Named after the debut single by Teenage Fanclub.
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This blog is all about being a music lover in Glasgow; reviews, interviews, memories, old faves, new discoveries (past & present) and more. Thanks for visiting - I hope you discover something amazing you've never heard before, or that you rediscover an old favourite.
Regular features/playlists; Never Ending Mixtape / Cover Version of the Month/ Trust Me.
Twitter - @murrayeaston
Email - murrayeaston {AT} gmail {DOT} com
Cover version of the month #114 Primal Scream & Kate Moss cover Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra
Primal Scream's Evil Heat album, released in 2002, was a bit of a messy affair. The band were possibly a little burnt out from recording and touring 2000's extraordinary XTRMNTR, where they recorded and produced with the help of an exceptional array of guests including Kevin Shields, The Chemical Brothers and David Holmes. Their live XTRMNTR shows were a sonic kaleidoscopic exploration, with Shields joining them on stage to create all kinds of glorious white noise over techno beats.
Looking back, the Scream's run from 1991's Screamadelica, taking in Give Out But Don't Give Up, Vanishing Point and through to XTRMNTR is pretty astonishing. They knew no boundaries, pushed themselves to new levels, collaborated with Weatherall, Holmes and the Chemicals, went to Memphis to play country soul and rock n roll, benefited greatly from the addition of Mani on bass and partied harder than most.
What goes up, must come down.
Evil Heat was a bit disappointing for me. I only really revisit 2 songs from the album; the sublime and dreamy Autobahn 66 and their cover of Some Velvet Morning with Kate Moss. Truth be told, I rarely listen to much of the Scream's work post XTRMNTR. Maybe 6-8 songs or so? The band rarely play much from their post 2000 albums either.
Back to the cover version though. There is added zip and electro sleaze on the extended version of the song with Gillespie singing in a menacing whisper and Moss's vocals sounding dreamlike at times and beautifully seductive at others, especially at the end when she is purring look at us but do not touch.
Then there's the video. A masterclass in lo-fi psychedelia and effortless cool. Bobby Gillespie, all rock 'n' roll swagger, looking good, great hair, sharing the screen with the iconic Moss, wearing a babydoll dress, all sultry and seductive. Both start in seated positions, but are seemingly brought to life by the songs pulse and the psychedelic light show going on behind them.
Before long, Gillespie is up at a mic, a modern and cooler take on Sid Vicious's look while singing My Way and Moss is prowling and dancing to the beat, looking effortlessly gorgeous. It's simple, yet utterly captivating. Surreal and beautiful.
The original Some Velvet Morning isn't just a song; it's a legend, created by whispered awes in the decades since it was released. In pre-internet and social media times, this was a song that was passed down and around via mixtapes, often mentioned by bands I followed in interviews.
Hazelwood and Sinatra's Some Velvet Morning is kind of psychedelic folk by way of a western. It’s a dreamlike, almost unsettling duet, full of cryptic lyrics and a haunting, ethereal beauty.
The contrast between the two singers creates a masterpiece of tension and seduction, a truly one-of-a-kind creation. Hazlewood's gruff baritone weaving around Sinatra's innocent, almost childlike delivery;
Flowers growing on a hill
Dragonflies and daffodils
This becomes super trippy around the 3-minute mark, when the song is cut up to have Hazelwood and Sinatra singing line about, with the music completely different for each line. It's the kind of song that sounds like it came from another dimension, existing outside of time. No wonder it is still talked of in wonder.
Primal Scream's electronic transformation of the song is super cool. Hazlewood and Sinatra's version feels like a hazy journey through a fever dream. The Scream Team take it on a shimmering, swirling sonic adventure - creating a pulsing groove, synth soundscapes and swirling texture. Both have a dreamy quality that isn't easy to capture on record.
Gillespie and Moss will have shared a few velvet mornings in their time. It's a great cover version.
Hazelwood and Sinatra's original and the Primal Scream cover of Some Velvet Morning (I've opted for the version on their Dirty Hits album) are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Cover version of the month #106 The Kingsmen cover Louie Louie by Richard Berry and The Pharaohs
I recently watched the magnificent 24-Hour Party People film for the first time in ages. Steve Coogan is outstanding as Tony Wilson (with a little dash of Partridge) while the formation of Factory Records, development of Joy Division, Ian Curtis' suicide, opening and mismanagement of the Hacienda, reliance/total piss-take on New Order's money and chaos of the Happy Mondays are portrayed with the right levels of honesty, empathy, bemusement and humour.
In the film, local punk fan Jon the Postman regularly gets up at the end of gigs to sing the evergreen garage band anthem Louie Louie, determined to keep the party going and sing his favourite song. Jon would go on to form a band and often guest with others. This led to him appearing with The Fall on Live 1977 album singing a ramshackle version.
Louie Louie is a song I most definitely heard for the first time in McChuills. It was, and still is, regularly played by Old Nick in the bar. Probably by most DJ's at some point as well!
Covered by well over 1,000 bands/artists, including The Sonics, Iggy Pop, Motorhead and The Clash, I was convinced that the original was by The Kingsmen, as that was the version referenced by the bands and in the numerous articles I had read over the decades. However, it turns out that a guy called Richard Berry wrote and recorded the song with his band The Pharaohs back in 1955.
I'd never heard the original until I started researching the song for this blog. On first listen, I have to admit to finding it pretty uninspiring. I guess I'm used to the rawness of The Kingsmen and The Sonics, while The Pharaohs version is slower and smoother.
But the laid-back groove did grab me on second listen. It is undeniably catchy, allegedly inspired by Latin rhythms, particularly René Touzet’s El Loco Cha Cha. Berry crafted a story about a sailor longing for his love while stranded on a foreign shore.
The story of the song, author, rights, publishing and ownership are quite something! There is a book in there for someone! A few google searches will direct you to some cracking articles.
By the mid-80's Berry was living on welfare and then the drinks company California Cooler used the song in a commercial. Despite the fact Berry had sold the rights to the song almost immediately after writing it, he still owned the radio and TV performance rights. He became a millionaire!
Lets travel back to 1963 though, when a young band from Portland, Oregon, called The Kingsmen took a raw, raucous approach to Louie Louie, generating immediate ripples and recording something so important that it has left a permanent mark on guitar music, stamping their name into rock history.
This could well be the most important cover version of all-time.
Apparently The Kingsmen played a 90-minute version at a teen club the night before recording. Can you imagine if that was unearthed?! What I find remarkable is how they create such a dirty sound when they look so clean cut!
Louie Louie by The Kingsmen is gloriously messy—recorded in one take with a distorted, almost unintelligible vocal from singer Jack Ely, who had to stand awkwardly to sing into a microphone hanging from the ceiling (they were essentially recording in a radio studio), resulting in a primal energy that would define garage guitar music for generations. It's so pure and real that it is completely timeless.
Beginning with an organ riff, everything else falls in behind and the energy grabs you immediately as Ely goes straight to the chorus, his words tumbling and stumbling into each other as he flies through the you take me to where you gotta go in double quick time.
Louie, Louie, oh no, you take me to where you gotta go
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby
Louie, Louie, take me to where you gotta go
Ely is like the original Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. Sounding like he is making it up as he goes along, a detached cool don't give a f**k attitude. You can just about make out what he is saying, although the lyrics would be the subject of much debate among teenagers in America who would speculate and write their own on pieces of paper and pass them round. Amazingly, and brilliantly, this led to the FBI were investigating the song! Lets just say that the lyrics that kids were passing around were not exactly clean! Rock n roll!
A fine little girl, she waits for me
Me catch a ship across the sea
Me sailed that ship all alone
Me never think I'll make it home
After a second chorus there is an audible shout of fuck from someone somewhere (believed to be the drummer) on the recording and Ely continues to tell his tale of sailing across the seas to his girl.
Following the second verse and another chorus, Ely screams OK, lets give it to 'em right now leading to an outstanding 30-second guitar solo over the simple and sublime organ riff. It is electrifying! The Kingsmen are in the zone, lost in the moment and no matter how many times you listen, they draw you in with them.
There is a false start before the next verse, beautifully covered with a beautiful roll by drummer Lynn Easton (my wife's name!) and then they go into it for real. This just adds to the cool, raw, unpolished, urgent vibe. The energy. You can't teach this. You can't produce this or arrange it. If you're lucky, you might capture it.
Louie Louie by The Kingsmen got off to a slow start, just 1,000 copies were initially pressed by Jerden Records, then it got picked up by a larger label, Wand Records. Remarkably, things picked up after a DJ played it as his worst record of the week!
Sometimes, the best songs are the simplest ones, built on passion rather than perfection. The infectious energy created from Louie Louie is still being felt today. It's a classic three-chord wonder that has been covered by everyone from The Sonics to Iggy Pop, The Beach Boys to Otis Redding, The Kinks to The Clash.
The Richard Berry original and the landmark cover version by The Kingsmen of Louie Louie are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Cover version of the month #98 BMX Bandits (with The Wellgreen) and Lighships cover Moondog
I had never heard of Moondog until 2022 when I caught Gerard Love playing a string of Autumn shows in and around Glasgow. Gerry introduced a cover of Do Your Thing which had had a slow, dreamy, flowing and gorgeous melody that melted hearts. It seemed to have been written for him!
I found out that Gerry released a version on the b-side to Lightships Sweetness In Her Spark single in 2012. I later learned (quite recently) that BMX Bandits had recorded a version back in 2009 with friends Marco Rea and Stu Kidd (The Wellgreen) that came out on YouTube in 2012.
Moondog's original sets his beautiful melody over some stunning piano and he delivers solid advice for just over 3-minutes over 2 verses, including;
Do your best
And opportunity will do the rest
Don't give in
Capitulation is the greatest sin
And in the second verse;
Learn to wait
And while you're waiting, learn to concentrate
Moondog's voice, melody and words feel and sound effortless. Almost like a hushed and dreamy nursery rhyme. The piano is delightfully playful and I'm guessing that (like me) you'll play this song a few times in a row.
BMX Bandits with The Wellgreen recorded a loving cover back in 2009 (see below for an interview with Duglas T Stewart) when they had a couple of spare hours in the studio. Duglas, backed by the talent of Marco Rea and Stu Kidd, remain pretty true to the original. The fact that the trio had limited time helps create a very organic feeling, the little keyboard solo sounds beautifully lofi and pure. Stewart's voice works so well with Rea and Kidd doing backing vocals and harmonies. Kidd's military style drumming is a delight and the fact that both Stuart and Marco are exceptionally talented multi-instrumentalists means that a couple of studio hours can be extremely productive. You can hear the love for the song in this recording. I'd been planning a blog on Do Your Thing for some time, but only discovered the BMX Bandits version very recently.
Photo by Mark Gilles
Do Your Thing is already pretty dreamy, but on the Lightships cover, Love and co add a psychedelic sleeping pill to slow it down and stretch it to 5 minutes 35 seconds, replacing the piano with gentle xylophone, guitar, brush strokes on the drums. The melody really suits Gerry's voice and style. This is pure gorgeousness, beautifully hypnotic, you can get lost in the music. If the original is a dreamy nursery rhyme, Lightships version is a psychedelic lullaby. Close your eyes and drift away. The last two minutes are exquisite.
The Moondog original and Lightships cover version are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below an interview with Duglas T Stewart. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
You can download the BMX Bandits version from Bandcamp
Thanks to Duglas for answering a few questions about Moondog and creating a playlist.
1. How did you discover Moondog? Did someone introduce you to his music, or did you stumble across it yourself?
I discovered Moondog's in Japan in the early 1990s while in Tokyo with BMX Bandits. My girlfriend at the time, later my wife, Midori introduced me to lots of incredible music and she recommended that I should buy a CD that featured two of his albums, Moondog (1969) and Moondog 2 (1979).
John Hogarty, who was playing guitar with us at that time also bought a copy. I had never heard anything like his music before. The rhythmic patterns with so quirky and brilliant. Some of it was like jazz, some of it was more like orchestral soundtrack music and then there were almost nursery rhyme like vocal rounds and songs with simple truths at the heart of them sung by Moondog and his daughter. Although I am making some comparisons there it still felt totally unique. It sounded as though it was created by an original thinker.
2. What attracted you to cover 'Do Your Thing'? How important were The Wellgreen to the recording?
We recorded our version of Do Your Thing in just a couple of hours on June 1st 2009. I had thought for a long time that I could imagine it as a BMX Bandits track. The melody sounded like it would suit BMX bandits and I had an idea of how I wanted to approach it, a bit like a School House Rock song meets BMX Bandits (School House Rock was an American educational animated series that featured cool songs with an educational twist. Two of the most famous examples are 3 is the Magic Number and Unpack Your Adjectives).
Marco & Stu from back in the day.
I was at Marco Rea from the Wellgreen's studio with Stuart Kidd, who was the other half of The Wellgreen at that time, and Brian McEwan, who was one of BMX Bandits then. We were recording another song for a tribute album that was never released. I suggested since we had recorded the other track so quickly that we should have a go at Do Your Thing. I explained my concept for it and I really wanted to utilise the magical vocal blend Marco and Stuart have together.
The original Wellgreen vocal blend and Stuart and Marco's incredible ability to work really quickly and instinctively was key to how the track turned out.
3. Are there any other songs by Moondog that you are fond of?
Moondog is a major musical figure for me and for a number of my musician friends. Bill Wells is a major Moondog fan and was meant to be collaborating with Moondog and then sadly Moondog died before it could happen. Norman from Teenage Fanclub is a fan and recorded a version of another Moondog Song (My Tiny Butterfly) with Bill Wells. The first V-Twin single, a collaboration with Bill Wells, used a sample of a Moondog rhythm as its backbone. David Scott of The Pearlfishers is also a major fan.
David and I organised a tribute concert to Moondog featuring a set of versions of some of our favourite pieces written by him. I think The Trashcan Sinatras have covered a Moondog song in the past and Gerry Love's band Lightships also recorded a version of Do Your Thing. Gerry took the song in quite a different direction from us and it is really effective, testament to the strength of the original song. The Pastels are also Moondog fans.
I helped put together a reissue of an album that Moondog made in 1957 with Julie Andrews. He is a unique musical figure. He was blind and lived and performed on the streets of New York dressed like a Viking playing music on his own home made instruments but found an audience for his unique music and in later life he moved to Europe. I am going to make a playlist of some of my favourite Moondog music to go along with this piece.
4. BMX Bandits have covered a number of songs over the years. Do any (apart from this one) stand out for you?
There's too many to mention but one of my personal favourites is a cover version of a song by a Hong Kong duo My Little Airport called You Don't Wanna Be My Girlfriend, Phoebe. It is such an incredible song, our version's arrangement/ instrumentation is very different from the original. It was recorded by Stuart Kidd, James McEwan and me, again very quickly and it was also recorded in 2009. I'd like to play it live sometime.
5. My own favourite cover version is probably Richie Havens cover of Lamont Doziers Going Back To My Roots. Could you choose a favourite (or a few if you can't narrow it down)?
The obvious choice for me is one that you have featured on here, Harpers Bizarre's version of Jim Pepper's song Witchi Tai To (Duglas kindly answered some questions on this incredible song HERE) but I will give you another one, which is an album of cover versions by Laura Nyro and LaBelle called Gonna Take a Miracle. I know that your sister also loves that album. I think I recommended it to her. When I first saw the tracklisting of the album I thought it was crazy. It features all of these versions of classic songs that I thought had untouchable original versions . I couldn't understand anyone having the audacity to cover these classics but I decided to buy it because I was curious as well as outraged. When I listened I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it is so incredible, so life affirming from start to finish and it remains one of my ultimate favourite albums to this day.
6. Lastly, if you could choose someone to cover one of your songs, who would it be, why and what song would you like them to sing and play?
My favourite new artist to emerge this Century is a singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and arranging talent called Sofie Royer. Please check out her incredible album Harlequin if you don't already know it. Well, of course I would love for her to cover one of my songs and I would be delighted for her to make her own choice of any of my songs that I have written or co-written. That would be such a thrill but she has enough great songs of her own so that's just an idle dream.
I love recording and playing live cover versions of songs that I love by other artists because I am a fan and also it's a great way to learn new ways of doing things that you can bring to your own music in the future.
UPDATE - on Friday 21st June Duglas watched The Cords and said; "The Cords were fantastic at the Glasgow launch for Grant McPhee's Postcards from Scotland book. I loved their whole set, which they finished with a beautiful cover of BMX Bandits I Wanna Fall In Love. I had tears in my eyes."
Cover version of the month #92 Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse covers The Zutons
Amy Winehouse teaming up with Mark Ronson to cover Valerie by The Zutons must be the one of the most successful cover versions of the 21st century.
Released in October 2007, almost exactly a year after Winehouse's phenomenal second album Back To Black, Valerie was very arguably the only music of note that Amy recorded after her breakthrough.
Peaking at number 2 in the charts, but spending 19 weeks inside the top 20, Ronson and Winehouse sold well over 300,000 copies of the single in just a couple of months.
The song was everywhere; radio, TV, becoming a favourite of wedding bands, in commercials .... with the royalties ensuring The Zutons Dave McCabe, who originally wrote the song, could buy a house. Indeed, McCabe can still pretty much live off the royalties.
The Zutons released Valerie as a single in June 2006 and it reached a peak of number 9 in the charts. The bands Tired Of Hanging Around album reached number 2. They were doing well and I remember catching them play the Barrowland around this time. They looked like a real gang; McCabe - the curly haired frontman, Abi Harding on saxaphone, Russell Pritchard on bass (now playing with Noel Gallager's High Flying Birds) and friends. The Zutons came out of a Liverpool scene that the NME lazily labelled scallydelica.
A love of Love and getting stoned seemed to shine out of Liverpool bands. I used to enjoy reading all the interviews with the likes of The Coral. It sounded like they just sat around listening to music or playing music all day long. And that came out in the music being released on Liverpool label Deltasonic - set up by Alan Wills, who used to drum with Shack.
The Basement, The Coral, The Zutons, The Little Flames and others were all bands kicking around the Liverpool scene and the gig circuit across the country. Of course, The Coral and The Zutons broke through.
I have found it really interesting to revisit The Zutons original version of Valerie for this blog as I'm much more familiar with the Winehouse and Ronson version these days.
On my first time revisiting The Zutons version, I thought it sounded a little slow. But it improved after a couple of listens, after I reacquainted myself with the original; jangling guitars, a raspy soulful vocal, strong backbeat and stabbing horns.
However, I do prefer the Ronson and Winehouse version. The beat feels more urgent, the groove is cooler, Winehouse sings effortlessly and the production (as you would expect with Ronson) is absolutely top class.
Winehouse plays with the vocals, accentuating words and phrases. Her voice crackles, soars, goes a little deeper and then goes beautifully clear. What a singer, what a sad, sad loss.
Ronson deserves a tonne of credit for his arrangement; the horns, bass groove, percussion - it really is sublime. Ronson produced Amy's iconic Back To Black album and you wonder what delights the two of them could have conjured up if they had worked together again. We'll never know.
The Zutons original and the Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse cover version are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Cum On Feel The Noize was Slade's 4th number 1 single when it came out in 1973. Written by Noddy Holder, the bands loveable rogue of a frontman, and bass player Jim Lea, the song was produced by Chas Chandler, once of The Animals and also former manager of Jimi Hendrix.
Holder was inspired by the feeling and the noise that Slade generated from their live shows.
What a glorious noize indeed! Holder's cry of baby, baby, baby at the start generates an energy that never drops. If anything it rises as Holder repeats And I don't know why, and I don't know why twice in the verse(s) before leading to a chorus made for concerts, playgrounds and terraces alike. It's a fantastic noisy, brashy and fun guitar pop single.
So cum on feel the noize
Girls grab your boys
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Perfect then, for Oasis. It feels like the song could have been written for them, or by them.
Oasis covered a number of songs through the years. Their cover of The Beatles I Am The Walrus helped attract attention in their early years and it remained a staple part of the bands set through the glory years, closing their triumphant Knebworth shows with John Squire guesting on guitar.
But, for me, Cum On Feel The Noize is (by far) their best cover. Oasis play and sing it with real gusto. It sounds like they are relishing the performance, they tear through it and Liam Gallagher's voice is incredible.
Oasis generated their own wall of sound/noize in that 94-95 period and they perfected it with this cover version. Liam singing girls grab your boys, we'll get wild, wild, wild is spine tingling. For me, 1995-96 was peak Liam Gallagher, his voice strengthened from constant touring. He just goes for it ... and nails it.
Oasis fly through the song, it's a brilliant choice of cover, a little left-field given their Beatles obsession, and they deliver a performance that really captures the energy of the band.
Released as a b-side to Don't Look Back In Anger, the band ended up playing it on Top of the Pops, check Liam having fun with the so you think my singing's out of time section!
I've also included a link to Noel singing it on Later with Jools from 1995 when Liam was away for an MOT as he'd been out partying.
The Slade original and Oasis cover version are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
