Team Perfect is a collaboration between Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and Dev Hynes (of Lightspeed Champion). Back in 2007, the both worked together to cover a ton of tracks from Green Day's 1998 album, Nimrod along with a Blink 182 song. Florence is known for covering songs from artists as diverse as Beyonce, Talking Heads, Buddy Holly, Robert Palmer, and The Beatles. Florence is insanely talented it hurts. There is no one like her in today's music world. She has such an intense presense, an amazing voice and just an all around awesome singer. Here are Team Perfect covering Green Day and Blink 182 and I will include a few of Florence and the Machine cover songs as well. These are all raw, acoustic recordings. It's really odd to see Florence cuss like a sailor, but it's great!
The Grouch (Green Day cover)
Worry Rock (Green Day cover)
Platypus (Green Day cover)
Hitchin A Ride (Green Day cover)
Nice Guys Finish Last (Green Day cover)
Scattered (Green Day cover)
Redundant (Green Day cover)
All The Time (Green Day cover)
they didn't only do Green Day covers, they also covered Blink 182
Adam's Song (Blink 182 cover)
and that's all the songs available from Team Perfect. Here are some songs that the actual band Florence and the Machine have covered. I tried to make this as extensive as possible. If I have missed anything, please message me and let me know!
Oh Darling! (Beatles cover)
Wild Wild Life (Talking Heads cover)... with the band dressed up in costumes...
I apologize for their not being a list for last week. Once again, I've been busy. I will make up for it with more entries soon. Now, on with this week's list!!
To really hear an artist's work, you must look past the hit singles. The
entire album is worth hearing to truly get a glimpse of it all in one
body of work. Here are some of the albums I am listening to this week.
Alkaline Trio - Crimson (2005)
This happens to be my favorite album from this Chicago-based band. This is the most mature record to date from this band and a far cry from 1998's Goddamit!. This is a very melodic, rich album. I love the songs Mercy Me and Sadie(about Susan Atkins) especially. Yes, they have become more "pop" but in a really good way. This isn't a sellout record, this is Alkaline Trio at their most real. Burn is a song I keep going back to.This album comes with a bonus CD full of acoustic versions of the songs from the album which is a really cool concept. If you are unfamiliar with their music, I would suggest getting this album or Maybe I'll Catch Fire. Here are some of my favorite tracks.
Burn:
Mercy Me:
Sadie:
Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth (1993)
The sixth album from Dead Can Dance. What is interesting about this album is that it was their first record where Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry did all the instrumentation themselves. Brendan was living on an island in Ireland at the time and Lisa was living in Australia. They recorded their parts separately then brought them together. This record is a lot more spirutually uplifting than previous ones and remains one of my favorite ones. There is a strong ethnic influence, most likely from Lisa Gerrard. The album title refers to the Greek myth of Theseus going into the labyrinth to fight the Minotaur and is mentioned on several songs on this album. The songs The Carnival is Over and Tell Me About the Forest both borrow from Joy Division lyrics. This album is excellent and really shows this band focused, passionate and like nothing else out there. Words cannot fully describe the love I have for this band. Here's some songs I love:
The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove:
The Carnival is Over:
Towards The Within:
The Adverts - Crossing The Red Sea with the Adverts (1978)
Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts is the debut album from UK punk band The Adverts. It's a shame they only had two albums and that their second album is such a disappointment. This album is full of newwaveish riffs and catchy lyrics. TV Smith is a great frontmen and should have beeen as popular as Joe Strummer or Joey Ramone.He has that sort of charisma. Gary Gilmore's Eyes is based off the movie of the same name where a person gets an eye transplant and gets the eyes of a killer. Other great songs are Bored Teenagers and No Time to be 21. These songs are anthems and once again, classics from this very underrated band. Here are some great songs from this album. Bored Teenagers:
No Time To Be 21:
Gary Gilmore's Eyes:
Morrissey - You Are The Quarry (2004)
This record was seen as a comeback due to being dropped by his previous record label because of the disappointing sales of 1997's Maladjusted. This album also got Morrissey his highest US debut at #11 and it debuted at #2 in the UK. The first single Irish Blood, English Heart also secured Morrissey's highest charting single at #3 in the UK. This album was produced by Jerry Finn who had worked with bands like Green Day, Jawbreaker, Blink 182, Bad Religion and Rancid. A bit of a change for Morrissey, and it paid off well. One of the main themes I noticed about this album is Morrissey talking about causes and injustice in the world. He has matured as an artist and lyricist. He doesn't only talk about himself as much. It shows his growth as an artist and during this time has strangely acquired a strong Latino following. Here are some highlights:
America Is Not The World:
The Cure have been doing a ton of summer shows in Europe, including stops in Spain and France. Posted in fansite, A Chain of Flowers, Robert Smith said “We’ve got a month off between now and the next festival in Vienna, in
Austria, and we will be recording. The Cure, as a band, with this
lineup, will record for the first time.”
Robert also spoke of a possible remix album featuring the likes of Mogwai remixing Faith and Cranes doing one as well. This follows 1990's remix album Mixed Up, which included the hit single Never Enough, and also included remixes of classic songs such as Love Song, Close to Me, A Forest, and Fascination Street among others. I, for one, cannot wait to see which songs they take on on this one. Previously the Cure did release a remix EP entitled Hypnagogic States, which included remixes from the first four singles off thier 4:13 Dream album released in 2008. It features bands such as 65 Days of Static, 30 Seconds to Mars, Fall Out Boy, AFI and My Chemical Romance remixing songs from The Cure. I look forward to this new one and I hope they continue to do great things. Here is a quote from Robert Smith about the new remix album:
“There will be a Mixed Up 2 album coming out, probably this side of Christmas. Mixed Up 2.
I’ve given songs to groups I really love, like Mogwai, Cranes and some
other people. I thought the best thing to do would be to have some new
remasters, but rather than by producers, I think that having groups that
you love remix your songs is a much more interesting idea than
producers remixing your songs. So Mixed Up 2 will be our
favorite bands remixing Cure songs. It’s good. It’ll be this Christmas.
Mogwai are doing ‘Faith.’ So good. It’ll be really good. Cure fans will
love it.”
Roger O'Donnel had doubt about the new remix album, as per his response on Twitter. “hahahahahahahahahaha might be a little difficult as we are all going on holiday!” but Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite did confirm to Chain of Flowers that his band is remixing “Faith”
We're going to have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime I will leave you with some classic Cure remixes.
A Forest (Blank and Jones mix)
Freakshow (Wolves at the Gates mix)...this was from Jade Puget of AFI/Blaqk Audio:
Originally released in 1994, Pisces Iscariot is a collection of b-sides and odds and ends from the Gish and Siamese Dream era and rereleased this past Tuesday as a deluxe edition. It's a wonderful collection of songs and a testament to the Smashing Pumpkins, where even their non-album tracks are great. Landslide (their cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic) even went to #3 on the Modern Rock Charts. As with the recent Gish and Siamese Dream reissues, Pisces Iscariot is a collection of unreleased tracks, videos, live performances, etc...
Included is the original album, a 2nd cd full of demos, unreleased tracks, covers, alternate versions of songs, etc..., also included is a DVD of Chicago's Pulse: Basement Jam cable access program from 1988, where you can see the Smashing Pumpkins at their earliest, this is by far one of the most interesting of their DVDs which came with the deluxe editions of their albums. and included also is a casette tape of their first demo tape from 1988, just be sure you have a cassette player on hand!
The album itself has a soft spot in my heart. I remember first hearing it my freshmen year in high school, wondering those scary halls, facing the world and leaving middle school behind. The song Obscured just captures all these scary, sad moments like few songs do. I also have always liked James Iha songs from this era. Blew Away is a mellow, somewhat silly song that I have always loved. Their version of Landslide is still unmatched by any other. Frail and Bedazzled is just a kickass song that was even covered on the Gothic/industrial tribute by Godbox. The bonus disk has some pretty good covers such as Neil Young's Cinammon Girl and the Velvet Underground's Venus In Furs. One of my favorite songs from this era is Glynis which was originally from the compilation No Alternative (which had some great bands like Nirvana, Matthew Sweet, Bob Mould, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth). This is one of the few bsides collections to go platinum and leave me wanting more. I cannot wait for the upcoming Mellon Collie and Aeroplane Flies High box sets coming out soon! This is how I want to remember this great band!
I found a really cool video online of some music legends performing The Smith's classic Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before. This clip features Alison Moyet (of Yaz), Johnny Marr (ex-Smiths guitarist), Nile Rodgers (Chic, David Bowie producer) and Mark Ronson (Duran Duran producer) performing Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before at the Montreux festival. It's really cool to see all these legendary peformers on stage all at once. Here is the clip:
and here is Johnny Marr performing Chic's song Le Freak:
Yes, I know this entry is a week late. This week has been very busy and exciting, especially with the recent concert with Terri Nunn/Berlin! What a great show, it will get it's own entry soon but for now here's the albums of the week.
To really hear an artist's work, you must look past the hit singles. The
entire album is worth hearing to truly get a glimpse of it all in one
body of work. Here are some of the albums I am listening to this week.
Green Day - Nimrod (1998)
Coming off the dissappointing sales of 1996's Insomniac (one of my favorite albums from the band), Green Day went off to record their follow up in Los Angeles. What I love about this particular record is that there is no cohesive theme here. They had acoustic songs, they had ska-like songs, they had punk rock songs, they experimented like crazy on this album. There's even a surf rock instrumental track. This album shows Green Day at their finest, before they started doing rock musicals. This is the Green Day I love. Here are some of the best tracks on the album:
Redundant:
Platypus:
Prosthetic Head:
Berlin - Pleasure Victim (1982)
Berlin's first album with Terri Nunn. At 8 tracks, it's hard to categorize it as a proper album, yet it contains many of their hit singles and their first album to go platinum. The Metro is the most popular song of the bunch here, and a classic example of 80s synthpop. Masquerade is another of my favorites. This is one to add to your collection if you love catchy, atmospheric new wave. These are some of my favorites.
The Metro:
Masquerade:
Tell Me Why:
Inkubus Sukkubus - Vampyre Erotica (1997)
Inkubus Sukkubus has been performing their own unique blend of goth rock, pagan rock and darkwave since the early 90s, They continue to release music to this day. Vampyre Erotica is one of their finest recordings blending themes of vampires, paganism and witches.A very dramatic album which is not for everyone. A very dark album which should please fans of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sisters of Mercy. Also included is their cover of the Rolling Stones' classic song Paint It Black. I first heard of this band from the now-defunct website mp3.com, which used to host free songs on their site. This is also where I discovered Bella Morte and Velvet Acid Christ. What a great site. Here are some of my favorites from this album.
Paint It Black:
Sweet Morpheus:
Vampyre Erotica:
Dead Or Alive - Mad, Bad and Dangerous To Know (1987)
Dead or Alive was a new wave/synthpop band led by the enigmatic Pete Burns. Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know was their 3rd hit album, following the platinum selling Youthquake. This album is most famous for including the song Brand New Lover which hit the US top 20. Son of A Gun is one of the most catchy, infectious songs out there and always brings me out of any bad mood. I Save You all My Kisses sounds like a 60s song, in a good way. It's a shame this band is mostly known for You Spin Me Round, which was a great song but this band has so many more catchy songs and singles, many found on this album. Check it out! Here are my faves:
Son of A Gun:
I've been writing a lot about Depeche Mode lately. I'm really looking forward to a new album from them, especially because of the rumor that Alan Wilder might be rejoining. Recently, Dave Gahan worked with production team Soulsavers on this song Take Me Back Home. It's a very sad, mellow song and it is today's song of the day. I can't wait to hear new music from Depeche Mode and I hope it's better than their last offering. Here is the song.
