Archive for Alex Chilton

WTF: More Crazy Covers

Posted in Lost Classics! with tags , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2012 by 30daysout

Francoise Hardy

For the sake of an attention-grabbing headline, we call these “crazy covers” and for the most part they’re not crazy at all.

Back in the day it was fairly common practice for even the biggest artists to do covers, because they were cheap and easy to license. And besides – when the songwriters of the day were Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, Ray Davies and this cat named Dylan, why not toss in a cover?

So here we have a handful of cover versions, mainly of tunes from the 1960s when the giants listed above still ruled the world. Each cover version sheds a new light on each song, in their own initimable way.

A few of these are kind of sneaky: Clarence Clemons is of course “covering” a song he originally played on as part of the E Street Band. Neil Diamond and Carole King are here “covering” songs that they actually wrote, but were made famous by others.

MP3: “Who’ll Be The Next In Line” by Francoise Hardy (covering The Kinks)

MP3: “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” by Mae West (covering Bob Dylan)

MP3: “Save The Last Dance For Me” by Ike & Tina Turner (covering The Drifters)

MP3: “It’s All Too Much” by My Darling Clementine (covering The Beatles)

MP3: “Cracklin’ Rosie” by Shane McGowan & The Popes (covering Neil Diamond)

MP3: “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” by Buck Owens (covering Bob Dylan)

MP3: “The Rains Came” by the Sir Douglas Quintet (covering Big Sambo)

MP3: “Foxey Lady” by Cee Lo Green (covering Jimi Hendrix)

MP3: “Woodstock” by America (covering Joni Mitchell)

MP3: “I’m A Believer” by Neil Diamond (covering The Monkees)

MP3: “I Can’t Turn You Loose” by Edgar Winter’s White Trash (covering Otis Redding)

MP3: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by Alex Chilton (covering The Rolling Stones)

MP3: “Small Things” by Clarence Clemons (covering Bruce Springsteen)

MP3: “I’m Into Something Good” by Brian Wilson and Carole King (covering Herman’s Hermits)

Alex Chilton, R.I.P.

Posted in News with tags , , on March 17, 2010 by 30daysout

Sad news coming out of Memphis tonight, the legendary Alex Chilton died today of an apparent heart attack.  Chilton, currently fronting his band Big Star, was 59 years old.  The Memphis native was the gruff-voiced teenager who sang with the Box Tops in the 1960s, and fronted the power-pop rockers Big Star in the 1970s.  Chilton sang and wrote some of Big Star’s best-remembered songs, like “In The Street” (heard over the opening credits of “That ’70s Show”) and “September Gurls.”

Story on Alex Chilton’s death from the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Big Star was scheduled to play a Saturday night showcase at the SXSW music festival in Austin.  Now there might be some sort of tribute to the fallen lead singer.

Story from Entertainment Weekly

MP3: “Soul Deep” by the Box Tops

MP3: “The Letter” by the Box Tops

MP3: “September Gurls” by Big Star

MP3: “O My Soul” by Big Star

MP3: “Thirteen” by Big Star

MP3: “The Ballad of El Goodo” by Big Star

MP3: “Rock Hard” by Alex Chilton

MP3: “Every Time I Close My Eyes” by Alex Chilton

MP3: “Alex Chilton” (live) by the Replacements

MP3: “Big Star” by the Jayhawks

YouTube: “In The Street” by Big Star