BBC Radio 1′s yearly Live Lounge collection always seems to come up with a few gems. For those not in the know, the compilation is a collection of live tracks that were played at the Radio 1 studios. At some point during the Radio 1 sessions, someone decided it was a good idea to record these tracks, so starting in 2006, they released a yearly compilation of the best bits from the year. Now a lot of artist travel through Radio 1′s land and they often like to do covers for some reason so every year, you see some interesting covers, among those include
Arctic Monkey – Love Machine (Girls Aloud cover) The Futureheads – Hounds of Love (Kate Bush .. also voted one of the best tracks of that year) Amy Winehouse – Valerie (later re-recorded for Mark Ronson) Diizzee Rascal – That’s Not My Name (way better than the original Ting Tings version)
You get the drift.
I just recently got the 2011 version of this compilation and stumbled upon this number, which features reigning UK Heavyweight Champion of the World Ellie Goulding covering USA’s Intercontentinal Champion – Rihanna (I would say either Katy Perry / Lady Gaga hold the heavyweight championship belt). If there’s one artist who has benefitted tremendously from doing covers in the past year or so, it’s Ellie Goulding. Her heartfelt rendition of Your Song topped charts all over the commonwealth and elevated her from mid-card to main event status. Why am I using wrestling terminologies? I don’t know.
For this compilation, Ellie covered Rihanna’s second best track (best dance track though) Only Girl in the World. Once again, she strips the song down to the bare basics, slows down the track and even adds a string section. The results are pretty good. It helps that the original song was fantastic, but this is an original and unique take on it. Check it out.
It’s not often a classic 80s disco track gets covered, so LA via NYC singer songwriter Holmes took it upon himself to cover this Gap Band hit. Originally a funk track, Holmes puts his own spin on it, trading in the funk sound for a more introspective, slower paced track. The spin on the original song almost makes the track sound entirely new. Holmes has an album of covers called… Covers. Check that out if you like this track.
Anna Calvi can play guitar. She can play it really really well. From the set opener Rider to the Sea to the set closing Edith Piaf cover, the English singer songwriter set the bar quite high for future shows with some blistering guitar solos to accompany her Mercury Prize nominated tracks. You know a singer has control of the room when the entire place is in silence as they sing. This was Anna Calvi on Thursday – confident, radiant (especially in her red and black assemble) and entirely engrossing, the singer made good promise on the large amount of hype bestowed on her this year with an impressive performance at Lee’s Palace.
One of the tracks she performed was this cover of TV on the Radio’s classic track Wolf Like Me. As you would expect, it’s completely different from the original, but still rather good. Have a listen.
You know you’ve done something right when your record label repackages your album and releases a newer version of it in the same year. In the case of Toronto’s Austra, it’s just a small indication of the monster year they have had. Feel It Break (Deluxe Version) will feature not only the original album, but a host of b-sides, remixes and covers, including this cover of the Roy Orbison track Crying. Consider Roy Orbison is a late 50s era crooner and Austra is well… an operatic midnight electronic band, you can very well realize that Katie Stelmanis and company’s take on the the 1961 hit is truly an unique one. Check it out.
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