Cat Power: Jukebox

It used to be the case that you either hated her or loved her: no contest now,  The new album is a second covers job, Jukebox.  I believe that I am right in saying that the good people of Matador Records have sanctioned her cover of her own song as the one to blog, and mighty fine it is. Matador have asked that no posts of the new album be put out, but her Metal Heart can be heard on their site here.

Her prowess on the covers front is well known, as proven by this awesome item from The Covers Record:

mp3 Cat Power: Satisfaction

She's also done a pretty decent job on the soundtrack to the 'Dylan' movie soundtrack I'm Not There:

mp3 Cat Power: Stuck Inside a Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

But Cat Power here, and download DRM-free here.

Lest we Forget: The Auteurs' After Murder Park

Remember britpop?  Whilst there was quite a bit of it worth forgetting, one nineties classic slipped under the radar somewhat then, and still seems to.  Luke Haines' Auteurs were one of the more interesting and literate bands of that period.  His songs were able to move seamlessly from post-glam or punk rock, to baroque pop, all with brilliantly incisive lyrics.  After Murder Park was their masterpiece, a kind of tour of England's darker little corners: child murder, alcoholics...

Try these two and then get the album.  I promise you that you will never regret it.

mp3 The Auteurs: Unsolved Child Murder

mp3 The Auteurs: Married to a Lazy Lover

As a bonus, here's a b-side acoustic version of another song on the album.

mp3 The Auteurs: Everything We Say Will Destroy You

You can buy the Auteurs' music here.

Covers: Bowie, Elton John

More covers, that go somewhere else.  As I grew up a glam rock kid, I grew up with Bowie and Elton John; truth be told, not Elton John really,  Having said that, the early albums still stand up in parts.  Certainly, these two covers do:

mp3 My Morning Jacket: Rocket Man

mp3 Bettye LaVette: Talking Old Soldiers

As for Bowie, there are remarkably few great covers of his great stuff (all of which was from the '70s).  However, there is this cover of a less than great bowie track, transformed

mp3 Last Town Chorus: Modern Love

And this of a great Bowie track

mp3 Joan as a Police Woman: Sweet Thing 

Buy the artists' albums here, and some DRM-free here

Drive-by Truckers

The new Drive-by Truckers' album is out.  At first hearing(s), a more countrified and soulful effort than their sometimes somewhat strained last outing.  America's greatest rock'n'roll band made their name with the epic Southern Rock Opera.  Mostly because I've had them on the old ipod for a week or so, two Patterson Hood songs stand out early on: mind you, the themes come pretty close to home (I'll take the second as a theme song).

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: Daddy Needs a Drink

In some ways, these songs echo some of their earlier efforts.  Try this from Pizza Deliverance.

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: Bulldozers and Dirt

The lead songwriter has always been Patterson Hood; there are some great Mike Cooley songs on the new album.  This one's from Gangstabilly.

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: Panties in Your Purse

They really are the business, believe me...

Buy Truckers' albums here, and most of their earlier work here, DRM-free.

The Race: The Archers of Loaf, Mark Knopfler & Gram Parsons

So, it hits Nevada & South Carolina; once more, is it the economy?

mp3 Archers of Loaf: South Carolina

mp3 Mark Knopfler: Sands of Nevada

And the late great Gram Parsons visits both:

mp3 Gram Parsons: Ooh Las Vegas

mp3 The Byrds: Hickory Wind

Buy the artists here.

Covertime: Springsteen

Got an email from a friend who's spent a few weeks in the USA and it included a few photos of Asbury Park et al.  So, as a quid pro quo here a six covers of the Boss, all of which do something special with well known songs, sometimes radically. Townes van Zandt turned Racing in the Street into a classic American folk song; Johnny Cash did something similar. Elvis Costello turned Brilliant Disguise into a country song. Bettye LaVette made Streets of Philadelphia a soul ballad.  The Swedes Junip take The Ghost of Tom Joad to Europe, where Bat for Lashes takes I'm on Fire where only Natasha Khan knows...

mp3 Townes van Zandt: Racing in the Street

mp3 Johnny Cash: Further on up the Road

mp3 Elvis Costello: Brilliant Disguise

mp3 Bettye LaVette: Streets of Philadelphia

mp3 Junip: The Ghost of Tom Joad

mp3 Bat for Lashes: I'm on Fire

Of cousre, another great re-interpreter of the Boss is the man himself; I feel another post coming on...

Buy the artists' music here. or download some DRM free here

Michigan: Red House Painters, Josh Rouse & Sufjan Stevens

The bandwagon rolls on to Michigan.  Three state songs:

mp3 Red House Painters: Michigan

mp3 Josh Rouse: Michigan

mp3 Ambulance LTD: Michigan

And as he did a whole album about the state, and this fits in all sorts of ways:

mp3 Sufjan Stevens: For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti

Buy the artists' music here, download Sufjan Stevens DRM free here.