Covers 4: Beck's Record Club: The King of Music Geeks?

photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

As far as cover songs revealing an artist's true rock geekdom (see previous post), Beck's gotta be the king. His record club features him and whatever cool musician-type buddies are around (like Wilco, Feist, MGMT, Giovanni Ribisi [!], etc.) covering not just one song, but entire albums - three so far, recently started fourth. The recording is videotaped and posted to his site song by song. Here's the official explanation:

"Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day. The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework. Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track is put up here once a week. The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering. There is no intention to 'add to' the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens."

Beck covered Skip Spence's Halo of Gold previously on the tribute album More Oar, so obviously he's enamored of Spence's Oar, which is a rock nerd signpost. The Velvet Underground and Leonard Cohen fit the rock snob yardstick too, but go to the bottom of this post if you want to see how the club's tackling some records that don't necessarily have the most street cred or cool factor.

Beck Halo of Gold by scruffy the yak

Remember you don't necesarily have to watch the video - I don't, I just like to listen.

Record Club: Skip Spence "Little Hands" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: Songs Of Leonard Cohen "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Giovanni Ribisi alert!

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "I'll Be Your Mirror" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

The newest album being covered is INXS's Kick. Interesting choice, but Beck says Ace of Base's The Sign had previously been kicked around as a possibility, so anything goes.

Record Club: INXS "Guns In The Sky" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

My favourite Beck cover has to be his version of Gram Parson's Sin City. I went to get it to share with you, but I found that I had already shared my disc with a friend and hadn't got it back. I'll post it soon, check back - it's worth waiting for, believe me.

Covers 3: Nada Surf on the hi-fi

Nada Surf is one of those bands that became great when I wasn't paying attention. The 1996 album High/Low contained a single, Popular, that pigeon-holed the group for me. With clever, ironic lyrics, chunky guitars and a catchy feel that sat somewhere between tunes like Weezer's Buddy Holly and Nerf Herder's Van Halen, Popular didn't make me a lifelong fan. But in the last few years, I've been catching up on the albums I missed, and every one is full of compelling melodies, strong harmonies, and subtle beauty. I think it's hard to make records this pretty without sounding wimpy, but Nada Surf seem to be carving out their own niche of power pop glory.

Nada Surf are selling their new cover song album, if i had a hi-fi(album art pictured above), at their shows at the moment. The record won't be out for sale anywhere else until June 8th. I love that cover art, don't you? Made for a pretty gatefold sleeve, looks like, but I don't know if it will be released in that form (gatefold, I mean - it is coming out on vinyl).

Track listing:

Electrocution (Bill Fox)

Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode)

Love Goes On (The Go-Betweens)

Janine (Arthur Russell)

You Were So Warm (Dwight Twilley)

Love and Anger (Kate Bush)

The Agony of Laffitte (Spoon)

Bye Bye Beaute (Coralie Clement)

Question (Moody Blues)

Bright Side (Soft Pack)

Evolution (Mercromina)

I Remembered What I Was Going to Say (The Silly Pillows)


Nada Surf - Electrocution by Royalty Central

This OMD cover's not on if i had a hi-fi, but it's pretty good.

If you leave- nada surf by 0agal0

The songs below are Nada Surf originals, but Scruffy loves them, maybe you will too.

01-Nada Surf-See These Bones by felixrey

Nada Surf - Weightless by ByronMittens

Nada surf's web site will let you hear a demo of Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence, too.

Covers 2: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

photo by Tom Brogan

You can always tell fellow music obsessed types by the music they listen to themselves. Ted Leo clearly loves music, as evidenced by the gargantuan amount of cover songs he's unleashed upon us fellow music geeks. You Ain't No Picasso has amassed a startling collection of covers you can snatch up here. How did he know I love Nick Lowe? How did he guess my fascination with Split Enz? Has Mr. Leo been spying on me and my current fixation with The Replacements? Maybe not, but if he starts doing Son Volt, Hardship Post, and Robyn Hitchcock or the Soft Boys, I'm gonna get worried. Here's a sprinkling, download them all and much, much more at YANP.

So It Goes (Nick Lowe)




Six Months in a Leaky Boat (Split Enz)- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists




Can't Hardly Wait (The Replacements)




I'm Looking Through You (The Beatles)




Joey (Concrete Blonde)




Outdoor Miner (Wire)




The Onion's A/V. Club are putting 25 video cover versions out there, and Ted Leo did the first. Tears for Fears? The other covers sure look interesting, with Scruffy favourites like R.E.M., Guided By Voices, and Pavement all making the cut.



Ted Leo and the Pharmacists have a new record out called The Brutalist Bricks. Here's a couple from that one.




Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - Even Heroes Have To Die by Royalty Central


Ted Leo - The Mighty Sparrow by nmemagazine