Nada Surf covering Spoon
Are you aware that Nada Surf has an excellent new album of covers? If I Had A Hi-Fi came out a few months ago, after being first available only on tour at their merch booth, and is now consumable by the general intelligent public. That includes you, dear reader.
I love covers because they show the diverse range of influences on a band, and it is fascinating to hear your favorite musicians interpret another’s work. Nada Surf has chosen old and new songs from folks as varied as Kate Bush, The Go-Betweens, Depeche Mode, and The Muslims (now The Soft Pack). Matthew Caws told me about this idea back in November of 2008, and I’ve been waiting with bated breath ever since.
This Spoon cover is absolutely ace. Ira Elliot of Nada Surf is one of my favorite drummers in all of rock and roll – so feisty and precise. Here, he just makes me smile. This is a great song, and sounds marvelous filtered through Nada Surf’s harmony and clatter.
The Agony of Lafitte (Spoon) – Nada Surf
There are handwritten notes from the band behind the disc tray in the CD case about each song and why they picked it. Matthew writes, “The same ‘Sylvia’ dropped us from Elektra right after we made The Proximity Effect.” Ouch.
The Agony of Lafitte – Spoon
If I Had A Hi-Fi is available now on Mardev Records.
[top photo credit the superb Peter Ellenby in SF]
Name: Heather Browne
Thanks so much for posting this! I absolutely love this song and Nada Surf does such a great job of covering it! I never had the chance of listening to the original but now I can, my search is over. I pick this album as one of the best of 2010 so far. A great salute to one of my favorite bands!
Rick Gallant — August 13, 2010 @ 9:07 am
I wasn’t head over heels with the new album until I heard how ace the songs sounded live, fun fact they like to tell concerning the cover project: it was supposed to be cheap and quick and turned out to be long, hard and very expensive. (P.S. during the recent concert I went to they announced the taping of said concert to use parts of it in….(drumrolls)…a new live album)
Christof — August 13, 2010 @ 9:26 am
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For me, the really killer cover on the Nada Surf album is Bill Fox’s “Electrocution.” Not only is it a great song by an artist who deserves rediscovery, but the treatment is so spot on–about as perfect as Big Star-styled power pop ever gets.
C.E. Sikkenga — August 13, 2010 @ 3:32 pm
yes, agreed – you can download that cover here: http://nadasurf.com/NadaSurf_Electrocution_byBillFox.mp3
browneheather — August 13, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
I’m in love with the Go-Betweens cover. They are one of my favorite bands EVER and this song is one of my favorites from their canon. Nada Surf do it justice – faithful but very much still Nada Surf. I’m not a fan of bands who cover songs exactly like the original. I don’t see the point of that.
teapot — August 15, 2010 @ 11:36 pm
[...] Cover Alert: Nada Surf tackles Spoon [...]
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