Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" is one of my all-time favorite songs. It's a simple song that has more honesty in it than Abraham Lincoln had in his entire body. I am always skeptical when an artist attempts to cover this track, but Jack's Mannequin knocked it out of the park. I highly suggest you listen to this cover and I predict that you will even give it a 'like' on YouTube.
Today is the last day of June, so it means that this will be our last post during 'Cover Song Month'. If you are curious to see which songs we've selected this month, click here.
The video for Jack's Mannequin's cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" is after the jump...
I was in on Florence + the Machine pretty early. I downloaded their "Lungs" album from iTunes mid-2009. I liked it, but I buy a lot of music and it got lost in the shuffle (literally). I didn't think about them again until I heard "Dog Days Are Over" playing at a bar. That album went on to be a worldwide success and put them on the map.
I was searching YouTube for new cover songs to showcase during our 'Cover Song Month' and I ran across Florence + the Machine's cover of Drake's "Take Care". I am not a big Drake fan, but Florence and the crew made the song their own. I didn't even recognize the track when they first started playing.
The video of Florence + the Machine's live performance of "Take Care" is after the jump...
There are only a few more songs left in 'Cover Song Month' and I wanted to post a song that relates to two of my favorite bands...Mumford & Sons and The National.
"England" is off of The National's last album "High Violet". The entire album is great and you can find nearly every song covered all over YouTube. Mumford & Sons did a great job with it and really made it their own.
I expect both of these bands to release something later this year.
The YouTube video of "England" is after the jump...
I wasn't much of a Bob Dylan fan until I started collecting vinyl records. I bought a few Dylan records at a Salvation Army and once I put the needle on the record, I was hooked. I'm not a fan of his work after "Blonde On Blonde", but his early stuff is amazing.
Fleet Foxes is a talented indie folk band that released a fantastic album last year, "Helplessness Blues". If you have never heard of them, I highly suggest you check them out.
'Cover Song Month' is almost over, but if you want to check out the other songs I've posted, click the the beginning of this sentence.
The YouTube video for Fleet Foxes cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" is after the jump...
We are approaching the last leg of 'Cover Song Month'. Usher must have known that we were doing this because he came out and performed a cover of Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks" on Radio 1 in England.
It's an interesting choice by Usher, but I like it. The video of the live performance is after the jump...
I am very hard to surprise, but when I was searching for today's addition to 'Cover Song Month', I found something disturbing/intriguing...Katy Perry covering a song from "Watch The Throne".
I guess the most surprising thing wasn't the fact that her cover of Jay-Z & Kanye West was decent, but the fact that she would even attempt the track.
The video of her live performance is after the jump...
It's probably not very manly to like Regina Spektor, but I've been a fan since she collaborated with Ben Folds on a track. Her new album is called "What We Saw From The Cheap Seats" and it's a good one.
Here's a video of her cover of Radiohead's "No Surprises" that she performed on Triple J.
I have been aware of Bad Rabbits since I researched bands that would be appearing at SXSW Festival this year. I was very impressed with their track "Neverland" and knew that I would like more of their music. I ran across their cover of The Smashing Pumpkins' "1979" while I was finding songs to feature during 'Cover Song Month'.
The Pumpkins' "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness" double-album was in my CD player for most of my middle school and high school years. I would credit that album along with Live's "Throwing Copper" and Weezer's "Blue Album" as inspiring me to start a music journalism career at an early age.
I think you'll enjoy Bad Rabbits' cover of "1979"...the video of their live recording is after the jump...
It turns out that The National's keyboardist produced this track on her new album "By The Horns" I'm not familiar with Julia Stone's solo work, but I'm a fan of her work with her brother Angus.
The National's past few albums have been amazing and seem to be getting better with each release. I have yet to see them live, but have caught a few concerts streaming online. I am looking forward to their next album.
Here is the video for Julia Stone's cover of The National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio"...after the jump.
"Somebody That I Used to Know" was the 'it' song to cover for a few months. If it wasn't for Carley Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" to come along, it would still be covered incessantly. I have heard a lot of bad attempts, but then I watched/listened to Ingrid Michaelson's version in which she plays all of the instruments and sings all of the vocals.
I wasn't a big fan of Michaelson's until a girl opened my ears to her music. She's a talented songwriter and performs honest songs. I would even recommend picking up her latest album "Human Again". This is a huge endorsement since I haven't had too many female singer/songwriters that have impressed me.
Here is the 14th video I have posted during our 'Cover Song Month"...after the jump.
Ska music was an early musical influence in my life. I played the trombone for eight years and had aspirations of starting a ska band at one time. Back at the beginning of my music journalism career, I had the opportunity to interview Reel Big Fish. I didn't have an issue of being starstruck when meeting a band up to that point, but because "Turn the Radio Off" was one of my first CDs I ever purchased, it happened.
I booked an interview with the band at a Warped Tour stop and it was over 100 degrees in Chicago that day. They wanted to go inside their tour bus to do the interview. It was one of the first times I went on a band's tour bus, but certainly not the last (I'm sure I will write a future post about some of my concert adventures with bands).
Aha's "Take On Me" was one of the first music videos I remember watching on MTV. They are one of the first one-hit wonders people think of when hearing that term. When I heard Reel Big Fish cover the song for the first time, I saw Heaven. The cover has been released for over 15 years and I'm sure you have heard it before, but I had to post this song during 'Cover Song Month'.
If you search 'Rolling In The Deep cover' on YouTube you get 34,300 results. Go Radio's cover of the Adele song was one of the most original results. I really enjoyed John Legend's rendition, probably one of the best, but it was a bit mellow.
Go Radio is fronted by Mayday Parade's former vocalist Jason Lancaster. His voice is unique and reminds of Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano. This track was on 'Punk Goes Pop Vol. 4', a series that has punk bands cover everything from 80's music to the latest pop tracks.
'Cover Song Month' is turning into one of my favorite ideas. Watch the video after the jump...
This Radiohead cover came on a sampler I received last year. It didn't register in my head that the song was a Radiohead cover until I put it on my iPod and it shuffled this track while I was at the gym. There are thousands of "Idioteque" covers on YouTube, but Amanda Palmer's version stands out.
Palmer was in the news recently because she was the first artist to raise $1 million dollars using the FIY site 'Kickstarter'. Her goal was to only raise $100k. The site let's artists post projects that need funding and takes pledges from people. If the project meets its predetermined fiscal goal, the artist gets the money that was pledged.
The video of Palmer's Radiohead cover is after the jump...
I have to be honest, the first I heard of Frank Ocean was when he worked with Kanye West. I checked out his own stuff and I really like him. I would have never thought that he would cover a Coldplay song, but he pulls it off.
We are a week into 'Cover Song Month' and we have only scratched the surface.
I'm a fan of Neon Trees...even though they covered a Justin Bieber song. It was done in a very old school way by meshing it with "Stand By Me" and I can respect that. Watch the video after the jump...
Two years ago, I saw Ben Folds live and he played this song. He said the band was bored and decided to do a cover of the song that was #1 on iTunes that day...it happened to be Ke$ha's "Sleazy".
I have a running joke with my friends, if you listen to Ke$ha, your ears get 'Ke$ha Krab$'...I think you're safe when Ben Folds sings.
I actually had this song in mind when I decided to dedicate a month to cover songs. I got a music sampler in a magazine a few years back and Clem Snide's version of Journey's "Faithfully" was on the disc included inside. I am a closet Journey fan, but Clem Snide's version is more intimate.
"Glee" may have ruined this song, but Clem Snide brought it back to life.
Watch the video of their live performance after the jump...
We are four days into 'Cover Song Month' and we are having a blast.
Steve Winwood is an underrated musician, but "Valerie" is listed under 'guilty pleasure music' in most people's iTunes library. I love Ra Ra Riot and they did a great job with this cover. They didn't stray too far away from the original and updated it for this generation.
