Friday, August 25, 2006

Black Betty

Huddie Ledbetter - Leadbelly

I appear to have lost all of the mp3's posted on SaveFile, including the Triffids tracks posted (insert swear words here), so it's back to YouSendIt and a shorter mp3 availability. Them's the breaks in the world of free file sharing services.

I have also decided to start a new variation on an old method, posting multiple versions of the same song, the original and several cover versions, with the music and very few words.

I'm starting with Black Betty a classic from Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly. Each of these versions has it's own style, although Nick Cave's is very true to the original.

Check out Ram Jam's southern-fried version - the first band to record this tune in a more rocking style, Tom Jones' lite-funk interpretation and Spiderbait's very cool re-take on Ram Jam's version.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Pink Floyd V's Teenage Fanclub V's The Coffin Daggers

Syd Barret by Mick Rock

It has been a month since Roger “Syd” Barrett died, although he had turned his back on the music scene and the general public 30 years ago, after forming Pink Floyd, writing most of and recording their debut album ”The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”.

Syd is widely acknowledged to have set the benchmark for what people think of as psychedelic guitar playing and his vocal style and lyrical content were also amongst the first of this genre. David Bowie has stated that “Syd was the first guy I’d heard sing pop or rock with a British accent”.

Wikipedia has an extensive amount of information on Syd Barrett, including his brief time with Pink Floyd and his later solo recordings.

Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock/power pop band from Glascow, Scotland who initially emerged from the Glasgow C86 scene.

The Coffin Daggers are an instrumental surf/punk/sci-fi band from New York City.

I am also aware of a cover of Interstellar Overdrive by the Melvins, but sadly I don’t have a copy of this track. If anyone would like to forward me a copy of this, then I will post it.