Venues
Events
MediaMusic
Cover Me (But No Dark Side!)
Five song-by-song album remakes
Unlike Joy Division, Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki remembers everything
| | More
On July 11 at East River State Park, Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu will cover all of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures as part of the Pool Party series. This isn’t the first time a band has taken on the task of performing another artist’s entire album, although it might be the most depressing. Here are five other examples:
Dark Side of the Moon
Original: Pink Floyd
Cover: The Flaming Lips
In 2009, the Lips released The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon, and at this year’s Bonnaroo, they played the album live. During “Money,” lead singer Wayne Coyne claimed that there was, in fact, actual money in the balloons floating around the crowd. Then again, Coyne is the same guy who was spotted on Google Maps sitting in an outdoor bath, so maybe he’s not the most reliable of sources.
Blood on the Tracks
Original: Bob Dylan
Cover: Mary Lee Corvette’s
A rather straightforward reimagining, albeit with a female singer and recorded live at Arlene’s Grocery in the Lower East Side. Her version of “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” is surprisingly spirited.
The White Album/Quadrophenia/Remain in Light/Loaded/Dark Side of the Moon/Exile on Main Street
Original: The Beatles/The Who/Talking Heads/The Velvet Underground/Pink Floyd/The Rolling Stones
Cover: Phish
From 1994-1996 and again in 1998 and 2009, Phish fans (or phans, if you will) were treated to live performances of classic albums on Halloween. Say what you will of Phish, but they know how to put on a good show and their taste in music is top-notch. I’ve heard their version of the VU’s “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’,” and it’s nearly as good as the original. Nearly.
Radiodread
Original: Radiohead
Cover: Easy Star All-Stars
Although you can’t tell by the title, Radiodread is a song-by-song dub and reggae remake of 1997’s OK Computer, the second best album released that year. Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood and Thom Yorke both gave it their seal-of-approval, and Michael Goldwasser, who produced the album said, “OK Computer has elements that are perfect [for reggae]: strong melodies, intense dynamics and trippy soundscapes. On the other hand, it has complex time signatures, lots of chord changes and things that typically aren’t found in reggae. However, the more we looked at it, the more we realized that this was an album we had to do.” The Easy Star All-Stars also covered Dark Side of the Moon, naming it Dub Side of the Moon.
Master of Puppets
Original: Metallica
Cover: Dream Theater
Similar to Phish (and one of the reasons they started the tradition), Dream Theater enjoys performing live song-by-song album covers, like they did for three shows in 2002 with Metallica’s best record. The band has also played all of Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast, Deep Purple’s Made in Japan and, you guessed it, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Oh, and Luther Wright and the Wrongs have Rebuild the Wall, a bluegrass remake of The Wall. But I think we’ve had enough Pink Floyd for one post—and the rest of our lives.