Marie'.

'The Hole' is easily one of the scariest songs I've ever heard. ..not its SOUND (which IS kind of ominous on his Sugar Hill CD) but the words that do it for me. It's a harrowing archetypal parable that cuts right through flesh to the living bone.
Though I love the studio/band version to death, (Phillip Donnelly's guitar playing is terrifying in its dark majesty), it's hearing Townes solo and
unadorned playing & singing his words and music that opens up a different meaning to his words. I played this song in Drug Rehabs by myself for a couple of years when I was doing 'Special Population' shows. It was part of an hour presentation I did of songs and received wisdom. This was my peak; the next to last song in the set. The words have deep connection to anyone who has been a slave to an addiction of ANY kind.

'Marie' on the other hand, maybe one of the SADDEST songs I ever heard, a small cinematic portrait of a proud but beaten homeless man and his love. It gives us a list of situations not unknown to those of us who have been homeless, even briefly. If you've been lucky enough not to be so down that you got THERE, maybe this won't hit you at all. On the other hand, if you have even half a heart
you'll feel this one, deep.

Townes' legacy is dark, sad and scary sometimes.

Guest post by Duncan

Acoustic Versions: You Can All Join In

Traffic: You Can All Join In

[purchase original version, acoustic version unavailable]

Guest poster Duncan joins us again after a long absence, with not one but two posts. Please make him feel welcomed.

This was a total revelation to me, a live version of my favorite song on the second self-titled Traffic LP. This LP (as I first knew it) was my first Stevie Winwood album after scoring all the important four Spencer Davis singles (think you know them?). The LP was also my introduction to Dave Mason, who wrote this song.

This particular version has even more of an acoustic feel than the released version; it swings a little harder also. I know, I've listened to it about 50 times in the last two months because my band has been learning to play it. We were drums guitar, keys and me on bass and vocals (I never play bass, but worked hard on getting it right in sync with the drummer) and though it worked, something was missing until I heard this version two weeks ago, culled from BBC sessions. I realized, it was just drums, acoustic guitar & lead guitar with vocals. Once we got that rhythm, it all clicked on the acoustic guitar. It's also cool that you can just feel the joy of the band, deep into their second record and what a record it is, too. Not a duff song on there, though if you're gonna listen to it, make sure you listen to the original sequence of ten songs a couple of times.

Though Stevie had done more than okay with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic was where he started to fly and I place this LP as the main exhibit as to why Eric Clapton pursued him so hard to be in Blind Faith and why they've reunited over the past few years. It's also the start of my fondness for Dave Mason.. He outright wrote four of the songs on the LP including this one and the now standard 'Feelin' Alright'. He was barely visible on the first Traffic LP (sometimes known as “Dear Mr.
Fantasy'), TOTALLY a part of this one, gone for most of the remains on Last Exit and back for a second on 'Welcome to The Canteen'. His real moment in the sun was (I believe) predictable after this set and this tune in particular. I would have had no problem seeing this included on his masterpiece, 'Alone Together'.

Guest post by Duncan

Acoustic Versions: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Tori Amos: Smells Like Teen Spirit

[purchase]

I’m sure most of our readers know that Nirvana recorded an Unplugged album for MTV. However, Smells Like Teen Spirit was not on that album. Instead, Tori Amos was the one who remade the song as a solo piano ballad. The lyrics are all over the place, suggesting two or more teens who have gotten together to do… something. In Nirvana’s original version, the music suggests a rage that must soon boil over. But Amos finds the searching, and the fear that drives that rage. There is a lot of space in the music, and the narrator feels the urge to fill it with something. The listener is no closer to knowing how this will end, but we have more of an idea of how it started.

The image I have chosen for this post comes from a manga called Teen Spirit. The picture seemed perfect to me, but I have never read, (or even seen), the manga, so the picture might not be appropriate to the song at all. If Geoviki can’t fill us in, maybe a reader could tell us more in the comments. Thank you.

Acoustic Versions: This Woman's Work

Maxwell: This Woman's Work (Kate Bush cover)

[purchase]

Remember how I told you last week that I love guys who sing in their highest ranges? Well, Maxwell, the NYC-based neo-soul artist, does that in spades in this Kate Bush cover, rivaling Smokey Robinson for his raw emotional falsetto. This is from the MTV series Unplugged (insert obligatory generic comment re: memories of MTV playing, yanno, actual music) and it stole the show in 1997, along with his unplugged version of Nine Inch Nail's Closer. It's definitely one of my all-time favorite acoustic versions of any song. Hope you enjoy.

Acoustic Versions: Ever Fallen In Love

Thea Gilmore: Ever Fallen In Love

[Purchase]

I am crazy about acoustic versions of songs that weren't originally acoustic. I'm also crazy about unconventional covers of songs, namely, ones that give a song a whole new perspective than the original gave it.

This cover of the Buzzcocks classic track "Ever Fallen In Love" gives it a whole new feeling, a feeling that almost feels more natural considering the subject matter. It is song about falling in love with someone inappropriate, whether it be because they're your friend, or they are married or in some way unavailable. It's an emotional and somber thought that many people have felt before. And yet the British punk band Buzzcocks made this rockin' song about the subject. Admittedly, I had known and enjoyed the song for a while, but hearing this emotional interpretation of it by British singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore gave me a whole new appreciation for it. I love it when that happens.

Acoustic Versions: I Need Love

Luka Bloom: I Need Love

[purchase]

Boyhowdy posted a track from this various-artists live CD, In Their Own Words, Vol. 1, last year, but it's one of those albums that always seems to pop up when I'm searching for songs for the weekly themes here. So I hope you don't mind me revisiting it, because just about the whole album is perfect for this week's theme.

For those of you who have never heard of this album before, it is a collection of highlights from a series of shows that NYC radio DJ Vin Scelsa hosted at the now-defunct Bottom Line nightclub back in the '90s.

The series was called "In Their Own Words: A Bunch of Songwriters Sittin' Around Singin'", and that pretty much tells you want it was, except that they would talk, too, about the craft of songwriting and their inspirations. Each evening featured four songwriters, and they would often play on each other's songs. (I wish I could have been there for the night Barrett String, Richard Thompson, Dave Alvin, and Shawn Colvin shared the stage!)

One night Luka Bloom was part of the roundtable, and during the portion of the show where each songwriter is asked to play a cover song, he pulled out his reinvention of LL Cool J's "I Need Love". He released a studio version of it on his Acoustic Motorbike album, but this live version is the one to have. It's a revelation. The dated synths and beats on LL Cool J's original don't do much for me, but Luka's version is timeless. It makes my heart melt, and there are very few male singers who can do that to me.

Acoustic Versions: Mountain of Love

The Beach Boys: Mountain of Love

[purchase]

Twenty-two years before Jethro Tull performed "Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of A New Day)" unplugged on MTV, The Beach Boys recorded an obscure set of mostly acoustic covers for their third album of 1965, Party! The cover claims the album was "recorded 'live' at a Beach Boys' Party!" and we hear a lot of giggling women, handclaps and background chatter. Sounds like a fun spontaneous hootenanny! Only we've learned since then that Party! was actually recorded in a studio and the background noises were added later. Today Party! is mostly a curiosity, featuring three Beatle covers, Dylan's "the Times They Are a-Changin'," and the Top 5 international hit "Barbara Ann". One of the highlights--and by that I mean one of the performances you'd want to hear more than once-- is this cover of the Johnny Rivers Top 10 hit "Mountain of Love".

Guest post from 1001 Songs

Acoustic Versions: Post Grunge hits

Dishwalla: Angels or Devils (acoustic)

[purchase]

Live: Lightning Crashes (MTV unplugged)

[purchase]

Pearl Jam: Black (live, acoustic)

[purchase]

Good things come in threes, right? So with this terrific theme of the week, I thought I'd do a little post-grunge triplet featuring three of rock's most melodic male vocalists: J. R. Richards of Dishwalla, Ed Kowalczyk of Live, and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. I went through an intense year of oscillating between these three groups and hoovering up all of their music. There's something about all these guy's rich, powerful voices that sends chills up my spine, and I think that these acoustic versions of their 90's hits allows them to really belt 'em out of the park. My favorite, I think, is the Dishwalla number because I'm a real sap for piano.

The Night Sky => Acoustic Versions: Under the Milky Way

The Church: Under the Milky Way

[purchase]

I have to admit that I never got into the music of The Church. I must have heard the original version of Under the Milky Way in its year, 1988, but I can’t say that I remember it. Listening to the originally released version now, I can hear the tell-tale signs of 80s productions, although they were done about as tastefully as possible. But there is the standard 80s drum beat, and there are the synthesizer fills for emphasis.

This acoustic version comes from a recently reissued version of the album Starfish. I don’t know the background of how this reissue was done, but what had been a single disc of ten songs has swollen to a double-disc set with 22 songs in all. From the sound of this acoustic Milky Way, I’m guessing that it may have been a demo. Instead of that 80s drum part, we have hand percussion. You might mistake the chord fills towards the end for a synthesizer part, but listen more closely and you find that it is actually a melodica. The guitar parts here are looser. But what I like best in this acoustic Milky Way is the way the vocals are recorded. They have a wonderful immediate quality that is missing from the version that was originally released. The differences between the two versions of Milky Way are subtle, almost like finding the hidden pictures in Highlights For Children. But the cumulative effect is remarkable, in favor of the acoustic version.

The Night Sky: Unfunky UFO

Parliament: Unfunky UFO

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“Objects, natural or artificial, real or imagined…” When I posted this week’s theme, I implied that songs about UFOs were fine, but nobody took the bait. Instead, we stuck to natural celestial objects. It made for a great week, but here’s a little taste of what might have been.

When Parliament went out on their 1976 tour for the album Mothership Connection, they created a spectacle. Each show opened with a spaceship landing on stage. A hatch opened, and the band in their outrageous costumes emerge from a cloud of dry ice. I never saw any of these shows, but I heard about them later, and I have seen some pictures. Unfunky UFO could have been their theme song. In the lyric, grooveless aliens from a planet that is dying of unfunkiness come to earth in search of a life-saving groove. Judging from the sound, I would say that they found what they were seeking.

The Night Sky: J-Rock version

Hideto Matsumoto, wearing heat-trapping vinyl

hide: Rocket Dive

[purchase]

Buck-Tick: Jupiter

[purchase]

Kiyoharu: Venus (Shocking Blue cover)

[purchase]

It's the space-age J-Rock entry you've all been dreading anticipating!

I've posted all these Visual Kei artists before, and I know you remember them all really well, right? The first is by guitarist nonpareil (and romanticized dead rock icon) hide (say it "hee-day"). It's a full-out speed metal tune best enjoyed at full volume while roaring down the highway. The second is a more ethereal song by long-time rockers Buck-Tick. The third is one you'll actually recognize – it's the Shocking Blue song. Like Antony Hegarty, who I posted earlier this week, Kiyoharu has an unusual voice: kinda strangled and with lots of vibrato. His Engrish admittedly doesn't add much to his appeal, either. Nothing anyone can say, though, will dim my love for him.

The Night Sky: Jupiter Rising

Emmylou Harris: Jupiter Rising

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Emmylou Harris is still probably best known as the woman who sang back-up for Graham Parsons, and then went on her own, helping to establish the sound we now call alt-country. But, especially in her later years, Harris has refused to be tied to any single musical genre. Jupiter Rising is a playful and flirty pop song, and its beat almost qualifies it as ska. It’s not the most profound thing Harris has ever done, but it may be the most fun.

The Night Sky: Galaxies

Laura Veirs: Galaxies

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I too feel like I have so much more to share now that we've expanded the year range to include up through 2005. This song appears on Laura Veirs 2005 album "Year of Meteors".

Laura Veirs is an American singer-songwriter, but beyond that I have a hard time catagorizing her music. Depending on the song and album she's somewhere between folk, indie rock and even the occasional ambient sound. She's an artist I was never able to get into as much as I thought I would, but like with many artists, their whole catalog might not grab you, but sometimes there's a song or two which wow you. "Galaxies" is one of those songs.

When you sing, when you sing
The stars fill up my eyes
Galaxies pour down my cheeks
Galaxies, they flood the street

The Night Sky: Soft Black Stars

Antony and the Johnsons: Soft Black Stars

[purchase]

We've ticked up the latest year that we search for songs to bring you to 2005-ish, which makes me very happy because I can share one of my favorite newer vocalists. Let me state straight up that he's pretty much an acquired taste. I think I've mentioned, though, that I love high-pitched male voices. I also have a bit of a thing for androgyny. So we've got a sure-fire Geoviki kink in Antony Hegarty, an award-winning yet little-known British transsexual artist. (I believe that 'he' is his preferred pronoun; if not, I'll modify it).

Antony usually pens his own music but this ballad/lullaby is a cover of a Current 93 song that he released on an EP in 2001. The piano and violin accompaniment melds beautifully with Antony's intense, intimate vocals, and the delicate lyrics sooth us into contemplating the children and the night sky he sings about.

I'd love to know if you like it too.

The Night Sky: The Comet, The Course, The Tail

Peter Hammill: The Comet, The Course, The Tail

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"While the comet spreads its tail across the sky, it nowhere near defines the course it flies, nor does it find its own direction..." In the old days, a comet was usually seen as a bad omen, a phenomenon heralding coming catastrophes. Progrocker and erstwhile Van Der Graaf Generator frontman Peter Hammill was well aware of this of course when he wrote this impressive existentialist song back in '74. "There is a time set in the calendar when all reason seems barely enough to sustain all the shooting stars: times are rough..."

The Night Sky: Black Star

Gillian Welch: Black Star (Radiohead cover)

[live & unavailable]

Blame it on the black star
Blame it on the falling sky
Blame it on the satellite
That beams me home...

In Radiohead's universe, it seems perfectly natural for a couple's growing distance to be projected into the night sky. After all, Thom Yorke is well known for his tendency towards pensive and disconnected first-person narrators struggling with ways to make sense of a topsy-turvy world, their alienation couched in skewed, cryptic lyrics.

But where the sonic build of spit and static crashes through the original recording [purchase], thickening it with angst, bass and drumbash, in Gillian Welch's universe, intimacy brings the sky close. Gentle guitar lines stream out like cosmic rays of acoustic goodness. Voices shimmer and soar as they intertwine. The world is right. The combination is exquisite. It is, without question, one of my top ten favorite covers, ever.

The Night Sky: Southern Cross

Ozark Mountain Daredevils: Southern Cross

[purchase]

Please join me in welcoming our newest poster here on Star Maker Machine, 1001 Songs.

Last week Aimee Mann tweeted " I think it's time I started really listening to some Ozark Mountain Daredevils." Some of us couldn't agree with her more. The original OMD were a fun loving country pop outfit made up of talented songwriters who wore their hair a bit too long for hometown Springfield, Missouri. That, apparently, was what made them daredevils. They scored a worldwide Top 5 hit in 1975 with "Jackie Blue" but instead of making the expected move to LA, the Daredevils stayed home to record the follow-up, The Car Over The Lake Album. "Southern Cross" is the story of a delirious road/air/sea trip taken by a lost soul who finds "the secret of navigation and the mystery of the Milky Way" on Easter Island. Yes, the Southern Cross is a big deal down under. The stars making up the constellation are represented on the flags of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Papua New Guinea.

Guest post by 1001 Songs

The Night Sky: Planet Claire

The B-52s: Planet Claire

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From 1967, we now jump ahead 11 years to 1978. But, in a sense, we also jump back to the 1950s, at the drive-in. Planet Claire opens the B-52s debut album, and the sound is all fifties science fiction movie organ, played on top of the Peter Gunn Theme. Half way through the song, Fred Schneider enters with a profoundly silly lyric about a visitor from another planet. And somehow, this was all cool. The B-52s wanted you to know that you should not take their songs very seriously, and that reminded the listener to lighten up. Maybe there were other things they were taking too seriously as well. So much of the more portentous music from the 80s sounds dated today, but Planet Claire sounds as good to me now as it did then.