Late Summer Odyssey

Beck and Phoenix released a collaborative single back in June, which completely passed me until last week. Celebrating their then-upcoming co-headlining Summer Odyssey tour, the song is unsurprisingly called Odyssey. 

It's got Phoenix's trademark sound all over it but it's also in the same wheelhouse as Les Rythmes Digitales' 80s-inspired remix of Beck's song Mixed Bizness from 2000, albeit Odyssey has a much more laid back, funkier vibe. And is that bass reminiscent of Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads? I suspect that last comparison has been made a thousand times online already.

 

Whatever, it's a fun three and three-quarter minutes and whilst the promise of a late UK summer in September seems to have been washed away by constant rain, the sound of Odyssey at least allows the illusion of sun-kissed days.

 

There are loads of live versions of Odyssey available online. I've opted for one from their show at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon on 3rd August. It's very front-row and perhaps doesn't capture the full majesty of the band set up and back drop, but you do get crystal clear framing shots of Thomas Mars and Beck.

I haven't seen Beck on TV or other media for a long while and watching this video, I was immediately struck by his resemblance to Gene Wilder in Stir Crazy. Or is it just me?

Hokey Karaoke

Volume 1 of a CD-R of cover versions recorded for my friend Stuart on 19th August 2008.

 

I love a cover version and my forays into cassette compilations included many made up of people singing other people's songs. Many of the songs featured here have cropped up on previous mixtapes but I quite like the flow of this CD-R that I made for my friend's birthday a decade and a half ago. Always one for overdoing things, this was the first of three volumes that I gifted him at the time.

My Bloody Valentine start off with their version of the key song from the sixth James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, originally recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1969. If you're expecting a typical MBV wall of noise, you'll be disappointed; unexpectedly, it's a faithful and rather lovely cover version.

A few cover versions go acoustic. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly deliver an urgent Northern take on Gallic dance duo Justice. Devine & Statton aka Ian Devine (nee Pinchcombe) from Ludus and Alison Statton from Young Marble Giants and Weekend team up for a beautifully stripped down version of a New Order classic. I remember hearing this on the John Peel show back in 1989. Australian band Frente! were clearly paying attention. Deacon Blue aren't particular favourites of mine but anyone willing to have a stab at a Julian Cope song gets a thumbs up from me. 

Several versions take the song in interesting directions. Whilst not surpassing the originals, they've come up with a different approach that makes the song their own. Primal Scream are the first in line, with an amped up, dirty version of The Clash's Know Your Rights. Tunng go all folky with club classic Naked In The Rain by Blue Pearl, whilst Locust offer up an almost jazz lounge duet on Depeche Mode's Master And Servant. 

 

I'm also a big fan of Mark Eitzel's uptempo but downbeat run through Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield. Associates' bold debut in 1979, covering Boys Keep Swinging weeks after the original was released, is every bit as good as David Bowie. If I had to choose between the two, Anita Lane's unique take on Sexual Healing, ably assisted by Mick Harvey and Barry Adamson, surpasses Marvin Gaye's original.

Ciccone Youth aka Sonic Youth take things to the natural and extreme end with a version of Robert Palmer recorded in a karaoke booth. The video - recorded in the same booth for $25 - is a striking send up of the overblown original, Kim Gordon's deadpan singing and lacklustre dancing against a backdrop of images from the Vietnam War. I vaguely recall watching this on a late night TV show and the studio guests ripping the song and video to shreds, but they were woefully missing the point.

Speaking of overblown, sometimes the only way to do a cover is go even bigger and louder. Stairway To Heaven is one of those songs indelibly etched in the memory of my childhood listening to music on the radio and has been covered countless times over the last half-century. I remember being subjected to a version during a school assembly in the 1980s by a 'supergroup' made up of my Biology, Geography and P.E. teachers. It wasn't pretty.

Like many, seeing Aki Kaurismäki's 1989 road movie Leningrad Cowboys Go America was my first introduction to the titular Finnish band. Leningrad Cowboys continued to release records up to 2013 but they appear to have disbanded some time after. Their version of the Led Zeppelin song came from a collaborative album with The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble aka The Alexandrov Ensemble aka The Red Army Choir, the official choir of the Russian armed forces. Tragically, on Christmas Day in 2016, 64 members of the Ensemble were killed when their plane crashed into the Black Sea.

The world has changed dramatically this year and collaborating with the official choir of the Russian armed forces is unlikely to be on anyone's wish list, now or any time in the foreseeable future. How different things were in 2008 when I compiled this collection.

 

1) We Have All The Time In The World: My Bloody Valentine sing Louis Armstrong (1993)

2) Know Your Rights (Full Length Version): Primal Scream sing The Clash (1994)

3) There's A Ghost In My House: The Fall sing R. Dean Taylor (1987)

4) Naked In The Rain (Rob Da Bank Session): Tunng sing Blue Pearl (2007)

5) D.A.N.C.E.: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly sing Justice (2008)

6) Move On Up: Mark Eitzel sings Curtis Mayfield (2002)

7) Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime: Beck sings The Korgis (2004)

8) Bizarre Love Triangle: Devine & Statton sing New Order (1989)

9) Addicted To Love: Ciccone Youth sing Robert Palmer (1988)

10) Making Plans For Nigel: Datassette sing XTC (2006)

11) Boys Keep Swinging: Associates sing David Bowie (1979)

12) Master And Servant: Locust sing Depeche Mode (1998)

13) It's A Man's Man's Man's World: Natacha Atlas sings James Brown (2003)

14) Some Velvet Morning: Slowdive sing Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood (1993)

15) If You're Lookin' For A Way Out (Album Version): Tindersticks sing Odyssey (1999)

16) Sexual Healing: Anita Lane ft. Mick Harvey & Barry Adamson sings Marvin Gaye (1993)

17) Trampolene: Deacon Blue sing Julian Cope (1989)

18) Stairway To Heaven: The Leningrad Cowboys & The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble sing Led Zeppelin (1994)

Volume One (1:19:43)

Eclectic Guitar

Side 2 of a mixtape, recorded 3rd October 1999. As the name suggests, an eclectic mix with lots of guitar and a slight pun on a song title by Talking Heads, who close proceedings with their debut single. 

This may be the only place (today, at least) where you'll find INXS sandwiched by His Name Is Alive and the Fatima Mansions and Beck followed by The Pastels, with some wry slice of life observations from Jarvis Cocker and Ed Ball, alongside stone cold Seventies classics by Wire, Sparks, Blondie and the aforementioned Talking Heads. 

1) 59 Lyndhurst Grove (Inside Susan: "A Story In Three Songs...", Part 3) (Single Version): Pulp (1993)

2) Wish I Had A Wishing Ring (Album Version): His Name Is Alive (1998)

3) Heaven Sent (Album Version): INXS (1992) 

4) Something Bad: The Fatima Mansions (1992)

5) Hasta Mañana, Monsieur: Sparks (1974)

6) Primrose 0882: The Times (1993)

7) Outdoor Miner (Long Version): Wire (1978)

8) One Way Or Another (Album Version): Blondie (1978)

9) Deadweight (Edit): Beck (1997)

10) Love, It's Getting Better (Cover of The Groove): The Pastels (1995)

11) Chemicrazy (Revitalized): That Petrol Emotion (1990)

12) Love → Building On Fire: Talking Heads (1977)

 

1974: Kimono My House: 5 

1977: Love → Building On Fire EP: 12

1978: Parallel Lines: 8

1989: On Returning (1977-1979): 7

1990: Sensitize EP: 11

1992: Valhalla Avenue: 4

1992: Welcome To Wherever You Are: 3 

1993: Baby Girl EP: 6

1993: Razzmatazz EP: 1 

1995: Worlds Of Possibility EP: 10

1997: Deadweight EP: 9

1998: Ft. Lake: 2

Side Two (46:08) (KF) (Mega)

Where Time And Space Stand Still

Charlotte Gainsbourg chooses her collaborators well. Her second album, 5:55, was largely written by AIR, Jarvis Cocker and The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon; follow ups IRM and Stage Whisper was composed with Beck; her most recent album, 2017's Rest, was created with French musician and DJ Sebastian Akchoté aka SebastiAn. Charlotte's songs also lend themselves well to remixers, with dozens of official and bootleg versions out there. This is a small selection of each.

 

Side One

1) AF607105 (Album Version) (ft. AIR) (2006)

2) Deadly Valentine (Radio Edit By SebastiAn & Danger Mouse) (2017)

3) Paradisco (Original Version) (ft. Beck) (2011)

4) IRM (Album Version) (ft. Beck) (2009)

5) Les Oxalis (Silaxo Extended Re-Edit) (2017)

Side Two

1) The Operation (Album Version) (ft. AIR) (2006)

2) Heaven Can Wait (Nosaj Thing Remix) (2009)

3) Time Of The Assassins (Matthew Dear Remix) (2010)

4) Sylvia Says (Radio Edit By SebastiAn) (2018)

5) 5:55 (Black Ghosts Remix By Simon Lord & Theo Keating) (2006)

6) The Songs That We Sing (Album Version) (ft. AIR & Neil Hannon) (2006)

Side One (22:24)

Side Two (22:18)

Forget About My Tainted Heart

From Norway yesterday to Sweden today and the brilliant Lykke Li. It was her megahit Little Bit and debut album Youth Novels that first drew me, but she has gone from strength to strength since. Lykke Li's last album was in 2018, but earlier this year the 10th anniversary edition of 2nd album Wounded Rhymes was released and in October, a new song Bron emerged, hopefully presaging a new album in 2022.

For today's selection, I randomly settled on the setlist for Lykke Li's performance at Lollapalooza in 2014. I wasn't there, and it is heavy with songs from her then-current 3rd album, I Never Learn, but it's as good a selection as any. I've mixed it up a bit by dropping in remixes and acoustic versions of several tracks.

As a bonus, I've included a link to the full Lollapalooza performance on YouTube. A fan has taken a previously out of synch video and re-sequenced it, so every now and then it jumps a bit. Finally, I've included a 2017 performance of I Follow Rivers, featuring Kelsey Lu (a favourite on this blog) and Nancy Whang, perhaps best known for her work with The Juan Maclean and LCD Soundsystem.

 

1) I Never Learn (Album Version) (2014)

2) Sadness Is A Blessing (Gold Panda Remix) (2011)

3) Just Like A Dream (2014)

4) No Rest For The Wicked (2014)

5) Jerome (iTunes Session) (2010)

6) Dance, Dance, Dance (Buraka Som Sistema Remix) (2009)

7) Little Bit (CSS Remix) (2008)

8) Gunshot (Acoustic) (2014)

9) Never Gonna Love Again (2014)

10) I Follow Rivers (Dave Sitek Remix) (2011)

11) Youth Knows No Pain (Acoustic Version) (2011)

12) Get Some (Remix By Beck) (2010)

 

2008: Little Bit EP: 7

2009: Dance Dance Dance EP: 6

2010: Get Some EP: 12

2010: iTunes Session: 5

2011: I Follow Rivers EP: 10 

2011: Sadness Is A Blessing EP: 2

2011: The Lost Sessions Vol 1. EP: 11

2014: I Never Learn: 1, 3, 4, 9

2014: Gunshot EP: 8

Forget About My Tainted Heart (48:13)

 

Live @ Lollapalooza (Grant Park, Chicago, 01 August 2014): Lykke Li

I Follow Rivers (Live @ The Standard, High Line, New York, 15 March 2017): Lykke Li ft. Kelsey Lu & Nancy Whang

Too Punk To Funk

2007 mix, which I think I may have put together for a friend's birthday. Definitely a snapshot of a moment in time, when it was all about indie disco and big beats. The cover is a remixed image taken from the We Never Know CD single by Nicolette. A long time since I've heard some of these songs and many of the acts are now consigned to history, but I'd forgotten how good some of these remixes are.

 

1) Girl And The Sea (Cut Copy Remix): The Presets ft. Kendal Cuneo (2005) 

2) Gravity's Rainbow (Van She Remix): Klaxons (2005)

3) X-Ray (South Central X-Ray Vision 'For Those With Eyes To See' Remix): The Maccabees (2007)

4) Please (Remember 1992? Remix): Paul Hartnoll ft. Robert Smith & Lianne Hall (2007)

5) Jique (MSTRKRFT Remix): Brazilian Girls (2006)

6) Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before (A Chicken Lips Malfunction): Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather (2007)

7) Save Me (Coldcut Remix): Nina Simone (2007) 

8) Backfire At The Disco (KGB Remix): The Wombats (2007)

9) Office Boy (CSS Remix): Bonde Do Role (2007)

10) Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Edition): Death From Above 1979 (2005)

11) Me And My Man (Whitey vs. Chromeo 'Fly Whitey' Mix): Chromeo (2004)

12) Standing In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Nite Version) (Khayem's Cheeky Re-Edit): Gossip (2006)

13) Broken Drum (Remixed By Boards Of Canada): Beck (2005)

14) You'll Never Change (Album Version): GusGus (2007)

15) Woozy With Cider (Jon Hopkins Remix): James Yorkston (2007)

 

Too Punk To Funk (1:17:42)