A very happy birthday to Susanna Hoffs, born 17th January 1959.
Singer, songwriter, Bangle, author and all-round beautiful soul. All that and a superlative interpreter of other people's songs too, which is the focus of today's 10-track tribute.
The earliest entry is the opening song, when Susanna was a member of Paisley Underground collective Rainy Day along with David Roback, later of Mazzy Star. I'll Keep It With Mine was written by Bob Dylan and, legend has it, given away tom Judy Collins who released it as a single in 1965. Many other artists have recorded it since but the Rainy Day version was the first I heard, tucked away on a Rough Trade compilation I picked up secondhand in the early 1990s.
Bangles are represented here twice, firstly with their cover of Hazy Shade Of Winter, originally featured on the soundtrack to 1987 film Less Than Zero, starring Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr (whatever happened to him?) The version here is misleadingly labelled a "dub mix", it's actually a slightly spikier, full-vocal take on the soundtrack version. The second Bangles contribution is an Elvis Costello cover, which also inspired the title of their reformation album, 2003's Doll Revolution.
in 1997, Susanna recorded the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic The Look Of Love for the first Austin Powers film. She also appears in the film as Gillian Shagwell, guitarist with Austin's band Ming Tea. It was there that Susanna met and later married director Jay Roach. On that day, the sound of millions of hearts breaking was audible around the world.
Another fruitful partnership borne from the Austin Powers film was with Ming Tea band mate Matthew Sweet, Between 2006 and 2013, the pair released three Under The Covers albums, 45 versions of well-known songs that managed to be both faithful interpretations but distinctly theirs. All highly recommended but I've selected four particular favourites for this selection.
Susanna's cover of The Beatles' All I've Got To Do is lifted from a 2012 EP, whilst the closing, majestic rendition of Chris Bell's You And Your Sister featured on her solo covers album Bright Lights in 2021.
A further covers album, The Deep End, was released last April. I haven't got to that one yet though I suspect it will be brilliant. I mean, come on, it's Susanna, right?
1) I'll Keep It With Mine (Cover of Judy Collins): Rainy Day (1984)
2) Maggie May (Cover of Rod Stewart): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2009)
3) Hazy Shade Of Winter (7" Dub Mix) (Cover of Simon & Garfunkel): Bangles (1987)
4) Free Fallin' (Cover of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2013)
5) The Look Of Love (Cover of Dusty Springfield): Susanna Hoffs (1997)
6) Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution) (Cover of Elvis Costello): Bangles (2003)
7) Different Drum (Cover of The Greenfriar Boys): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2006)
8) All I've Got To Do (Cover of The Beatles): Susanna Hoffs (2012)
9) Run To Me (Cover of Bee Gees): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2006)
10) You And Your Sister (Cover of Chris Bell): Susanna Hoffs (2021)
1984: Rainy Day: 1
1987: Hazy Shade Of Winter EP: 3
1997: Austin Powers OST: 5
2003: Doll Revolution: 6
2006: Under The Covers Vol. 1: 7, 9
2009: Under The Covers Vol. 2: 2
2012: From Me To You EP: 8
2013: Under The Covers Vol. 3: 4
2021: Bright Lights: 10