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Greg - 2006-06-28 14:17:19
Looks like a good collection. Love most of the songs he covers. But if you want to do something stunning and original and fun--I recommend re-doing the entire Catholic Boy album--Jim Carroll--as shattering hiphop covers. I tried it with Three Sisters and found it really lends itself to rap.
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Tom G. - 2006-06-28 21:07:12
I'm curious about the number of covers albums being released lately. Def Leppard, Grant Lee Phillips, the recent Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs collection to name a few. For my money, and maybe I'm sort of a purist/elitist here, I tend to ignore these releases and prefer to wait for the "proper" release of original material from these artists. Although I don't seem to have a problem when they mix in a few covers with a few originals as Elvis Costello/Allen Toussaint recently did as well as The Loud Family's recent release. I even waited until Kojak Variety was in the cutout bins before purchase and from a true-blue EC fan that's saying a lot. So Paula have you ever been tempted to release a covers album yourself? Has anyone come across a covers album that didn't disappoint?
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Greg - 2006-06-29 06:10:30
Tom: I lean in the direction of ignoring covers albums also, as well as "tribute" albums. I also really appreciate the odd cover here and there though. I liked Eric Clapton's "From The Cradle" but thought the Robert Johnson album was beyond appalling. Billy Bragg and Wilco could have done just a single Mermaid Avenue culled from the two--with about half being scrapped. I LOVE Return of the Grievous Angel (tribute album?) There was also that series of records with band's covering an entire album--I liked Mary Lee's Corvette doing Blood on the Tracks well enough. Cracker's outting in that series was just... okay. Random covers though--I could list a thousand that blow me away. Oh, do Marianne Faithful's Brecht/Weill albums count as covers? I love them!
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anne - 2006-06-29 11:09:44
I like Yo La Tengo's Fakebook as far as cover albums go. And there was a tribute to Doc Pomus released about 10 years ago that I enjoyed as well. Soundtracks can be iffy, too, although there are a few gems in that genre.
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Greg - 2006-06-29 11:49:46
Anne: With film soundtracks I generally prefer original scores to recycling pop songs. I rarely see movies where a familiar pop song seems to have anything to do with what's happening on screen... a few gems though. Some of the HBO series in recent years really do well with contemporary music.
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Paula - 2006-06-29 11:53:05
I love covers albums. They make mediocre songwriters (or non-songwriters) tolerable, and for great songwriters, they are humble and sweet, and a way of understanding where a singer is coming from, influence-wise.
Tribute albums tend to bore me. but tribute concerts can be fun.
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Greg - 2006-06-29 14:15:22
I'm going to check out this Grant Lee Philips for two reasons--because I always liked him, and I like all those songs--and I guess this is a third reason but I just can't imagine him doing those songs.
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Greg - 2006-06-29 14:17:00
OH OH OH... my FAVORITE tribute albums are the ones that UNCUT puts together a couple times a year. I've got their Beatles, Clash, and Stones discs (six discs in all) and they are GREAT.
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Paula - 2006-06-29 15:47:59
OH OH OH...
Did somebody just say something? Oh...yes, you in the back?
my FAVORITE tribute albums are the ones that UNCUT puts together
Oh, yeah, and MOJO puts together comps that basically function as tributes. Good call.
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Joe - 2006-06-29 22:01:53
The MOJO Kinks tribute from a few months back is top-notch.
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Alan - 2006-06-30 11:31:38
This is my favorite tribute album of recent vintage, The Late Great Daniel Johnston.
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Greg - 2006-06-30 12:02:11
I keep seeing Guster mentioned all over the place but I've never heard them. Anybody know them and/or have any opinions?
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jon - 2006-07-01 17:24:01
I have heard one song by Guster, called "Barrel of a Gun", which I recommend to any fan of well-written and well-played, intelligent, melodic pop songs. It reminded me a bit of Michael Penn. In fact it is my favorite Guster song.
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Paula - 2006-07-01 17:27:52
An old co-worker of mine with random, undiscriminating musical tastes used to like Guster, so, unheard, I have had them written off for years. But if Jon likes one of their songs, they can't be too bad.
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jon - 2006-07-01 17:29:16
I second Anne's opinion on Fakebook. I thought the Roky Erikson and Skip Spence tribute albums were good. I think there should be some kind of public forum through which fans can suggest to artists songs that the artists should cover. E.G., "Dear Iggy Pop: you should do a version of Robyn Hitchcock's song 'America'. It would suit your baritone vocal range."
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