Oh, oh, smother me, mother

[venta]

It's Friday, it's about 3 o'clock. It's time to go underneath the covers (with the lights out).

I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...

Today's cover version [link to mp3 download expired]

The Boo Radleys covering The Queen Is Dead, originally by The Smiths

Yes, since you ask, we have already had one cover of this song. Really, The Smiths, very much covered. They're nearly as bad as the Cure for having people churning cover versions out. When planning my years of covers, I did briefly consider having "Cure month" and "Smiths month" before deciding that that'd just end up with me being beaten to death by Morrissey- and Bob-haters.

Anyway, yes. The Boo Radleys. We all know what they sound like, right? Bouncey, cheery pop, remember Wake Up Boo!.

Er... no. That was one of those Tubthumpin' moments where one song stands as shorthand for a band's entire career and, unsurprisingly, their one mega-hit turns out not really to sound very much like the rest of their stuff which didn't much trouble the charts.

The Boo Radleys are a much underrated band. Try C'mon Kids for a nice halfway house between weirdness and out-and-out pop.

This track comes form one of those bizarre, tribute-cover CDs, in this case The Smiths Is Dead. Which I remember as being disappointingly awful. However, the tracklisting looks unfamiliar and interesting, so I'm about to re-listen and re-evaluate. I'll get back to you.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Cemetry Gates [sic], The Frank and Walters. Bit of a weird one. Starts off very F&W with a prominent, chirpy bassline. Goes *very* Smiths for the Thrice undone... bits then reverts. Good overall, but I like the F&W-flavoured bits a lot better.

Bigmouth Strikes Again, Placebo. Sounds *exactly* like Placebo singing a Smiths song would sound. Like the original, but very slightly less jangly and with Molko's distinctive diction making things like "melt" into two-syllable words. Gets its distorty wail on a bit towards the end.

The Boy With a Thorn In His Side, Bis. Bis? Blimey I was curious about this. Sadly it lacks the spiky saccharine of the Bis songs I know, having instead an in-yer-face beat, and vocals as if someone had shut Bis in a dustbin. With reverb. Maybe they did.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Vicar in a Tutu, Therapy?. Well, despite having seen them recently, I totally failed to recognise this as Therapy?. Again, slower than the original (amazing how many have ended up slowed down), with a dirty-sounding buzzy bass. I feel that if the vocals had just tried a bit harder this could have been really good.

There Is A Light..., The Divine Comedy. Well, y'know, it sounds like the Divine Comedy. The accompaniment is epic, and very pretty in places, but Hannon's too-musical-for-rock voice just sounds as if it's trying to force too much emotion in to words that were, let's face it, pretty bloody silly in the first place.

Some Girls..., Supergrass. Well, if anyone can rock their way through the banality of this song, and emerge triumphant with their senses of humour in tact, I'd have thought Supergrass were in with a chance. Sadly, it just sounds quite like the original. Only with Gaz Thingy's voice instead of Morrissey's.

Addendum: aargh. They even slavishly copy the fade-out-fade-in at the end. Bah.

Conclusion: for once, I recommend you *don't* buy this album. Go and buy something else instead.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

I have spent years regretting not getting hold of that album, and no longer - thanks!