This great acoustic Zeppelin tune comes off 1971’s Led Zeppelin IV.
Also, this song is supposedly about Joni Mitchell – go figure.
The Contestants:
Dread Zeppelin: Longtime readers may remember Dread Zeppelin’s winning combination of an Elvis Impersonator and a reggae band from the All Of My Love edition. Source: Hot & Spicy Beanburger
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/dreadcali.mp3]Robert Plant on the band:
READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
This week, we have the long overdue Cover Wars debut from legendary British rockers Dire Straits. Sultans Of Swing was the band’s first single off their first album, which was self-titled and released in 1978.
In The Fender Stratocaster Handbook: How To Buy, Maintain, Set Up, Troubleshoot, and Modify Your Strat, Mark Knopfler shares how Sultans Of Swing almost had an entirely different melody, funny to think if the song would have still been popular with the alternate structure. Knopfler says no.
I originally wrote Sultans Of Swing on my National steel guitar, open tuned. Same lyrics, but a different tune. Since I can’t remember it, it was completely unremarkable! When I got the Strat and plugged it into an old Vibrolux, it became something else.
Check out the rest of that page over on Google Books for some funny quotes from Mark as he discusses the pros and cons of music theory.
The Contestants:
Agents Of Good Roots: Here’s a blast from the past in the jambands department. Fans of the Dave Matthews Band might remember these guys as the band that Dave shared some stage time with in the mid 1990’s. Source: 2-5-2000
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/agrswing.mp3]READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
The subject matter of this week’s selection is something I think a lot of our readers can relate to. On the surface, this tune – a selection off The Beatles 1966 album Revolver, could innocently be about the feeling of being woken up too early in the morning…Then again, it could be about drugs. And as my friend Dan likes to say, “If you think it might be about drugs, it’s probably about drugs.”
While dissecting the lyrics, I found it humorous how polite the narrator of the song is in reference to being woken up early, specifically the number of times he says, “Please”. I’m not sure if I know anyone who would be this polite given the circumstances.
In a famous 1966 interview that John Lennon did with Maureen Cleave, she said of John,
He can sleep almost indefinitely, is probably the laziest person in England. ‘Physically lazy,’ he said. ‘I don’t mind writing or reading or watching or speaking, but sex is the only physical thing I can be bothered with any more’.
So, the song is at least to some degree, autobiographical.
The Contestants:
Bathory: This is likely the most International edition of Cover Wars to date. Bathory, for those of you don’t know about them (like me yesterday), is a Swedish band often credited as creating the first “Black Metal” album. Source: In Memory Of Quorthon Vol III
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/bathorysleeping.mp3]READ ON for the rest of this week’s diverse Cover Wars contestants…
This week we’ve got arguably the first love song that The Talking Heads ever recorded. This track was originally released on the 1983 album Speaking In Tongues. Click here to view the video of this song from Stop Making Sense.
Did you know that the studio recording of this tune had members of the band not playing their primary instruments? It was: Jerry Harrison (bass), Tina Weymouth (guitar), and David Byrne (keyboards).
The Contestants:
The Arcade Fire: Arcade Fire have the advantage of being the only band this week that has performed this song with David Byrne. That performance from New York City, was released on vinyl as the B-Side to the Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) single promoting the band’s 2004 album Funeral. Source: Neighborhood #3 Vinyl Single
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/arcadenaive.mp3]And some video of the band performing the song by themselves:
READ ON for the rest of this week’s Cover Wars contestants…
While the world celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11, I made the best selection I could to fit the vibe and that is a track off of the Grateful Dead’s 1989 release Built To Last titled Standing On The Moon.
Many in the Grateful Dead community have hypothesized that the outro lyrics, “A lovely view of heaven but I’d rather be with you” indicated a feeling from Jerry that while he appreciated the band’s success and fans, a part of him wanted to just be out in the crowd with everyone else. Makes sense.
The Contestants:
Big Frog: You may recognize this band from their spot opening for Phish back in 2000 during their Japan tour. The ever-elusive Phish opening act spot. Source: 8-1-2007
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/bigfrogmoon.mp3]READ ON for the rest of this week’s Cover Wars contestants…
You Can’t Always Get What You Want is the closing track on the 1969 Rolling Stones album Let It Bleed. Regular readers may remember we did our first Stones song edition of Cover Wars two months ago when we took a look at covers of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.
There are some very interesting quotes regarding the drumming on this track included in the book According to the Rolling Stones,
THE CONTESTANTS:
Aretha Franklin: This cover comes off a 1981 Aretha Franklin album that universally gets bad to lukewarm reviews. The arrangement is very 80’s. Still, it’s worth a couple minutes to hear the Queen Of Soul sing lead on this tune. Source: Love All The Hurt Away
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/cantaretha.mp3]READ ON to hear the rest of this week’s Cover Wars contestants…
With Paul McCartney’s previous two albums (Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway) not being especially critically acclaimed, many see his 1973 release Band On The Run as something of a statement piece, and what a statement it was. Paul once shared that the title track of the album was built around something guitarist George Harrison would say during The Beatles’ business meetings, “If we ever get out of here”.
Side Note: Band On The Run is a great addition to the “What album is Phish going to cover?” discussion that friends of yours are undoubtedly having.
And now, the covers:
The Brew: Leading off this week we’ve got The Brew. Check the rest of this show for a great recording and additional covers from Kansas and The Police. Source: 5-14-2009
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bandbrew.mp3]READ ON for the lowdown on the rest of this week’s contestants…
There is certainly plenty to read up about in regards to this week’s selection, The Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows. From the origin of the title to the revolutionary vocal recording techniques to the LSD inspired lyrics, the whole thing is quite interesting. Also of note is that while it is the closing track on the album, TNK was the first song recorded for Revolver.
My favorite quote regarding the recording comes from legendary engineer Geoff Emerick. Sometimes I forget just how much The Beatles revolutionized the recording process as we know it…
It meant actually breaking into the circuitry. I remember the surprise on our faces when the voice came out of the speaker. It was just one of sheer amazement. After that they wanted everything shoved through the Leslie: pianos, guitars, drums, vocals, you name it!
Checking on last week, Grace Potter finished in first and Built To Spill came in second with another big chunk of votes in the Cortez The Killer Cover Wars. Checking in on two week’s ago, moe. and Umphrey’s are still battling it out over Can’t You Hear Me Knocking without a clear winner.
801: Technically, 801 titled this track TNK when they first released it in 1976. The lineup for 801 is: Phil Manzanera (guitar), Brian Eno (keyboards), Bill MacCormick (bass), Simon Phillips (drums), Francis Monkman (keyboards), Lloyd Watson (slide guitar). This shit is bad-ass. Source: 801 Live
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tomorrow801.mp3]
READ ON for the rest of this week’s Cover Wars contestants…
