March 2010

Welcome to the 2010 edition of Cover Wars – March Madness. We are taking our efforts from last year and doubling them: this year we’ve got 32 covers in the running for the Championship. Over the past year, we’ve had six different artists win Cover Wars more than once. For these winners, we have paired them up against each other in the first round. For example, if you were going to vote for Trey Anastasio because of your loyalty to him – now you have to decide if he plays a better O-o-h Child or Sultans Of Swing. We have also paired up original artists whenever possible – Did Joan Baez or The Grateful Dead do better justice to their Bob Dylan cover?

All of the winners’ audio/video has been embedded for you and we have linked back to the corresponding Cover Wars that led to each artist’s victory. We have enjoyed running this piece for you every week (or maybe, three times per month?) and hope you enjoy Cover Wars March Madness. My personal highlight would have to be us running The Ballad Of Curtis Loew edition in early May and seeing Phish pull the cover from deep off the shelf three weeks later at Fenway Park. Let’s look at the first eight matchups…

1) Cortez The Killer (Built To Spill) vs. The Maker (DMB)
2) Sultans of Swing (Trey) vs. O-o-h Child (Trey)
3) Will It Go Round In Circles (The Bridge) vs. Godzilla (GUTML)
4) Ballad Of A Thin Man (GD) vs. A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall (Joan Baez)
5) Sweet Virginia (Phish) vs. Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Clare & The Reasons)
6) You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Max Creek) vs. Eminence Front (MC)
7) Naive Melody (Perpetual Groove) vs. Time (Flaming Lips)
8) Lenny (Umphrey’s McGee) vs. Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ (UM)

For bout number one, we’ve got Built To Spill covering Neil Young’s Cortez The Killer vs. DMB’s cover of Daniel Lanois’ The Maker…

Built To Spill – Cortez The Killer
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/builtcortez.mp3]
Dave Matthews Band – The Maker
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dmbmaker.mp3]

READ ON to place your vote in this matchup and to check out and vote on the other seven March Madness bouts in this part one of our Round of 32…

A few weeks back we hipped you to Umphrey’s cover of Lisztomania. For their version of the Phoenix tune, the Chicago-based jammers didn’t change the arrangement very much. The same

Wilco is many things, but as they will let you know, you oughta know Wilco and you really should. The Chicago band has seen a few different incarnations, all centering around singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt. The latest incarnation seems to be sticking around, as the lineup hasn’t shaken up since 2004 with the last additions of jazz guitarist Nels Cline and multi instrumentalist Pat Sansone. However, despite the lengthy stint of this touring lineup their latest Wilco (The Album) is only the second with the current players, but it is still signature Wilco.

Tweedy’s songwriting is mirrored through dark passages in the live show and subsequently by the opposing beautiful harmonizations. In Tweedy’s words from the Sam Jones documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, “I don’t want to just fall back on a bunch of easy rockers.” And they wouldn’t as they came to Michigan State University’s Wharton Center.

Tweedy and company started the evening at the packed auditorium by diving into their catalogue with new material off of Wilco (The Album), as the drone and darkness of Bull Black Nova eerily twinkled to begin the night. The slow, psychedelic pings and patters give way to searing guitar pulls as the Tweedy and Cline ebb and flow the weirdness back and forth with the crashing guitar builds through the crowd. Organ swing followed on You Are My Face before venturing back into the drone and light drumming of I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.

READ ON for more from Pietro on Wilco in East Lansing…