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I was planning on doing some sort of “Best Covers of 2007” retrospective or something, but I’m sure you’re already as sick of those lists as I am, so instead of looking back this week, I’m gonna look forward, to 2008. Lord knows I’m not the only one hoping that year brings some major changes in the world and this country in, oh let’s say, November. So in hopes of that today’s theme is revolution at its most extreme, social change at its least. This country’s direction needs to change fast for a litany of reasons you can I’m sure come up with yourself. And first one to figure out where the post’s title comes from gets a virtual pat on the back.

Thompson Twins – Revolution (The Beatles)
The most obvious song to fit this theme, I had a bit of trouble finding an interesting cover. This one’s pretty good though, an 80’s version of the hard-driving classic. I particularly like the bomb-sounding drum after “destruction”.

Kevin Davis – Paths of Victory (Bob Dylan)
One of Dylan’s many unreleased 60’s songs (well, unreleased at the time), it shows where he got the “protest singer” label that he so resented later. It’s more fun than many of them though, with a bouncy tune brought forth in Davis’ joyous version, highlighted by Jason Lamb’s harmonica.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem– When the Ship Comes In (Bob Dylan)
I tried to limit myself to one Dylan tune, but there are just so many that fit the theme I had to throw both of these in there. And who better to do this one than one of the groups that inspired Dylan originally, Liam and co. Their harmonies are as tight as ever at this performance at the ’92 Dylan 30th Anniversary Tribute Concert.

Joan Osborne – Why Can’t We Live Together (Timmy Thomas)
Thomas was a one-hit wonder with this reggae-flavored number about holding hands round the globe and all that. Osborne is also a bit of a one-hit wonder, with her cringe-inducing song about God being a stranger on the bus and all that. However, she’s a great cover artist as she takes on soul and motown classics like these on her ’02 disc How Sweet It Is.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings – This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie)
Jones and her band (the group that backed Amy Winehouse on her recent smash album) are being talked about more and more since their new album came out in October, and for good reason. There hasn’t been soul this exciting since Stax went under. And Guthrie works surprisingly well in this context, a refreshing break from the dozens of acoustic guitar-strummed versions out there.

Jack Johnson – Imagine (John Lennon)
If you do like solo acoustic songs however, here you go. No piano, no elaborate string arrangements, just some nice finger-picking by Johnson on a laid-back rendition.

Merry Clayton – Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones)
This one blurs the boundaries of the cover a little bit, as Clayton was the memorable backing singer on the original. As she’s not a member of the Stones though, and her own version is markedly different, I let it slide. Markedly different and, dare I say it, markedly better. She’s got a vocal power Mick could only dream of, and lets it blast one this horn-infused rave-up.

Bruce Springsteen – This Little Light of Mine (Trad.)
From his ’06 tour with the 12-piece Seeger Sessions Band, it’s got wild horns, backing singers, accordion, banjo, and probably the kitchen sink in there somewhere too. Back-porch hootenanny at its best.

Mavis Staples – Eyes on the Prize (Trad./Alice Wine)
I could have just posted this whole album as this week’s post, a selection of spirituals and hope songs on Mavis’ We’ll Never Turn Back from earlier this year. Producer Ry Cooder is as much the star as she is, backing her low and restrained singing with dirty guitar and thumping drums to give it a grit that few gospel albums can match.

The Wave Pictures – A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)
I can’t find much information about this group other than their webpage (which has a few other nice covers), but they sure know how to sing Sam. Slowly thudding drums and wavering guitar gently nudge the gorgeous vocals forward. Another good cover of this one is Bob Dylan’s live version. After his Blowin’ in the Wind inspired this song, it all comes full circle. Here’s the video.

I almost didn’t do a Christmas theme this week just to buck the trends, but decided that, though Christmas songs may be a cliché, they’re a good cliché. So instead I’m just gonna post more tracks than normal. Which, given that every week my lists get longer, is really saying something. So go drink too much eggnog, accidentally kiss your second-cousin under the mistletoe, and wake up on December 26th to unpayable credit card debt. Cause, after all, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

Relient K - 12 Days of Christmas (Trad.)
A punk-rock take on the Christmas classic, made more memorable than your average punk cover by the addition of a new chorus. This has to be the most obnoxious song to carol, with verse after verse of shitty gifts, but the K guys manage to keep it fresh through at least 10.

Sufjan Stevens - O Come O Come Emmanuel (Neale/Trad.)
We got a taste of Sufjan’s reworking of Christmas classics last week, but here’s another, a subtle and fragile plea.

Jackson Browne & Bruce Cockburn - All I Want For Christmas Is World Peace (Timbuk3)
Incredibly lame title, but other than that the lyrics are interesting (“chestnuts roasting on my VCR”), and the two provide some earthy harmonies. Sure it’s a little over-the-top, but sincerity doesn’t have to be a bad thing. A couple slight audio imperfections, since it’s live, but nothing bad.

The Stars - Fairytale of New York (The Pogues)
Probably my favorite Christmas song, it’s full of fury and despair until the redemption at the end. No wait, there is no redemption, it’s just bitter the whole way through. There’s no way to better The Pogues version with Kirsty MacColl, and these folks don’t try, but provide another nice take, a lot more sincere and a lot less drunk. If you don’t have the original though, you need it.

Jethro Tull - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Trad.)
Ian Anderson and co. came out with a Christmas album a few years ago and, surprisingly enough, it’s not terrible. The original songs are very good themselves, which is rare for any “new” attempts at Christmas material. This instrumental cover, while not departing from the classic Tull sound, would be enjoyable to throw on during some ham stuffing or turkey basting.

Liz Phair - Winter Wonderland (Bernard & Smith)
She doesn’t show her groin, whine about divorce, or sing about how much she loves semen on this one. Instead, it’s a moderately updated take with a some drum machine and muted acoustic guitar backing a straightforward vocal.

Johnny Cash - Little Drummer Boy (Davis)
Kind of like Hurt, after you’ve heard Cash’s version no others measure up.

Jimi Hendrix - Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne
When you throw it in an instrumental distortion medley though, it takes on a whole new life

The Hotshots - Snoopy Versus the Red Baron (The Royal Guardsmen)
This was a favorite of mine as a kid, a new twist on the Christmas spirit that really hits home. This reggae-ska cover was a #4 hit in the UK and, though I think it suffers greatly for having eliminated the chorus, is otherwise fun.

Anberlin – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Darlene Love)
The original was the centerpiece of maybe the most famous Christmas album of all time, Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift For You. I couldn’t decide whether to put up this version or the softer one by Death Cab for Cutie, but that’s all over the blogosphere, so here’s a new one, a sort of alt-rock take that’s full of chutzpah. Wait, wrong holiday?

Darlene Love - Christmas Must Be Tonight (The Band)
I was really hoping this wasn’t originally by The Band since their version is so good I wanted to post it, but it was and I had to find another. Love just came out with a full album of Christmas material a couple years ago (she knows where her talents lie I guess), and has a voice that has aged beautifully, with far more character than her old stuff. Really belting this one out, she reminds me of seeing Mavis Staple sing The Weight with The Decemberists.

Bruce Springsteen - Christmas Day (Detroit Junior)
Live from one of his holiday shows in ’01, it’s a great call-and-response number that has loads of energy and doesn’t say a thing. Tell me those horns don’t get you dancing though.

Lost and Found - Mary Mary (Avery & Marsh)
Here’s a Christmas song I’m sure you’ve never heard, done in Lost and Found's “speedwood” style (like speed-metal, but wood). If you can make it through some nasally vocals, it’s worth it.

Wax Audio - Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (John Lennon)
Couldn’t decide on this one whether to go for good or interesting for a cover of this, and I went for the latter. Listening to it at first I didn’t realize the premise, and I almost thought it was William Shatner. Turns out the vocals are by a different daft gent working way beyond his ability level, President G-Dubs Bush. Listen to it, it’s certainly creative, and even almost catchy in its own right. Here's something similar done to R.E.M.

Ed Harcourt - In the Bleak Midwinter (Rossetti/Holst)
A lesser-known Christmas hymn here, it’s got a lot of history as a mid-19th century poem later set to music. Harcourt rocks it out, reels it back in, then rocks it out harder.

Herbie Hancock ft. Corrine Bailey Rae – River (Joni Mitchell)
The original song doesn’t really have all that much to do with Christmas when you listen to it, but it’s become a holiday staple for some reason, and lord knows there are plenty of good covers of it. This one’s off the surprise black sheep nomination for this year’s Album of the Year Grammy.

Neko Case - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Tom Waits)
I would think this would be impossible to cover, but Case does a nice slow-burning version accompanied only by some sort of airy organ.

Tom Waits - Silent Night (Mohr/Gruber/Trad.)
Tom used to use fragments of this to bookend Christmas Card live in concert in the late 70’s, but I hadn’t realized he recorded a version for a charity album ten years later. Where the 70’s version was drunken piano, that instrument is nowhere near this martial holler with soaring vocals (well, the ones that aren’t Tom’s are soaring), strings, accordion, and god knows what else thrown in there.

SUFJAN ON OTHERS
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Sufjan Stevens. I like the idea behind his music, the boundaries he’s breaking, and all that. I even like the songs, one at a time. The problem is when you listen to a full album all the cuteness gives me a headache. It’s just all so…precious. His style I wouldn’t have thought would lend itself to covering others, but the opposite is true. He picks the perfect songs to do, ones that he can transform into his style without bastardizing or warping them.

Sufjan Stevens - Ring Them Bells (Bob Dylan)
I have hundreds of Dylan covers, so to say this is one of the best is pretty high praise. For the soundtrack to the recent Dylan quasi-bio I’m Not There, Sufjan took a lesser-known track off of 1989’s Oh Mercy and, well, made it sound like a Sufjan Stevens song. Where Bob’s version is ponderous and thoughtful, Sufjan’s is sprightly and nimble, with tinkling pianos, shiny backing vocals, and the unexpected addition of blasting horns.

Sufjan Stevens - Free Man in Paris (Joni Mitchell)
Another song Sufjan all but reinvents, paring the wailing original pared back a bit (a rare approach for Sufjan), or at least seeming to with the xylophones, strings and trumpets tastefully used. The tempo and structure jumps back and forth, finally leading to a chorus with more energy behind it than he usually puts forth.

Sufjan Stevens – Variation on ‘Commemorative Transfiguration and Communion at Magruder Park’ (John Fahey)
Mostly an instrumental, this song becomes quintessential Sufjan with the harmonies, flutes, and all-around prettiness. I personally wish he’d stripped it back, cause that plucked solo guitar line that periodically emerges doesn’t need the frills. An extra bonus, almost a separate cover, is the gorgeous version of the Hallelujah Chorus he tacks on the end.

Sufjan Stevens - She Is (Tim Buckley)
Finally, something simpler. Sufjan puts his voice front and center as he slows down Buckley’s far more aggressive original.

Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On (The Beatles)
The Beatles are notoriously difficult to cover. How do you improve on perfection? Most artists just stick closely to the original, which all but defeats the purpose of the cover. Sufjan at least doesn’t fall into that trap, combing a slow bell-full chorus with a more rocking verse structure using, believe it or not, electric guitars! Didn’t realize Sufjan knew those existed. Over twice as long as the original, with instrumental meltdown halfway through, making it almost unrecognizable.

Sufjan Stevens - Holy Holy Holy (Reginald Heber)
From his just-released album of Christmas originals and covers, he stays faithful to the original tune here, with his breathy vocals sounding like a private prayer more than a public performance.

OTHERS ON SUFJAN
Sufjan’s songs tend to have about twenty sections each, with instrument parts intricately arranged in a way that seems impenetrable. If you take that all out though, you realize he creates beautiful and simple melodies, which the artists below capitalize on in different ways. He could learn a lesson from these: not every song needs a goddamn flute.

Doron Diamond - For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti (Sufjan Stevens)
There are hundreds of Sufjan covers on youtube, almost all of which are worthless. So I wasn’t even gonna bother searching around until another blog pointed me in the direction of this one, a gorgeous solo-banjo take on the track from the first state concept album Michigan.

XN - Vito's Ordination Song (Sufjan Stevens)
A really slow-burner here, a couple guitars meandering around each other before an atonal horn and percussion sneaks in. The original’s words have vanished though, as singing against this arrhythmic build would be all but impossible. Good by itself, but probably even better on acid.

David Crowder Band - Oh God Where Are You Now (In Pickerel Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?) (Sufjan Stevens)
Above we saw Sufjan covering a Christian song, so here’s a Christian rock group covering Sufjan. Piano and quiet chimes back a wavering and heartbreaking vocal that builds through a repeated “da da da” that says more than actual words could. I’m pretty sure Crowder doesn’t think God is specifically in Michigan though. Damn this guy has some long song titles though.

Indie Blockdapella - Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Sufjan Stevens)
Enough with Michigan, let’s switch to the state that really matters: Illinois. Nathan Smart vocalizes all the parts on this one, basically what you’d expect an acapella version of this song to sound like. Which is a good thing.

Microfilm - Chicago (Sufjan Stevens)
My favorite of the bunch, an electropop that trashes the cuteness of the original and makes it a dance tune with Radiohead-esq programming.

Ryan Carey - Casimir Pulaski Day (Sufjan Stevens)
Not hugely different than the original in terms of arrangement, a strummed acoustic guitar, but I like the vocals better on this one. More direct and less breathy, highlighting the great lyrics instead of simply how cute Sufjan is.

Rockabye Baby - Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time! (Sufjan Stevens)
The excited title on this one is exactly the opposite of this version which, as you might guess from the group/conglomerate who perform this, is a lyric-less lullaby. The melody has strong similarities to Chicago, but the sounds couldn’t be more different.

Birds might seem a pretty lame topic for a post, but it turns out there are quite a few good songs about our fine feathered friends. And a lot of band ones too. First person to request Freebird, I swear to god...

The Ramones - Surfin' Bird (The Trashmen)
The Trashmen's lone claim to fame could be argued as the first punk-rock song. So, an obvious choice for the Ramones to make even more punk (by singing it out of tune). Crank up the distortion, try even harder to break the drum kit, and sing the same nonsencical lyrics...nice.

Uncle Earl - Canary In a Coalmine (The Police)
Sometimes a group just picks the perfect song to cover. The Police version sounds like the awkward reinterpretation after hearing this bluegrass folk version. Sting clearly wrote for the wrong genre with this one, with maybe his best lyrics ever: "You say you want to spend the winter in Firenze / You're so afraid to catch a dose of influenza." This recording is live from earlier this year, but hopefully they'll release a studio version too.

Patti Smith - When Doves Cry (Prince)
Recorded for her 2002 hits compilation Land, one of the master of the cover keeps just enough of the tune and dance-rock while whining out the over-the-top angry-lover lyrics over some nice fuzz guitar.

Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band - Rockin' Robin (Bobby Day)
Everyone knows Michael Jackson's hit single, his second solo song ever, but here the lame flute is gone in favor of accordion, and lots of it! And as everyone knows, nothing goes better with squeezebox than saxophone (what??) so there's a wailed out solo as icing on the cake. Thanks to Cover Freak for this discovery.

Duncan Sheik - Songbird (Fleetwood Mac)
Sheik takes Christine McVie's classic off Rumours and sings it over a thick bed of strings without, impressively enough, sounding lame. Sounds like a track from a 40's Cary Grant musical.

Bruce Springsteen - Pretty Flamingo (Manfred Mann)
Given that Manfred Mann had about half their hits with Bruce songs, it was mighty kind of the Boss to reply the covering favor. And, of course, he makes it epic, throwing in rambling anecdotes about the pool hall and never-ending sing-a-longs. Never officially recorded it as far as I know, but this version is from the legendary Hammersmith shows of '75.

Willie Nelson - Bird on a Wire (Leonard Cohen)
Nelson's country twang can be quite grating, but it offsets the beautiful melody and arrangement here perfectly, keeping it down to Earth with some emotive singing and, hooray, more accordion.

Dartmouth Aires - The Cuckoo (Taj Mahal/Trad.)
A very poppy update of the classic folk ballad, I can't exactly figure out the origins of this great arrangement. They give Taj credit, but it sure doesn't sound much like his version to my ears. Anyone know more?

Element 101 - I'm Like a Bird (Nelly Furtado)
This may be one of my least favorite songs ever. Without Nelly's nasal vibrato, it's somewhat better here. Somewhat. If you like punk covers of pop songs though, check it out.

Jars of Clay - I'll Fly Away (Albert E Brumley)
The gospel staple gets a slightly updated take, with help from other Christian rocker. Still plenty of soaring vocals, inspirational message, and all that.

Covers of songs just released are hard to come by, for obvious reasons. There has been forty years for people to cover the latest Beatles song, about three months for the latest Kanye. So for today’s post I’ve collected together a few covers of songs from the last year or two, which these artists jumped on immediately to reinterpret.

-side note: check out my guest post at the fabulous blog of Disney covers Covering the Mouse!-

Editors - Feel Good Inc (Gorillaz)
An English indie rock band, the break-beat synth-rap of the original is transformed into a folkey acoustic jam, tunes given to the rap version in lead singer Tom Smith’s soulful baritone.

We Are Scientists - Bang Bang Rock and Roll (Art Brut)
The two groups represented here went on tour with each other a year ago, and released a promo 7” of them covering each others songs. Haven’t been able to get my hands on Art Brut’s versions of The Great Escape (help anyone?), but WAS released this one on their B-Sides album Crap Attack. Take the structure of the original, and bends it a bit to make it more…normal.

30 Seconds to Mars – Stronger (Kanye West)
I couldn’t believe there was already such a good cover of this one out. The guys sure didn’t waste much time. The band seems to be mostly a My Chemical Romance knock-off, but here they strip the theatrics back for a spacey meandering take on the hit single, where the only hint of the original is a synth version of the Daft Punk sample fading in and out.

Porter Block - Breaking Free (High School Musical)
I try not to post covers just for the humor value, but I couldn’t imagine there would be anything else redeeming about this. I think the movie may be the worst thing to happen to music since James Blunt, but Porter almost makes this song sound legitimate.

Manchester Orchestra – Brother (Annuals)
Where the original starts with two minutes of Radiohead-esq ambient whining, MO skips directly to the melody part, extracting a beautiful and catchy melody that I never would have known was in there.

The White Stripes - Shelter of Your Arms (The Greenhornes)
Take a step away from their normal Delta blues covers, Jack and Meg throw tourmates The Greenhornes a bone here in a wild cover of the 2005 track, paving the way for a couple of the Greenhornes to join Jack in the Raconteurs. Only released as a B-side to The Denial Twist single, this song is arguably better than anything they’ve released recently on their actual albums.

Goat - Sugar We're Going Down (Fall Out Boy)
Off of the great Guilt By Association comp (where Breaking Free came from too), Goat mixes Houston hip-hop with Appalachian bluegrass in a very inventive cover. The original is by one of my least favorite bands ever, so I’m still not sure that this redeems the song, but it gets close.

Weird Al - Polkarama! (Various)
Everyone knows Al’s penchant for the parody (a cousin of the cover), but you may not realize he does covers on almost every Al-bum, taking loads of recent hits and shoving them, lyrically intact but musically destroyed, into a polka medley. This one, off Straight Outta Lynwood, features takes on Let’s Get It Started, Float On, Don’t Cha, Gold Digger, and many more.

Pascal Fricke- You Can Never Hold Back Spring (Tom Waits)
The master of the instrumental Waits cover, for this one Fricke finger-picks out a ukulele version of the song only weeks after it was first released on last year’s Orphans.