Cover Me -

Evanescence’s Amy Lee Rocks Tenacious D’s “Kyle Quit the Band” on Acoustic Guitar

Posted by Mike Misch at 10:29 am No Responses »

Mar 182021

Tenacious D is widely known for rocking your socks off, sometimes with the help of Dave Grohl on drums (or as a demon). However, many of the songs from their debut album had first drafts that fell within the rare subgenre of acoustic-metal. “Kyle Quit the Band” is one of those songs, where the studio version has added plenty of electric guitars and frantic drumming but the original version was just Jack and Kyle and their acoustic guitars. Recently, Amy Lee (previously of Evanescence) decided to take this lesser-known track back to its acoustic roots. Continue reading »

Full Albums: Elvis Costello & the Attractions’ ‘Armed Forces’

Posted by Seuras Og at 10:30 am No Responses »

Mar 172021

Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!

Last year we polled our loyal band of Patreon-izers as to which Elvis Costello album they would like to read a Full Albums post about. The winner was This Year’s Model, and we duly dealt with it here. The runner-up, Armed Forces, has recently had its umpteenth revamp and re-release, making it entirely apt for it to addressed in turn.

1979’s Armed Forces was Costello’s third record all told, his second album with the Attractions, and the first actually bearing the Attractions’ name. It sold well, reaching #2 in the UK album charts and #10 in the US charts, notching platinum sales altogether in the former, gold in the latter. And, as stated, there have been a number of re-packages, notably in 1993 and 2002. 1993 added a few extra tracks, whilst 2002 threw in a whole extra disc, the selections on each chosen by Costello. This year’s release, Complete Armed Forces, goes a step further and is a mammoth box set (vinyl, naturally) with nine records.

But finding a decent set of covers proved elusive. Only now, thanks to a link being made available to one long-lost recording and to the commissioning of a totally new rendition of another, are we able to finally complete the circle.
Continue reading »

Watch Orson Wilds’s New Emo-ish Cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Kyoto”

Posted by Ally McAlpine at 9:00 am No Responses »

Mar 172021

Orson Wilds, the Canadian duo Eric Reid and Brianna Bordihn, currently has two singles to their name. Their third release is a cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Kyoto,” a song that was nominated for the Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song in last weekend’s Grammys. Their debut album is set to come out later this year. Continue reading »

The Wiggles Add a Twist to Tame Impala’s “Elephant”

Posted by Ally McAlpine at 9:00 am No Responses »

Mar 162021

Something you didn’t know you needed is a Wiggles cover of Tame Impala. If you’re not already familiar, the Wiggles are an Australian children’s music group. Before you click away, hear me out. This past week, they covered Tame Impala’s “Elephant” for Triple J’s Like A Version, along with a performance of their song “Fruit Salad.” As on YouTube commenter put it, “If this doesn’t make the hottest 100 then someone is wrong with this country [Australia].” Continue reading »

Good, Better, Best: The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?”

Posted by Tom McDonald at 12:00 pm 4 Responses »

Mar 152021

Some covers are more equal than others. Good, Better, Best looks at three covers and decides who takes home the gold, the silver, and the bronze.

A sentence that begins “If you like ‘How Soon is Now’ then you will also like…” is a sentence that will not end well. It sets itself up for failure because the song has no real counterpart, no next of kin—not within the Smiths’ catalog, and not within any music collection anywhere. The song’s uniqueness gives cover artists an uphill climb. Maybe this explains why the world is not exactly swamped with “How Soon is Now” renditions that are worth repeating. But we did find a few exceptions, and we will now look at three of them. Or we will soon.
Continue reading »

Violet Island Take “Take On Me” into the Vaporwave Future

Posted by Brendan Shanahan at 10:21 am No Responses »

Mar 152021

What’s one of the best things you can do with a beloved 80’s hit? Give it a smooth, dreamy Vaporwave style cover. And on their new version of A-Ja‘s beloved hit “Take On Me,” Violet Island, the duo of Adrian Walther and Jessie Villa, transform it into a slick, groovy, synth heavy cover. Continue reading »

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