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Track Listing
Discography
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I wrote an article on Strawberry Fair, aka Jenny Franzén, on W♥M recently. Since Franzén actually did a few covers, I thought I'd talk about them.
First of all, she did a cover of The Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly", which I don't have. But I'm told that the words "tangerines" are replaced by "strawberries".
I also don't have the orginal Fat Tulips' "Where's Claire Grogan Now", which the song Where is Alex Taylor Now? is based on.
I do have both version of "Heaven Only Knows", which I may have to save for another time. Strawberry Fair's version is pretty faithful to the original song.... it's always weird to think that it's just one person doing a song that basically has three girls (The Shangri-Las) singing the song.
My favorite cover song is "Attack!", originally by The Toys. Check out this funky "music video" of the "Attack!" song on youtube. I later found out that this song actually is part of a musical movie called It's a Bikini World (1966). It looks like a typical 60s goofy movie.
Apparently this appearance in the movie, as well as American Bandstand, was at the height of their popularity. After changing record labels and producers and failing to chart in 1967, the band broke up.
Most of The Toys' songs were written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, including "Attack!"
If you like what you heard, please head over to facetterad, which has all the ordering information.
03/25/2008 22:42:26
vu
my♥posts
myspace.com/strawberryfairswe
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I wrote an article on Sinead O'Connor and mentioned that "Nothing Compares 2 U" was originally by a band called The Family. The quality of the song is so-so as it's from vinyl that someone had ripped (you can hear the crackles and pops).
When Morris Day left The Time, Prince arranged all the remaining members (minus Jesse Johnson, who also left the band) to become The Family. They ended up releasing one self-titled album.
With dismal album sales, the band broke up shortly afterward, however they reunited to play for charity on December 2003. What's interesting is that last year (Jan 2007), they announced they were indeed back together to record a new CD.
Anyway, regarding the self-titled debut album, only cassettes and LPs were released in the US. There are CD versions, but it was only sold in Japan and Europe, but they were issued well pasted the band's prime in the 90s when CDs were being introduced.
03/11/2008 02:12:00
vu
my♥posts
www.sinead-oconnor.com
stpaulmusic.com
I just wrote an article on The Darjeeling Limited, which I didn't really like as a storyline and movie, but the soundtrack is pretty sweet. I talked about "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" by Peter Sarstedt.
Strangely enough, of all people, Right Said Fred did an absolutely faithful cover to this song!
What? What? What?
Where is the eurotechno beat???????
This song is from their last album For Sale (2006). Apparently they also remade "I'm too Sexy" the 2007 version (which I'll politely request to not hear.)
02/29/2008 00:58:07
vu
my♥posts
rightsaidfred.com
I have been spending a lot of my time babysitting three girls. I took them out to the dollar theater to see The Bee Movie (2007), which I don't think they had much patience for it (you have to realize that they don't speak English). I thought the movie was pretty good, but it's really isn't such a kids-movie. I mean a trial and jokes like Ray Liotta might be lost on children.
There were a couple of songs in The Bee Movie that I remembered hearing: The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" and Sheryl Crow's "Here Comes the Sun" (a Beatles cover song).
We came back home and we played around with the EyeToy game. Apparently the game is quite popular with the kids and they absolutely love this Window Washer game.
For four solid straight playing the Window Washer game, I have this song called "The Window Cleaner (When I'm Cleaning Windows)" by George Formby stuck forever in my head.
As it turns out, this song is quite famous for being banned by the BBC for sexual innuendos. (What is it about window washers and sex anyway?)
Anyway, the song first appeared on a film called Keep Your Seats Please (1936).
Watch the video of future window washers:
01/13/2008 21:41:34
vu
my♥posts
www.georgeformby.co.uk
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Influences
Metallica, Bach, Megadeth, Bang on a Can, Debussy, Tournier, Grandjany, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Pantera See Also |
Have you ever listened to Metallica and said, "Hey, this would sound great arranged and played in a style of Harps!" Well, wonder no more.
Harptallica is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and looking at their myspace, it looks like they've released two albums: Harptallica (2006) and Harp 'Em All (2007). I couldn't find any additional details about the later album, but it looks like even more Metallica music set to harpsomeness.
Unless you're a huge Metallica fan, this might be just a footnote in novelty acts. Still, it's very original to set metal to classical harp.
Take a listen to Harptallica's "Enter Sandman" and imagine Lars breaking out the lawsuit paperwork...
Sorry for lack of research, but it's late and I'm off to never, neverland.
01/03/2008 22:14:55
vu
my♥posts
www.harptallica.com
Since technically most traditional Christmas songs are standards, they're technically covers. So below are some Christmas songs. Sorry about the re-posts, but I spend a lot of time compiling these. Enjoy!
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Belle & Sebastian that well-loved band from Glasgow, Scotland, are back with a new Christmas song called "Are You Coming Over for Christmas?". The song is available for download on their official myspace on Christmas day.
Fans of B&S should already have their special Christmas Peel Session from 2002, but in case you don't have it, here the Christmas tracks from that session:
- Oh Come All Ye Faithful
- Christmas Time Is Here
- Santa Claus (The Sonics)
- Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto (James Brown)
- Silent Night
- O Little Town Of Bethlehem
- Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me (Elvis Presley)
- O Come O Come Emmanuel
- I Took Some Time For Christmas
- The Twelve Days of Christmas
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Here's another Christmas song from one of our favorite, The Pipettes. Good luck on finding this 7" single, as there were only two hundred of them made (by hand) and was only available at their Christmas show in 2004. The song, "In the Bleak Midwinter", is an old Lutheran Christmas Hymn, originally written by Gustav Holst.
They're currently on tour through Australia, but they still managed to put together a "Bandzine" The Pipettes Christmas Zine just time for Christmas. I did download the PDF file and it looks very professional for a bandzine.
Tour dates as follows:
12/29/07 The Factory Sydney, AUS
12/30/07 Tasmania Falls Festival Victoria, AUS
12/31/07 Tasmania Falls Festival Victoria, AUS
01/02/08 East Bruswick Melbourne, AUS
01/05/08 Southbound Festival Western Australia
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Meanwhile, Manic Street Preachers is also offering a new Christmas song called "Ghost of Christmas" on their myspace. This is an original song with some jab at expensive technologies::
No xbox and no computers
We just used our imagination
A leather football was perfection
What more could you want
I wouldn't mind a soccer ball to play outside, but unfortunately it's snowing outside so I'm going to stay indoors with my PS3 :)
Anyway, the band is still around, releasing Send Away The Tigers on February 2007, and is actually the only album I don't have from this band. I guess, I'm just waiting to find it really cheap/used and there's really no compelling reason for me to rush out to get the album.
I think the only song I know off of it is "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" (that song with the Cardigans singer Nina Persson) which I think is quite popular.
Apparently so popular that NME have named MSP the 2008 "God Like Geniuses" Award.
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Finally, remember the awesome Strawberry Fair (Jenny Franzén)? Lately she's been busy with her live band with: Mathias (Kissing Mirrors, Sarto, Twig), Alice (After School Sports, The Never Invited to Parties), David (The Morning Paper), Ida (The Bridal Shop), Maria (The Happy Birthdays[W♥M]), appearing on Digfi playing some Christmas songs.
The two songs she did was "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" and "Winder Wonderland". I thought you can only watch it on Windows Media Player, but I was told that it will work on a mac using flip4mac.
The band was also recently on Rip It Up! 2007, you can watch some clips on youtube.
PS, this may be the last xmas post from me! You're welcome!
12/24/2007 09:41:29
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
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Links
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Continuing with the Christmas Songs series, here are a few free (downloadable) options.
Ryan sent this in, and I thought I'd pass this on. It's a free Christmas album from www.soundsfamilyre.com called A Familyre Christmas (Vol. 1).
They're putting on one song a day or something because currently there's only 11 songs available for download (but they promise two more).
See links for more information, here are an excerpt from the article:
We are very excited to share with you some of our favorite Christmas music performed by the Sounds Familyre Famile: new interpretations of traditional Christmas carols as well as original songs! A new song each day for thirteen days. Baker’s dozen. So make sure to come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that…
The track listing so far (eleven down, two to go!) is as follows:
1: ‘Christmas Eve Nite’ - Danielson
2: ‘For There Is Born A Child’ - Lenny Smith
3: ‘Plant A Little Fir Tree’ - Half-handed Cloud
4: ‘Dayspring From On High’ - Soul-Junk
5: ‘Pat-A-Pan’ - Leopulde
6: ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ - Dan Zimmerman
7: ‘Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming’ - The Singing Mechanic
8: ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ - Sufjan Stevens*
9: ‘What Child Is This’ - Rachel
10: ‘I Wonder As I Wander’ - Woven Hand
11. ‘Christmas Is A Holiday’ - Ben + Vesper
There's a few songs off this free compilation that I like, but we'll go with this mysterious Rachel woman :) Looking at her blog, she seems to be very crafty.
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Links
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Next up is Rafael Brom, a Catholic recording artist with over 8 albums under his belt.
The only songs I've listened from him are the free "The Christmas Songs" album, which is available on his website www.rafaelbrom.com. They were released in 1994 on Cassette, but they digitized it (and it doesn't sound that bad considering it's from a Cassette).
The big thing that struck me about these recording is that Brom doesn't sound American (he's currently living in League City, Texas, according to his myspace). I found out that he's actually Czechoslovakian.
Moving on, The Knife gave this MP3 song away called "Christmas Reindeer" last year. I don't think it's available on www.theknife.net anymore (but I'm sure you're resourceful enough to find a copy somewhere.)
The actual song is actually called "Reindeer", appearing on their self-titled debut album in 2001. I guess they just wanted to be a little festive and renamed the song.
So, speaking of Sweden (The Knife are from Sweden), we have some great Swedish music to talk about in the upcoming weeks, particularly from both Razzia and Labrador.
12/20/2007 09:21:02
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
With only a few days left for the Christmas holiday, I'm compiling some Christmas songs for you. There's so many holiday songs that I might do a part two and three, so watch this space.
First off, I've edited together a few video sessions and we're going to call it a Holiday Buyer's Guide or interesting music boxsets and stuff I thought was cool. They weren't necessary released this year (and in fact, I'm pretty sure you couldn't buy some of these items). Anyway, check out the video. The format will change after this, so it'll be the last of this longer format.
So, let's start with some Christmas songs:
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Twelve Girls Band - Last Christmas
These girls can sure play, but they obviously cannot count, as Twelve Girls Band actually consists of 13 women (see for yourself, count them on the cover!). Apparently they were formed by Wang "father of Chinese rock music" Xiao-Jing through a contest in 2001 and assembled twelve girls, each representing Chinese mythology of twelve hairpins. Looking at their overwhelming discography, it would seem that they released quite a few live albums (usually with a DVD). Anyway, their Christmas-themed album, Twelve Girls of Christmas (2005), was released as Merry Christmas To You in Japan. All the familar Christmas songs are done with traditional Chinese instruments, such as the Mandolin and the Gao-Hu (Fiddle), but they are wonderfuly interpretted. Check out this version of "Last Christmas". Wham! never sounded better, right? |
Enya - Adeste, Fideles
If you haven't heard of Enya, then I'm afraid you haven't been in any elevators in the past decade. She bursted onto the charts in the late 80s with that "sail away" song (it's actually called "Orinoco Flow" but who can remember that?) She's recently resurfaced again in the popular Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings series, and once again secures herself as the queen of New Age music. This song, "Adeste, Fideles" originally does not appear on Amarantine (2005). After a year, the record company decided to boost its sale by re-releasing the album as Amarantine Special Christmas Edition with a bonus second disc. The second disc is an all Christmas EP, originally released in the states as Sounds of the Season, and in Canada as the Christmas Secrets EP. |
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They Might be Giants - Santa's Beard
I first heard of this rocking song off their sophomore album, Lincoln (1988), and it's about a jealous husband. The song is about how every year his buddy puts on a red suit and hangs out with his family. Then he would spot his wife wearing his beard and kissing him, etc. Although the song is old, it resurfaced on Then: The Earlier Years (1997) and again in a special Christmas EP called They Might Be Giants in Holidayland (2001). Technically this isn't a very traditional Christmas song, but whenever I think of Christmas songs - this is the one that comes to my mind first and foremost because it's so fun and different. |
The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick
I can't overlook the fact that this winterly Christmas song is suddenly transformed to a fun Summer Beach party (with Gidget). It's not one of my favorite Christmas tunes, probably because it's basically the same song as their previous hit "Little Deuce Coupe". So this song is from their only Christmas album, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, released in 1964. It topped out at number 6, although the single "Little Saint Nick" faired a little better at #3 on the charts (although this singles version is different than the album version). |
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Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - Christmas Without You
I'll be honest with you: I love Country music. I grew up with pop music and one of the songs that I loved when I was a kid was "Island in the Stream", performed by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton. This was a single from Kenny Roger's album, Eyes That See in the Dark (1983). These two only released one album together, Once Upon a Christmas (1984), with two singles from this album: "Christmas Without You" and "The Greatest Gift of All". Their last duet was "Love Is Strange" (1990), which I've never heard. |
The Dandy Warhols - The Little Drummer Boy
According to allmusic, this is one of the Dandy Warhols' first EP release (if not the earliest). Strangely the single/EP is not listed on their wikipedia page. The popular Christmas song tells the story of a young boy who was so poor, he couldn't afford a gift for the baby Jesus. So instead, he wrote and played the drums in tribute as the baby smiles... I guess, not really much to add to this, except that the Dandy Warhols song was also included on XFM's Cool Cool Christmas Album (2000). I think this album sold very well when it was released and contains a wonderful version of "Feliz Navidad" by El Vez and "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" by Belle & Sebastian. |
12/19/2007 21:01:09
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com