Liner Notes

This is the liner notes to the cover-song cd I'm bringing to JournalCon. I like to think that in some alternate universe, these are the popular versions and the originals are the wacky covers.

I think a good cover version should not sound like the original. The ideal cover version (like "Wuthering Heights" on this mix) sounds nothing like the original but still sounds good. The theory is that if you have a good song, you can break it down to its base melody and harmonies and then rearrange it completely and still have something worth listening to. I don't see the point of cover versions that sound exactly like the original.

Montykins: JournalCon 2004 Covers

1. Wuthering Heights - White Flag (Kate Bush)

The original was Kate Bush's first big song, which I believe she wrote for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978. The White Flag version is from Freedom of Choice, a cover-song collection on which alternative bands from the '90s covered New Wave songs. It was a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, and it's got several really entertainingly weird covers on it. I almost put on the Sonic Youth version of "Ca Plane Pour Moi", for example. Anyway, White Flag have never done anything else I've heard, but this song is really entertainingly different from Kate Bush's version.

2. One Night in Bangkok (Cold War Mix) - The Razor Skyline (Murray Head in Chess)

Let's see. Chess is a musical by Tim Rice (lyricist for Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the songs from The Lion King) and the two guys from Abba. Murray Head is the brother of Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". There are two easily-available Chess albums; the one with Murray Head is the original London concept album; the Broadway Cast Recording has this song sung by Philip Casnoff. I don't know who The Razor Skyline are, but anyone who decides to cover a song mostly in Russian is okay by me.

This one's from Newer Wave 2.0, which is the second in a series (!) of techno covers of New Wave songs. For some reason, people enjoy doing weird versions of songs from the '80s.

3. Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - I Like Ike (U2)

This and the last song were the songs I did for karaoke at JournalCon 2003, and they seemed to go okay. I did "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and claimed I was doing the Negativland version, because it was basically a spoken-word version. The truth is, I was doing this version by a band that (I think) recorded a cd in San Diego in the very early '90s and then immediately broke up. I learned about this cover while I was a college radio dj and it's really, really good. And odd.

4. Glad All Over - The Rezillos (Dave Clark 5)

The Rezillos were a postpunk band in Scotland that recorded two albums (one of them a live album that mostly had the same songs as the studio album) before they broke up and went their separate ways. A couple of them ended up in The Human League and wrote the big popular songs there, so that's sort of interesting.

5. 500 Miles - Down By Law (The Proclaimers)

You remember "500 Miles", right? It was an extremely minor hit in the '80s, and then it was in Benny and Joon and got sort of big? This is a straightforward punk rock version, and it's most notable for the little changes to the lyrics, like when the singer admits he doesn't know what "havering" is. Plus, ever since I've heard this version, I've suspected that maybe the original really does have the word "Surrender" in it. It's kind of hard to tell.

6. Mysterious Ways - KMFDM (U2)

This is off Shut Up Kitty, a great collection of industrial covers. It's by KMFDM (which stands, of course, for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars") and it starts out a lot like the original. Luckily, it then takes a sharp left turn and reduces the original version to rubble.

7. Leaving on a Jet Plane - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (John Denver)

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a reasonably mainstream band that does wacky punk covers of pretty random songs. This is a John Denver song and being sped up and electrified and shouted really improves it a lot.

8. Once in a Lifetime - Big Daddy (Talking Heads)

The gimmick behind Big Daddy is that they do songs as if they were other songs. They'll occasionally add a word or two to the lyrics, but for the most part, the idea is that they keep the melody and harmony the same, just change the arrangement until it's unrecognizable. For example, their version of "Ice, Ice Baby" sounds like "Johnny B. Goode". And this version of "Once in a Lifetime" is grafted (almost) seamlessly onto Harry Belafonte's "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)". And, you know, it's true: there really is water at the bottom of the ocean.

9. West End Girls - 3D Picnic (Pet Shop Boys)

All I know about 3D Picnic is that this EP I own is hilarious. It's got covers of Sting and Danzig and X and they're all bizarre. This one messes with tempo more than any song I can think of.

10. Don't You Want Me Baby - Chia Pet (Human League)

Okay, this one requires some explanation. It's off "Freedom of Choice" (because that cd is truly great) and it sounds kind of weird when you first hear it. I mean, what with the discordant violin and the disaffected way the lyrics are read, and the wah-wah guitar way in the background, it's not to everyone's taste. The first time I heard it, I thought it was hilariously awful and I went on a quest to find it. But now I've heard it hundreds of times and there is absolutely nothing ironic about how much I love it. I think it's just a great version that takes a while to get into. You might be interested to know that "Chia Pet" were: Christina Kelly (Vocals), Karen Catchpole (Vocals), Bobby Weeks (Guitar), Jane Pratt (Violin), Jessica Vilkus (Bass), and Mary Ann Marshall (Drums). That's the people that used to be in charge of "Sassy" magazine! Christina Kelly was the Editor-in-Chief, and Jane Pratt is in there on violin. So that's kind of interesting, don't you think?

11. I Don't Like Mondays - + HemorRhage + (Boomtown Rats)

I don't know where this cover version came from at all. It's just an MP3 on my hard drive! I assume someone sent it to me and then I forgot about it because I'm a jerk. So this is a Mystery Techno Cover, I guess. The original is by the Boomtown Rats, who were great and had lots more than just the one song (inspired by Brenda Spencer's explanation for shooting up the school across the street in 1979).

12. Beat Generation - The Beat Farmers (Bob McFadden and Dor)

The original was written by beat poet Rod McKuen (the "Dor" in the band name) and it seems like it might be a parody of beatniks at times. This version is by the Beat Farmers, sung by the late Country Dick Montana, and if you don't like it, there's nothing I can do to help you.

13. Venus in Furs - Eye & I (Velvet Underground)

Eye & I were a kind of reggae-inspired group that had a dj in the band just for scratching. They sounded a little like US3, which I think might make them "Acid Jazz" or something. Anyway, this is a neat cover of a Velvet Underground song -- like many Velvet covers, it brings out the melody that was buried in the original.

14. More - That terrible MTV musical version of Wuthering Heights (Sisters of Mercy)

Ha! Okay, Jim Steinman was the songwriter behind Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler (you remember "Total Eclipse of the Heart", right?) In 2003, he convinced MTV to let him produce a musical version of "Wuthering Heights" with predictably dire results. I recapped it for Television Without Pity and when the "sensitive songwriter" turned out to be writing this, I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair. See, along with straightforward Overblown Rock (and, with Andrew Lloyd Webber, an instance of Extremely Overblown Broadway Musical), Steinman has dabbled in Overblown Goth, working with Sisters of Mercy on a few songs. Like this one. So instead of using new material, he had the "Wuthering Heights" characters (played by Mike Vogel and Erika Christensen) sing "More". Naturally, when MTV made the soundtrack cd available, I had to have it.

15. A Horse With No Name - The Loud Family (America)

The Loud Family are named after the people in "An American Family", which anticipated Reality Shows. And they're aptly named, because they like noise. A lot of noise. In fact, you're lucky there's any music in this. It's off Star Power, the third in a series of weird versions of '70s songs.

16. Rainbow Connection - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (The Muppet Movie)

Again with the Mr First and the Gimme Gimmes. Doesn't everyone love the Muppet Movie?

17. Particle Man - The Bobs (They Might Be Giants)

The Bobs are an a capella group that frequently does beautiful covers of songs you wouldn't expect. Like this They Might Be Giants number, in which one of them, for no apparent reason, yells "Waiter!"

18. King of Rock - Institute of Technology (Run-DMC)

Run-DMC's "King of Rock" was one of the seminal moments in rap as they demonstrated how rap and rock weren't that far apart after all. I've been completely unable to find out anything about Institute of Technology; I found this track on Operation Beatbox and it's not that informative. The important part is that these guys are clearly huge nerds, and yet they still do justice to a rap (and rock!) classic.

19. The Lion Sleeps Tonight - R.E.M. (The Tokens)

The B-Side to the cd-single of "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", this features Michael Stipe stretching his vocal range and someone (who I suspect is also Stipe) playing a horn really badly.

20. Beat on the Brat - U2 (The Ramones)

Since U2 got covered twice here, I felt it only fair to include them covering someone else. Off We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to the Ramones, this demonstrates two truths about Ramones covers. First, it's almost impossible to do a bad job, because the songs are so simple and straightforward. Second, it's almost impossible to do a great job, because the songs are so simple, there's not much new you can bring to the song. I think Bono does about as well as you can expect. At least you can tell it's a cover, which isn't the case with a lot of Ramones covers.