I was working on a project for my wonderful LtM counterpart, Jen, when I came across some really weird covers using Skreemr. Turns out nobody has a regular album version of “Mr. Crowley” on Internet, but they do have Ozzy covering “Stayin’ Alive.” Yeah, that “Stayin’ Alive.” This simply seemed strange at first, until I thought about the history of things, the Bee Gees released “Stayin’ Alive” back in ‘76 while Ozzy was still with Black Sabbath. I really don’t want to ponder the significance of this, but I hope it’s no more than, “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny to get Ozzy to sing a disco song? We could even get Frank Zappa’s kid to play guitar! It’s so wacky!” Those are my hopes.

After I found that, I had to do a little research and discovered that Dweezil and his brother Ahmet covered Britney Spears’ breakout hit “Baby, One More Time” for the film Ready to Rumble. This doesn’t strike me as nearly so odd, since it’s been done by Travis and Fountains of Wayne, but I think it serves the post well.

Still could not find the album version of “Mr. Crowley.”

 Ozzy Osbourne w/ Dweezil Zappa - Stayin' Alive [4:42m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa - Baby One More Time [4:11m]: Play in Popup | Download

This is John Butler’s version of a classic cliche traditional Irish song, Danny boy. I like the song, but some don’t. He recorded it at Enmore Theater in Australia. I like the guitar solo towards the end. If you’re a faithful John Butler listener, you can totally tell that he’s playing it; he has a signature lick that he puts everywhere.

You can also pick up the mp3 at the forum.

Enjoy, and Happy Wednesday.

John Butler Trio | Myspazz

 Danny Boy - John Butler [3:51m]: Play in Popup | Download

So through the usual dance of emails that occur between me and prospective bands for LTM, I came across one that talked about a new solo artist, and mentioned that requests for covers were being taken. I kinda thought, thats cool. I’ll throw one their way and see what happens.

Whaddya know? He did it. I asked for My Morning Jacket’s Dondante, it being totally awesome, and I wanted to hear someone elses take on it. Gotta say, MMJ’s version will always be my favorite I think, but Eric Lyman’s was pretty damn good. He even hit the high notes.

More of his covers can be seen here. And don’t forget to read about Eric’s new album, Champagne Air.

 Eric Lyman - Dondante: Play in Popup | Download (424)

The Buena Vista Social Club was a club in Havana, Cuba that was popular in the forties for holding dances and jam sessions. It has since closed, and is now a recording by Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, and Ry Cooder. I’ve got one of the BVSC albums, and recently got my hands on one called Rhythms Del Mundo: Cuba. It features covers of popular songs with la Cuban flair. It’s very cool. Who knew that Coldplay’s Clocks would be so good with that beat? And Maroon 5’s She Will Be Loved is a definite improvement, as I hate that song anyway. Yikes.

This album was also created to help fund APE, or Artists’ Project Earth, a very cool organization that is concerned with climate change and other humane earthly issues.

I’d love to post the whole album, cos its great, but then I’m sure I’d get into nasty legal trouble. Just to give you an idea, here’s the tracklisting:

1. Clocks - Coldplay
2. Better Together - Jack Johnson
3. Dancing Shoes - Arctic Monkeys
4. One Step Too Far - Dido & Faithless
5. As Time Goes By - Ibrahim Ferrer
6. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For -
U2 & Coco Freeman
7. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
8. Fragilidad - Sting
9. Killing Me Softly - Omara Portuondo
10. Ai No Corrida - Vania Borges feat. Quincy Jones
11. Modern Way - Kaiser Chiefs
12. Don’t Know Why - Vania Borges
13. Hotel Buena Vista - Aquila Rose & Idania Valdez
14. The Dark of the Matinee - Coco Freeman feat.
Franz Ferdinand
15. High and Dry - El Lele de Los Van Van feat.
Radiohead (samples)

Really, really kickass links (if you don’t know about the BVSC, definitely check it out. Music lovers will appreciate.)

Rhythms Del Mundo // APE // MySpazz (RDM) // Buena Vista Social Club (Wiki) // Buena Vista Documentary (PBS) // YouTube Video showing the collaboration

BUY THE ALBUM

 Coldplay - Clocks [5:02m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Jack Johnson - Better Together [3:28m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved [4:06m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Coco Freeman & U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: Play in Popup | Download

If you've seen the film I Am Sam, or heard the awesome soundtrack, you're probaby familiar with this cover of the Beatle's "Blackbird". If not, its your lucky day, as McLachlan does a kickass job of it. Its quite refreshing, hearing her voice touch something done by the all-male Beatles. A little trivia for you, too–I taught my boyfriend how to play this song on the guitar. Go me. 

Blackbird - Sarah McLachlan MP3 

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/sarah%20mclachlan%20-%20blackbird.mp3]

Sarah McLachlan Official Website // I Am Sam Official Film Website // Buy the I Am Sam Soundtrack 

There is a lot of music out there that I know I should be listening to, and just haven't yet.  Two ways that I generally do this are through live albums and tribute albums, which is how I really got into the Clash at first.  One of the really standout tracks on both From Here to Eternity: Live and Burning London: A Tribute to the Clash was "Straight to Hell", which closes out both albums.  I present here Moby's smooth organ chords and Heather Nova's floaty vocals.  The song is beautiful, and one of my favourite ways to end things.  Dig it!

Straight to Hell - Moby and Heather Nova

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/Moby%20&%20Heather%20Nova%20-%20Straight%20to%20Hell.mp3]

Buy This CD