13 March 2018

13 March 2018 - Lilly Wood & The Prick - Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Remix)

Fun story: I always thought that "Sugar", the song I posted about on Friday and which sampled "Suga Suga", sampled a song of similar tempo that I could not identify.  In fact, I started my post on Friday trying to identify THAT song, because that was a song I absolutely loved.

Mission accomplished.  And, since both songs are Robin Schulz mixes, hence the similarity.  This remix ended up being a huge hit worldwide, because, you know, apparently Robin Schulz can steal anything and turn it into gold.



Lest you think I'm kidding about the stealing part - Schulz remixed the song without authorization, just because he had a Lilly Wood & The Prick CD.  The original, by a French-Israeli duo who are relatively well-known in France, is a much more somber, much folkier song with a lot more flute.

12 March 2018

12 March 2018 - Britney Spears - Womanizer

When Scott Colvin used to co-edit this blog, he used to make it a point to post Britney every March 12th....

I felt like he should get this gift today.  I guarantee you're getting "If U Seek Amy" next year.

09 March 2018

9 March 2018 - Baby Bash ft. Frankie J - Suga Suga & Robin Schulz ft. Francesco Yates - Sugar

It's rare that we feature two different songs by two different artists in one post. In this case, we've got two songs so inextricably connected that we had no choice.

In 2003, "Suga Suga" was a rather big hit by hip hop group Baby Bash.  The song itself is kind of sweet, in a early-2000s sexist sort of way. At any rate, the woman referenced in this song, which is kind of a slow jam, is featured in a positive light.


This song was a big hit, making top 10 charts worldwide.

Fast forward to 2014".  German DJ Robin Schulz hears "Suga Suga" and loves both the chorus and the hook (itself somewhat lifted from Barry White).  So he hires Canadian vocalist to perform new verses and introduce the chorus, completely lifted from "Suga Suga".  Heck, the "Sugar" video even lampoons the "Suga Suga" video somewhat - the cop has a Baby Bash costume in his suitcase.

But it's a very different song.  The woman referenced here is very much not a positive influence.  The song is less slow jam and more dance floor smash. It was, however, an equally big hit.



Yes, mashups exist.  No, we're not sharing them. 

01 March 2018

1 March 2018 - Lissie - Wild West

Like most of America, I first discovered Lissie during the Twin Peaks revival.  Most episodes of that show ended with a musical guest.  This one stood out from most of the rest. Whereas most of them fit the Julee Cruise airy, ethereal motif, or were just audibly interesting. Lissie brought straight-ahead rock to the Bang Bang Bar.

The performance was worthy of the show, and a star-making performance. (Update: The video is gone, but the audio still exists)


Yes, I put her Twin Peaks performance on top of this post, but let's be clear - there's a real music video for this song. Even that's interesting - she handed cameras to children and let them make it themselves.  Her appearance at the end, to take them for ice cream, is raw emotion in itself.

22 January 2018

22 January 2018 - Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

I really intended to keep it to just a week. But there was too much good material.

Like this song.  This song was a bit of a happy accident, made by splicing together a bunch of stuff from the cutting room floor.  Little of the original song's instruments were recorded together, nor the vocals.  It was a spliced-up mess, right down to the seemingly nonsequetor closing baseline.  I've talked pretty extensively about how fractured the band was during the recording of the Rumours album. What a better allegory for that than a song that the players couldn't even get together to record!

And it STILL worked!

19 January 2018

19 January 2018 - Fleetwood Mac - Hold Me

So many good Fleetwood Mac songs, right?  We're not done yet!

Released as the first single from the Mirage album in 1982, this is one of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits, and yet it is often forgotten when discussing their best songs.  And, indeed, the band was a mirage at the time.  Notice how very little they are on screen together during this video.  That's because none of them were getting along.  At all.  Stevie Nicks was broken up with TWO of her bandmates, neither of whom were really fond of her.  Neither was the video producer, who complained about her diva behavior.  John McVie was largely drunk throughout the shoot, and Christine McVie was just sick of all the drama.... which didn't endear her to her bandmates, either.

Did you get all that?  I had to draw it all out.  But the Magrite-inspired video that ensured from the chaotic drama sure turned out pretty, and the song itself is a sweet Christine McVie-Lindsey Buckingham duet, written by McVie.



18 January 2018

18 January 2018 - Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

If you think Stevie Nicks looks pissed when Lindsey Buckingham sings "Loving you isn't the right thing to do", it's with good reason.  She is the "you" being referenced here.

That look could melt ice.

17 January 2018

17 January 2018 - Fleetwood Mac - Landslide

This is perhaps one of Fleetwood Mac's most recognized songs.   Written by Stevie Nicks before she and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac, it's really a collaboration between both of them and an extension of the Buckingham Nicks project they did prior to joining the band.  The story goes that the two of them were recording their second album together in the same studio that Fleetwood Mac was recording in during the winter of 1974-1975.  The band heard them and asked them to join, an offer that the commercially unsuccessful duo could not refuse.

This song ended up on the band's 1975 self-titled album, an album getting a reissue this Friday, January 19th, 2017.  "Landslide" was a song about the uncertainty of Nicks's life after the failure of the first Buckingham Nicks album - she was at a crossroads as to whether or not she was going to continue a career in music, her world figuratively crashing around her.  It wasn't a hit song at the time, but did get some radio play as a popular tune, and did eventually chart in a live version in 1998. 

The song itself is sparse yet hauntingly beautiful, with little accompaniment besides a guitar. 

16 January 2018

16 January 2018 - Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

Yesterday, we featured a Christine McVie-penned song about a woman struggling in her marriage  Here, we have another Christine McVie-penned song, written after the marriage crumbled and her search for hope for the future which struggling with the depression of the lost relationship.  From the classic 1997 album Rumors, this song was sung by Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, and is genuinely filled with such hope that it has become an anthem for sunny outlooks. 


This particular song was a big enough deal to get the band together on stage after a decade of acrimony - they recorded some together, but never toured or performed completely - at President Clinton's inaugural celebration.  And it's a great performance!



I promise I'll post a Stevie Nicks song at some point!!!

15 January 2018

15 January 2018 - Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me

This is one of Fleetwood Mac's best known songs, and as one with a Christine McVie lead vocal (she wrote the song as well), you know there's a story.

Christine was married to John McVie, the bassist (and frankly the Mac) in the band.  In 1975, their marriage was on the rocks, and she was feeling troubled.  So she wrote a very happy-sounding, sweet-sounding song that was basically begging her husband to tell her that he loved her.

Which might be why she absolutely doesn't look like she's having fun performing the song.



The song didn't work.  They divorced in 1976.  Nevertheless, she stayed with the band until 1998.... their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.   She still didn't look like she enjoyed performing the song (although Lindsey Buckingham sure was enjoying the banjo).  One other noteworthy aspect of this performance: John McVie is singing backup vocals.



Christine rejoined the band in 2014.  She finally looks like she enjoys her cheerful little ditty.

29 December 2017

29 December 2017 - Transvision Vamp - Baby I Don't Care

Yesterday, readers of Totally Covered were witness to a cover by an artist most of them had never heard of, of a song most of them had never heard of. I can't fix that first part.  But I can fix the 2nd. 

Transvision Vamp are a band that was a relative reliable hitmaker for a few years in the UK. Their only US hit was not this song, but a cover of a Holly and the Italians song.  This song, their biggest UK hit, was the lead single and opening track off their 2nd album, Velveteen, one of my favorites of all time - strongly recommended.

The song itself is pretty standard pop.  However, the combination of a band that has serious chops and a deep pedigree, with ties to bands as diverse as X-Ray Spex and Bush, and a dynamic lead singer that was not only not fearful of the spotlight, but embraced it, makes the song memorable.



Wendy James went on to a semi-successful solo career after the band broke up in 1992.  This is one of their last performances.  Incidentally, I would love to start a campaign to get them to reform, like The Darling Buds  (for which we take far too much credit) and The Primitives (I discuss the unfair comparisons between TV and these two bands in that post) did.



28 December 2017

28 December 2017 - Sia - Cheap Thrills (with and without Sean Paul)

Do you remember that time that Sia was on American Bandstand?

That's because it never happened.  But this lyric video - which somehow became the de facto video for this song, even though there's an official video - did.  And it's a really good lyric video, that even mostly gets the lyrics right.  As a bonus, this video also features a version of this song - which was a hit - featuring Sean Paul...


....but the official video - which actually has Sia in it!!!!!!! - features a Maddie Ziegler-centered dance performance - and Sia!!!!!! Facing forward!!!!!!  - and deserves attention.  Since, you know, the song is about dancing. Without Sean Paul, it is, in my opinion, a better song, but either way, it's catchy.

27 December 2017

27 December 2017 - Kesha ft. The Dap-Kings - Woman

I know that we've been kind of slow posting things on here.  But this lateness is inexcusable - after hers was the best motherf***ing show I saw in 2016! - and I am going to fix that motherf***ing s**t right now.

Kesha's comeback this year was perhaps the best motherf***ing story in music in 2017.  Her 2nd single post-comeback - this empowerment anthem made more poignant by her motherf***ing legal troubles with Sony Music concerning the alleged sexual assault of her by Dr. Luke - is a hell of a "I'm back, you motherf***ing bitches" song.  At any rate, it's clear that she's not going to be f***ing pushed down.

What is missing from this song that was present in her earlier songs is Auto-Tune. Because the woman the pipes and doesn't need motherf***ing Auto-Tune. (Which, if you read Totally Covered, you already know).  Any doubt about that fact should be squashed by the fact that she's keeping up with The Motherf***ing Dap-Kings, who are better known for being the backing band for the late big-piped singers Sharon Motherf***ing Jones and Amy Motherf***ing Winehouse.

And this song has spirit.  Ignoring for the motherf***ing overuse of "motherf***er" in the song.  Kesha starts laughing at about 1:13 in this video.  The song is free and fun, intentionally.  In the artist's words:
"I wanted this song to capture that organic, raw, soulful sound and keep the imperfect moments in the recordings." (Source: Rolling Stone)
 I can say more about this great, fun, exciting song, but I'd rather you just listen to it yourself.  Enjoy.

15 December 2017

15 December 2017 - The Smithereens - Blood and Roses

On Tuesday of this week, the lead vocalist of the band the Smithereens, Pat DiNizio, died.  It was tragic, and he was gone far too soon. 

In tribute, I wanted to share one of my favorite songs by the Smithereens. If you've seen the movie Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, you've heard this song, which was their first single from their first full-length album (Especially for You, from 1986, which I cannot recommend enough!).

I was hooked on the band from the opening bassline in this song. Lyrically, it's subtle but still heart-felt and poignant.  Overall, it's just a well-written and compelling song.



Perhaps one of the most striking things about this song is, although it was clearly written by DiNizio to be heavily bassline-focused, it translates well to an acoustic performance, such as this solo performance by him from 2009. 


It's songwriting like this that will be missed.  Farewell to a great songwriter, who left behind some great material.

09 August 2017

9 August 2017 - Glen Campbell - Galveston

As many of you know, I am a very big fan of Glen Campbell.  So I am sad about his passing.  He was a fine musician, a fine songwriter.

I know the man had his demons, especially his well-publicized drug-fueled romance with Tanya Tucker.  Since the mid-80s, when he married his wife, Kim, these (as well as the substance abuse) seem to have been behind him, thankfully.  By all accounts, he was a wonderful husband and father to his three children with Kim.

So why did I choose "Galveston", a song he didn't write, or even originally perform (Don Ho!) as the song to pay tribute?  It speaks to his strong, emotive voice,  and his creative storytelling.  Glen Campbell did make a lyrical change in the 2nd verse to make it his own.  It's a truly beautiful song, and a fitting tribute.

19 June 2017

19 June 2017 - Booker T. & the M.G.’s - Green Onions

I'm willing to bet you didn't know what this song was called.   I admit that I didn't.  I had to look it up.

Booker T. and the M.G.'s are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  That's largely due to this song.  You might be surprised to learn that they were largely a backup band for just about every musical artist that came through Stax Records in Memphis.  MG, in fact, stands for Memphis Group.

I want you to soak in this Memphis soul sound.  It's a little jazzy, but also groovy.  


22 May 2017

22 May 2017 - Julee Cruise - Falling

You know the tune.

The theme from Twin Peaks.

You know Twin Peaks is now back, on Showtime.

You might know the song, and most of the rest of the haunting soundtrack, was written and performed by Angelo Badalamenti.

You might not know that the theme song has lyrics, and that Julee Cruise, Badalamenti's muse at the time, did the singing.  You might recognize her as the roadhouse singer on Twin Peaks (she will be reprising the role in the revival).

The song itself, with lyrics, is haunting and somewhat sad.  And Cruise delivers it flawlessly, with a tremendous vocal range.



Of course, when you sing such an iconic song, you have to sing it again....



....and again....



...and again.  Oops.  Sorry.  This is an appearance she made with the B-52s when she stood in for Cindy Wilson.


I know you didn't really recognize the song with vocals, so here is the instrumental version that serves as the theme from Twin Peaks.

05 May 2017

5 May 2017 - The Darling Buds - Evergreen

Darling Buds Day is on Saturday this year. So I'm observing it a day early, but it is taking a lot of restraint to wait THAT long.  With one pause, we've been doing Darling Buds Day on this blog every year.  It started accidentally. And, famously, I begged Andrea Lewis, their lead vocalist, to stay together last year after they did a few reunion shows.

My begging worked.

THIS IS NEW MATERIAL.

And, just like I said, they haven't lost their edge.  They're still excellent.


25 April 2017

25 April 2017 - Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

If you know me even a little bit, chances are I've tried to get you to watch the television show The Americans.  For those unaware of this show (currently in its fifth season, Tuesdays at 10pm on FX), it stars the long-underrated Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as a couple living in Northern Virginia who happen to be Soviet spies in the early 1980's.

Seriously, the best show on television.

19 April 2017

19 April 2017 - Kiesza - Hideaway

Visually, I am a fan of one-take videos, and this is one of them.  It's more impressive that Kiesza is doing all this dancing and moving and the manhandling she gets at 3:40... with a very recently broken rib. When she's hailing that cab at the end of the video, she is GENUINELY exhausted.

But this isn't strictly a video blog.  It's a blog about musical pleasure, and this song delivers.  It's a bright, emotional throwback to a sound not heard in 20 years - something not entirely out of place in a dance club in 1993.  A tribute to a simpler time, it doesn't have a letdown throughout.  Enjoy this treasure, because music like this isn't common anymore.

 

14 April 2017

14 April 2017 - Lone Justice - Ways To Be Wicked

This song popped up on a Spotify playlist of mine, and it had been a long, long time since I had heard it.

16 March 2017

16 March 2017 - Lush - De-Luxe

I wasn't sure how to handle this song.  It's damn near one of my favorite songs of all time.

So I thought I'd handle it in chronological order.

Lush released an EP called Mad Love in early 1990.  It was never released in the US, although this song was released to US radio, and its UK video was released and shown on MTV.  Note that it is a very low-fi affair, and that's just charming.



Fast forward to late 1990, which is the difference between high school Tony and college Tony.  4AD Records got smart, compiled all those British EPs by Lush into a full album, and released them to the US and Japan.  Called Gala, it wasn't a huge hit, but was well-received.

And with it came a re-release of De-Luxe and a much higher fidelity video.  Because, let's face it, you get a much better look at Miki Berenyi in this video, and US labels sell the pretty girl a lot more.  Still, it's a visually interesting video.


03 March 2017

3 March 2017 - Lorde - Green Light

Finally!



Lorde releases a new song!



Sorry.  I get a little excited about things like this.  I've literally been waiting for four years! But with such a thoughtful artist, who has also been hanging out with Taylor Swift (which, to be honest, shows in this video), doing music for the Hunger Games movies, and collaborating with many artists, it stands to reason that we'd be waiting.



And it's a thoughtful, emotional song - perhaps the most complex one of hers to date - co-written by her and Jack Antonoff (of fun.).  I'm not going to put any more glowing words around this.  Just listen and enjoy it.