Here’s a post that got pulled at Blogger and I can’t figure out why. No RIAA/IFPI material that I’m aware of . . . Let’s try it here, at a non-Nazi host . . .
“Like Black Holes In The Sky” is the fantastic new covers collection of tunes written by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett.
Buy direct from the indie label here, at their myspace page, or hear it streaming for free.
It’s the rare example of a covers collection that has a unified feel–it works as an album just as well as it works if just listen to tracks. Psychedlia has undergone a resurgence of late, and here some of the better-known modern heavy-psychos cover the best known, classic crazyman. Standouts include the drummer from Voivod’s side project Kosmos doing a version of “Vegetable Man” that stays true to the original, but at the same time improves upon it by adding better instrumentation and a faster tempo. My absolute favorite track is Kylesa’s “Interstellar Overdrive,” a brilliant instrumental both when done by Pink Floyd and here. Stinking Lizaveta’s “Matilda Mother” is a standout as well, because it keeps some of the odd vocal gymnastics from the original, but isn’t as insane, which makes it sound more musical. I could go on forever about this collection. But instead, I think I’ll throw a couple of its tunes into the following mix . . .
PINK FLOYD COVERS, A TO Z!
Pink Floyd was my absolute, hands-down favorite band when I was a lad. Roger Waters was my first concert. I can’t tell you how many times we went to the Hayden Planetarium’s Lazer Floyd, or stayed up all night parsing each sound on The Atom Heart Mother Suite. I love these guys, so you should, too. Here’s a carefully selected collection of covers, intended to show the wide reach and influence of the band.
A is for Ashes’ cover of Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun. It’s kinda technoelectronic. Nowhere near as good as the original, though, which is one of my favorite Floyd tunes.
B is Breathe-The Shins
C is for Comfortably Numb-H Beam. The quality isn’t great, but they turn the anthem into an indie rock song. Which is kinda cool.
D is for Nobody Home-Decemberists.
E is for the The Great Gig in the Sky-Easy Dub All Stars. These folks did a reggae take on the entire Dark Side album. It’s pretty cool.
F is for Lucifer Sam-Flaming Lips
G is for Free Four-Groovatron. A pretty faithful rendition of an underrated, simple Floyd tune.
H is for Arnold Layne-Robyn Hitchcock.
I is for Interstellar Overdrive-Pearl Jam (live).
J is for Jesu’s vesion of Chapter 24, also from the above-reviewed Syd tribute. Go buy it now!
K is for Leslie King’s bluesy cover of “Money,” in the zip file.
L is for Another Brick in the Wall-Luther Wright and the Wrongs.
L is for for Lupe Fiasco’s fantastic rap, Tilted In Any Colour You Like. An awesome remix.
M is for Time-Moe. Not great, but it shows the intricacy of the song.
N is for numb. Comfortably Numb-Hayseed Dixie.
O is for On The Run-Digital Frontier. A most unlikely choice for a cover song that is well done nevertheless. It starts out sounding almost exactly like the original, but then takes some bleepy left turns and zags into its own stratosphere. I assume this is awesome to hear at a lazer show.
P is for Pink Floyd. Of course.
R is for the rap tune “Ode to the Wall” by Eydea (of Eydeas and Abilities). Really cool song, in the zip file, from a rapper you’ve probably never heard of.
S is for See Emily Play-Martha Wainwright.
T is for Tupac’s crew, The Outsidaz, who, on “Hard Act to Follow,” rapped to a Pink Floyd Breathe sample. Cool, huh?
U is for Uncle Billy’s Smokehouse band’s take on Have a Cigar. Kinda Rockabillicana.
V is for Vegetable Man-Kosmos. From the above-reviewed “Black Holes” collection.
W is for Wish You Were Here. Wyclef did a pretty solid cover of the tune, and there’s lots of others. But here’s a few I dig:
- Wish You Were Here-Radiohead
- WYWH-Frame of Mind
- WYWH-Kris McKay
X is for Xtra special! Animals (entire album)-Doodis. Follow the link! Pretty cool to hear a cover of the entire record.
Y is for Young Lust-Tea Leaf Green.
Z is for Zip File, of every savefile song and every song listed above that doesn’t have a link. It doesn’t include the e-z archive tunes, though, ’cause you can just right-click those.
