When I was a young lad I got this groovy cassette deck. Kids, that was what dinosaurs listened to before CDs. My birthday was coming up, and all I had to play on my new piece of equipment were blank TDKs that I used to tape obscene phone calls with. One time, we called all the guys named John Rambo at 3AM, and made sounds of explosions and gunshots. Yeah, we were a scream. Pissed ourselves laughing.
But I digress. I needed some tunes, so I asked my buds to get me ’em for my bday and the first one I opened was The Kinks, Misfits. I was so disappointed it wasn’t LowBudget. But it soon became my favorite album ever. Put that on the shelf with Give The People What They Want, Arthur, Low Budget, Lola vs. The Powerman, To The Bone, Schoolboys in Disgrace, Village Green . . . You’ve got yourself the perfect record collection.
And now you’ve got yourself the perfect indie covers collection . . . And somewhere, lurking in the alphabet, is the zip file. I’m forcing you to at least skim my post. Ha!
A is for Act Nice And Gentle with Me-The Black Keys.
B is for Bouncing Souls-Better Things.
C is for Counting Crows-Better Things.
D is for Dar Williams-Better Things. One of my all-time fave songs, ever.
E is for Elliot Smith-Set Me Free (live). There’s a ton of Elliot Kinks covers floating around.
F is for Feist-Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ About That Girl. A bluesy tune, covered again later.
G is for Guster-Days (direct link).
H is for HBO, because if it wasn’t for the soundtrack to Six Feet Under, I might never have understood how brilliant Sia is. Check out her contribution to the A to Z: I Go To Sleep-Sia. Voice like an angel.
I is for Islands-Waterloo Sunset. This is such a pure, simple cover, but it works well. Maybe it’s because The Kinks made such pure, simple music themselves.
J is for Johnny Thunder-Counting Crows. A twofer from Duritz and co.!
K is for The Kooks-Victoria. I’m not a huge fan of this band–they seem kinda bland–and this song selection is a little bland, too, but hey, it’s a “K”. And it doesn’t suck.
L is for Mark Lanegan-Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ About That Girl.
M is for Montreal’s namesake, Of Montreal, who cover Days and Tired of Waiting.
N is for never heard of these guys before, but I was poking around and found this: Pi Theory-Sunny Afternoon (direct download). A very manly acoustic cover. Nice job.
O is for Old 97s-She’s Got Everything. I love this cover.
P is for pseudonym. This Is Where I Belong-The Condo Fucks. From the great “Fuckbook” album, released earlier this year, featuring member of . . . Aw, I’m not going to spoil the surprise. Read down to “Y.”
Q is for Queens of the Stone Age-Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy.
R is for Robyn Hitchcock-Waterloo Sunset (direct download).
S is for Ron Sexsmith-This Is Where I Belong. Today’s best indie nerd covering one of the most talented rocker nerds in history. Perfect!
T is for Trappers Cabin-Shangri-La. Very faithful rendition.
U is for utensil. Spoon-Situation Vacant (direct link). Spoon obviously owes a great debt to the kind of simple, catchy rock pioneered by The Kinks. Wish they’d release a trib album.
V is for Village Green Preservation Society-Kate Rusby.
W is for Oklahoma, U.S.A.-Wilco. A somewhat sad acoustic cover.
X marks the spot of the zipfile!
Y is for Yo La Tengo-Act Nice and Gentle. This is a clean, well constructed cover. Unlike their version of “This Is Where I Belong,” which Tengo did as The Condo Fucks. (see “P” above.)
Z is for Zwan-All Day and All of the Night
