Listeners have been recommending a lot of videos lately, which all fit into a common theme: For lack of a better term, I’ll call them Solo Multitrack Covers:
And there’s no denying the expertise associated with putting these together. In most cases you have to be able to sing or play an instrument well, and you have to have know-how to know which track to record first as a foundation track.
My solo multitrack cover vid recommendations. Let me show you them.
First off, Julia Nunes (thanks to listeners Pete H. and Steven S. for telling me about Julia’s vids). She’s awesome on a ukulele, she puts her own spin on the songs she covers, and she’s cute as a button. She’s got a TON of tracks – both covers and originals – and this is easily one of my favorites:
Thomas C. sent me this one today. Toto’s “Africa”, performed by Jimmie Inch. Not a note out of place, just beautifully done.
And one I _just_ got from David M. Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” performed on kazoo by Mister Tim.
Looking at Mister Tim’s website, I see that he’s part of Moosebutter, the a cappella band that recorded the brilliant medley of John Williams songs that I blogged about last year (which have subsequently been taken down due to legal threats) And in looking more at Mister Tim’s website, I realize he’s a member of Toxic Audio – who have been nice enough to send me their CDs for the show, and whose cover of “Voices Carry” graced the 2008 Coverville Countdown. Amazing how it all comes together.
Want to know if they’re good covers? Listen to any of the above track without watching the video. They all stand on their own very nicely, and the video, showing the technical prowess of the performer, is just icing on the cake.
Sorry. Didn't notice you'd been sick because I had been sick (still am, actually). Anyway, love the bit about Barbara Orbison; I hear she's a lovely lady.
It's good to have you back, Brian! The break gave me a chance to catch up on my backlog of Coverville episodes. Boy, there were a lot of big episodes in late November and December, eh? The Beatles show, Coverville Idol, the holiday show, the countdown … Anyway this show was great, I liked the Holly Golightly a lot. And I support more Roy Orbison on the show!
I wonder if that's the same Diesel that had "Sausalito Summer Nights" back in the '81. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_(band))
That band was Dutch rather than Australian.
Don't think it was the same band. I'm pretty sure it was Johnny Diesel that Brian played. He's an Australian blues/rock singer, had a band called Johnny Diesel and the Injectors, but they also just recorded as "Diesel".
Don't think they're very well-known outside Australia.
Actually, Diesel, Johnny Diesel and Mark Lizotte are all the same guy (i.e. not a band). When Johnny Diesel and the Injectors broke up, he went by Mark Lizotte, but everyone wanted to call him Johnny Diesel. Eventually he gave up and just started using that as his stage name. Eventually he dropped the word Johnny. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_(aka_Mark_Liz…
He did some good covers with Chris Wilson of the Saints (as Wilson Diesel), but his best covers are of Paranoid and I Write the Songs, which Brian stil hasn't played.
There you go… learnt something new!! I always assumed Diesel was still the band. I remember the Injectors from when I was a kid in the 80s, but mostly I listened to his stuff because I play in a blues/rock band in Melbourne, who play a few cover versions of Wilson Diesel covers…
Does that make us a 3rd generation cover band if we cover covers?
That was a great show.
A great songwriter who is sort of obscure considering how familiar his songs are. Was he a Jimmy Webb kind of songwriter or more a performer in his own right?
There was an album of John Denver's when he was still in the Mitchell Trio that covered both "Get Together" and "The Other Side of Life". Interesting, in that the Youngbloods were sort of cool and John Denver was not, even that far back. Their versions are, it goes without saying, very different – luscious folkie harmonies by the Trio.