Covers That Are Better Than the Original...

Cover versions, a constant source of debate which rears its head every now and again. Recently, her from X-factor covering Run by Snow Patrol, a high regarded song in my opinion, brutally re-hashed. However, each to their own.

Another one is David Watts, JC likes the Kinks version, I prefer The Jam. Somebody to Love, a Jefferson Airplane hit from 1967 which is one of many to have a dance remix, this time by the Boogie Pimps. We've all seen the video, and I think it is absolutely fantastic. Time and time again we see scale models of landscapes which are pieces of cut up sponge, green paint and a few fences. However, the director has taken time to re-create what is clearly a post-WW2 agricultural landscape displaying properties of arable and pastoral farming. These are represented by the variety of mosaics we are familiar with whenever we take to the skies on a clear day, developed due to the requirement of large scale machinery which took over from tractors. It is not just the field mosaic, but we also see a detailed township and also what looks like deciduous managed woodland possibly used for coppicing or pollarding in bygone years. Shame the CGI's a bit crap but the girl's not too bad!

St. Andrews Night in the Tams

The Irish give it big licks, the Yanks have their moment and even the Aussies are infiltrating into our hostelries to partake in a celebration of their national day. Despite the celebration of other national days, we neglect our own. However, steps were taken to ensure not blanket coverage but jovial recognition that we can get involved in this national day celebration business and maybe, just maybe, get a holiday out of it in the future!

I decided to shape up a St. Andrews themed round, and set myself the challenge, that every song coming out of my iPod had to be, in some way, connected to Scotland. I'm pleased to say that, despite strains with half an hour to go, this was achieved! Dave also managed to get a few Scottish artists in there too. Well done to the winners and hope you all had a good night! Here's the tracklisting:

David Bowie - Space Odyssey (d)
Idlewild - American English (s)
Gomez - Get Miles (d)
Mull Historical Society - Watching Xanadu (s)
Barbarossa - Burning Daylight (d)
Aberfeldy - Summer's Gone (s)
Pixies - Where Is My Mind (d)
Edwin Collins - A Girl Like You (s)
Beta Band - Dance O'er the Border (d)
Belle and Sebastian - Step Into My Office, Baby (s)
Alasdair Roberts - Firewater (d)
Sergeant - Sunshine (s)
She and Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (d)
Snow Patrol - Chocolate (s)
Bridget Bardot - Harley Davidson (d)
Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter (12" version) (s)
Tom Waits - 16 Shells From A 30 Ought 6 (d)
Travis - Flowers In The Window (s)
Captain Beefheart - Ice Cream For Crow (d)
Orange Juice - Rip It Up (s)
Talking Heads - Pulled Up (d)
Sons and Daughters - This Gift (s)
The Skids - Into the Valley (s)
Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives (d)
The View - Superstar Tradesman (s)
Skoubhie Dubh Orchestra - How's Your Tongue (d)
Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Lounger (s)
Fiery Furnaces - Ex Guru (d)
Lloyd Cole - My Bag (s)
R Dean Taylor - There's a Ghost in My House (d)
1990's - See You At the Lights (s)
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place(d)
Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee (s)
Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso (d)
K.T. Tunstall - Suddenly I See (s)
Deerhoof - Believe E.S.P. (d)
Biffy Clyro - Saturday Superhouse (s)
Big Country - In a Big Country (s)
Bjork - Alarm Call (d)
Del Amitri - Nothing Ever Happens (s)
Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle With You (s)
Wild Beasts - Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants (d)
Calvin harris - Acceptable in the 80's (s)
Smiths - A Boy With a Thorn in His Side (d)
Mylo - Drop the Pressure (s)

Songs marked (d) are David's choices. (s) are Stuart's

SOTW3: I Believe In You

My Song of The Week choice this week is maybe a bit of a departure, as it's heading off into the spangly world of pop. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If there's one thing I wont do while building this playlist, it's aim for any kind of cool points. The 17 year old me would turn a snooty nose up to a Kylie tune, but what does he know? That's right, nothing. He's an idiot.

I Believe In You by Kylie Minogue has, for some reason or other, an almost unique place on my iPod. It falls into a strange "I will never skip this song" category that I can't really apply to anything else. I think it's completely brilliant. A little investigation tells me it's a collaboration with the Scissor Sisters, which might explain something. I reckon it's better than anything they've done though.

BEST BIT: 2:07 - the chant after it all breaks down, that and the bugabugabuga synthy bass.

I also recommend Slow as a similarly great slice of electronic pop-pie from the same era. Good lying-on-the-floor choreography in the video too. Well done Kylie.

Sun 2nd Playlist

Here's the playlist for Sunday 2nd November:

Beck - Jack-Ass (d)
Of Montreal - For Our Elegant Castle (s)
Al Green - Take Me To The River (d)
Hot Chip - And I Was A Boy From School (s)
Wild Beasts - His Grinning Skull (d)
Charlatans - The Only One I Know (s)
Kate Bush - The Big Sky (d)
Suede - Beautiful Ones (s)
Beta Band - Inner Meet Me (d)
Pulp - Mile End (s)
Bob Dylan - Thunder On The Mountain (d)
Foals - Olympic Airways (s)
Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Songs That We Sing (d)
Blur - Coffee & TV (s)
REM - Fall On Me (d)
Daft Punk - Da Funk (s)
Radiohead - Down Is The New Up (d)
The Who - Squeeze Box (s)
Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out (d)
Stereophonics - A Thousand Trees (s)
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch - Hold Tight (d)
Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent (s)
MGMT - Kids (s)
Those Dancing Days - Hitten (d)
Kings of Leon - Red Morning Light (s)
The Jam - Eton Rifles (s)
The Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais (d)
Goldfrapp - Strict Machine (s)
Bjork - Crying (d)
LCD Soundsystem - Get Innocuous! (s)
Annie - Me Plus One (d)
CSS - Let's Make Love & Listen To Death From Above (s)
Haircut 100 - Love Plus One (d)
The Smiths - Panic (s)
Elvis Costello - My Mood Swings (d)
Beatles - Drive My Car (s)
Blondie - Sunday Girl (s)
PJ Harvey - Good Fortune (d)
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (s)
King Creosote - Homeboy (d)
Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie
Andrew WK - Party Hard (s)
Captain Beefheart - Diddy Wah Diddy (d)
Stone Roses - Fool's Gold (s)

As usual, songs marked (d) are David's choices. (s) are Stuart's.

Sun 26th Playlist

A little late, but here's the playlist for Sunday 26th October:

Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue (d)
Last Shadow Puppets - My Mistakes Were Made For You (s)
Stereolab - Infinity Girl (d)
The Courteneers - No You didn't No You Don't (s)
Lou Reed - Wild Child (d)
Noah & The Whale - Jocasta (s)
Beck - Lord Only Knows (d)
The School - I Want You Back (s)
Make-Up - What's The Rumpus (d)
Stone Roses - This Is The One (s)
David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes (d)
Little Man Tate - Hey Little Sweetie (s)
Tegan & Sara - Back In Your Head (d)
MGMT -Kids (s)
Sonny & Cher - Beat Goes On (d)
The Jam - Start! (s)
Elvis Costello - Blue Chair (d)
Snow Patrol - Take Back The City (s)
The Smiths - Cemetery Gates (d)
Sergeant -Sunshine (s)
Radiohead - A Punch Up At A Wedding (d)
Suede - Trash (s)
The Smiths - This Charming Man (s)
Talking Heads - Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town (d)
U2 - Wild Honey (s)
Annie - Me Plus One (d)
5,6,7,8's - Woo Hoo (s)
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (s)
Ian Brown - Dolphins Were Monkeys (d)
Bloc Party - Helicopter (s)
Credence Clearwater Revival - Looking Out My Back Door (d)
Over & Over - Hot Chip (s)
Beta Band - Shrek (d)
Foals - Olympic Airways (s)
The Strokes - Someday (d)
The Who - Squeeze Box (s)
The Outsiders - Time Wont Let Me (d)
Blur - There's No Other Way (s)
Modern Lovers - Astral Plane (d)
Pipettes - Pull Shapes (s)
The View - Superstar Tradesman (s)
The Clash - Magnificent Seven (d)
Blondie - Heart of Glass (s)
Go! Team - Ladyflash (s)
Tom Tom Club - On On On (d)
Housemartins - Happy Hour (s)
Belle & Sebastian - You Don't Send Me (d)
The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop (s)
Grandmaster Flash - White Lines (d)

As usual, songs marked (d) are David's choices. (s) are Stuart's.

Tuesday's Tune!

Time to resurrect the song of the week again, this was something I did a year or so back but got out of the habit. However, Dave suggested that it makes a return, so here is a song which was out in 2007, See You at the Lights by the 1990's. It may have been played a fair bit, but it certainly is one of the best tunes of 2007!

SOTW 2: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

For the past couple of weeks, Stop Making Sense has been my go-to DVD for when I'm sitting around doing nothing in particular. When I was wee, I'd always read about how great it was but I didn't get round to watching it until I was studying. Now that I own it, every so often I'll take the notion to stick it on, and that'll be me off on a Talking Heads trip for a few weeks.

Picking a song of the week from the film is pretty tricky, since they're all fantastic. I've picked This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), firstly because it's amazing and I really like to play it at the start of the night on a Sunday in Nicky-Tams, but also because the performance from the film is lovely. If you've never seen it, you're in for a treat. David Byrne dancing with the lamp is a bit of magic.

I couldn't really leave it at that, so as a bonus Stop Making Sense slice, here's Life During Wartime too. In the film, this is the first taste of Byrne's amazing dancing, and where the gears start shifting towards running-on-the-spot, sweaty, big-suit madness:


I guess what I'm saying is that you should go get hold of Stop Making Sense if you haven't seen it, and go watch it if you already own it. My other top tips for new folk are Psycho Killer, Slippery People and Burning Down The House. As good as they are on YouTube, you do lose the cumulative power of seeing the whole concert.