Elvis Variety (Country, Hip Hop, Rock)

I don't think I've managed to exactly put my finger (yet) on what makes Elvis' legacy so enduring. I mean, we usually evaluate musical talent in terms of stunning ability to play an instrument or the ability to write songs or melodies that touch people. Elvis was never considered a prodigy when it cames to any instrument. Nor is he considered to be a genius in writing music or lyrics. Sure he had an amazing voice, but so do thousands of other people. There are so many people with astonishingly good voices who haven't had close to the staying power of Elvis.

Some people say Elvis' success could be attributed to timing. He came along at just the right time and exploded on the stage at a time when the nation was in transition. But that sounds much more like a fad and not something that would lead to a phenomenon where thousands of people gather at his home thirty years after his death. There are all these "Tribute Albums" that highlight Elvis' music (even though most of them were just covers of other peoples' songs). Why is it that thousands of musicians a lot more talented than Elvis are willing to contribute to these tribute albums, singing songs that someone else wrote and Elvis just sang during his career.

He certainly had charisma. But attributing his musical legacy and astonishing staying power to just his charisma seems unsatisfying. So, he didn't write great music, never wrote a profound lyric, and was never a social activist in a public sense. Yet, here we are , THIRTY YEARS after his death still talking about him, listening to his music, watching his movies, and buying new tribute albums of "his" music. Strange.

Here is just a small sampling of the range of Elvis versions out there. From pure country (Faith Hill's version of Trying To Get To You from the It's Now Or Never tribute album) to hard rock (Robert Plant's version of Let's Have a Party from The Last Temptation of Elvis collection which includes Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney) and even a House/Hip Hop (no idea what the difference is between the two) remix of All Shook Up by Rick Lenzi from an album called Love Me Tender: 21 House & Hip Hop Remixes.

1. Faith Hill - Trying To Get To You (2.12MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Robert Plant - Let's Have a Party (3.39MB; 128kbps MP3)
3. Rick Lenzi - All Shook Up (Candy Remix Edit) (3.5MB; 128 kbps MP3)

Blues for Elvis

Perhaps spending all weekend baking in the sun at the Bayfront Blues Festival has me in the mood for blues this week. Or, it could be that it has been an amazing 30 years since Elvis Presley died (no, I don't believe he's working at a Burger King in Kalamazoo!)

Let's start with a real Blues King doing Elvis. In 1970, blues legend Albert King released an album called blues for Elvis that contained bluesy versions of Elvis hots. I have always liked cover versions of songs that were different from the original and so I loved this album. It appears to be available on Amazon in two versions. The one here is the one I have and is really an excellent collection of blues covers of Elvis. The version here appears to contain the same album, but has a different cover and is half the price. Go figure!

Anyway, here is a great rendition of the Elvis classic, Hound Dog done in a style quite unlike Elvis' own. Tomorrow, I'll prove to you that Elvis was a pretty good blues singer in his own right. Wouldn''t it have been great to have him headlining the Bayfront Blues Festival?

1. Albert King - Hound Dog (3.7 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Leading You Into Temptation

As you've seen in this blog, I love listening to covers of songs I'm familiar with. I think it gives me an excuse to re-listen to my favorite songs without getting bored.

Today, I have an interesting Crowded House cover for you. Then, a song from Paul Hester whose suicide death recently was instrumental in getting the group back together. Plus, as a Split Enz fan, I'm adding a cover of a spectacularly beautiful Split Enz song.

I enjoy international language versions of well known songs. I started this CH week with an Italian cover of Don't Dream It's Over. Today, I have a Dutch language cover of Crowded House's Into Temptation from Dutch artist Rob de Nijs. The second song, Get It On is typically zany Paul Hester. It is a simple and beautiful good night lullaby, but with a Paul Hester twist: "Sleep, baby, sleep. Mum and dad might just get it on ..." Finally, 80's popster Belinda Carlisle had a sensitive cover version of Split Enz's spectacular Stuff and Nonsense. Enjoy.

You can find the CD catalog of the artists featured in this post by clicking on their names above.

1. Rob de Nijs - In De Verleiding (6.81 MB; 192kbps MP3)
2. Paul Hester - Get It On (3 MB; 128kbps MP3)
3. Belinda Carlisle - Stuff and Nonsense (6.31 MB; 192kbps MP3)

Beatles Pot Pourri

We're at the end of Beatles Week and I thought I'd throw in a bonus song as I'm going to be gone for the next week and not updating the blog (unless I can find time in Poland to do this).

Many, many years ago, I was in Melbourne for a conference (this was probably 1995) and at the "gala event" in a museum, there was a local group that performed for the conference delegates. Being a sucker for harmonies (as I have mentioned in this blog before), I was entranced by their beautiful harmonies and I didn't hesitate to buy the debut CD (titled Rhythm of Life) of this group called Pot Pourri. The group consisted of Tania de Jong (soprano), Antoinette Halloran (soprano), Craig Macdonald (tenor) and Jonathan Morton (baritone). According to the CD insert, the group has performed throughout Australia and overseas. They have appeared at the Melbourne Concert Hall and at many major festivals including the Melbourne International Festival, Castlemaine State Festival, and Next Wave Festival. A quick Google search suggests that they're still performing, although Antoinette is no longer a part of the group.

One of the songs on this CD was The Beatles' Fool on the Hill and that's the one I'm going to thrill you with today.

1. Pot Pourri - The Fool on the Hill (2.43 MB; 128kbps MP3)

The Jazzy Beatles

Probably one of the most consistently excellent Beatles tribute albums I have ever heard is from the swinging jazz vocalist John Pizzarelli. John is a very well known jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. He has established such a solid career himself that you can almost get by without mentioning that he is the son of the legendary jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

John has an ultra-smooth voice and is obviously a skilled arranger, judging from the job he did on this album. His interpretations of these songs are clever and original without being weird. The jazzy, swingin', big-band arrangements are always pleasant without seeming cheesy.

If you collect Beatles cover albums, you almost certainly have this one in your collection already. If you don't, you are definitely missing out on one of the best. You can buy this album on Amazon here. You will hopefully be intrigued enough to check out John's complete discography here. And of course, no review of an artist or album is complete without a visit to his own web site.

So, to end Beatles week, here's John Pizzarelli - Enjoy!

1. John Pizzarelli - Can't Buy Me Love (3.31 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. John Pizzarelli - I've Just Seen A Face (2.57 MB; 128kbps MP3)

P.S.: I have so many more albums with hundreds of Beatles cover songs that I may just have to do this again if there's enough demand!

The Acting Beatles

Is it true that people who go into the "creative arts" tend to be creative all round? I'm amazed at the number of actors who are musicians (and vice versa). When people rise to the top of their craft, it is often hard to imagine that they could be good (really good) at something else.

Some years ago, George Martin decided to produce his last album on his own terms. Realizing that he can never escape his Beatles legacy, he decided to do an album of Beatles covers done by people he has admired and associated with over the years. The result was an absolutely stunning album that everyone who considers themselves a Beatles fan should have in their collection.

The songs featured here are both from actors who tend to bring their personalities to their singing. Goldie Hawn brings a beautifully smoky lounge-singer voice to an interesting version of Hard Day's Night. Jim Carrey brings a zany and crazy enthusiasm to the crazy I Am The Walrus. Great songs, great singing, great album.

BUY THE ALBUM HERE!

1. Goldie Hawn - Hard Day's Night (3.11 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. Jim Carrey - I Am The Walrus (4.14 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Got My Mojo Working

Last year, when I was in Australia, I stopped at a magazine shop and picked up a special Beatles edition of MOJO magazine that came with a free CD that covered the entire Revolver album.

Would you consider Revolver to be a meditative experience? Well, on this CD the artists took the songs from the album and turned them into surrealistic, contemplative experiences. I really like the album and it's unusual spin on Beatles' classics.

What does it sound like? Here are a couple of excellent examples. To me, if you can take Yellow Submarine and turn it into a deeply thoughtful exercise in brooding melancholy, you have achieved a pretty high level of creative genius. Kudos to Chris Eckman (of The Walkabouts) for this unusual cover. This will remind you a great deal of The Door's The End. You can check out Chris's work on the web site of his group The Walkabouts.

The other selection here is Neal Casal's I am Only Sleeping. Again, I can imagine early Pink Floyd jamming with Jim Morrison on this song. Fascinating. You can visit Neal Casal's web site to learn more of his music. You can find this album cheap on eBay.

Buy Chris Eckman's solo album on Amazon here.

Or, The Walkabouts on Amazon here.

Buy Neal Casal on Amazon here.

1. Chris Eckman - Yellow Submarine (4.33 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. Neal Casal - I Am Only Sleeping (2.62 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Welcome to Beatles Week!

In honor of McCartney's new album and the 40th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, I'm going to be celebrating this entire week with a Beatles theme on my blog.

Underheard music will primarily focus on covers of Beatles songs. Actually, I'm going to start the week with a selection of "not-really-Beatles" songs. I recently found a CD called "Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney." This a CD done by Kate Pierson (B-52's), Graham Parker (of Graham Parker) and Bill Janovitz (of Buffalo Tom). Actually, of these three names, the only one I had never heard of was Bill Janovitz. Interestingly, on this CD, I think the highlights are the Bill Janovitz songs. I'm only including one here, but I think the best songs on the CD are the ones sung by Bill Janovitz. I'm including one song by each of the artists, but believe me, the Bill Janovitz ones are the highlights.

The theme of this CD is to includes songs written by Lennon & McCartney, but never released by them (of course you'll recognize some of these songs that have been recently released in demo form on the Anthology series.

Clicking on the names will take you to the Wikipedia pages of these artists, so I won't go long here. You can find the album on Amazon here. Don't ask me why it's so expensive.

1. Bill Janovitz - Woman (2.72 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Kate Pierson - Nobody I Know (2.99 MB; 128kbps MP3)
3. Graham Parker - One And One Is Two (1.99 MB; 128kbps MP3)

P.S.: Okay, I'll be honest. I'm going to be out of the country next week and thought I'd leave you with so much fun stuff this week that you won't notice my absence the following week! :-)

Listen to the pouring rain ...

Many years ago, I owned an album by Jose Feliciano. Although I think it was a greatest hits album, I recall the one song I instantly fell in love with was Rain. It has all the elements of a song I tend to like - simple lyrics sung in a heartfelt manner and a catchy melody.

It is easy to generate the visual imagery of a cool, cloudy, rainy evening with you all alone at home thinking of your love who is far away. The loneliness coupled with the mild depression brought on by the weather makes you realize how much you love the one you're missing and how much better it would be if she was there with you. The lyrics in this song just seem natural in that context. Even though the words seem to be sung to someone in the room with him, I see it more as the singer sitting alone and reassuring himself of his love for a woman. He almost seems to be trying to cheer himself up by singing about her.

Or, I could be reading way too much into all of this ...

Jose is a unique singer and a virtuoso guitarist. Some of his greatest hits were covers of other hit songs (probably his biggest hit was his exceptional and unique cover of Light My Fire). The second song I feature here is a cover of Lennon-McCartney's In My Life. Again, he puts his own stamp on it and doesn't try to recreate the original. According to his bio on wikipedia, he was born blind and taught himself to play the guitar by locking himself up in a room and practicing 14 hours a day. Now if that doesn't lead to passionate playing, I don't know what will.

As usual, if you're as enthralled by Jose Feliciano as I was when I first heard him, you can find most of his discography at Amazon here. As a start, I would recommend The Definite Best which seems to be a fairly comprehensive coverage of his hits at a reasonable price. You'll love the passion in Hitchcock Railway and enjoy his spin on the many covers on the disc.

As long as we're together, who cares about the weather ...

UPDATE (5/17/2010): MP3s deleted at the request of DMCA and Google. Don't bother trying to sample music here before buying.

1. Jose Feliciano - Rain (2.25 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Jose Feliciano - In My Life (3.09 MB; 128 Kbps MP3)

Bizarre Beatles!

Interestingly, the site records show that the most downloaded posts on this blog are the Ananda Shankar versions of the Elvis songs. That is the only one that also resulted in a comment being posted. So, on popular request, I'll return to some weird cover versions.

Consistent with the last versions, I'll start with a "sitar" version of I Want To Hold Your Hand. When I was kid, I distinctly remember this vinyl LP record of "Balsara and His Singing Sitars" with catchy (fusion, I guess) sitar-heavy versions of a variety of songs. Well, the first oddity I'll post here is from Balsara.

I got this selection from one of my many Beatles cover CDs. This collection is called The Exotic Beatles, Pt. 1and includes many off-beat and outright bizarre versions of Beatles songs in many languages (Spanish, Japanese, Malay, and more). Some are more bizarre than others. I have also included here a strange flamenco version of She Loves You from this collection. Many of the songs in this collection seem to be recorded off vinyl without too much reprocessing so the quality on some of these are not that great. Still, you'll agree they're quite interesting.

If you like such bizarre covers, you may want to pick up not only Pt. 1, but also Exotic Beatles Pt. 2 and Exotic Beatles Pt. 3 at Amazon (just follow the links) or your favorite music store.

1. Balsara and His Singing Sitars - I Want To Hold Your Hand (2.03 MB; 128 Kbps MP3)
2. Emi Bonilla Y Su Caudro - She Loves You [Te Quires] (3 MB; 128kbps MP3)