DaveO

I’m happy to report we have a first-time winner (actually it was his first entry too) to last week’s edition when we looked at nine covers of Wind Cries Mary. The winning artist: Martin Sexton.

Moving on to this week, we’re doing an artist’s version of Cover Wars where we take a look at multiple songs by the same artist, and this week we’re tackling the Doobie’s. Happened to be a fantastic coincidence that Wade just today alerted me that the folks that created Yacht Rock will be posting up in New York this Sunday. If you’re not familiar with Yacht Rock, here is episode #1:

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM before starting the playlist below to ensure that you are streaming full-length tracks.

READ ON after the jump to vote for which doobiest cover be grooviest…

Last week’s Radiohead Cover Wars was one of the most popular to date. Eleven of the 16 artists received votes, but Gov’t Mule by a large margin received the most for their renditions of Lucky and Creep. In 2nd place was the Benevento Russo Duo and their four contributions. It was a fun one to put together.

This week, I take a look at another Jimi Hendrix classic that has been performed by an interesting collection of artists. I believe this edition features more pop artists than any of my prior pieces. A few solo performances and a couple of very original arrangements of this 1967 single from Jimi are below.

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM so the playlist below loads full-length clips and not 30-second snippets.

READ ON for the tale of the tape on this week’s competitors…

Checking on last week’s edition, we had two popular choices for covers of Bell Bottom Blues. Once the votes were counted, Trey Anastasio had a slight edge over Umphrey’s McGee – so Trey takes home his first Cover Wars trophy sans Phish.

This week we’re taking on one of the most ambitious Cover Wars to date. We’ve compiled the most entries we’ve ever had as we take a look at covers of Radiohead’s catalog. Musicians in the 21st century seem to be more reluctant to cover other modern artists than bands were say 30-50 years ago. However, a few artists can be influential enough that bands just can’t help themselves. We saw a little bit of this in the Nirvana Cover Wars as jambands, jazz acts and pop artists paid tribute to the grunge era. We have a similar cross-section of artists this week as well, the contemporary jazz guys love Radiohead.

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM so the playlist below loads full-length tracks.

Be sure to READ ON after the jump as some of the best covers this week are embedded via video clips and are not included in the playlist above.

Looking back at last week’s Spanish Moon edition, Gov’t Mule has walked away with a narrow victory over Robert Palmer. In what was surely a coincidence: A day after last week’s Cover Wars, Mike Gordon welcomed one of last week’s contenders The Bridge to the stage during his encore at The Highline Ballroom for – you guessed it, Spanish Moon. Thanks for reading Cover Wars, Cactus!

This week, I have selected a track off of Derek & The Dominos 1970 release Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. If you don’t already know about Eric Clapton in the early 70’s, let’s just say it’s safe to assume the original recording was probably captured while Slowhand lay on the ground really high on heroin…and trying to steal away George Harrison’s wife.

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM so you hear entire songs and not just 30-second clips.

READ ON after the jump for the voting, some videos and more…

Normally, Phish has no problem winning an edition of Cover Wars regardless of their performance of the song in question. But the hardcore fans of Bonerama (can I call you people Boneheads?) made their virtual voices heard and their band has walked away victorious from last week’s Frankenstein Cover Wars.

This week’s selection was inspired by flipping through my RSS feed of shows added to bt.etree.org on Monday. I saw two sources of the Gov’t Mule’s show from 8-8-2008 get posted and I thought – hey, Spanish Moon could be a great Cover Wars to throw together. Written by Lowell George, Spanish Moon was first released on Little Feat’s fourth studio album Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. It would appear again four years later on the band’s first live recording Waiting For Columbus. Both recordings feature the Tower Of Power Horn Section.

We use imeem to embed these playlists, so be sure to register or login to hear the tracks in their entirety.

READ ON after the jump to see your options and cast your vote…

If you’re paying really close attention, you know I had a good weekend when Cover Wars doesn’t make it onto the blog on Tuesday. Well yeah, my car may still smell like wet festival, but the trip that brought me to two ports (Newport for the Folk Festival and Bridgeport for Gathering Of The Vibes) was totally worth it. Following up from last week, PBS has walked away as the clear winner of the Spanish Castle Magic edition.

“Everyone knows rock n’ roll attained perfection in 1974; It’s a scientific fact”. This is according to Homer Simpson in the episode Homerpalooza, where he is questioning the need for “new bands” as he has realized he is out of touch with the music of the young people. Frankenstein was actually released in 1973, though Homer may have been referring to a specific experience WITH the song and not just the song’s release. The song titled originally titled “Double Drum Solo”, the Edgar Winter Group renamed the tune Frankenstein in reference to the fact that it had been spliced together from numerous separate recordings. The result? One of the most bad-ass rock instrumentals ever written.

You gotta register/login to IMEEM to listen to the songs below in their entirety:

READ ON after the jump for some versions not included in the playlist, voting, info on each version and much much more of the original Cover Wars…

07/24/08 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY
Sound Tribe Sector 9 opened
Set I: JaJunk> Higgins, Soul Food I> Ocean Billy, Nothing Too Fancy> Got Your Milk (Right Here)> Jimmy Stewart> Nothing Too Fancy, Syncopated Strangers, Rocker Part II> JaJunk, Come Closer

Famous words from Levon Helm about the first time The Band played NYC:

“New York, it was an adult portion. It was an adult dose. So it took a couple of trips to get into it. You just go in the first time and you get your ass kicked and you take off. As soon as it heals up, you come back and you try it again. Eventually, you fall right in love with it.”

My count has this as UM’s 30th gig inside the borough of Manhattan, their first appearance being nearly nine years ago at the Wetlands Preserve in October of 1999. These trips have brought UM through: Lion’s Den, Irving Plaza, The Knitting Factory, Bowery Ballroom, B.B. King’s, The Rocks Off Boat Cruise, Nokia Theatre, Central Park and CBGB.

The beginning of the set leaned heavy on improvisation and at the 30-minute mark of the set, the sold-out crowd was whipped into a frenzy by the screaming vocals of Ocean Billy. UM finished off the night with a cover of a mash-up that’s titled Come Closer (that’s a mash-up of Come Together by The Beatles and Closer by Nine Inch Nails).

READ ON after the jump for more pictures and reviews of the next three shows, as well as the link to download full-resolution pictures of the stage…