Because You Demanded More, The Return Of Versions Galore!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation of cover versions, recorded 26th November 1999.

When I posted Side 1 in July 2024, I remarked "Who would have thought a quarter of a century on, many of these artists would still be recording and touring?"

The more sobering realisation is how many artists are sadly no longer with us since I originally recorded the mixtape at the end of the last century: Brian Wilson, Marc Moreland, Tony Ogden, Charlie Watts, Cathal Coughlan, Rod McKuen...and that's just in the first four songs of Side 2 alone.

The other thing that struck me was the 1993 was clearly a good year for cover versions, as demonstrated here by Spell aka Boyd Rice and Rose McDowall, Barry Adamson and Louise Ness, One Dove (Dot sings Dolly!) and Slowdive all turning in versions that hold up well against the originals.

And despite Frente! having the greater commercial success with their cover of a cover, it's the earlier acoustic driven version of Bizarre Love Triangle by Devine & Statton aka Ian Pinchcombe and Alison Statton that wins hands down every time. 

1) Do It Again (Album Version): Wall Of Voodoo vs. The Beach Boys (1987)

2) She's A Rainbow (Left Hand Blue Mix By Fluke): World Of Twist vs. The Rolling Stones (1991)

3) Shiny Happy People: The Fatima Mansions vs. R.E.M. (1991)

4) Seasons In The Sun: Spell vs. Rod McKuen (1993)

5) Jolene (Edit By Khayem): One Dove vs. Dolly Parton (1993)

6) Some Velvet Morning: Slowdive vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood (1993)

7) Broken English (7" Extended) (Remix By Sunscreem & Phil Bodger): Sunscreem vs. Marianne Faithfull (1992)

8) White Rabbit: The Shower Scene From Psycho vs. The Great Society with Grace Slick (1985)

9) Purple Haze: Soft Cell vs. The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1983)

10) "Heroes": Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie vs. David Bowie (1990)

11) Bizarre Love Triangle: Devine & Statton vs. New Order (1989)

12) Je T'Aime ... Moi Non Plus: Barry Adamson & Louise Ness vs. Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin (1993)

1983: Soul Inside EP: 9

1985: White Rabbit/Cinnamon Girl EP: 8

1987: Happy Planet: 1

1989: Bizarre Love Triangle EP: 11

1990: Love Child EP: 10

1991: Bertie's Brochures: 3

1991: She's A Rainbow EP: 2

1992: Broken English EP: 7

1993: Seasons In The Sun: 4

1993: The Negro Inside Me EP: 12

1993: Volume Seven: 6

1993: Why Don't You Take Me EP: 5

Side Two (46:15) (GD) (M)

Side One here

In September 2022, I posted another all-covers compilation, Hokey Karaoke (Volume One), which repeats some of the tracks from Versions Galore, and can be found here

Because, I Will Not Enyoy You Alone

...so (mis)types Sven Leiser aka @svenleiser7799, commenting on Slowdive's performance at Le YoYo in Paris on 14th November 2023, another edition of Echoes presented by Jehnny Beth and available on ARTE Concert's You Tube channel.

 

There's more: "Slowdive is not only a band. It's a miracle" opines Sven. "I hope, they come another time to Hamburg. Because, i will not enyoy you alone. Some friends, a lot of friends of me, will take part of you."

 

I'm hoping that latter statement is a 'lost in translation' reference to Sven bringing a group of friends to the gig next time Slowdive are in town, rather than an intention to dismember the band and take home body parts as sounvenirs for their individual Slowdive shrines in the cupboard under the stairs...

 

If it's the former, then Sven is in good company because the general consensus of the commenters all say pretty much the same thing, that Slowdive are a very good live band. And. on the strength of this 10-song set, they're absolutely right.

 

Shoegaze, as Jehnny notes during the first interview segment with Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, was another one of those genres made up by music press journalists desperate to capture and define the next big thing. Neil acknowledges that whilst it's literal and a bit silly, it's something that the band has embraced. I dipped in and out of shoegaze music during it's heyday, some just didn't convince or persuade me, and whilst I enjoyed what I heard of Slowdive, I didn't really get into them deeply at the time.

Slowdive's first act ended in 1995. Again, interesting to hear Neil and Rachel talk about the end of the band, the chronological link with Alan McGee going into rehab and their disconnect from record label Creation with third album Pygmalion, the end of Slowdive and a rebirth of sorts with Mojave 3. 

Slowdive reformed 10 years ago, have released two further albums (most recently Everything Is Alive in 2023) and seem to be enjoying even greater popularity and acclaim during their second act.

 

After watching this show, it's easy to see why. The band are tight, the songs are great and Rachel and Neil's alternating vocals are spot on in the aural setting. Visually, Rachel seems to have fully embraced her teen goth roots. In the interview Neil recalls a shared love of The Cure but not The MIssion. "Let's not talk about bands we don't like," laughs Rachel.

If you've had a passing - or indeed, no - interest in Slowdive, take an hour out to watch this. If Slowdive was on your "don't like" list, then give it a try. If you already love Slowdive, then you'll need no persuading that you'll really enjoy this. Personally, in the 21st century, I've come to appreciate Slowdive more and more with each listen and this is a great show from a great band at the peak of their powers. 

00:00 Shanty

06:21 Catch The Breeze

11:02 Interview Part 1

13:33 Avalyn

17:59 Slouvaki Space Station

23:40 Interview Part 2

25:52 Sugar For The Pill

30:13 Slomo

37:11 Interview Part 3

39:59 Kisses

45:18 Alison

49:10  Interview Part 4

50:24 When The Sun Hits

55:19 40 Days

Hokey Karaoke

Volume 1 of a CD-R of cover versions recorded for my friend Stuart on 19th August 2008.

 

I love a cover version and my forays into cassette compilations included many made up of people singing other people's songs. Many of the songs featured here have cropped up on previous mixtapes but I quite like the flow of this CD-R that I made for my friend's birthday a decade and a half ago. Always one for overdoing things, this was the first of three volumes that I gifted him at the time.

My Bloody Valentine start off with their version of the key song from the sixth James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, originally recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1969. If you're expecting a typical MBV wall of noise, you'll be disappointed; unexpectedly, it's a faithful and rather lovely cover version.

A few cover versions go acoustic. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly deliver an urgent Northern take on Gallic dance duo Justice. Devine & Statton aka Ian Devine (nee Pinchcombe) from Ludus and Alison Statton from Young Marble Giants and Weekend team up for a beautifully stripped down version of a New Order classic. I remember hearing this on the John Peel show back in 1989. Australian band Frente! were clearly paying attention. Deacon Blue aren't particular favourites of mine but anyone willing to have a stab at a Julian Cope song gets a thumbs up from me. 

Several versions take the song in interesting directions. Whilst not surpassing the originals, they've come up with a different approach that makes the song their own. Primal Scream are the first in line, with an amped up, dirty version of The Clash's Know Your Rights. Tunng go all folky with club classic Naked In The Rain by Blue Pearl, whilst Locust offer up an almost jazz lounge duet on Depeche Mode's Master And Servant. 

 

I'm also a big fan of Mark Eitzel's uptempo but downbeat run through Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield. Associates' bold debut in 1979, covering Boys Keep Swinging weeks after the original was released, is every bit as good as David Bowie. If I had to choose between the two, Anita Lane's unique take on Sexual Healing, ably assisted by Mick Harvey and Barry Adamson, surpasses Marvin Gaye's original.

Ciccone Youth aka Sonic Youth take things to the natural and extreme end with a version of Robert Palmer recorded in a karaoke booth. The video - recorded in the same booth for $25 - is a striking send up of the overblown original, Kim Gordon's deadpan singing and lacklustre dancing against a backdrop of images from the Vietnam War. I vaguely recall watching this on a late night TV show and the studio guests ripping the song and video to shreds, but they were woefully missing the point.

Speaking of overblown, sometimes the only way to do a cover is go even bigger and louder. Stairway To Heaven is one of those songs indelibly etched in the memory of my childhood listening to music on the radio and has been covered countless times over the last half-century. I remember being subjected to a version during a school assembly in the 1980s by a 'supergroup' made up of my Biology, Geography and P.E. teachers. It wasn't pretty.

Like many, seeing Aki Kaurismäki's 1989 road movie Leningrad Cowboys Go America was my first introduction to the titular Finnish band. Leningrad Cowboys continued to release records up to 2013 but they appear to have disbanded some time after. Their version of the Led Zeppelin song came from a collaborative album with The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble aka The Alexandrov Ensemble aka The Red Army Choir, the official choir of the Russian armed forces. Tragically, on Christmas Day in 2016, 64 members of the Ensemble were killed when their plane crashed into the Black Sea.

The world has changed dramatically this year and collaborating with the official choir of the Russian armed forces is unlikely to be on anyone's wish list, now or any time in the foreseeable future. How different things were in 2008 when I compiled this collection.

 

1) We Have All The Time In The World: My Bloody Valentine sing Louis Armstrong (1993)

2) Know Your Rights (Full Length Version): Primal Scream sing The Clash (1994)

3) There's A Ghost In My House: The Fall sing R. Dean Taylor (1987)

4) Naked In The Rain (Rob Da Bank Session): Tunng sing Blue Pearl (2007)

5) D.A.N.C.E.: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly sing Justice (2008)

6) Move On Up: Mark Eitzel sings Curtis Mayfield (2002)

7) Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime: Beck sings The Korgis (2004)

8) Bizarre Love Triangle: Devine & Statton sing New Order (1989)

9) Addicted To Love: Ciccone Youth sing Robert Palmer (1988)

10) Making Plans For Nigel: Datassette sing XTC (2006)

11) Boys Keep Swinging: Associates sing David Bowie (1979)

12) Master And Servant: Locust sing Depeche Mode (1998)

13) It's A Man's Man's Man's World: Natacha Atlas sings James Brown (2003)

14) Some Velvet Morning: Slowdive sing Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood (1993)

15) If You're Lookin' For A Way Out (Album Version): Tindersticks sing Odyssey (1999)

16) Sexual Healing: Anita Lane ft. Mick Harvey & Barry Adamson sings Marvin Gaye (1993)

17) Trampolene: Deacon Blue sing Julian Cope (1989)

18) Stairway To Heaven: The Leningrad Cowboys & The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble sing Led Zeppelin (1994)

Volume One (1:19:43) (GD) (M)

Wonder What's Inside

The first Slowdive record I bought was 1993's 5 EP, featuring remixes by Bandulu and Reload (Mark Pritchard & Tom Middleton), from Way Ahead Records in Derby. The first song I heard by the band was probably the single version of Shine, which appeared on the 1991 Creation compilation Sorted, Snorted And Sported. The remix of Shine included here featured on a soundtrack to a US movie that I've never seen. I also collected most of the Volume series (Is it a book with a CD, or a CD with a book?), which includes arguably my favourite version of Some Velvet Morning, after the original by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood. Beyond that, though, I only have one of their albums, the 2005 expanded edition of 2nd album, Souvlaki. 

 

Slowdive went their separate ways after 3rd album Pygmalion in 1995 then reunited in 2014, releasing an eponymous 4th album in 2017. The official Slowdive website has been a little quiet since then, but the band is reportedly working on a 5th album and have been confirmed in the line up for the Primavera Sound Festival's 2nd weekend in Barcelona on Thursday 9th June 2022.

 

Today's selection then is heavily weighted towards 1993, the Souvlaki album and accompanying singles, but it's an interesting and varied mix to these ears.

 

Side One

1) Avalyn 1 (1990)

2) Good Day Sunshine (1993)

3) Shine (Splendiferous Locust Mix By Mark Van Hoen) (1999)

4) Some Velvet Morning (Cover of Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood) (1993)

5) Machine Gun (1993)

Side Two

1) Dagger (1993)

2) Missing You (1993)

3) Moussaka Chaos (1993)

4) Alison (1993)

5) In Mind (Single Version) (1993)

 

1990: Slowdive EP: A1 

1993: Outside Your Room EP: B3, B4

1993: Souvlaki: A5, B1, B4

1993: 5 EP: A2, B2, B5

1993: Volume Seven: A4

1999: Splendor (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack): A3

Side One (21:48)

Side Two (21:07)

Creation Myths

Creation Records compilations were cheap, cheerful and a great way of sampling singles, EPs and album cuts. I'm pretty sure Keeping The Faith: A Creation Dance Compilation was the first I picked up and worth a post in its own right. Not long after, I picked up (even cheaper) secondhand copies of Do You Believe In Love?, A Palace In The Sun and Sorted, Snorted And Sported. With the exception of Keeping The Faith, I generally found Creation compilations a real hit-and-miss affair, unlikely to bear start-to-finish plays and most useful as material for mix tapes. I was not especially moved by Tangerine, The Bounty Hunters, Something Pretty Beautiful and didn't explore their music beyond these and other Creation compilations that I got over the years.

 

Today's selection is from a mix CD that I put together circa 2004-2005, when I decided to have a clear out and donate some albums to a local charity shop. There are some notable omissions from the original albums - Chelsea Girl by Ride, the Andrew Weatherall remixes of Primal Scream and Love Corporation, No More Sorry by My Bloody Valentine - because I had them elsewhere on albums or compilations that I was keeping.

This, then, is the 'best of the rest' but with a sequencing that I was happy to play and replay. It's mostly guitar-based (acoustic and squawling, sometimes both) with the odd sprinkling of electronic beats and samples. Enjoy.

 

1) Honey Power: My Bloody Valentine (Tremolo EP, 1991)

2) I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have (Album Version): Primal Scream (Primal Scream, 1989)

3) Street Of Lights: Peter Astor (Zoo, 1991)

4) Snow (Album Version): The Times (E For Edward, 1989)

5) Yu-Yu (FTD Mix): Hypnotone (Hypnotonic EP, 1991)

6) Girl Go (Single Version): The Jazz Butcher (Girl Go EP, 1990)

7) Laze It Up: Swervedriver (Sandblasted EP, 1991)

8) Chevron: Peter Astor (Submarine, 1990)

9) Love (Album Version): Love Corporation (Lovers, 1991)

10) Don't Ask Why: My Bloody Valentine (Glider EP, 1990)

11) Dream Beam (Ben Chapman 7" Edit): Hypnotone (Dream Beam EP, 1990)

12) Rave Down: Swervedriver (Rave Down EP. 1990)

13) Shine (Single Version): Slowdive (Holding Our Breath EP, 1991)

14) Lundi Bleu (Radio Edit): The Times (Lundi Bleu EP, 1992)

15) She's On Drugs: The Jazz Butcher (Cult Of The Basement, 1990)

16) You're Just Dead Skin To Me: Primal Scream (Primal Scream, 1989)

17) Star Sign (Album Version): Teenage Fanclub (Bandwagonesque, 1991)

1990: Do You Believe In Love?: 4, 6, 16

1991: A Palace In The Sun: 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15

1991: Sorted, Snorted And Sported: 1, 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, 17

Creation Myths 1989-1991 (1:19:34)

A Pool Of Calm In A Sea Of Chaos

Side 1 of a mixtape, recorded sometime around 1997, featuring the music of Mark Pritchard & Tom Middleton aka Global Communication and Reload. Their remix of In Mind by Slowdive is memerising and a precursor to their similarly radical overhaul of Chapterhouse's Blood Music album the same year. The selection closes with the transformative Ob-Selon Mi-Nos By Mystic Institute aka Mark Pritchard & Paul Kent, which itself transformed into 14:31 by Global Communication on their seminal 1994 album, 76:14. This remix originally had a couple of minutes lopped off to squeeze the tracks onto one side of a cassette; this recreation features the full 15-minute version.

1) Amor Real (Remix By Global Communication): Jon Anderson ft. Milton Nascimento (1995)

2) In Mind (Reload Remix (The 147 Take)): Slowdive (1993)

3) Maiden Voyage (Original 8'07>5'23 Version): Global Communication (1994)

4) Le Soleil Et La Mer (Original Mix): Reload (1993)

5) Ob-Selon Mi-Nos (Re-Painted By Global Communication): Mystic Institute (1993)

1993: 5 EP: 2

1993: Auto Reload EP / A Collection Of Short Stories: 4

1993: The Cyberdon EP (Reload Remixes): 5

1994: Maiden Voyage EP: 3

1995: The Deseo Remixes: 1

Side One (47:14) (Box) (Mega)