J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 2nd January 2013

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem and Happy New Year to you all! So it's another slow week around music land, so I decided to do a theme show and the idea that formed in my head was to play cover songs and their original versions close to each other. What I did for most of the sets was play two original songs followed by their two covers. I took some liberty with the definition of what a 'cover' is (see the Beastie Boys set and the "Weird Al" Yankovic song for examples), but mostly I stayed within that format. As much as I had every thing together for the most part, you can hear me running around and getting things together, so this is certainly a more loose episode than usual. Forgive the feel. Hope you enjoy.

Now, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 2nd January 2013 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Men at Work - "Overkill" [from 1982's cargo. so i actually had never heard this song until i heard the below cover. lazlo bane was (is?) a nice little band and i'm grateful they called my attention to this beautiful song by a band i'd only know for "down under" prior to that.]
Queen - "Get Down Make Love" [from 1977's news of the world. another song i was introduced to via the cover and, honestly, i hadn't spent much time with the original. ]
Lazlo Bane - "Overkill" [from 11 transistor. so this band landed men at work's colin hay to sing on this cover; later they do the theme song for scrubs and colin hay ends up with a famous guest spot on an episode. coincidence? maybe.]
Nine Inch Nails - "Get Down Make Love" [a b-side from the "sin" single from pretty hate machine. i think the cover wins in this situation, honestly.]
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David Bowie - "Let's Dance" [the title track from his 1983 album. this is probably the most egregious thing i played tonight in terms of something that we wouldn't normally play on WQFS. but, the theme's the thing. and besides, it's a good song.]
Pink Floyd - "Fearless" [from meddle. probably my favorite pink floyd song from definitely my favorite album of theirs. the guitar line is just hypnotic and gorgeous.]
M. Ward - "Let's Dance" [from the transfiguration of vincent. always really enjoyed this cover by ward from the first album of his i ever heard. still really good.]
Mary Lou Lord - "Fearless" [from baby blue. mary lou is one of the finest interpreters of other people's music i've ever heard - and not a bad songwriters herself to boot - but i was absolutely shocked to hear her take on, and nail, pink floyd. not something i would have lined up for her - but she does it very well.]
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Brian Eno - "Golden Hours" [from another green world. .]
the Lover Speaks - "No More 'I Love Yous'" [from their self-titled album. very few people know that this song was a cover - knowing mostly annie lennox's version - but the original is just a beautiful song.]
Toddlers - "Golden Hours" [a new single from a great new band from the triangle in north carolina with missy thangs, formerly of the love language, playing keyboards. we'll hear a lot more from them this year, i'm sure ]
Annie Lennox - "No More 'I Love You's'" [from medusa. i love her version of this and have a huge crush on the annie lennox in this video. check it out if you don't remember.]
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Beastie Boys - "Shadrach" [from paul's boutique. here's where i veered off the 'cover' path just a bit and played with the definition. "shadrach" is probably my favorite song on this album and i tackled it awhile back for aquarium drunkard while talking about the following..]
Ballin' Jack - "Never Let Em Say" [from their self-titled 1970 record. one of nine and more songs sampled in "shadrach" and i love this one in particular.]
Black Oak Arkansas - "Hot and Nasty" (live) [from raunch and roll. it's the original album version of "hot and nasty" that gets sampled in the song, but this is from a live black oak arkansas record. great rock and roll.]
Sly and the Family Stone - "Loose Booty" [from 1974's small talk. this song is just pure awesomeness. no wonder the dust brothers leaned so heavily on it for "shadrach."]
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the Beach Boys - "Hang on to Your Ego" [from pet sounds. well, it's the beach boys and the first time i ever heard this song was when i heard the cover below. so there.]
the B-52's - "6060-842" [from their self-titled debut. one of my favorites from their first record and i think you'll enjoy the 'cover' i pulled here.]
Frank Black - "Hang on to Your Ego" [from his self-titled, debut solo album. hearing frank black do the beach boys is really a lot of fun. have always enjoyed this cover a lot.]
"Weird Al" Yankovic - "Mr. Popeil" [from in 3-D. so, this is not a cover in the strictest sense either. "weird al" doesn't do covers so much as parody, but "mr. popeil" is a stylistic parody of the b-52's. al's stylistic parodies have always been my favorite songs of his - they aren't straight up parodies, but instead take the talents of his incredible backing band and put them to use straight up imitating the style of a band. this song is especially good at aping the mannerism of fred schneider and the band's sound in general.]
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Public Enemy - "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" [from it takes a nation of millions to hold us back. my favorite public enemy song of all time. period.]
the Heartbreakers - "Chinese Rocks" [from l.a.m.f. so, here's the deal. this was recorded earlier than the ramones version - but it was written by dee dee ramone. although co-writing credit is given on the album to thunders, et al. bear with me here..]
Tricky - "Black Steel" [from maxinquaye. this is not a full cover of the original - they choose to stick to just the first verse and loop some of the lyrics, but it's a mesmerizing cover all the same. plus, what's not to love about martina topley bird?]
the Ramones - "Chinese Rocks" [from end of the century. on their album, writing credit is given to this band as a whole. so what gives? the versions really aren't that different - the ramones version is a bit faster more or less. anyone know the story here?]
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Roger Miller - "King of the Road" [the classic miller tune. ought to be an essential for all road trip mix tapes. plus, anyone worth their salt will immediately also think of this episode of the adventures of pete and pete. you're welcome for that.]
Flesh for Lulu - "Postcards from Paradise" [from long live the new flesh. a song i had never heard until i heard the cover and i'm glad i did. have enjoyed this record a lot.]
Jim White - "King of the Road" [from no such place. jim once said he was fairly sure roger miller was rolling over in his grave over this cover, but i've always thought it's a pretty awesome interpretation.]
Paul Westerberg - "Postcards from Paradise" [from stereo. the version that introduced me to the song. awesome stuff.]
the Dandy Warhols - "Hells Bells" [a b-side from the "bohemian like you" UK single. just threw this on at the end for fun. no need to revisit the original, obviously.]

Thanks for hanging with me through the experiment that was this episode. Hope you enjoyed it. We'll be back to the regular broadcasting shenanigans next week with new and classic music. Until then, take care.