Here’s what’s on the show tonight:
Title (with link to iTunes, if available) | Artist (with link to the artists’ website, if available) | Album (with link to Amazon.com, if available) | Original Artist |
Radio Free Europe | SKAndalous All-Stars | Hit Me | R.E.M. |
Orange Crush | Editors | Q Magazine Best of 86/06 | R.E.M. |
Losing My Religion | Nina Persson | Lad De Små Børn (Let The Small Children) | R.E.M. |
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry) | Hem | No Word From Tom | R.E.M. |
First We Take Manhattan | R.E.M. | I’m Your Fan | Leonard Cohen |
The One I Love | Moog Cookbook! | The Moog Cookbook | R.E.M. |
Shiny Happy People | The Polyphonic Spree | Unreleased | R.E.M. |
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Awesome Brian!
Thanks for playing that Spree track. They will find this cool.
A Spree fan on the unnoficial forum mentioned something about the MP3 only being 20 minutes, i.e before that track!). I’ve recommended they use the feed or AAC feed but is anyone else experiencing this?
Brian, great show. I would strongly urge you to pick up “Dead Letter Office” REM B-sides and as a bonus their 1st EP, “Chronic Town” is included.
6 Covers – 3 of Lou Reed Tunes – There She Goes Again, Pale Blue Eyes, and Femme Fatale.
Keep it up, (and don’t forget about Paul Westerberg)
Michael in Baltimore
I’m just starting to listen and thought I would recommend another 2 R.E.M. covers. They are off of the Surprise Your Pig tribute album.
The tracks are “Pretty Persuasion” by Jawbreaker and “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville “by J Church.
Check them out if you haven’t heard them.
Hey Brian, nice show! The Moog track was definitely the highlight for me.
I enjoyed “Shiny Happy People”, but I’m not sure this song was held up to the same standards you normally use to qualify something as a good cover. I’ve listened to it a few times and I just don’t see how “they made it their own.” I guess I thought the Polyphonic Spree could’ve done so much more. I think what they did with “Lithium” (show 246, folks) was truly a good cover.
Thanks,
-Brian
Excellent cover story for one of my favorite bands- I still am not sure how these can all be so different but except for the moog cookbook song they all sounded like the originals- but weren’t carbon copies except for that polyphonic spree track- which I’m still not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
I’m biased I know, but in defence of The Polyphonic Spree, I don’t think this is a facsimile of the original. The tempo is slower a little, more folksy, and the background vocals feature the whole choir, as well as Jennifer Jobe taking on the Kate Pierson (?) role. Then, as Brian says, they Spree it up a little part way through.
I think there have been some covers featured previously which were great but added nothing to the original, and I don’t recall this ever being picked up on before. For example that Paul McCartney cover from 300.
This SKAndalous All-Stars cover is atrocious, frankly. A pity, since it’s one of the defining rock songs of its age. As a vast R.E.M. fan, I imagine it could be done much better.
I actually didn’t think that SKAndalous All Stars cover was that bad. I thought they were all good, though if I had to mark one down it would be the Moog Cookbook, mainly because it was not really reminiscent of the original, though it was still funky in its own right. It was also very long and I am a 3 minute and under guy mostly!
I’m sure a second show would be possible. I have a couple of cool live covers too, including some by Michael Stipe.
Hi! I think it’s great that you played a countrywoman of mine, Nina Persson. I like her very much and I like REM’s song Losing My Religion.
My favorite cover of R.E.M. = 10,000 Maniacs – Don’t Go Back to Rockville
Favorite cover BY R.E.M. = Wall of Death from the Richard Thompson tribute disc “Beat the Retreat”
Great show!
The R.E.M. cover of “First We Take Manhattan” is an all-time favorite of mine. In fact, that album where it’s found — “I’m Your Fan” — was what introduced me to Leonard Cohen. I bought the album because it had R.E.M., Nick Cave, the Pixies and John Cale (among others), and came to love Cohen through hearing others interpret his songs.