Today’s song of the day is a nice tune from Ben Howard, an English singer-songwriter. The song, “Keep Your Head Up” was released as a single in 2011, but was on his 2008 début album, “Games In The Dark”, and on his 2011 record “Every Kingdom”. The song starts out fairly slowly but picks up power as it continues, then moves into a great chorus. Good tune.
I’m A Believer is a song penned by Neil Diamond and made a forever signature classic by The Monkees way back in 1966. The song went gold in 2 days, hitting number 1 in December 1966 and was the biggest selling single of 1967. It is also one of only 40 songs to sell 10 million physical copies (source:Wikipedia). Amazing numbers for so long ago. Needless to say that success bred many attempts at duplication, of which I will note four. Don’t forget to vote for the one you like best.
First we have British singer Robert Wyatt who made it a UK hit in 1974. The band he was with had some power with Andy Summers (Police) on guitar and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) on drums. The video is a live performance on Tops Of The Pops and was his first appearance after an accident left him a paraplegic.
Next up we have my favourite version by Smash Mouth. Why you say? Simple, Shrek is one of my all time favourite movies. Eddie Murphy is also featured on the tune, recorded in 2001.
Third, we have the man, Neil Diamond. he sings his song live in 2008. Nicely done Neil.
And last, the original.
The oft maligned John Mayer enters my Song of the Day series, yet again. I say maligned as more often than not he is dismissed as nothing more than a pop artists. I tend to disagree. I find him a superior writer of songs, some pop, some a lot more than that, such as this tune, “Wildfire”. In this tune he once again proves that he can write and do a great catchy song and showcase something else that people tend to miss. As a guitar player, there are few performing today that are as good as he is. He is a terrific player, up there with many of the recognized greats. In the video, he really cuts loose at the 3:20 mark. All in all, this song rates an A+ in my books. Hope you enjoy.
Heard this on CBC2 today during an interview she was doing and had to post it. Serena Ryder is the next big thing. The vocals on this are amazing, almost Adele, yet different, kind of like Aretha, yet different, and a dash of Amy Winehouse. This is the exact performance I heard. Sit back and enjoy “For You”. Oh, and get the album “Harmony”, you will not regret it.
New Music from Eric Clapton, with a bonus, Chaka Khan. Slowhand has a new album out, “Old Sock” and this tune, “Gotta Get Over” is off it. Best song I’ve heard from him in a while, and nice to see some new music as well.
2010 was a great year for Guster. They released their “Easy Wonderful” album which contained this song “Do You Love Me” among others. A light pop song, very catchy and feel good, the band captures a touch of quirkiness which comes through very clearly in the video. The song is full of hooks, and comes across as a genuinely well constructed power pop song. I hope you enjoy.
Sweet Jane is a classic Velvet Underground tune, first released in 1970 on their “Loaded” album. Lou Reed wrote the song, and his lyrics are powerful, not mention the arrangement. As I morph this series, I am thing a poll is just screaming to be added to the mix, so I will. Rules are simple. I will add the songs, then ask you to decide which is your fave. Simple? This works well for this choice as there are many covers out there. Let’s start with the original, then move on from there.
Next up, let’s go with Mott the Hoople. This was the first cover, 1972, and was released on their “All The Young Dudes” album. The band featured the great Ian Hunter on vocals, and is a true copy, with little change in the arrangement.
Next up is a version by Canadian alt-country band, “Cowboy Junkies“. They released the tune as a single in 1988. It was used on the soundtrack for “Natural Born Killers“. A slower version, and the vocals of Margo Timmins are great. The song is slowed up with great effect. My favourite version.
And a last entry, a live version, with Lou Reed fronting Metallica. A very different version.
A little surprised this one was on my iPhone (Lori???) (free Single of the Week??). No matter, I must be true to the random generator. This upbeat pop tune comes from Cookie Duster. The Canadian group formed in the late 1990’s, but went on hiatus when Brendan Canning‘s other group, Broken Social Scene, took off. When this project went on hiatus, Cookie Duster reformed and released an album in 2012. Nice tune.
Decided to change the name to “Interesting” from “Unusual”. I’d say that a lot of covers are more interesting than strange. My first post on this involved Jackie Wilson doing the Doors “Light My Fire”. Not really unusual, although a soul icon doing what became a rock classic was somewhat strange, it was truly much more interesting.
Today we are going to take a look at something that is definitely interesting, and maybe a bit unusual as well. Siouxsie and the Banshees were a 70’s punk band that expanded into a more adventuresome style of music. Some would call it post-punk, others might say glam. Personally, I never got into them very much. I did find it kind of cool that they did a cover of one of my favourite Beatles tunes, “Dear Prudence”. I have been a John Lennon fan since the early days of my musical odyssey, and many of his songs could be classified as soundtrack of my life. Dear Prudence was on the Beatles Whit Album, released in 1968 and tells the tale of Mia Farrow’s sister Prudence. She was studying with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the same time as Lennon, and he wrote the song to encourage to come out and socialize as she had turned into a bit of a recluse. ( I pretend to be an informative blog haha.).
Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded the song in 1983 and released it as a single. It became one of their biggest hits. Without further adieu, “Dear Prudence”.
And of course, the original.
Thought I’d drop in with a song. Summer hit Calgary, had to push away. Heard this on CBC the other day. Classic John Hiatt, but then what isn’t.