Sunday covers…Vetiver does Hawkwind

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Sunday covers…Vetiver does Hawkwind

jenny

Sunday covers…Vetiver does Hawkwind

Posted about 1 year ago

Vetiver, the SF alt-folk-country-pop group headed up by Andy Cabic (and inextricably linked to sometime member Devendra Banhart, has an all-covers album coming in May. It’s called Thing of the Past and so good that it is extremely hard to pick a favorite…in addition to this cover of Hawkwind’s very first recording, I like their take on Garland Jeffries “Lon Chaney” …and Vashti Bunyan makes an appearance on “Sleep a Million Years” sounding as lovely and untouched by time as ever. But, you know, choices must be made and this one is my favorite. And just for fun, here’s Hawkwind playing the original, though not really a video.

Comments (9)

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RobP says Yeah, but when's Lemmy covering Vetiver?

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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jenny says Hmmm...never, I'd guess?

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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RobP says I think I'd like the Vetiver version (haven't heard them much but I've liked what I've heard) except I LOVE the Hawkwind version, which reminds me of Them or some other classic garage band until the vocals come in. And I like the vocals a lot. Not to the degree that I like Van Morrison vocals (that's the insane worship degree), but they're really damn good. And Lemmy might be like Keith Richards in terms of surviving, he's probably going to be on some Vertiver tribute album but not for another 20 years, when he's slowed down enough.

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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jenny says Well, I would say that I think their veneration is genuine...Cabic (and Devendra, for what it's worth) is pretty serious about music and if he says he's covering something because he loves it, it means he does. So many of the rolling stones songs I love are covers (Got to Move, Hip Shake come to mind) ...same thing on Keith's behalf, I think. Maybe Lemmy's the same kind of guy, but I don't know enough about him to say.

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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RobP says Didn't mean to imply anything negative about Vetiver there; I assume they genuinely like Hawkwind. I mean, why the hell else would you cover HAWKWIND, for Chrissake? It's not like some hipper than thou kitsch ironic-if-we-were-smart-enough-to-be thing (I think that was more of a 90s thing anyway; at least, I hope it's over). Stones covers - hell, that's half their Brian Jones catalog, whole other discussion if you wanna go that way. Keith's my favorite Chuck Berry interpreter, including Chuck. Go go go little queenie.

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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Mike the Knife says Too cool. But it begs the question: What else do they cover on the coming album?

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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RobP says The songlist, according to the Vetiver website: Houses Roll On Babe Sleep A Million Years Hook & Ladder To Baby Road To Ronderlin Lon Chaney Hurry On Sundown The Swimming Song Blue Driver Standin' I Must Be In A Good Place Now The Swimming Song is by Loudon Wainwright III, so even on one where I know the writer I wouldn't have recognized it by the title. To Baby is by Biff Rose and Road To Ronderlin by Ian Matthews. Any further info on the originals, Jen? Or anyone else?

Permalink posted 04/20/2008
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jenny says Let's see, I will have to do this anyway at some point to review the record so why not now? "Houses" Elyse Weinberg (another long-long 1960s folk singer whose eponymous 1968 album was recently reissued by Orange Twin.) "Roll on Babe" Derroll Adams (pre-eminent folk banjo player and protest artist, contemporary of Ramblin' Jack Elliott) "Sleep a Million Years" Dia Joyce (can't find much about her) "Hook & Ladder" Norman Greenbaum (songerwriter best know for the 60s mega hit "Spirit in the Sky") "To Baby" Biff Rose (late 1960s stand-up comic/banjo player) "Road to Ronderlin" Ian Matthews (of Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort and Plainsong, as well as some pretty ace solo records from the early 1970s) "Lon Chaney" Garland Jeffreys (That "Wild in the Streets" dude, don't know much else about him.) "Hurry On Sundown" Hawkwind "The Swimming Song" Loudon Wainwright III "Blue Driver" Michael Hurley (whose latest album came out on Andy's Gnomonsong label) "I Must Be in a Good Place Now" Bobby Charles (New Orleans-based R&B songwriter, wrote songs for Fats Domino and Bill Haley and the Comets)

Permalink posted 04/21/2008
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extraordinarypoems says
Liked this music very much.

Permalink posted 04/05/2009