Version City #75 - Jackie Oates sings Longpigs and The Cure

You find me momentarily pausing in my attempts to chuck every permutation of clothing into a bag while simultaneously rummaging through cupboards in search of my inflatable mattress. Tomorrow morning I'm off to FolkEast, my annual brief concession to what Evan Dando memorably described as being the outdoor type. I'll be sleeping under the stars (well, under canvas under the stars to be precise, but you get my drift) for three nights and catching as many bands as possible at my one festival of the year. Somewhere near the top of my 'to see' list is a rare set by The Imagined Village, the ever-evolving, genre-bending supergroup featuring Martin & Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, Simon Emmerson of Afro-Celt Sound System, sitar player Sheema Mujherjee, tabla percussionist Johnny Kalsi and drummer Andy Gangadeen. Also in the line-up (I hope) will be Jackie Oates, someone who I've wanted to see in concert for a very long time. True, on this occasion she'll just be part of the band, but I hope she gets to step forward for at least one or two numbers. Jackie is about to release her eighth solo album and she's made others in tandem with fellow artists such as Megan Henwood and John Spiers. They're all recommended and many of them are available to sample on her Bandcamp page (here).

For the purposes of this feature (the first new instalment since January 2021!) here are a couple of absolutely breathtaking covers by Jackie. The Cure's 'Untitled' was recorded for 'Life's What You Make It', a compilation of  various folkies tackling 1980s hits, while 'On and On' will appear on that new solo album I mentioned, 'Gracious Wings'. Steel yourself for these.

Finally, as a little light relief after those jaw-dropping beauties, here's a stripped down line-up of The Imagined Village from ten years ago with Martin and Eliza to the fore, tackling Slade's 'Cum on Feel the Noize'. 

Version City #74 - Get Well Soon sings Underworld

After notching up 73 entries of the Version City series by early December 2019, I somehow failed to add to that tally at all in 2020 and the idea fell by the wayside. Here though, finally, is entry No.74. 

German singer/songwriter Konstantin Gropper has released half a dozen albums trading as as Get Well Soon, in addition to creating music under his own name for films and TV. Gropper's first album, 'Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon' was a big favourite in our house in 2008. The inclusion of a cover of Underworld's 'Born Slippy', may have seemed initially unlikely, but it's judged to perfection. 

Get Well Soon - Born Slippy

The Texture and the Flavour

My Dad did it for years. The former Mrs S did it for a while. A number of my friends are doing it on a regular basis. Our mutual blogging chum John Medd is a past master at it. My social media platform of choice is full of photos showing the results of complete strangers doing it. I'm referring of course to the baking of bread. And now, at the ripe old age of 60, I can report that I too am belatedly getting in on the act, after giving further consideration to a comment I left over at Alyson's place last month....

'While on a birthday Skype call with a couple of friends last week, they each impressed me with tales of their respective sourdough bread making exploits. I absolutely love sourdough, but haven’t got the first clue how to make it – nor the patience to try I suspect. Also, if I did somehow manage to make an edible loaf, I doubt that it wouldn’t last more than five minutes before I demolished it! I try not to eat too much bread in general, but have little willpower where a fresh, warm loaf is concerned. 

Towards the end of his life my Dad got into baking his own bread, baking two loaves at a time – one for he and Mum to use straight away and one to put in the freezer for later in the week. It took him a very long time and lots of tweaking to perfect his own particular tasting recipe, but it was well worth the effort. The highlight of any visit home was a big toasted slab of Dad’s bread. When he died suddenly in 2007, his last loaf was left in the freezer. A couple of weeks later, Mum and I defrosted and shared the loaf, knowing that we’d never taste his bread again – it was quite a moment.'

So last week I had a go at baking my first ever loaf of bread. Fully expecting to have to chuck away my first half a dozen failures (as I recall my Dad doing all those years ago), I attempted the most simple, straight forward, plain white loaf....... and was frankly astonished to produce a surprisingly edible debut effort.

This week, still flushed with success, I, perhaps over-ambitiously, attempted a boule and added a selection of seeds into the mix. The result was visually a little lacklustre, but the seeds improved the taste considerably. The long term aim is to move on to sourdough, but patience is a virtue, I have to learn to walk before I can run.

In the old world, I was scheduled to catch up with Mark Lanegan in concert again this week, but it was not to be. Here he is with Screaming Trees back in 1992 covering The Small Faces.

Screaming Trees - Song of a Baker

Version City #73 - Alasdair Roberts sings Ivor Cutler

It's Clacton-On-Sea in 1966. The two kids in the front are a blur of larkingaboutness, much as you'd expect. The one on the right is taking a good look over the side, perhaps trying to figure out how it is that the little boat he's in keeps j-u-s-t missing that concrete wall as it goes round and round and round. The hilariously intense figure in the back seat? Yes, that's me, concentrating as if my life depended upon it. I'm not quite sure why. Did I really think I was steering the damned thing? Possibly.

Alasdair Roberts - I Had a Little Boat

Ivor Cutler - I Had a Little Boat (Peel Session)

Red Gold & Green #31 - Ken Boothe

Still working at the age of 71, Ken Boothe is probably best known to the world at large for his cover of Bread's 'Everything I Own', which reached the UK Number 1 spot for three weeks in October 1974. To quote Joe Strummer in '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais', '...Ken Boothe for UK pop reggae...'. Boothe's career, however, stretches back to the late 1950s, with his first recordings appearing as part of a duo with Stranger Cole in 1963. His solo career began in earnest in 1966 with a series of ska and rocksteady tunes for legendary producers such as Leslie Kong, Sonia Pottinger and Phil Pratt. Boothe also recorded for Coxone Dodd's Studio One label and here he is on that very imprint in 1968, with his superb rocksteady reworking of a song written and recorded the previous year by another Ken, UK entertainer Kenny Lynch.

Ken Boothe - Moving Away

Version City #72 - Robyn Hitchcock sings Carl Douglas

JC, our mutual friend and Blogfather of this little corner of t'internet, has once again done me the great honour of featuring an Imaginary Compilation Album of my curation over at his place today. This time around, the subject of my attention is the one and only Robyn Hitchcock, a man whose music I've been digging for a frankly terrifying amount of time - 40 years! As I note in the post, the ten songs selected only scratch the surface of such a long, prolific ongoing career and I have every intention of following up with a Volume 2 in the fullness of time. I'm off to catch an intimate show on his UK tour in a few weeks, so expect more Robyn related gubbins soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the ICA here plus this bonus cover version from the 1990 Anti-Poll Tax compilation 'Alvin Lives (in Leeds)'. Thanks again JC.

Robyn Hitchcock - Kung Fu Fighting

Version City #71 - Ed Kuepper sings The Who

The 208th entry into JC's never-ending Imaginary Compilation Album series featured a guest posting from Martin, head honcho at New Amusements, with a mighty fine ten track whistle-stop trip through the career of bona fide rock legends, The Who. After spotting Martin's chosen subject on my phone, but before I retired to my laptop to read the post and check out his actual musical selections, I jotted down the first ten Who songs that sprang to my own mind, just for fun, so that I could compare and contrast the results. Inevitably our choices overlapped here and there, most pleasingly when it came to the band's marvellous, but oft overlooked 1970 non-LP 45, 'The Seeker'. Israeli beat combo Men of North Country put out a top notch version of the song on their 'Magic' EP in 2014, but, unsurprisingly, my own favourite cover of 'The Seeker' comes from the great Ed Kuepper, who released it on his 1995 acoustic tour souvenir album, 'I Was A Mail Order Bridegroom'.

If you haven't done so already, go check out Martin's fab Who ICA over at T(N)VV here.

Ed Kuepper - The Seeker

Version City #70 - Jason Falkner sings Joni Mitchell

In the precious few moments that I've had to sit down and listen to any music at all since Brian posted this at the weekend, I dug out the first two Jason Falkner albums, 'Presents Author Unknown' from 1996 and 1999's 'Can You Still Feel?' Classics, the both of 'em and available for pennies on eBay and at Discogs. Our advice? (and I'm taking the liberty of speaking for Brian as well here) - buy them, buy them, buy them. They are astoundingly assured and extremely classy pop records. Brilliant songs, brilliantly executed.

In addition to these twin masterpieces, during the second half of the 1990s Falkner also committed an eclectic selection of covers to tape, including songs originally performed by the likes of Magazine, Monochrome Set, The Kinks, Swell Maps, Def Leppard and Joni Mitchell. Ironically, for a man who is no stranger to playing every single instrument on his studio recordings, the one time I saw Jason perform 'Both Sides Now' in concert at The Garage in 1999, he did so with his broken right arm in a plaster cast, thus preventing him from playing any instrument at all.

These days in addition to his own endeavours, Jason Falkner is an in demand producer (Daniel Johnston, R. Stevie Moore, Pugwash) and versatile gun for hire, contributing bass to Noel Gallagher's recent LP and establishing himself as the guitar slinging mainstay of Beck's live band.

Jason Falkner - Both Sides Now

Version City #69 - Happy Birthday Terry Hall

To celebrate Terry Hall's 59th birthday, here's a great clip of him covering 'Sorrow' in 2014, with the assistance of friends including Ian Broudie and the late John Bradbury.

Version City #68 - Micah P. Hinson sings The Carter Family

I'm somewhat surprised to find that I haven't featured anything from 'Micah P. Hinson Presents The Holy Strangers' on these pages before today, as the LP was one of my favourites of 2017. Mrs S & I have followed Micah's career ever since his 2004 debut 'The Gospel of Progress', where he was backed by much missed English folk-psych merchants par excellence, The Earlies. 'The Holy Strangers' is, whisper it, a concept album - or as Hinson himself would have it '....a “modern folk opera.” Telling the story of a war time family, going from birth to love, to marriage and children, to war and betrayal, murder to suicide – spanning all of the strange and glorious places life can lead.' The album stretches over two pieces of vinyl and not a minute of the hour long running time is wasted. It's an absorbing piece of work from a truly unique artist and comes highly recommended from all the gang at Swede Towers.

Micah P. Hinson - Lover's Lane 

The Carter Family - Lover's Lane

Version City #67 - Mark Lanegan sings Joy Division

The last time I saw Mark Lanegan treading the boards was 21 years ago, as front man of The Screaming Trees. His output over the intervening years has been prodigious and of a consistently high quality, whether recording under his own name or as a guest vocalist on someone else's project. On Tuesday evening he treated the Norwich Waterfront to a powerful 19 song set, which stuck principally to the more recent entries in that vast back catalogue. Half an hour in we got a fantastic double whammy of 'Nocturne' and 'Beehive', both from this year's 'Gargoyle', quickly followed by a simply staggering rendition of 'Bleeding Muddy Water' from 2012's 'Blues Funeral'. Lanegan's voice seemed in ragged tatters after this epic and for a moment I honestly wondered how he could continue, yet within moments he was crooning effortlessly through a sublime 'Harborview Hospital'.

I was delighted to hear 'One Way Street' delivered as the first encore, 2001's 'Field Songs' is probably my favourite of all his albums. At most other shows on this tour, the encore has concluded with one, sometimes two, Joy Division covers. Not tonight though. The curfew had been reached and there was just time for a brief 'thank you' before he was gone. Here's a version of one of those Joy Division covers, recorded live in 2015.

Mark Lanegan - Atmosphere 

(Previous Mark Lanegan entries in this series here and here)

Version City #66 - Glen Campbell sings Nico

Though we all knew the day was coming, the death of Glen Campbell on Tuesday was still a painful blow. In the days since the announcement, the tributes have been warm and plentiful and much of the great man's music has received a deserved airing.

On his 2008 'Meet Glen Campbell' LP, Glen, backed by musicians such as Cheap Trick's Rick Nielson and the great Jason Falkner, covered songs by Tom Petty, Travis, Foo Fighters, The Replacements, U2, Lou Reed, Green Day and John Lennon. Also on that record was Glen's reading of 'These Days', a much covered song written by Jackson Browne, one that I initially became familiar with on Nico's first post-Velvet Underground LP 'Chelsea Girl'.

Glen Campbell - These Days 

Nico - These Days 

As a bonus, to round things off, here's the aforementioned Jason Falkner, performing an acoustic version of 'Wichita Lineman'. Farewell Glen.

Red Gold & Green #22 - Ken Boothe

It's Mrs S's birthday. I'm writing this a few days ahead of time and we've not yet decided exactly what we're doing by way of celebration, but if I were a betting man I'd stick a fiver on it involving a coastal walk, a pub and a big plate of chips. We're easily pleased.

Here for Mrs S, on her special day, is her favourite song by her favourite reggae artist, Ken Boothe's 1973 cover of Syl Johnson's 'Is it Because I'm Black?'

Ken Boothe - Is It Because I'm Black?

Version City #65 - Nancy Wallace sings Doris Day

'Secret Love' was composed by Sammy Fain & Paul Webster for the 1953 film 'Calamity Jane', Doris Day's performance becoming a No.1 single and winning the Oscar for Best Original Song the following year. A few other artists also took 'Secret Love' into the charts during the 1950's and 1960's, including Slim Whitman, Kathy Kirby and Billy Stewart, while the song has continued to prove popular with contemporary performers such as George Michael, Sinead O'Connor, Ry Cooder and k.d.lang.

My own favourite version of 'Secret Love' is by Nancy Wallace and was only released in minuscule quantities on a limited edition Rif Mountain CDr compilation in 2010. Her interpretation really is a thing of beauty. I've waxed lyrical about Nancy's music on these pages several times over the years and if you like what you hear, I would heartily encourage checking out her Bandcamp page.

Nancy Wallace - Secret Love

Version City #64 - Michael Kiwanuka sings Led Zeppelin

I received a letter from the DVLA recently, informing me that my driving license was about to expire, so I diligently filled in the renewal form and got a new ID photo taken. The difference between what I saw in the new photo and the one on my ten year old license was even more striking than I was prepared for. The face in the recent photo looks a bit like my Mum, a bit like my Dad - hell, I even see a bit of my paternal Grandmother, a woman who died in 1966 and I barely remember. When comparing the two photos, I was confronted with the stark reality of how obviously I've aged. Ten years gone, in the blink of an eye. Next stop 2027.

Michael Kiwanuka's recording career began in 2011, though I really got to grips with his music in 2016 with the release of his second LP 'Love & Hate'. This is Kiwanuka's contribution to Mojo magazine's 2015 various artist re-imagining of the 1975 Led Zeppelin LP, 'Physical Graffiti'.

Michael Kiwanuka - Ten Years Gone

Version City #63 - Lou Reed sings John Lennon

Come Together, A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music, took place at Radio City Hall in New York on October 2nd 2001. The concert was initially intended as a straight forward celebration of Lennon's life and songs, seven days before what would have been his 61st birthday, though coming just three weeks after 9/11 the event was re-dedicated to the city of New York and its people, raising funds for the Robin Hood Foundation along the way. The line-up was, to put it politely, a mixed bag. Kevin Spacey singing 'Mind Games' anyone? The highlight of the evening, by a country mile in all honesty, was Lou Reed's searing interpretation of 'Jealous Guy'.

Version City #62 - Ella Fitzgerald sings The Beatles

It was good to see so many acknowledgements of Ella Fitzgerald's centenary on April 25th, online and elsewhere. I had intended to post my own humble tribute to the first lady of song last week too, but, as ever, life got in the way. Here it is though, better late than never. In 1969 Ella issued a self-titled, Richard Perry produced  LP on the Reprise label, consisting of her interpretations of contemporary pop songs. Lennon and McCartney were represented by 'Got to Get You Into My Life' alongside the music of Smokey Robinson, Bacharach & David, Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson. George Harrison's odd ode to Eric Clapton's chocolate addiction, 'Savoy Truffle', also got the nod. It's amazing to think that the original was less than a year old when Ella took a run at it.

Ella Fitzgerald - Savoy Truffle

Version City #61 - Golden Smog sing The Faces

For their first full length LP, 1995's 'Down by the Old Mainstream', Golden Smog's fluid all-star line-up consisted of Kraig Johnson fom Run Westy Run, Soul Asylum's Dan Murphy, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman from The Jayhawks, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Noah Levy of Honeydogs. By the time the band rolled into New York on April 13th 1996, 21 years ago today, the membership was bolstered further by Tweedy's bandmate, the late Jay Bennett, on guitar and keyboards. Also in attendance were Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner and an unbelievably wasted Evan Dando. I know all this because I was there too - and I still have the t-shirt and flyer to prove it. Ronnie Lane's 'Glad and Sorry' was one of several well chosen covers played by Golden Smog that night and proved to be an outstanding highlight of their set.

(This one goes out to our pal Singing Bear, who's back in action with a brand new blog, The Road of Golden Dust. Check it out here.)

Golden Smog - Glad and Sorry (1995)

The Faces - Glad and Sorry (1973)

Red Gold & Green #16 / Version City #60 - Horace Andy sings The Clash

A newsflash guaranteed to make a few of us shuffle a little uncomfortably in our seats.........the debut LP by The Clash is 40 years old this weekend. So by way of a tribute to the only band that mattered, here's Horace Andy's 2016 cover of 'Straight to Hell', the centrepiece of 1982's 'Combat Rock'. If you'd like to compare and contrast, Swiss Adam recently shared the original longer unedited version of The Clash's last masterpiece here.

Horace Andy - Straight to Hell

Version City #59 - Velvet Crush sing Dillard & Clark

Gene Clark released a steady stream of great music throughout his post-Byrds career, sometimes in cahoots with one of a succession of collaborators. At the tail-end of the 1960's, Clark teamed up with Doug Dillard to produce two albums, 'The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark' in 1968 and 'Through the Morning, Through the Night' the following year. Sandwiched between these long players was the non-album single 'Why Not Your Baby', a beautiful song written by Clark, with as an emotionally devastating a lyric as you'll ever hear.

Gene Clark died in 1991 at the tragically young age of 46. Three years later, Velvet Crush, produced by Mitch Easter, paid a fine tribute to the man with a cover of 'Why Not Your Baby' on their 'Teenage Symphonies To God' LP, released through Creation Records.

She wore a blue dress when she walked in the room

And in her eyes the look I saw was filled with gloom

Is this the question I would answer all too soon

Come tell your friend what's wrong with you

Why don't you call me your baby anymore

Am I so changed from some strange love that went before

Is this the change of mind that I've been designed for

Why not your baby anymore

Those words we spoke they only seemed to block our way

The truth rang out when you called me and called my name

I don't know what I can do or I can say

Your good friends also find a way

Why don't you call me your baby anymore

Am I so changed from some strange love that went before

Is this the change of mind that I've been designed for

Why not your baby anymore

Dillard & Clark - Why Not Your Baby

Velvet Crush - Why Not Your Baby