THE SECOND GLANCE: COVERS #2

Wow, it's been a while since I've done a proper covers post, huh? Been building up quite a nice collection here, so I'm hoping you'll like the ones I've set aside for this time around. Actually gonna give you some double shots, see how different people recreate the same song.

The Magic Numbers - Crazy in Love (covering Beyonce)
The Puppini Sisters - Crazy in Love (covering Beyonce)

This song has popped up everywhere, from the radio in its initial run back in 2003 to appearing on Dance Dance Revolution recently. It's also a pretty popular cover, and both of these take the original and do something interesting and great with it, showcasing the desperation behind Beyonce's fancy beats. The Puppini Sisters send the song back into the 1940's, keeping the fast pace but replacing the modern hiphop stylings with olden-days style background music, and harmonizing the song with three voices. Meanwhile, a recent discovery for me, The Magic Numbers' great take on the song, a more low-key indie style interpretation, deconstructing the song back to its core emotions. Far from the fast dance beats of the original, this version is a depressed male-vocal led song bemoaning the loss of a lover, despite making no lyrical changes or changing the actual mechanics of the song.

This Mortal Coil feat. Elizabeth Fraser - Song to the Siren (covering Tim Buckley)
The Czars - Song to the Siren (covering Tim Buckley)

This Mortal Coil's version has been a longtime favourite, first of my older sister Kara's and then my own. Elizabeth Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins) does an amazing job of the song, even if some of the words become a little blurred, its still completely beautiful. Little did I know, a band I recently discovered called The Czars released a covers album a couple years back that included a magnificent cover of the song as well. At an epic 7 minutes long, its a gorgeous pursuit and a real contender for the best cover version of the song.

Shannon Wright - Asleep (covering The Smiths)
Carissa's Wierd - Asleep (covering The Smiths)

I will admit I think The Smiths' "Asleep" may the the saddest song ever composed, barring none. I'm in love with it, and the intense emotions I associate with it, and I'm always intrigued by covers of it. Carissa's Wierd brings a real stripped-down, almost spoken sound to the song, with very simple instrumentation. This half-singing brings another style of sadness and desperation to the song. I find it hard, meanwhile, to properly describe Shannon Wright's version, which is also beautiful even as it sometimes comes off as a little overdramatic, a little too affected to draw out the emotions the original does. However, few songs can compare to the original "Asleep", and both of these are brave and relatively successful attempts to look at the song from a new angle.

Tricky - The Lovecats (covering The Cure)
OK Go - The Lovecats (covering The Cure)

Hearing rapper Tricky's take on the immortal song is interesting, as in his hands the song is dark, raspy and seductive. The song always had elements of sexual intrigue to it, but this takes the excitement of the original and turns it into an invitation into the darkness; Tricky's lovecats must be black cats, the avatars of a dark enchantress, drawing you away into the night. OK Go, meanwhile, are more faithful to the original but also have their own sound attached, adding a bit of crazed playfulness. The original "The Lovecats" is a rather creepy song when you get down to it, and both of these covers do that great justice.

Utada Hikaru - With or Without You (covering U2)
Scala & Kolacny Brothers - With or Without You (covering U2)

Japanese pop star Utada Hikaru takes on an old favourite, and does it very well here. Her voice is low, with the emotions clear in it; the desperation, the sadness and even the anger are evident in her rendition. The simple piano works great before more music kicks in properly. Her voice is magnificent here, taking the heights impressively. Meanwhile, a potentially even more beautiful version comes from our favourite chior Scala & Kolacny Brothers, whose version of the song is breathtaking, truly. If you've been following this blog I'm hoping you've picked up a song or two of theirs in the past, and I'd say this is one of their best.

And, as a bonus, the lonely but awesome...

Sia - Gimme More (covering Britney Spears)

Now, this doesn't have a partner, but it stands pretty well on its own. It takes Britney Spears' expensively produced and sexy song and turns it into a stripped-down piano-and-vocals performance that reeks of sadness, sleaze and sex. Sia's protagonist is a sad creature, an exhibitionist trapped in her own need for attention and sex but not, in and of herself, sexy. It's sad and yet, Sia's vocals are still wonderful and draw you into the song. Then, you begin to hear that same person in the original, trying her best to be sexy and yet coming off as desperate and self-deluded.

TOP 100 SONGS 0F 2007: 61-70

On we go, heading towards the top 50. Considering slowing this down, as 10 songs a day (or couple of days) really is a lot... Maybe I should've only done 50 after all.

70. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Catch You (Rapidshare link)
Album: Trip the Light Fantastic

An extremely fun song with a great beat, letting Sophie have some fun as she sings a song from the perspective of a stalker who refuses to be shaken off, no matter how their target tries. Her enthusiasm, as ill-placed as it is, is infectious. It's not too complicated, just a fun song to dance to.

69. White Rabbits - Tourist Trap (Rapidshare link)
Album: Fort Nightly

An excellent mix of sounds, something these White Rabbits are great at. I enjoy the 'dreamy' quality of the lyrics about being tourists, about going home and going abroad.

68. Mgmt - Time to Pretend (Rapidshare link)
Album: Oracular Spectacular

An amusing song in the beginning, outlining a perfect life of wealth, drugs, babes and 'living fast and dying young'. It turns out to be, I believe, a sad statement on how our destinies are predestined early on and how we can only imagine the future that we really want, despite how grand our dreams may be. 'We're fated to pretend,' states the protagonist amidst carefully constructed layers of sounds, as it delves into the past where, as children, we would pretend not knowing what comes next. Oddly, one of Pitchfork's top songs of the year as well, on one of our rare agreements.

67. Straylight Run - The Miracle That Never Came (Rapidshare link)
Album: The Needles the Space

This song is relentless, moving forward like a train, with singer Michelle DaRosa singing quickly a story of grief that starts out grinning sideways and slowly becoming a sad song about loss of a child, then pounding back into its quick tone again. "I used to sing you lullabies, I'd hold you when you'd start to cry, I was your mother and your friend, don't you remember me from then?" It reminds me of someone 'keeping busy', running from their grief and yet never escaping.

66. Eisley - Many Funerals (Rapidshare link)
Album: Combinations

A chilling beginning leads into a gorgeous song, one of Eisley's best yet, a macabre song about death. Their voices are like the angels of death here, pretty and creepy at the same time, singing lyrics like, "They fill the empty caskets, and leave you with your tears." It's like a dance in the fog at midnight, with a rocking beat that nonetheless belongs to the dead.

65. Bowerbirds - In Our Talons (Rapidshare link)
Album: Hymns for a Dark Horse

Another song from enviro-friendly band Bowerbirds, offering their unique, almost sullen sound with hopeful vocals. This song is a song to the earth, to the small things that make it beautiful, and mourning their destruction at human hands. With these guys, I always want to look up their lyrics, because they always have some sort of message. It's summed up in a line near the end: " "It takes a lot of nerve to destroy this wondrous earth", bemoaning the fact that this is a lesson we've yet to learn.

64. Natalie Walker - Quicksand (Thievery Corporation Remix) (Rapidshare link)
Album: Unreleased (original on Urban Angel)

Natalie Walker's voice is one of my finds of 2007, a highlight among all the bad music I find and dispose of. This song, about the feeling of being stuck in one place in the aftermath of being left, touches something deep, and it's only enhanced by Thievery Corporation's remixing. The original was a bit too over-beated, and they add a beautiful dreamy haze to it that really works well with Walker's vocals and the general tone of the song.

63. Shannon Wright - They'll Kill The Actor In The End (Rapidshare link)
Album: Let in the Light

Shannon Wright is a singer that, sadly, I feel I've neglected as I've always wanted to listen more to her, but never remember to. What I have heard is great - her cover of The Smith's "Asleep" is a particular favourite - but that isn't as much as it could be. Luckily, I picked up her 2007 album, "Let in the Light" at a small used music store in Toronto, which led me to this piano-led piece. It feels like slipping into a world of dark slow-motion depression, with Wright's scratchy vocals leading us on a field trip into the darkness. However, dark is far from good, and this is a song that sends chills through one's spine.

62. Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine (Rapidshare link)
Album: Ongiara

A love song to the mountains that some could interpret as a metaphor for a lover, this is a highlight of the Great Lake Swimmers' style of odd, haunting distant vocals with folk-sounding instruments. This feels like the song the mountain wind makes, with the lake and the trees, a mystical, magical song of ambiguous love. I find that you cannot listen to this music often, but when you do, it's an experience.

61. Róisín Murphy - Let Me Know (Rapidshare link)
Album: Overpowered

A song about sexual disconnection, about emotional borders, about heat where love has no place. It's about alleviating loneliness, and like many songs of this theme is ultimately very danceable. It's about freedom, and with that it makes a song easy to bounce to, well-constructed and layered for maximum effect. Murphy is brilliant here.

So, that's another set down as we approach the larger numbers... Remember, though, all of these songs are damn good. There's plenty of songs that didn't even make it into the top 100! :) And remember, if you enjoy these songs, I urge you to check out their artists!