Not so much Pet Sho Boys as Chip Shop Boys, Sleaford Mods have done the inevitable – a cover of West End Girls. I say cover, it’s like karaoke. All the beauty and subtlety of the original has been bludgeoned by the lads, with this completely one note version. There’s just a sense of “whyContinue reading “Bad Cover Versions: Sleaford Mods- West End Girls”
Category Archives: Cover versions
From The Skinny Archive: Frisky And Mannish
Frisky And Mannish: Extra Curricular Activities @ Assembly Hall ★★★ Review by Lorna Irvine | 31 Aug 2012 Since 2008, Frisky & Mannish have climbed the glitter trail to stadium pop via the Fringe – they have earned their stripes.This is their greatest hits package. They know the transformative power of a pop anthem andContinue reading “From The Skinny Archive: Frisky And Mannish”
Favourite Cover Versions: Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker – Red Right Hand
Nick Cave has often said it’s not his favourite self-penned song, and I agree: it’s kinda hokum, with its Hammer Horror organ and slightly cheesy delivery. So, Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker (who better?!?!??) brought out this collaboration and I love it, it sounds dirtier and tougher than the original slightly coy version from NickContinue reading “Favourite Cover Versions: Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker – Red Right Hand”
Favourite Cover Versions: The Fall – There’s A Ghost In My My House
I was just a young ‘un when this came out, but it sealed my life-long love of The Fall. The original, by R Dean Taylor, is an undisputed Northern Soul classic, perfect for those headspinning routines in Wigan on speed at 2 am (such is my understanding of the scene). The Fall had even referencedContinue reading “Favourite Cover Versions: The Fall – There’s A Ghost In My My House”
Favourite Cover Versions: Lianne La Havas- Weird Fishes
A cover version is always going to divide people, but I’ve got a feeling that Lianne La Havas, the glorious London soul singer, met with approval from Thom Yorke here. Weird Fishes from the Radiohead album In Rainbows is transformed . Her powerful vibrato is beautiful, and you know straight off the bat that it’sContinue reading “Favourite Cover Versions: Lianne La Havas- Weird Fishes”
New Release: Brontez Purnell: Stay Monkey
This new single, a riotous cover of the Julie Ruin song, Stay Monkey, is absolutely badass. I’m so grateful every day for Indies like Upset The Rhythm, because they’re genuinely alternative, excited about music that’s completely out of the mainstream playlist of curated crap, designed for algorithms. They kow-tow to no -one. As for Brontez,Continue reading “New Release: Brontez Purnell: Stay Monkey”
Lost In Music: The Cramps- Off The Bone
Produced alongside The Box Tops and Big Star’s singer Alex Chilton, Off The Bone is a 1983 compilation of songs by The Cramps. Well, okay, it’s mostly cover versions, but the band make them very much their own. From a pounding take on Sam Phillips’ Domino, to the cartoonish libido running feral on Charlie FeathersContinue reading “Lost In Music: The Cramps- Off The Bone”
Just Step Sideways: 8 Eyed Spy
Lydia Lunch was never one to stick to a signature sound, so it was hardly surprising to anyone when Teenage Jesus and The Jerks split in the late seventies, and she formed with future composer Pat Irwin and future Nick Cave collaborator Jim Sclavunos, among others, the brilliant 8 Eyed Spy, a swampy, jazzy punkyContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: 8 Eyed Spy”
Lydia and Rowland- Some Velvet Morning
Cover versions are always interesting when they’re cut to ribbons. So it is with Lydia Lunch and Rowland S Howard’s 1982 version of the Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood classic. Already pretty trippy, as befits a proto- psychedelic nursery rhyme, Lunch and Howard decided to make it even murkier. The duo, who met during Howard’sContinue reading “Lydia and Rowland- Some Velvet Morning”
Hit The North 