Song of the day presents something different, African jazz by Richard Bona. Another catch off CKUA here in Alberta (CKUA is a radio station). His real name is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo and he hails from Minta, Cameroon. He emigrated to Germany at the age of 22 and now lives in France. When I hear this tune I hear many influences, including Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder. Good solid song.
Today’s tune is one I heard on another of my favourite in-car stations on the drive to work, CKUA. The song, “Better Than” is from a 2007 album by the John Butler Trio. The album is called “Grand National”. The band, oddly enough, was formed in Australia in 1999 by, wait for it, John Butler. The play a roots style, heavy on the jamming. This tune had me tapping the steering wheel, so I had to share it. They have released 5 studio albums and 3 live albums and are perennial nominees for the ARIA and APRA awards in Australia. Hit the links for more info.
This could qualify as an Interesting Cover. Which reminds me, I should post a new one of those. Time is our enemy at times isn’t it. Today’s offering, presented for your approval, is a live version of a cover by Luke Doucet of a classic Cure tune, “The Lovecats“. Great song, and a great version. Luke Doucet is another of those Canadian talents that we kind of keep as a secret from the rest of the world. He is everywhere on Canadian radio, teaming up with Danny Michel, or playing with Whitehorse (a duo with Melissa McLelland) or playing on his own. Enjoy!
Guster makes another appearance on SOTD with a song off their 2010 album, “Easy Wonderful” titled “Architects and Engineers. These guys are masters of creating hook filled power pop that is quite infectious. In many ways they remind me of Wilco or Dave Matthews. At any rate, a nice tune for a cold blizzard day in Calgary.
A nice little number by Boy (pun intended). Actually a very catchy song called “Little Numbers”. Find myself tapping the steering wheel when it came on during its stint on CBC. The band is a duo, Valeska Steiner, the singer is from Switzerland and bassist Sonja Glass is German. The song is off their 2011 début “Mutual Friends” and was released as a single in 2012. Neither was released in North America until early 2013. Enjoy the catchiness.
Just a drive by post today. Blog favourite (and Guapo fave) Fitz and the Tantrums doing a live performance of “Breakin’ The CHains Of Love”. Great band, great song. Have a great Monday evening. Love the sax solo.
Three very different takes on this classic. The original was written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and appears on his second album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan“. It was first performed by Dylan at Carnegie Hall in 1962. Over the years it has been recorded many times by a wide and varied array of talent. Dylan himself has redone the song several times, most recently in 2007. I have touched on this diversity with what I believe are some pretty different versions, and finished off with the original.
First up, a version by Roxy Music‘s Bryan Ferry. As expected, it is different. He recorded it in 1973 on “These Foolish Things” where he did a raft of covers.
Bryan Ferry
Jason Mraz performed this song on “Listen To Bob Dylan: a Tribute”. Another slightly different take done in the Mraz style. Nicely done.
Jason Mraz
And of course the original.
Bob Dylan
This is Jake Bugg’s second appearance on the Song Of The Day, as I highlighted Two Fingers last year. Today’s featured tune is Lightning Bolt and it continues his string of bluesy rock success. This young Englishman was all of 18 when he recorded this song. Amazing raw talent as both a songwriter and player. The video is Jake performing live on Late Night. Not as good as the recorded version, possibly a bit nervous.
A bit of a switch from our regular programming. Today we go heavy Folk (Bluegrass??) with California indie-folk duo, The Milk Carton Kids. A very interesting group on today’s media stage. They have released 3 albums since forming in 2011. Heaven is off their most recent release, “The Ash and Clay”. Good song, a bit different, and i hope you enjoy it.
The Milk Carton Kids on Amazon
The Milk Carton Kids on iTunes
Interesting covers goes old-time. Today we look at a milestone song “Hound Dog“. It was written by the legendary team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller in 1952 after meeting and hearing Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton. The meeting had been arranged by Johnny Otis. They were 19 at the time, unbelievable. Big Mama Thornton was the first to record it (August 1952) and released it in February 1953. It was her only hit, but the song, well that’s a different story altogether. It has been covered over 85 times and charted on several of those incarnations, although none had the success of either Big mama’s or Elvis Presley’s versions. The Elvis version is obviously the best known and placed at 19 on Rolling Stones Top 500 of all time, not to mention being in the Grammy’s Hall of Fame. Who has covered it you ask? A veritable who’s who of music and reflecting a wide diversity of style. Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Conway Twitty, Eric Clapton, James Taylor and Frank Zappa. Crazy! We will dispense with the poll on this, seems the work involved is not worth the 1 vote each time hahaha. We’ll start with Big Mama, move through a couple of others and finish up with Elvis. Enjoy!
The Big Mama version is very much R&B and a lot less frenetic than the more familiar Elvis effort. I like the voice and her control of the song. The instrumentation is subtly performed by some very good musicians. A great song done like this.
This version is by one of my favourites, John Lennon. Unfortunately, the song is not up to his standards, ruined by some “singing?” by Yoko doing her best imitations of a dog. Kind of funny to listen to and watch. Some good playing though.
Here is the Jimi Hendrix version, unmistakably his.
And of course, Elvis.