Helpless was written by Neil Young and released on the 1970 Crosby Stills Nash & Young album Deja Vu. There are three definitive performances by Young of this tune – the studio recording, Young’s performance with The Band that is captured in both audio and video formats at The Last Waltz where drugs were involved and the third is from MTV’s Unplugged.
We’ve got a lot of renditions this week, more than I normally allow, but when it was time to cut some, I thought they were all pretty damn good.
The Contestants:
Buffy Sainte-Marie: This cover was recorded just a year after the original release of CSNY’s version of Helpless. In fact, Neil Young plays on this album but I have been unable to determine if he plays on this track. For those of you listening on headphones, crazy reverb/delay on the snare drum in the intro to this song. I’m not sure if this is intentional as it disappears once the vocals kick in. Source: She Used To Wanna Be A Ballerina
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/buffyhelpless.mp3]READ ON for the rest of this week’s contestants…
Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ is the last track on the 1970 Velvet Underground album Loaded. Loaded would be the last Velvet Underground album before guitarist/lead singer Lou Reed left the group to start a solo career.
I’ll tell ‘ya, if you do actually listen to all five versions of this tune – and you happen to listen to them all in a row, you’re going to have the overwhelming urge to blast some loud and aggressive tunes as soon as that’s done. 44 minutes of Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ might bring you a little bit down, so have something queued up – I went with a live version of Immigrant Song.
The Contestants:
$10,000 Gold Chain: Not a whole lot of information out there on this band, but I do know it’s led by Mike McCready (the lead guitarist in Pearl Jam). It’s possible the only song this ensemble ever recorded was this cover for a 1996 Jim Carrey movie. Source: The Cable Guy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/goldchainnuthin.mp3]READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
