It’s a dangerous prospect, the cover song. You have the benefit of working with a proven piece of music, but choose an authentic take and you risk your version being taken as pointless, take liberties and you risk it being looked at as sacrilege. Either way, you’re working both with and against the baggage of a song’s former life.
All that makes it particularly compelling when an artist grabs an unexpected tune—one made known by a drastically different act—and makes it his or her own. The following may not be the most obvious cover choices, but they score major points for reinterpretations that rival the originals.
“Hurt,” by Johnny Cash (via Nine Inch Nails)
In its original incarnation, “Hurt” was an industrial-rock masterstroke. The dark delivery of Nine Inch Nails head Trent Reznor made it unsettling and compelling, as it whiplashed from gloom to aggression. In Johnny Cash’s cover of the song on 2002’s American IV: The Man Comes Around, country’s legendary Man in Black summoned demons of his own. Fiercely different from Reznor’s, Johnny Cash’s version is more cautionary preacher-man than Trent’s injured, seething loner. Cash didn’t just inhabit Reznor’s hurt; through a deep, weary warble, Cash laid bare his own, the words coming through with even more genuine conviction—an accomplishment indeed.
Watch video here.
“Wild Horses,” by the Sundays (via the Rolling Stones)
English pop crew the Sundays’ strengths were soft ones—their shoegaze-soupy textures, singer Harriet Wheeler’s gentle, breathy vocal. The Rolling Stones, on the other hand, rose on bluesy grit and electric sexual energy. But the Sundays’ approach to the Stones’ “Wild Horses”—smoothing Keith Richards’ guitars into a dreamy haze, softening Mick Jagger’s swagger into a lullaby coo—proved them imminently capable. Included on the Fear soundtrack in 1996, four years after the Sundays released the song on their album Blind, their take on “Wild Horses” turned some young listeners onto the Stones for the first time.
Watch video here.
“Rock’n’Roll Singer,” by Mark Kozelek (via AC/DC)
For Red House Painters voice Mark Kozelek, reimagining rock and roll songs as deep and pensive serenades has become habit. But the most radical—and the most oddly affecting—have been his AC/DC covers, which resemble the originals only in the lyrics. Kozelek’s finest one of those, “Rock’n’Roll Singer,” released on an EP of the same name, is a beauty, Angus Young’s taut guitar stabs traded for plaintive acoustic strums, Bon Scott’s reedy bark morphed into Kozelek’s deep, moody croon.
“Independent Women Part I,” by Elbow (via Destiny’s Child)
Britrock band Elbow’s music is dark and haunting, resembling a mix of Peter Gabriel’s pop sensibility and Talk Talk’s patient melodic pacing. So it wasn’t necessarily the most natural thing, them covering Destiny’s Child’s R&B-pop nugget “Independent Women Part I” for BBC Radio 1. The result is natural and fun and creative and a bunch of other good things, a plinking xylophone running the melody while frontman Guy Garvey gently and sweetly deadpans the lyrics.
“Wonderwall,” by Ryan Adams (via Oasis)
Oasis’ massive Britpop smash “Wonderwall” is one of those unsinkable ballads, managing to maintain intimacy while delivering full arena bombast. Americana treasure Ryan Adams is at his best sticking with intimacy—something he’s done often enough—and his reinvention of “Wonderwall” into a gently fingerpicked folk tune on 2004 release Love Is Hell is one of his most exceptional recordings. Adams’ approach is more hand-penned love letter than Oasis’ skywritten profession, and it hits just as hard (if not harder) than the original. Now a live favorite of Adams’ fans, he can’t go a single show without an insistent fan loudly demanding he play the Oasis tune.
Watch video here.
“It’s My Life,” by No Doubt (via Talk Talk)
Talk Talk’s experimental period, at its finest on 1991’s Laughing Stock, is the style most fans consider to be representative of the band’s strengths. And those expanses of long, slowly unfolding melodies are certainly a far stretch from radio-pop crew No Doubt’s digestible offerings. But “It’s My Life,” from Talk Talk’s pop period, was finely interpreted by No Doubt—the cover, included on The Singles 1992-2003, kept the propulsive energy of the original tune, amping up the anthemic melody without sacrificing any of the original character.
Watch video here.
“Jolene,” by the White Stripes (via Dolly Parton)
We know that Nashville transplant Jack White is a fan of country music, but there hadn’t been much indication of that in his band’s dirty, howling blues-rock. And there certainly are no traces of the tender strings and strums or the sweet, cleanly arcing vocal of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” in the White Stripes’ cover of it. The Stripes’ version lets Jack White pair his passionate, breaking voice with a dirty, fuzzy guitar. It’s completely different, and completely great.
Watch video here.
“Mad World,” by Gary Jules (via Tears for Fears)
Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” has its touches of inherent sadness, inescapable with those minor melodies, but it’s downright dance-y at points too, as a digital backbeat urges it forward. Los Angeles singer/songwriter Gary Jules had a major hit with his version of it, and for good reason. Included on the Donnie Darko soundtrack, Jules’ take turned the song into a piano dirge that’s as gorgeous as it is lyrically heart-crushing.
Watch video here.
“Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” by the Postal Service (via Phil Collins)
While Phil Collins’ solo career has proven him a master melody-maker, he’s not often thought of as one of the cooler guys on the charts. His track “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” for instance, holds unshakable melodies, but is plenty over-glossed and doesn’t stand up today as well as it did the ’80s. That is until Death Cab for Cutie voice Ben Gibbard and Postal Service partner Jimmy Tamborello got their hands on the song, reinventing it as a laptop-pop exercise with a smartly crudded-up intro that gets fleshed into an angular dance number with cool digital clicks, whirrs, and melodic touches.
Watch video here.
“Easy,” by Faith No More (via the Commodores)
It’d be hard to find two guys more different than Faith No More’s Mike Patton, a guy as bizarre as he is creative, and smooth-and-earnest Commodores voice-turned-easy listening juggernaut Lionel Richie. But Patton cemented just how capable he is of a honeyed soul croon with his art-metal band’s gloriously accurate cover of “Easy,” included on 1993’s Songs to Make Love To EP.
Watch video here.
Thanks for the info to Nicole Keiper's article at Gibson.com.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Gibson's new Slash guitars just around the corner
Gibson Guitar has announced the first ever availability of a series of “Slash” signature Gibson and Epiphone Les Paul Standard electric guitars. On Tuesday April 1st 2008 three very limited and unique models of the Slash signature Les Paul guitar will be released simultaneously around the world.
Each guitar model has been designed and produced in close co-operation with the legendary Velvet Revolver guitarist, Slash. For the first time ever, the Slash models will be available from Gibson Custom, Gibson USA and Epiphone offering consumers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a guitar inspired by Slash. On April 1, 2008 at 5pm US EDT select dealers will offer a limited number of these models for sale. Once they are sold out, they will not be reproduced.
Gibson Custom will release their Slash Inspired By VOS (Vintage Original Spec) guitar, Gibson USA will release their Slash Signature Les Paul Standard model and there will also be an Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard Plus packaged with exclusive Slash inspired accessories. All three new guitar models will combine individual design features while Slash’s own personal touches create a unique instrument destined to become another instant classic.
For twenty years, the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll has been embodied by one man. When he shot to fame with Guns N’ Roses in 1987, Slash was the cool cat in the top hat, cranking out timeless riffs like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” And, at the same time setting the standard by which all future guitar heroes would be measured. Now fast-forward to 2008 and he’s doing exactly the same with “Velvet Revolver.”
“Slash embodies the true essence and spirit of rock n’ roll. He is a master of his craft and respected the world over. Gibson is proud to partner with one of the worlds greatest guitar players. His signature range of guitars is symbolic and a true testament to his status and global recognition” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “I expect these limited edition run of guitars to sell out soon after they arrive in stores globally on 1st April 2008”
“I have always been a Les Paul player and am very proud to have my own range produced by Gibson and Epiphone, the maker of the world’s greatest guitars. I hope that musicians around the world enjoy them as much as I do,” said Slash
taken from guitarsite.com
Each guitar model has been designed and produced in close co-operation with the legendary Velvet Revolver guitarist, Slash. For the first time ever, the Slash models will be available from Gibson Custom, Gibson USA and Epiphone offering consumers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a guitar inspired by Slash. On April 1, 2008 at 5pm US EDT select dealers will offer a limited number of these models for sale. Once they are sold out, they will not be reproduced.
Gibson Custom will release their Slash Inspired By VOS (Vintage Original Spec) guitar, Gibson USA will release their Slash Signature Les Paul Standard model and there will also be an Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard Plus packaged with exclusive Slash inspired accessories. All three new guitar models will combine individual design features while Slash’s own personal touches create a unique instrument destined to become another instant classic.
For twenty years, the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll has been embodied by one man. When he shot to fame with Guns N’ Roses in 1987, Slash was the cool cat in the top hat, cranking out timeless riffs like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” And, at the same time setting the standard by which all future guitar heroes would be measured. Now fast-forward to 2008 and he’s doing exactly the same with “Velvet Revolver.”
“Slash embodies the true essence and spirit of rock n’ roll. He is a master of his craft and respected the world over. Gibson is proud to partner with one of the worlds greatest guitar players. His signature range of guitars is symbolic and a true testament to his status and global recognition” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “I expect these limited edition run of guitars to sell out soon after they arrive in stores globally on 1st April 2008”
“I have always been a Les Paul player and am very proud to have my own range produced by Gibson and Epiphone, the maker of the world’s greatest guitars. I hope that musicians around the world enjoy them as much as I do,” said Slash
taken from guitarsite.com
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The 100 Megabit Gibson Guitar
The technology inside the electric guitar has been set since the 1930s: Magnetic pickups convert string vibrations into electrical impulses. Gibson's new Les Paul, with proprietary Magic technology, does something else altogether, something no other guitar does. An audio converter inside the instrument's body translates string vibrations into a digital signal that can travel over a standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable. The company will continue to sell the traditionaltraditional Les Pauls, but Gibson's CEO thinks it won't be long before all guitarists go digital. "We're improving the electric guitar for the first time in 70 years," he explains.
If Henry Juszkiewicz didn't build a digital guitar, I can assure you the digital guitar would still happen." Like Sony and Philips with the compact disc 20 years ago, Gibson is making a big bet on Magic, whose success hinges on nothing less than the reinvention of an entire industry. But unlike the recording business, which has a history of using innovation to fuel growth, most guitar companies live comfortably in the past. "The business is incredibly conservative," says Adrian Freed, research director at the Guitar Innovation Group at the UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies. "One thing I can say about Henry without reservation is that he desperately wants to introduce some innovation."
The desperation isn't driven by sales. In the US alone nearly a million electric guitars were purchased in 2002 - three times as many as a decade ago - to the tune of $477 million. Most of the guitars - roughly 85 percent - were knockoffs of the Les Paul and its only real competition, the Stratocaster. And since Juszkiewicz took control of Gibson, in 1986, revenue has soared. The Music Trades, an industry journal, estimates Gibson's annual revenue increased from $12 million to $130 million in 2002.
Despite sales success, Juszkiewicz says there's more work to do. The Les Paul may not be connecting with the generation whose idea of a garage band is a youngster hunched over a laptop with Pro Tools. Since Guns N' Roses imploded in the mid-'90s, no Les Paul player has commanded the cross-genre visibility of Slash in his heyday. Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, both Les Paul players, don't have Slash's following or showmanship. Juszkiewicz is banking on his digital strategy to reignite excitement for the Les Paul.
It won't be easy. For starters, the Magic guitar's Ethernet output is incompatible with traditional guitar gear. No amplifier or effects pedal on the market today works with the instrument. For now, musicians will need to plug the guitar into a "breakout box" that converts the digital signal back to analog; a standard guitar cable plugs into the box's output. Second, guitars that work with the digital world via MIDI, the universal language of musical instruments, do exist. Guitarists like Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood already make all kinds of digitally enhanced music onstage.
The magic about Magic is it's portability Greenwood may have a digital world at his fingertips, but his guitar still delivers an analog signal, requiring mediating devices to make it digital. The goal of the Magic guitar is to be fully plug-and-play, so a musician can simply jack it into a PC - no USB cables or external devices necessary. And while MIDI is just a sequence of instructions, Magic transmits real digital audio. The signal is digitized at the source and remains digital thereafter. What you get is what you keep, without the noise, interference, and other vagaries of the messy analog world. "Magic just sounds better," Juszkiewicz insists. "It sounds more authentic."
Guitars have typically been paired with digital technology to create various kinds of synthesizers. More recently, advances in sound modeling, using complex algorithms that simulate other instruments, have created a sort of identity crisis in the guitar world. In 2002, California-based Line 6 unveiled its Variax, which mimics 26 classic guitars - everything from a 1935 Dobro Alumilite to a 1968 Rickenbacker - with remarkable precision. Juszkiewicz is taking Gibson in the opposite direction. "We're not synthesizing sound," he says. "We're putting out a much better original signal." His claim, in essence, is that Magic makes the Les Paul sound more like itself.
By: lyndon
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Lyndon is a self confessed Gibson Guitar nut. Check out his website at for articles, advice and sales
If Henry Juszkiewicz didn't build a digital guitar, I can assure you the digital guitar would still happen." Like Sony and Philips with the compact disc 20 years ago, Gibson is making a big bet on Magic, whose success hinges on nothing less than the reinvention of an entire industry. But unlike the recording business, which has a history of using innovation to fuel growth, most guitar companies live comfortably in the past. "The business is incredibly conservative," says Adrian Freed, research director at the Guitar Innovation Group at the UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies. "One thing I can say about Henry without reservation is that he desperately wants to introduce some innovation."
The desperation isn't driven by sales. In the US alone nearly a million electric guitars were purchased in 2002 - three times as many as a decade ago - to the tune of $477 million. Most of the guitars - roughly 85 percent - were knockoffs of the Les Paul and its only real competition, the Stratocaster. And since Juszkiewicz took control of Gibson, in 1986, revenue has soared. The Music Trades, an industry journal, estimates Gibson's annual revenue increased from $12 million to $130 million in 2002.
Despite sales success, Juszkiewicz says there's more work to do. The Les Paul may not be connecting with the generation whose idea of a garage band is a youngster hunched over a laptop with Pro Tools. Since Guns N' Roses imploded in the mid-'90s, no Les Paul player has commanded the cross-genre visibility of Slash in his heyday. Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, both Les Paul players, don't have Slash's following or showmanship. Juszkiewicz is banking on his digital strategy to reignite excitement for the Les Paul.
It won't be easy. For starters, the Magic guitar's Ethernet output is incompatible with traditional guitar gear. No amplifier or effects pedal on the market today works with the instrument. For now, musicians will need to plug the guitar into a "breakout box" that converts the digital signal back to analog; a standard guitar cable plugs into the box's output. Second, guitars that work with the digital world via MIDI, the universal language of musical instruments, do exist. Guitarists like Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood already make all kinds of digitally enhanced music onstage.
The magic about Magic is it's portability Greenwood may have a digital world at his fingertips, but his guitar still delivers an analog signal, requiring mediating devices to make it digital. The goal of the Magic guitar is to be fully plug-and-play, so a musician can simply jack it into a PC - no USB cables or external devices necessary. And while MIDI is just a sequence of instructions, Magic transmits real digital audio. The signal is digitized at the source and remains digital thereafter. What you get is what you keep, without the noise, interference, and other vagaries of the messy analog world. "Magic just sounds better," Juszkiewicz insists. "It sounds more authentic."
Guitars have typically been paired with digital technology to create various kinds of synthesizers. More recently, advances in sound modeling, using complex algorithms that simulate other instruments, have created a sort of identity crisis in the guitar world. In 2002, California-based Line 6 unveiled its Variax, which mimics 26 classic guitars - everything from a 1935 Dobro Alumilite to a 1968 Rickenbacker - with remarkable precision. Juszkiewicz is taking Gibson in the opposite direction. "We're not synthesizing sound," he says. "We're putting out a much better original signal." His claim, in essence, is that Magic makes the Les Paul sound more like itself.
By: lyndon
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Lyndon is a self confessed Gibson Guitar nut. Check out his website at for articles, advice and sales
Yoko Vs. Lennon
Nobody told her there'd be days like these.
Lennon Murphy—a little-known singer-songwriter who was named after John Lennon—has found herself at odds with Yoko Ono over who has legal rights to the famous moniker.
An attorney for Lennon's widow filed a petition last week with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office seeking to cancel a trademark Murphy took out in 2003 for "Lennon" as the name of her band.
The petition cites the "likelihood of confusion" in the marketplace and "dilution" of the music icon's surname. (Lennon itself is a fairly common throughout Ireland and is derived from the Gaelic word Leannon, which means a "lover" or "sweetheart.")
The 25-year-old Murphy claims that, as a courtesy, she sought and received Ono's blessing to use the name back in 2000, when she signed with Arista Records.
According to Murphy, the label was concerned about the name issue and sent her product manager, Justin Shukat (reportedly the son of Ono attorney Peter Shukat), to approach the prickly 74-year-old artist. Ono supposedly gave her okay, clearing the way for the Tennessee-born Murphy and her eponymous band to release 5:30 Saturday Morning.
Read more at Yahoo! News.
Lennon Murphy—a little-known singer-songwriter who was named after John Lennon—has found herself at odds with Yoko Ono over who has legal rights to the famous moniker.
An attorney for Lennon's widow filed a petition last week with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office seeking to cancel a trademark Murphy took out in 2003 for "Lennon" as the name of her band.
The petition cites the "likelihood of confusion" in the marketplace and "dilution" of the music icon's surname. (Lennon itself is a fairly common throughout Ireland and is derived from the Gaelic word Leannon, which means a "lover" or "sweetheart.")
The 25-year-old Murphy claims that, as a courtesy, she sought and received Ono's blessing to use the name back in 2000, when she signed with Arista Records.
According to Murphy, the label was concerned about the name issue and sent her product manager, Justin Shukat (reportedly the son of Ono attorney Peter Shukat), to approach the prickly 74-year-old artist. Ono supposedly gave her okay, clearing the way for the Tennessee-born Murphy and her eponymous band to release 5:30 Saturday Morning.
Read more at Yahoo! News.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Pop Music
Pop music is a liberal and vague category of modern music not marked by artistic considerations but by its promising audience or future market. Pop is music composed with calculated objective to influence the majority of its contemporaries.
In contrast to music that calls for education or arrangement to appreciate, a significant characteristic of pop music is that anyone is able to enjoy it. Artistic concepts such as complex musical form and aesthetics are not a matter in the writing of pop songs, the key aim being audience satisfaction and commercial triumph. Although the aim of pop music is to sell records and do really well in the charts, it does not require wide acclaim or commercial success. There are bad or unsuccessful pop songs.
Originally the term was an abbreviation of, and synonymous to, popular music, but developed around 1954 to express a particular musical category. The stylistic origins of pop music is folk,jazz,R&B,rock and roll,traditional pop music.The typical instruments are electric guitar,bass guitar,drum kit and keyboard.The cultural origins date back to 1950's in the United States.It is popular worldwide since 1960s.
The standard format of pop music is the song, usually less than five minutes in length. The instrumentation can range from an orchestra to a lone singer. In spite of this wide choice, a standard lineup in a pop band includes a lead guitarist, a bassist, a drummer (or an electronic drum machine), a keyboardist and one or more singers, generally not themselves instumentalists.
Pop songs are generally conspicuous by a heavy rhythmic element, a mainstream style and traditional structure. The most common modification is strophic in form and focuses on memorable melodies, catchy hooks and the appeal of the verse-chorus-verse arrangement, with the chorus sharply contrasting the verse melodically, rhythmically and harmonically.
Lyrics in pop compositions are usually simple and speak of universal experiences and feelings, moving away from incomprehensible or debatable issues.The international appeal of pop was evident in the new millennium, with artists from around the world influencing the genre and local variants merging with the mainstream. As of 2008, pop music is now currently the most popular style of music of youth culture, making competition with hip hop, dance and country.
By: mary rose
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
The Author Mary Rose has authored several books including books related to music and harmony.For more information logon www.casanads.com/bm/me.htm
In contrast to music that calls for education or arrangement to appreciate, a significant characteristic of pop music is that anyone is able to enjoy it. Artistic concepts such as complex musical form and aesthetics are not a matter in the writing of pop songs, the key aim being audience satisfaction and commercial triumph. Although the aim of pop music is to sell records and do really well in the charts, it does not require wide acclaim or commercial success. There are bad or unsuccessful pop songs.
Originally the term was an abbreviation of, and synonymous to, popular music, but developed around 1954 to express a particular musical category. The stylistic origins of pop music is folk,jazz,R&B,rock and roll,traditional pop music.The typical instruments are electric guitar,bass guitar,drum kit and keyboard.The cultural origins date back to 1950's in the United States.It is popular worldwide since 1960s.
The standard format of pop music is the song, usually less than five minutes in length. The instrumentation can range from an orchestra to a lone singer. In spite of this wide choice, a standard lineup in a pop band includes a lead guitarist, a bassist, a drummer (or an electronic drum machine), a keyboardist and one or more singers, generally not themselves instumentalists.
Pop songs are generally conspicuous by a heavy rhythmic element, a mainstream style and traditional structure. The most common modification is strophic in form and focuses on memorable melodies, catchy hooks and the appeal of the verse-chorus-verse arrangement, with the chorus sharply contrasting the verse melodically, rhythmically and harmonically.
Lyrics in pop compositions are usually simple and speak of universal experiences and feelings, moving away from incomprehensible or debatable issues.The international appeal of pop was evident in the new millennium, with artists from around the world influencing the genre and local variants merging with the mainstream. As of 2008, pop music is now currently the most popular style of music of youth culture, making competition with hip hop, dance and country.
By: mary rose
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
The Author Mary Rose has authored several books including books related to music and harmony.For more information logon www.casanads.com/bm/me.htm
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