&ot absonderpop

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

[News]

As you might have noticed, there weren't any new postings for more than a month now.

I'm totally flooded with work right now, so I'll probably won't be able to post regularly for another 6-8 weeks.

Sorry for that, but keep checking this blog (or it's German sibling), as I might manage to upload a little something every now and then.

posted by absonderpop at 2:07 PM 3 comments

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Boss Week, Pt. 3: Maybe Everything That Dies Some Day Comes Back

[In absonderland a week can be a lot longer than just seven days...]



While Darkness On The Edge of Town sort of saved me during the worst year of my life, it was Springsteen's Nebraska that had put the Boss on my personal musical map.

I could connect much more to stripped down 4-track home-recordings that had been intended as demo versions for his follow up to The River than to all of his full band stuff I had known before discovering this album.

My personal stand-out track from Nebraska has always been Atlantic City – and not just because there are a lot of fine cover versions of that one around...

Bruce Springsteen: Atlantic City
Bruce Springsteen: Atlantic City (MTV Plugged 1992)
Bruce Springsteen And The Sessions Band: Atlantic City (live 2007)
The Band: Atlantic City
Kurt Neumann (BoDeans): Atlantic City
Hank Williams III: Atlantic City
Mike Rimbaud: Atlantic City
Pete Yorn: Atlantic City/Murray (live)
Doc Holiday: Atlantic City
Ed Harcourt: Atlantic City
Denis Fischer: Atlantic City
Tom Thumb And The Latter Day Saints: Atlantic City

If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 3:14 PM 4 comments

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Boss Week, Pt. 2: Ain't Nobody Like To Be Alone



Originally, Springsteen had written Hungry Heart for The Ramones, after seeing them play in 1979. On advice of his manager, he kept the song for himself and it went on to become his first top ten single in the USA.

Now, don't we all wish Springsteen had done as he intended to? Although it would have been included on the Phil Spector-produced End of the Century (which marked the departure from the formulaic early punk rock records), I firmly believe that (imaginary) version had shitted all over every other recording of this song.

The version that was released on The River is sped up quite considerably. Listen to the alternate mix included here for comparison – same recording, different speed and pitch.

Bruce Springsteen: Hungry Heart
Bruce Springsteen: Hungry Heart (original speed)
Bruce Springsteen: Hungry Heart (live)
Jeanne Newhall: Hungry Heart
Jesse Malin: Hungry Heart
Mike Love: Hungry Heart
Minnie Driver: Hungry Heart
Paul Young: Hungry Heart
Smokie: Hungry Heart

If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 10:30 AM 2 comments

Monday, June 25, 2007

Boss Week, Pt. 1: Maybe We Ain't That Young Anymore



Nick Hornby wrote in 31 Songs, "[...] this four and three quarter minutes provided Jim Steinman and Meatloaf with a whole career".
And yes, Thunder Road is bombastic and cliché-ridden, but it was Bruce Springsteen that sort of invented this kind of bombasticism and the notion of cars and girls and running away together.

Having grown up in a part of the world that is anything but like New Jersey, I had to reach my thirties to "get" Springsteen. Still, this songs stands the test of time and ranges up there in my all-time top ten.

Thunder Road takes it's title from a 1958 movie starring Robert Mitchum, though Springsteen claimes never to have seen the film before writing the song.

Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road
Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road (acoustic demo)
Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road (alternate take 1)
Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road (alternate take 2)
Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road (live)
Bruce Springsteen: The Story of Thunder Road (VH1 Storytellers)
Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road (VH1 Storytellers)
Tori Amos: Thunder Road
Melissa Etheridge feat. Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road (live)
Kevin Rowland: Thunder Road
Barbara Fasano: Thunder Road
Greg Kihn: Thunder Road
Mary Lou Lord: Thunder Road (live)
Badly Drawn Boy: Thunder Road
Dan Bern: Thunder Road
Cowboy Junkies: Thunder Road
Ashton Jones: Thunder Road
Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Thunder Road
Paul Baribeau: Thunder Road (live)
Matt Tyler: Thunder Road
Milow: Thunder Road
Hayward Williams: Thunder Road

If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 3:07 AM 8 comments

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

While The Sun Is Bright Or In The Darkest Night



I never cared much for the Rolling Stones, as I was raised on a steady diet of Beatles and German singer/songwriters before I came across AC/DC and The Clash.
Recently I re-discovered how fantastic Melanie's version of Ruby Tuesday is (the one from 1970, the '76 recording is lackluster shite…), so I started to go through my collection and assemble all versions I have (and then some).

Although credited to Jagger/Richards (as almost every other Rolling Stones song), Ruby Tuesday was written by Keith Richards and Brian Jones, with the latter contributing the recorder parts on the, erm, recording.

The Rolling Stones: Ruby Tuesday
The Rolling Stones: Ruby Tuesday (live)
¡Los Checkmates!: Ruby Tuesday
Rotary Connection: Ruby Tuesday
Melanie: Ruby Tuesday (1970)
Melanie: Ruby Tuesday (1976)
Melanie: Ruby Tuesday (Pop Version)
Melanie: Ruby Tuesday (Rock Version)
Melanie: Ruby Tuesday (Country Version)
Melanie: Ruby Tuesday (Club Version)
Don Williams with Pozo Seco: Ruby Tuesday
Nazareth: Ruby Tuesday
Rod Stewart: Ruby Tuesday
Dick Gaughan: Ruby Tuesday
Deanna Carter: Ruby Tuesday
Franco Battiato: Ruby Tuesday
Julian Lennon: Ruby Tuesday
Over The Rhine: Ruby Tuesday
Sex Mob: Ruby Tuesday
Daniel Johnston & Jad Fair: Ruby Tuesday
Chris Thompson: Ruby Tuesday
Phe Cullen: Ruby Tuesday
Gotthard: Ruby Tuesday
Dual Sessions: Ruby Tuesday
Dawn Kenny: Ruby Tuesday
Thee S.T.P.: Ruby Tuesday
The Corrs feat. Ron Wood: Ruby Tuesday (live)
Bobby Goldsboro: Ruby Tuesday
James Lee Stanley: Ruby Tuesday
I Profeti: Rubacuori
Oliver: Ruby Tuesday
London Symphony Orchestra with Marianne Faithfull: Ruby Tuesday
Whatever: Ruby Tuesday

Bonus (listen, and you'll know…):
Carter U.S.M.: After The Watershed


If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 9:50 AM 6 comments

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

[Elsewhere]

If you like the stuff I'm posting here, you should check out Mainstream Isn't So Bad...Is It? for a number of versions of the classic "House Of The Rising Sun" (and make sure to look up the link posted in the comments there).

Fong Songs has a nice selection of versions of the Kenny Rogers hit "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)".

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posted by absonderpop at 10:32 AM 1 comments

They Stole Their Land And They Won't Give It Back



In a recent interview with German weekly Stern, producer/songwriter/musician Dieter Bohlen (infamous for 80s abomination Modern Talking) claimed that he stole most of his song titles except for Geronimo's Cadillac.

Just to prove him wrong, here's a couple of versions of the 1972 song of the same title written by "Cosmic Cowboy" Michael Martin Murphey and Charles Quattro.

Michael Martin Murphey: Geronimo's Cadillac
Hoyt Axton: Geronimo's Cadillac
Claire Hamill: Geronimo's Cadillac
Johnny Rivers: Geronimo's Cadillac
Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Geronimo's Cadillac
Dick Gaughan: Geronimo's Cadillac
John P. Strohm and The Hello Strangers: Geronimo's Cadillac
Mary McCaslin & Jim Ringer: Geronimo's Cadillac
Lennie Harvey: Geronimo's Cadillac
Joe Reilly: Geronimo's Cadillac

If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 7:10 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

You Gotta Roll With The Punches



This song is the incarnation of everything that was wrong with rock music in the eighties. From the annoying synthesizer hook to the ridiculous show-offish guitar solo: Utterly disgusting and unlistenable crap.

So it's no wonder that every single cover version I found of this song strays in a completely different musical direction: There's the fantastic bluegrass version, sung by none other than Dave Lee Roth himselfs (where manages to make the lyrics sound as hilarious as they are, but which isn't a total piss-take), there's Big Daddy's mash-up with Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues, and there's Roddy Frame's version, that transforms the song into a sibling of Sweet Jane by The Velvet Underground with a Sister Ray-ish guitar solo tagged to the end.

Van Halen: Jump
John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band feat. Dave Lee Roth: Jump
Mary Lou Lord: Jump
Nick Barker: Jump
Paul Anka: Jump
The Indigo: Jump
Aztec Camera: Jump
Big Daddy: Jump
Giuliano Palma & The Bluebeaters: Jump
Eläkeläiset: Hump

If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 12:33 AM 5 comments

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

[Elsewhere]

If you like the stuff I'm posting here, you should check out auralfitness.com for a shitload of covers of the Screamin' Jay Hawkins classic "I Put A Spell On You".

And you might be lucky to find some versions of "I Think We're Alone Now" at Retro Music Snob's Site, as he has a policy of removing the files after like a minute or so again.

I myself was quite busy for the last couple of weeks, but there's new postings coming up in the next days (or maybe hours).

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posted by absonderpop at 4:12 PM 1 comments

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Tom Petty Week, Pt. 2: There Ain't No Easy Way Out



Taken from Petty's first "solo" album, Full Moon Fever, I Won't Back Down was co-written by ELO's Jeff Lynne. Although the album is credited to Tom Petty (sans The Heartbreakers) all members of his band (and the complete Traveling Wilburys, except for Mr. Dylan) were involved in recording it. The video to this songs has Ringo Starr on drums, but he didn't play on the album.

Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Trench would also back Johnny Cash on his version of the song on American III: Solitary Man.

Tom Petty: I Won't Back Down
Tom Petty: I Won't Back Down (live)
Johnny Cash: I Won't Back Down
Roy Tyler and New Directions: I Won't Back Down
Smokie: I Won't Back Down
Cujo: I Won't Back Down
Greg Walton: I Won't Back Down
Holly Nelson: I Won't Back Down
Yancy: I Won't Back Down
Wiglaf Droste und das Spardosenterzett: I Won't Back Down

If you happen to have another version of this song, feel free to send it in and I'll include it in this list.

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posted by absonderpop at 8:14 PM 4 comments