I’m sure lots of bloggers have already covered this album, but just in case you haven’t heard about it yet, on September 4th, Engine Room Recordings will be releasing “Guilt By Association,” a compilation album of indie artists covering what they call their “Guilty Pleasure Mainstream Pop Hits.” No surprise that quite a few of the covered tunes are from the ’80s and late ’70s. Here’s the tracklist:
1. Petra Haden – Don’t Stop Believin (Journey)
2. Devendra Banhart – Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis)
3. Mark Mulcahy – From This Moment On (Shania Twain)
4. Luna – Straight Up (Paula Abdul)
5. The Concretes – Back For Good (Take That)
6. Jim O’Rourke – Viva Forever (Spice Girls)
7. Goat – Sugar We’re Going Down (Fall Out Boy)
8. Will Oldham – Can’t Take That Away (Mariah Carey)
9. Woody Jackson Orchestra ft Money Mark – Love’s Theme (Love Unlimited Orchestra)
10. Porter Block – Breaking Free (High School Musical)
11. Mooney Suzuki – Just Like Jesse James ( Cher )
12. Geoff Farina – Two Tickets To Paradise (Eddie Money)
13. Casey Shea – Chop Suey (System of a Down)
14. Superchunk – Say My Name (Destiny’s Child)
15. Mike Watt – Burning For You (Blue Oyster Cult)
My personal favorites are Petra Haden’s almost-acappella version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin†and Luna’s take on Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.” What makes Luna’s so good is that I hated the original. In honor of this really fun release, here’s 10 artists covering 80s tunes. And we’ll start with, from the album . . .
1. Petra Haden’s cover of “Don’t Stop Believing,” Journey’s classic 1981 track.
2. Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran Duran cover)-Bats with Wings
3. Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)-The Thrills
4. Prove My Love (Violent Femmes)-OK Go
5. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)-Death Cab for Cutie
6. Let’s Dance (Bowie and Stevie Ray Vaughn)-The Futureheads
7. Billie Jean-Adrian West (instrumental)
8. Angel of the Morning-Nina Simone. Technically, the song was a pre-80s composition, but it was Juice Newton’s 1981 version that made it a household name. At least in my house. I fucking loved that song.
9. Uptown Girl-Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
10. Owner of a Lonely Heart-Yes. The best part about this tune was the video, where the guy washes his face with mealworms, but the
hook was pretty tight and so was its startling opening. So this remix takes those two parts of the song and cuts out the rest. Digg it.
