#056

Don’t judge a book by its Cover (again)

O prometido é sempre devido e como quando publiquei a 24 de Abril do ano passado uma m4we inteiramente dedicada a versões de canções que adoro como fã até afirmei que possivelmente haveria “uma deuxieme partie porque nunca cabe tudo numa só assentada”, eis que aqui a deixo para deleite fim-de-semanesco.

Repare-se nos bookends escolhidos: começo e acabo com versões, ambas magnificas, de um clássico dos Queen: arranco com Another One Bites the Dust em versão hip hop gravada em 1980 por Kevin Woodley ou seja Sugar Daddy e corto a meta com Another One Rides The Bus, editada três anos mais tarde por Alfred Matthew Yankovic, um talentoso “Weird Al” para quem não esteja a ver de quem estou a falar. Mas desta vez não pude deixar a estrutura sem reforço, a segunda e a penúltima, que é como quem diz a trigésima nona são versões de doçaria fina do mestre pasteleiro David Bowie, de quem todos os dias sinto a falta. Os Helado Negro com Sound and Vision da compilação Modern Love enquanto a outra é Heroes que Moby editou também este ano no album Reprise pela Deutsche Grammophon.

Esta semana há um certo destaque para o contingente latino-americano: Empecemos (Let’s Start) é uma versão de uma música de Fela Kuti gravada em 1972 pelos venezuelanos Los Kings no album Cuando Me Faltas Tu. O inevitável Uwe Schmidt vestindo a pele de um dos seus múltiplos alter egos, Señor Coconut and his Orchestra, traz aqui um Blue Eyes como nem sequer Sir Elton poderia imaginar e que aponta pistas para a razão de Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus ou seja Elvis Costello ter recentemente reavaliado as fitas originais do seu disco de 1978 This Year’s Model e ao convidar um belíssimo naipe de cantores latinos transformou-o no disco Spanish Model de onde retirei una version de (Yo No Quiero Ir A) Chelsea por Raquel Sofía y Fuego. E já agora… talvez seja uma boa ideia não me esquecer de anunciar a verdadeira bomba que é a inclusão dos Telex com La Bamba.

Drifting, on a sea of forgotten teardrops

On a life boat sailing for, your love

Sailing home 

Ahahahah

Drifting on a sea of old heartbreaks

On a life boat sailing for, your love 

Sailing home

Sailing 

Oooooooooo

Nestas coisas das versões é tudo um pouco promíscuo: Akay faz um Sexual Healing (Rob Hardt Rephunked Mix) enquanto que o próprio Marvin Gaye interpreta Unforgettable (Original California Version, Take 2) no disco A Tribute To The Great Nat King Cole que a Tamla editou em 1965. Os Pink Martini no seu terceiro album Hey Eugene! gravaram Mar Desconocido que contem uma considerável quantia de Chopin chops. Malcolm McLaren por sua vez decidiu durante uns tempos também “brincar aos clássicos” e por isso decidi pegar em Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo), justa homenagem oitentista a Giacomo Puccini no disco de 1984, repare-se bem no título, Fans. Leques ou ídolos, reveja-se aqui o fã que era o ex-manager dos Sex Pistols. 

Mas como estamos a falar de temas perenes da clássica que tal acham a bronca que estalou esta semana no Reino Unido entre Nigel Kennedy e a Classic FM que levou o violinista a cancelar um concerto no Royal Albert Hall insultando a estação que intitula de Jurassic FM? Tudo porque Kennedy tencionava tocar músicas de Jimi Hendrix, como as que gravou em 1999 no album The Kennedy Experience e de onde retirei Drifting, do disco de 1971 The Cry of Love, já editado postumamente com material originalmente gravado um ano antes no Electric Lady Studios com Mitch Mitchell e Billy Cox. “This is musical segregation, if it was applied to people, it would be illegal. If that type of mentality is rampant in the arts, then we still haven’t fixed the problem of prejudice. This is much more serious than my feathers being a bit ruffled. Prejudice in music is completely dreadful. They’re effectively saying that Hendrix is all right in the Marquee Club, but not in the Albert Hall”. Mas a Classic FM preferia que Kennedy tocasse as Quatro Estações de Vivaldi re-afirmando que o rock “não era adequado” para o público alvo da estação.

E se calhar é aqui que a porca torce o rabo: as covers que vão sendo feitas ao longo dos tempos são sempre de modo a fazer um update estético mas também comercial, para assim podermos comprar uma nova versão da mesma composição, agora mais “moderna”, em linha com o sign of the times, quiçá, como se diz agora à boca cheia, mais orgânica. Olhemos para quase tudo o que ouvimos nos filmes de Baz Luhrmann como re-actualizações de grandes sucessos que assim cumprem a sua função de encaixe artístico e de agradabilidade à audiência alvo. Porque quase sempre o histograma demonstra bem essa forma de reavaliar as canções de encontro ao que o mercado possa estar preparado para escutar. Atente-se por exemplo a Singin ‘in the Rain: foi originalmente cantado por Cliff Edwards em 1929 no filme The Hollywood Revue. A versão que melhor conhecemos na voz de Gene Kelly é já uma versão feita para um homónimo musical de Hollywood dos anos 50. Em 1978 a cantora francesa Sheila, acompanhada pelo grupo B. Devotion, gravou-a com batida disco, mais uma vez actualizando a composição para se adequar ao gosto musical da época. Já em 2005 coube a Neil Claxton, assinando como Mint Royale, refazer mais uma vez a canção, o que até deu direito a inclusão num anuncio de televisão para a Volkswagen.

Mas pelo menos aqui por estas bandas não navegamos em águas turvas da Smooth FM, não há cá a Karen Sousa a cantar o Creep dos Radiohead, não, aqui prefere-se os Violent Femmes em Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You), tune incrível que só poderia ser do cartoon televisivo The Jetsons. No caso de não estarem bem a ver deixo aqui link da versão original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U15rzqfSofo

Aqui também não há lapalissadas como uma recentemente escutada em horário nobre televisivo onde dois adultos supostamente inteligentes diziam que “este Inverno a gripe vai voltar”. Não, aqui escolho Lady Blackbird a rasgar um Beware the Stranger, faixa de 1973 dos Hypnotics mas que os The Voices of East Harlem tornaram mais conhecida sob o titulo de Wanted Dead Or Alive. Marley Munroe, a cantora por trás do projecto losangelino mostra aqui umas raízes demasiado profundas no espiritual negro para uma carreira tão curta.

At words poetic, I’m so pathetic

That I always have found it best,

Instead of getting ’em off my chest,

To let ’em rest unexpressed,

I hate parading my serenading

As I’ll probably miss a bar,

But if this ditty is not so pretty

At least it’ll tell you

How great you are.

You’re the top!

You’re the Coliseum.

You’re the top!

You’re the Louvre museum.

You’re a melody from a symphony by Strauss

You’re a Bendel bonnet,

A Shakespeare sonnet,

You’re Mickey Mouse.

You’re the Nile,

You’re the Tower of Pisa,

You’re the smile on the Mona Lisa

I’m a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,

But if, baby, i’m the bottom you’re the top!

Cole Porter – You’re the top!

And the beat goes on. Aqui somos todos fãs. Como expliquei a semana passada até o Bob Dylan idolatrava os anjos da pop. Porque a música por vezes parece mais grandiosa do que todas as outras coisas desta vida. Mas isso, está bem mais claro, é porque somos todos fãs. Como também o são os The Flaming Lips de quem incluo uma versão de Borderline de Madonna. Isto depois de eles já terem feito em 2014 With A Little Help From My Fwends, album inteiramente dedicado aos Beatles e depois de uma total revisão ao The Dark Side Of The Moon dos Pink Floyd editada em 2009.

E que assim seja finalmente este o fim de semana em que se canta desbragadamente no chuveiro…

#staysafe #musicfortheweekend

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Promises are always due and when, on April 24th of last year, I posted an m4we entirely dedicated to versions of songs that I love as a fan I even stated that there would possibly be “a deuxieme partie because everything never fits in one sitting”, so here it is for your weekend delight.

Look at the chosen bookends: I start and end with versions, both magnificent, of a classic by Queen: I start with a a hip hop version of Another One Bites the Dust recorded in 1980 by Kevin Woodley, aka Sugar Daddy, and I cut the finish line with Another One Rides The Bus, published three years later by Alfred Matthew Yankovic, a talented “Weird Al” for those who can’t see who I’m talking about. But this time I couldn’t leave the structure unreinforced, the second and second-to-last, which is like saying the thirty-ninth, are versions of fine confectionery by master pastry chef David Bowie, whom I still miss every single day. Helado Negro with Sound and Vision from the Modern Love compilation while the other is Heroes which Moby also put out this year on the album Reprise on Deutsche Grammophon.

This week there’s a certain emphasis on the Latin American contingent: Empecemos (Let’s Start) is a version of a song by Fela Kuti recorded in 1972 by Venezuelan Los Kings on the Cuando Me Faltas Tu LP. The inevitable Uwe Schmidt wearing the skin of one of his multiple alter egos, Señor Coconut and his Orchestra, brings here a Blue Eyes like not even Sir Elton could imagine and that shows clues to why Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus or Elvis Costello has recently re-evaluated the original tapes of his 1978 album This Year’s Model and by inviting a lush crop of Latin singers turned it into the Spanish Model album from which I took una version of (Yo No Quiero Ir A) Chelsea by Raquel Sofía y Fuego. And by the way… maybe it’s a good idea not to forget to announce the real bombshell that is the inclusion of Telex with La Bamba.

Drifting, on a sea of forgotten teardrops

On a life boat sailing for, your love

Sailing home 

Ahahahah

Drifting on a sea of old heartbreaks

On a life boat sailing for, your love 

Sailing home

Sailing 

Oooooooooo

It’s all a bit rumpy-pumpy promiscuous with some of these versions: Akay does a Sexual Healing (Rob Hardt Rephunked Mix) while Marvin Gaye himself sings Unforgettable (Original California Version, Take 2) on A Tribute To The Great Nat King Cole made by Tamla in 1965. Pink Martini on their third album Hey Eugene! recorded Mar Desconocido which contains a considerable amount of Chopin chops. Malcolm McLaren, in turn, also decided for a while to “play with classics” and that’s why I decided to take on his Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo), a fair 1980s tribute to Giacomo Puccini on the 1984 album Fans. Freshening devices or idols, just listen here to the fan who used to be manager of the Sex Pistols.

But since we are talking about perennial classical themes what about the riff that broke out this week in the UK between Nigel Kennedy and Classic FM and led the violinist to cancel a concert at the Royal Albert Hall while insulting the station he calls Jurassic FM? All because Kennedy intended to play songs by Jimi Hendrix, like the ones he recorded in 1999 on The Kennedy Experience album and from which I took Drifting, from the 1971 album The Cry of Love, put out posthumously with material originally recorded a year earlier at the Electric Lady Studios with Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox. “This is musical segregation, if it was applied to people, it would be illegal. If that type of mentality is rampant in the arts, then we still haven’t fixed the problem of prejudice. This is much more serious than my feathers being a bit ruffled. Prejudice in music is completely dreadful. They’re effectively saying that Hendrix is all right in the Marquee Club, but not in the Albert Hall”. But Classic FM preferred Kennedy to play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, re-asserting that rock was “not suitable” for the station’s target audience.

And maybe that’s exactly where the shoe pinches: the covers that have been made over time are always in order to make an aesthetic but also commercial update, so that we can buy a new version of the same composition, now more “modern ”, in line with the sign of the times, perhaps, as some people say now, more organic. Let’s look at almost everything we hear in Baz Luhrmann’s films as re-updates of great hits that fulfill their function of artistic fit while pleasing the target audience. Because the histogram almost always demonstrates this way of reevaluating songs against what the market might be prepared to hear. Take, for example, Singin’ in the Rain: it was originally sung by Cliff Edwards in 1929 in The Hollywood Revue. The version that we know best in the voice of Gene Kelly is already a version made for a namesake Hollywood musical in the 50s. In 1978 the French singer Sheila, accompanied by the group B. Devotion, recorded it with disco beat, once again updating the composition to suit the musical taste of the time. In 2005, it fell to Neil Claxton, signing as Mint Royale, to redo the song once more, which even gave it the kudos to be included in a television ad for Volkswagen.

But at least here we don’t navigate the murky waters of Smooth FM, there’s no Karen Sousa singing Radiohead’s Creep here, no, Violent Femmes are preferred here in Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You), incredible tune that could only be from the TV cartoon The Jetsons. Just in case the reader doesn’t get or remember the original version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U15rzqfSofo

Here at m4we.com there’s no lapalissade like the one recently heard on prime-time television where two supposedly intelligent adults said that “this winter the flu will come back”. No, here I choose Lady Blackbird to rip a Beware the Stranger, a 1973 track by the Hypnotics but which The Voices of East Harlem made better known under the title Wanted Dead Or Alive. Marley Munroe, the singer behind the losangelino project, digs here too deep her roots in black spirituality for such a short career.

At words poetic, I’m so pathetic

That I always have found it best,

Instead of getting ’em off my chest,

To let ’em rest unexpressed,

I hate parading my serenading

As I’ll probably miss a bar,

But if this ditty is not so pretty

At least it’ll tell you

How great you are.

You’re the top!

You’re the Coliseum.

You’re the top!

You’re the Louvre museum.

You’re a melody from a symphony by Strauss

You’re a Bendel bonnet,

A Shakespeare sonnet,

You’re Mickey Mouse.

You’re the Nile,

You’re the Tower of Pisa,

You’re the smile on the Mona Lisa

I’m a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,

But if, baby, i’m the bottom you’re the top!

Cole Porter – You’re the top!

And the beat goes on. Here we are all fans. As I explained last week, even Bob Dylan worshiped the angels of pop. Because music sometimes seems bigger than anything else in this life. But, loud and clear, that’s because we’re all fans. The same kind as the Flaming Lips of whom I include a version of Madonna’s Borderline. This after they had already done in 2014 With A Little Help From My Fwends, album entirely dedicated to the Beatles and after a total revision of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon released in 2009.

So f**k it, may finally this be the weekend we all sing, just like barmy groupies, wildly in the shower.

#staysafe #musicfortheweekend

Sugar Daddy – Another One Bites the Dust

Helado Negro – Sound and Vision

Angelique Kidjo – Born Under Punches

Pink Martini – Mar Desconocido

Derrick Laro and Trinity – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough

Harpers Bizarre – Chattanooga Choo Choo

Marvin Gaye – Unforgettable (Original California Version, Take 2)

Bettye LaVette – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

Willie Nelson – That’s Life

Young Pilgrims – Feel Like Making Love

Akay – Sexual Healing (Rob Hardt Rephunked Mix)

Laura Nyro & Labelle – It’s Gonna Take a Miracle

Malcolm McLaren – Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)

Carl Smith And The Natural Gas Company – Stuff Like That

Sven Väth feat. Miss Kittin – Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus

Senor Coconut and his Orchestra – Blue Eyes

Lady Blackbird – Beware the Stranger

Telex – La Bamba

Pizzicato Five – The Girl From Ipanema

Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Mission Impossible (Charlus de la Salle Edit)

Rachael Yamagata – I’m Going To Go Back There Someday

Fernando Perdomo & Denny Seiwell – Uncle Albert ; Admiral Halsey

The Bird and the Bee – Jump

Violent Femmes – Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You)

Bertie Blackman – In The Air Tonight

Raquel Sofía y Fuego – (Yo No Quiero Ir A) Chelsea

Southside Johnny – Yesterday Is Here

Ledisi – My Baby Just Cares for Me

William Shatner – Common People

Amy Winehouse – Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

Groove Armada feat. Crazy Girl – Are ”Friends” Electric

Antonio Adolfo – Favela (O Morro Não Tem Vez)

Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force – He’s My Guy

Los Kings – Empecemos (Let’s Start)

The Flaming Lips – Borderline

Simone Mazzer et Cotonete – Eu Bebo Sim

Joel Grey – White Room

Nigel Kennedy – Drifting

Moby feat. Mindy Jones – Heroes

”Weird” Al Yankovic – Another One Rides The Bus

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