Sooner or later your legs give way, you hit the ground

The original “Save It For Later” (by whom we call The English Beat over in these here parts, but were truly just called “The Beat”) hit the charts in 1982 and is part of the musical periphery of my childhood. As many times as I’ve heard it, it still strikes me from those opening notes as such a fantastic song.

Save It For Later – The (English) Beat

The Beat played Denver a few weeks ago, and while I was not in attendance, I did get updates from a friend who is a fellow Pearl Jam fan and knows that PJ does a wistful, spontaneous-feeling cover version of this song; I love the way it builds from a tentative start to a rocking, thrumming end. Ed clearly took his cues here from his hero, his idol, Pete Townshend and his version of the same song in Brixton in 1985.

A few years later, Townshend was on stage at a charity gig in Brixton, and performed “Save it For Later,” a recent hit from the Beat. Townshend sheared the song down to its skeleton, hanging the lyric on one repeated guitar figure. Singing in a harrowed but calm voice, Townshend lingers on the lyric’s odd phrases . . . infusing the line “your legs give way/you hit the ground” with weary resignation, and taking the lyric’s silly sex joke and turning it into a vulnerable plea.
[credit]

Save It For Later (live in Chicago 5/17/06) – Pearl Jam
Save It For Later (live in Brixton) – Pete Townshend

I also really dig the Harvey Danger cover that plays over the ending credits of the 1999 movie 200 Cigarettes . . . just listen to that rejuvenated beat, all cleaned up and sharpened and rad. And instead of bringing the string section in towards the end as the original does, it wends its way throughout:

Save It For Later – Harvey Danger

Monday Music Roundup

Ah, MySpace, why do you sucketh my time so?

Bleary eyed, I am emerging from a quickly-passed hour on MySpace to begin writing this post on Sunday night; I’ve been looking up people I went to high school with because my 10-year HS reunion is this Friday out in Campbell, California. Yes, our class (1997) was a little lazy and we didn’t get anything organized until now, about 5 months after the actual anniversary date of the blessed graduation day. We all vowed to K.I.T. and never change and stay sweet (S.W.A.K. of course); I am pleased to report that we have all, in fact, changed.

Looking at people’s profiles, sometimes it’s shocking to stare at a face and then suddenly like one of those 3-D pictures where the image jumps out at you, go “Oh my gosh! That’s ____!” All these far-flung jobs, babies, spouses, organizations, not to mention new haircolors, different sizes now, better fashion sense — all these things should make Friday night a total mind trip. I am looking forward to it.
Well, that and the karaoke.

I feel like I should go make a 1997 high-school memories playlist, but won’t subject you to it. New tunes:

Arm Twister
The Tripwires
Like a rough-edged Beatles track lost in the vaults, or something from a Sunday drive with Chuck Berry (who they also cover on their album) this pleasantly powerpopped-out track from Seattle’s The Tripwires features a lot of connections to bands we love ’round these parts. Members of the Minus 5, The Young Fresh Fellows, Screaming Trees and REM cooperate here to make some mightily pleasing sounds. Count me a fan of the crunchy guitar, the layers of harmonies, and the pitch-perfect ’60s rock sensibilities. Makes You Look Around is their current album, just out last week on Portland’s Paisley Pop label.

Like A Vibration
The Whigs
Stream the new plugged-in album version: Windows [Lo] [Hi]
Quicktime [Lo] [Hi]
or if you need an mp3
Like A Vibration (live on MOKB)
Oooh, these guys rock. I wrote about The Whigs last year with their fantastic song “Technology”, when they were a wee unsigned fledgling band. Now they’ve gone and hooked up with ATO and are prepping to release their first album with them, Mission Control, due January 22. Definitely stream the album version of this song — kinda like a Replacements-meets-Pavement yowly-howly vibe here, all fuzz and aggression, but with a strong melody. In order to stretch and include them in the mp3 roundup, I got the acoustic live version above too from Dodge’s awesome in-studio session with The Whigs earlier this year. The Whigs will be heading out on tour with Johnathan Rice and The Redwalls in the next few weeks.

We Don’t Talk Like We Used To
Elliot Randall
This dude opened for Roger Clyne at the formidably barn-like Slim’s this last weekend in San Francisco, and he’s also on the new KFOG Local Scene CD along with Fuel-favorite Ryan Auffenberg
[KFOG’s podcast on Elliot here]. My friend Brad Kava at the Mercury News said of Randall’s 2007 album Take The Fall that it “flies below the radar but could take off at any minute… A little bit country, a little bit Elliott Smith.” This cut is a slowburn little gem of bittersweet harmonies that reminds me of Ryan Adam’s duet tunes with Norah Jones like “Dear John.” In fact, whoever’s doing backing vocals here sounds a lot like her. Lovely and sad, tear in your beer stuff. Note: Elliot is definitely not the same grizzled guy with a similar name from Steely Dan; according to this Elliot’s MySpace, we share a birthday three years apart — he just turned a mere 25 on August 19. Sounds like he’s lived more than just those years, don’t it?

Wave of Mutilation (Pixies cover)
Joy Zipper
There’s a fantastic new Pixies covers jamboree out on the very cool, always vinyl-loving American Laundromat Records. These are the same folks that brought us the 7″ vinyl series and the High School Reunion soundtrack covers album. This new covers album Dig For Fire: A Tribute To The Pixies features artists well-known and otherwise, but the variety just serves to highlight how well the original songs were constructed. This version of “Wave of Mutilation” loves being done by a girl-fronted band, all loud and fuzzy like the Breeders’ second coming. Joy Zipper is a guy-girl duo from NYC and I dig em like The Raveonettes — absolutely go check out their song “Go Tell The World” on their MySpace. Yum. Other artists on the Pixies comp that I’ve written about before are OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mogwai and Dylan At The Movies. ALR also has an interesting-sounding album of female artists covering Neil Young due in early 2008. I am never let down by their offerings.

Changing Your Mind
Bob Schneider
Lest you think I gave ole Bob the short end of the nasty stick with my recent show review, allow me to suggest this soul-flaying unreleased tune from him. This just goes to show that when he’s good, he’s really good. This pure, achingly vulnerable track is one that he performed in Denver, and listening again to the full studio treatment of it just does something to my heart. I also located a live mp3 of that song I quoted at the end of the show review, I’ll be adding that up shortly. So worth delving into.

Your eyes make a circle :: WAZ & “I Will Follow”

In my estimation, the covers that are really worth their salt take a song that you think you know, and then go right ahead to completely re-imagine it. My favorite revisions unearth a hidden nugget of emotional truth, or get at something that you might have missed the first time around. As The Bangles say, “I see you in a different light.”

WAZ is a musician from Southern California who first rose to prominence as the guitarist for Pete Yorn during the musicforthemorningafter era, but now has a solo career in his own right. Waz is a shortening of his last name (no it’s not Mike Wazowski) and everyone ‘cept his momma calls him that. His cover of U2’s “I Will Follow” is bittersweetly intimate and stopped me in my tracks.

I never knew that this song was originally written about the death of Bono’s mother; it has such a huge anthemic blazing image to me, as does much of the U2 from that early era. The original is majestic and almost defiant; it wants to be sung from a thousand enormous arenas. But this version aches, a meandering confessional in front of a backdrop of delicate strings. I love what WAZ does here to reach a different place with this song.

I Will Follow – WAZ

WAZ just opened for Frank Black of the Pixies on some solo shows, culminating at the rad Hotel Utah in SF. More tour dates are anticipated in 2008 to go along with the self-release of his full-length album coming out at the end of January. That album will be released without this track due to some legal wrangling, but he gives his blessing for you to enjoy it here. So do.

Monday Music Roundup

This weekend was an unexpectedly gorgeous Indian summer weekend in Colorado, with temps in the 70s and me completely loving the feeling of the sunshine soaking into my skin for what could be the last time in a while. On Saturday I made it up to the top of Castle Rock which gave amazing panoramic views of the whole Front Range area. I’ve driven past it a million times (every time I see a show in Denver or Boulder) but never thought to see what it looked like from the top.

In order to tackle the easy hike up (2 miles or so) I had to face my icy-grip-of-death fear of mountain lions and other large carnivores with big teeth and claws that sometimes eat people. I despise being afraid of anything, really, so I get hotly mad at myself for flinching at underbrush crackles. But after seeing pawprints in the mud, it took some serious steeling of the will to overcome my natural inclination to go somewhere indoors. So as lame as it sounds to you rugged types, I was proud of my little mini-feat in overcoming fear — and the view from the top of the rock formation was worth it.

Delivery (demo) – Babyshambles
This song could have easily flowed from Ray Davies’ pen + guitar. Pete Doherty lays off the smack and blatant self-destruction long enough to record one of the catchiest tunes of recent memory. This is an ’06 demo version from the Stookie + Jim Bumfest sessions available on French Dog Blues (Doherty’s site), while the finished version is even snappier and out now on the new album Shotter’s Nation (Astralwerks). And as Pete says in the song, the vibe of this is your basic “make pretend it’s 1969 forever, find a girl, have a drink, have a dance and play.” Okay Pete. You convinced me. [photo]

I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep Dancing
Mike Doughty
This is my new favorite song. Mike Doughty was the lead singer for Soul Coughing, and his uniquely gravely voice and badass sense of killer rhythm always gets me. He’s announced a new album called Golden Delicious, out on ATO Records in 2008. This preview tune manages to combine indie-rock sensibilities with a retro feel, using some fun little vocal repetitions imitating the band that he wants this girl to keep dancing to — “Ba-rumpa-doh-bum-bum.” It’s like the little drummer Boy, but significantly less annoying. Love it.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
(Neil Young cover)
Lions In The Street
This scorching cover of Neil Young’s 1969 classic comes from fellow Canadians Lions In The Street when they visited the XM Radio studios recently. Here’s a band that has the crazy idea that music should be shared and loved freely, so to that effect, they give away quite a bit of it on their website, despite some disagreements with their label. When I wrote about these guys last summer, I cited the obvious swagger and strut of the Stones in the vocals and the boozy riffs, but in this song I can also hear a bit of the warm tone of some of my favorite Adam Duritz vocal moments. So if you like those bands, you should check out LITS, go download some free tunes on their site — my favorite is still probably “Mine Ain’t Yours.” New full-length from these guys is expected in 2008.

The Future Is Nothing New (the toolbox song)
The Alternate Routes
This was one of the coolest tunes that Connecticut’s Alternate Routes did when I saw them live in concert last month, using an amplified toolbox to provide the uniquely crashing hurrumph beats throughout. There’s also a Latin-tinged feisty feel to this that reminds me of Justin Timberlake’s “Senorita,” and so I am pleased to finally have an mp3 of this (courtesy Andrew). The Alternate Routes are finalists in this ‘lil Hennessey/Rolling Stone contest so you can go over and vote for them. Matt Nathanson is also listed and I felt guilty for not voting for him, but the Alternate Routes asked me to go out with them first.

My Favorite Mutiny
(feat. Talib Kweli)
The Coup
This past February when I saw Oakland, CA band The Coup as part of the Noise Pop Music Fest (now accepting apps for 2008) I was completely and totally blown away. It was one of the best and most thoroughly fun shows that I have seen in a long time. They made those dusty historic floorboards at the Fillmore shake up and down. Therefore, news of their 2002 live double album being available on eMusic is welcome (although, really, you just need to go see Boots Riley & Co in concert for yourself). So Much Silence has ripped an mp3 “Shipment” from that live album for your listening pleasure, but this particular song from their 2006 album Pick A Bigger Weapon still kills it as one of my favorite tunes I discovered in this past year; I am not yet weary of listening to it. I doubt I ever will be.

Check the video I took at the show in San Francisco, I’ll use any excuse to post this again:

THE COUP: Laugh/Love/F*ck (live 3/1/07)

Exclusive! Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers, “All Along The Watchtower”

The new Dylan biopic I’m Not There takes the interesting, surrealistic angle of illustrating Bob at different stages of his life through the rubric of six distinctively different actors (including a black man and a woman): Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and Christian Bale. I am very curious to see how this works itself out in the film – at least it’s a fresh angle (I mean, how many Dylan movies can you make?).

In addition to this creative lens used in the film to examine the man himself, the soundtrack is a double disc jamboree of some pretty cool Dylan covers, including disc 1, track 1 with Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers covering “All Along The Watchtower.” Fuel/Friends is pleased as punch to get an exclusive stream for you guys to take your first listen of this!

EDDIE VEDDER & THE MILLION DOLLAR BASHERS
“All Along The Watchtower”

Stream FLASH
Stream QUICKTIME
Stream WINDOWS MEDIA

And who are said Million Dollar Bashers? It’s Wilco’s god-like guitarist Nels Cline, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley (from Sonic Youth), bass player Tony Garnier, keyboardist John Medeski (from Martin, Medeski and Wood), and guitarist Smokey Hormel (onetime Beck guitarist, Smokey & Miho). I never thought I’d hear musicians from those bands all jam together. The guitar solo (assumedly from Nels?) is pretty blazing, and Vedder’s got the seething caged scream goin’ on.

Historical tie-in from last summer: there was an absolutely scorching live version of this song that full-band Pearl Jam did in San Francisco (when Sonic Youth opened), climaxing in a very rock n roll moment of Mike McCready giving his guitar the Townshend treatment and then surfing on it across the stage. PJ has played Watchtower 4 times live before, but that was my favorite. If you’d like to hear that one as well, the link over on that old post still surprisingly works.

You can also stream four other full songs from the biopic over on the soundtrack’s MySpace (the ones by Sufjan Stevens, Cat Power, Jeff Tweedy, and Jim James with Calexico). Among others, I’m also looking forward to hearing Mason Jennings’ two contributions, The Black Keys cover of Wicked Messenger, and The Hold Steady enticing me to climb out my window. The soundtrack is out October 30, and the film opens Thanksgiving weekend.

NEW CONTEST:
Would you like to win one of two copies I have to giveaway of this lovely double disc? Of course you would. Leave me a comment to enter, make sure I have a way to contact you (might wanna spell out that email addy), and if you feel so inclined, please let’s talk about your favorite Dylan cover. So I can wrap this up before I head to NYC, this contest ends Wednesday at midnight.

I’M NOT THERE (FULL SOUNDTRACK LISTING)
Disc 1
1. Eddie Vedder & the Million Dollar Bashers: “All Along the Watchtower”
2. Sonic Youth: “I’m Not There”
3. Jim James and Calexico: “Goin’ to Acapulco”
4. Richie Havens: “Tombstone Blues”
5. Stephen Malkmus & the Million Dollar Bashers: “Ballad of a Thin Man”
6. Cat Power: “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again”
7. John Doe: “Pressing On”
8. Yo La Tengo: “Fourth Time Around”
9. Iron and Wine and Calexico: “Dark Eyes”
10. Karen O and the Million Dollar Bashers: “Highway 61 Revisited”
11. Roger McGuinn and Calexico: “One More Cup of Coffee”
12. Mason Jennings: “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
13. Los Lobos: “Billy”
14. Jeff Tweedy: “Simple Twist of Fate”
15. Mark Lanegan: “The Man in the Long Black Coat”
16. Willie Nelson and Calexico: “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)”

Disc 2
1. Mira Billotte: “As I Went Out One Morning”
2. Stephen Malkmus and Lee Ranaldo: “Can’t Leave Her Behind”
3. Sufjan Stevens: “Ring Them Bells”
4. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Calexico: “Just Like a Woman”
5. Jack Johnson: “Mama You’ve Been on My Mind”
6. Yo La Tengo: “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
7. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova: “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
8. The Hold Steady: “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window”
9. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”
10. The Black Keys: “Wicked Messenger”
11. Tom Verlaine and the Million Dollar Bashers: “Cold Irons Bound”
12. Mason Jennings: “The Times They Are a-Changin'”
13. Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers: “Maggie’s Farm”
14. Marcus Carl Franklin: “When the Ship Comes In”
15. Bob Forrest: “Moonshiner”
16. John Doe: “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine”
17. Antony and the Johnsons: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
18. Bob Dylan: “I’m Not There”

[Vedder photo credit Kerensa Wight, header image credit Playlist]

Guest post: Chris from North Carolina, redux

In August, I wrote about the fabulous reader Chris from NC who took the time to send me five mix CDs and liner notes, and I posted some of the tracks off the first rock-themed collection.

There were four more discs full of goodness that were left shivering outside the blog love, so I wanted to move on to the next offering for your distinct enjoyment.

On this Friday afternoon, I’ll share a little mini-mix of five excellent selections from mix disc #2, along with his comments, on today’s guest blog. Let me repeat how much I enjoy hearing songs through other people’s ears, filtered through their own experience. Dig these fresh tunes:

DO NOT MIX WITH ALCOHOL:
Lots of humble opinions, sad songs, and covers

We Will Become Silhouettes – The Shins
Love the Postal Service, but this one’s better

Brilliant Disguise – Elvis Costello
Not so much a fan of Bruce’s version, but I love the lyrics and EC’s delivery. In easily the most surreal conversation of my life, Westerberg once told me you can call him E, but never Declan (his real name). You’ve been warned.

I Figured You Out – Mary Lou Lord
An Elliott Smith song that I could never find him doing. I think I really like this song in no small part because I can hear him singing it in my head.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart – Saint Etienne
Imaginative re-working of the old Neil Young song

More Than I Can Do – Steve Earle
Stalker song sometimes mistaken for a love song, along the lines of “Every Breath You Take.” Only less played out.

Just a bunch of ab fab covers, thanks to Radio One

In honor of their big 40 year birthday bacchanalia, first BBC Radio One staged that Beatles coverfest back in July, and this week they’ve released an ace double-disc collection chock full of Heather’s Favorite Things – more cover songs! Radio One, Established 1967 pulls 40 hits (one from each year) and pairs them with often unlikely artists. Most of these are ones I’ve never heard before — Hard-Fi covering Britney Spears’ Toxic? The Fray take on R.E.M., Lily Allen does her best sassy Chrissie Hynde, Keane rhymes with Queen & David Bowie under pressure, Kasabian play the Specials. It’s fresh and fun for the most part; even if there are some horrific failures, I appreciate the relative inventiveness in the choices here —

Band On The Run (Paul McCartney/Wings cover) – Foo Fighters
This starts out pretty mellow and faithful to the original — all Laurel Canyon sunsets and lots of weed. But stay tuned to a 1:16 mark that made me yelp a little in delight when the Foos kick in with all their ferocious glory. I cannot wait to drive somewhere, fast, listening to this. LOVE IT.

You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate cover) – Stereophonics
As if Kelly Jones didn’t already strike me as enough of a wee sexy bastard, hearing the playful charm and come-on camp of this cover, where he sounds for all the world like he’s channeling his inner Rod Stewart, does it for me.

All That She Wants (Ace of Base cover) – The Kooks
The original version of this song evokes a reaction in me that is akin to stabbing a razor blade into my eye. Hate it, hate the Swedish ’90s pop of Ace of Base and have been subjected to this story-song of our unmoored heroine (trying to . . . get pregnant on a one-night stand?) way too many times. The Kooks, however, do elicit a few begrudging props from me for trying to salvage it, and doing so in a winsome way. But ugh — too little, too late. This song is beyond salvation.

BUY: Radio One, Established 1967

Yorn joins the Swedish Invasion

I find this cover toe-tappingly good (“Everyone keeps asking me if this is my song, so I decided that I have to play it,” Yorn says) — and coincidental, considering that the first time I remember enjoying the original song was at an intermission before Pete Yorn took the stage in Denver. Thanks to Stereogum for the cover from two nights ago, and to You Ain’t No Picasso for digging up the video:

Young Folks (Peter, Bjorn, and John cover) – Pete Yorn
Live at the Bottle & Cork, Dewey Beach, DE 7/29/07

Now if only we frickin knew who is duetting with him on “Shampoo”, I’d be one completely satisfied girl.

Ryan Adams Down In A Hole, and two new songs from Easy Tiger

Moderate apologies for the punny picture (I couldn’t resist), but I nearly fell out of my chair the other night when I read reports that Ryan Adams had spiced up his Kingston, NY set with an acoustic cover of Alice in Chains‘ “Down In A Hole.” AIC? No one covers AIC, but they had a proprietary chunk of my musical heart back in 1993 when I first started to get into, shall we say, decent music. Before AIC and Pearl Jam I was trapped in a world of oldies (which actually comes in handy now, since I can sing along with most any tune on the AM radio), Bel Biv Devoe, and Petra.

In any case, Alice in Chains has aged moderately well for me and they’ve certainly got some evocative lyrics and construction behind even their heaviest scream-tastic stuff, more readily apparent in their duo of fantastic EPs, SAP and Jar of Flies.

Down In A Hole (Alice in Chains cover) – Ryan Adams
(alternate Savefile link)

Down In A Hole – Alice In Chains (from Dirt)

Got Me Wrong – Alice in Chains (from SAP)

Don’t Follow – Alice in Chains (from Jar of Flies)

AND – these just hit my inbox, so I’ll throw ’em on here too: Two new tracks from Easy Tiger, coming out June 26th. It’s nice to hear a non-radio-rip of Two, and Everybody Knows is growing on me in a big way:

Two – Ryan Adams

Everybody Knows – Ryan Adams

Monday Music Roundup

I know that I should try to be less of a punctuation stickler because, well, it annoys most everyone who is NOT as obsessed (same goes with my proper pronunciation of bruschetta, but don’t get me started). However, sometimes you just can’t turn a blind eye. I happened to have a camera in my bag this weekend while waiting at a red light, and wanted to comment on this sign I noticed a few weeks ago – one that taunts me every time I sit at this intersection:

If there’s one thing worse than incorrectly used apostrophes, it’s gotta be inconsistent application of your made-up rule for where they go. If you’re gonna be wrong, can you please have the gusto to do it consistently all the way through your sign? Thank you.

[end rant]

Onto this week’s batch of tunes to cheer up your ear’s (ouch).