Completely Conspicuous 644: Secondhand Love

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Jay's #7: Ty Segall with a ripper of a Neil Young cover
• Phil's #6: The live version of a Linda Ronstadt classic
• Jay's #6: An indie rock all-star band playing covers the Beatles played in their early days
• Greg Dulli, Thurston Moore, Dave Grohl, Dave Pirner, Mike Mills and Don Fleming
• Phil's #5: Phish covering the Stones
• Phish does tons of covers
• Jay's #5: An unexpected '60s cover from Husker Du
• Phil's #4: Coltrane with a wild twist on a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic
• Jay's #4: Stripped down version of an English Beat hit by Pete Townshend
• Phil's #3: Rage Against the Machine's explosive take on a Springsteen folk song
• Jay: Forgot about Rollins and Bad Brains covering "Kick Out the Jams"
• Jay's #3: Dirtbombs with a smokin' garage punk remake of Stevie Wonder 
• Jay's #2: Nirvana's Unplugged show featured several great covers
• Phil's #1: Epic length cover "Morning Dew" by the Dead
• Watching old videos from the '60s and '70s to guess how old the crowd members are now
• Jay's #1 and Phil's #2: Mind-blowing Who cover of little-know Mose Allison song
• Jay: Live at Leeds is the greatest live album 
• All four members of the Who at the peak of their powers

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 643: Cover Me

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• What makes a good cover?
• Be true to the song, but bring something of yourself to it
• Jagger and Bowie's cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is godawful
• In the '80s and '90s, used to get 45s or cassingles (or CD singles) to get B-sides
• Phil's honorable mention covers: U2, Courtney Barnett, Nirvana, Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Etta James, Beatles, Stones, Bjork, Aretha, Pearl Jam, CSNY, Cowboy Junkies
• Nirvana's MTV Unplugged has several great covers
• Zeppelin covered a lot of songs on their early albums, with or without giving credit
• Jay's honorable mentions: The Clash, Hendrix, Pretenders, U2, Charles Bradley, Thin Lizzy, Bjork, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Living Colour, Soft Cell, Johnny Cash, PJ, Deep Purple, Urge Overkill, Violent Femmes, Anthrax, Breeders, Cheap Trick, Malkmus and Elastica, Iron Maiden, Queens of the Stone Age
• Phil's #10: Stevie Ray Vaughan takes on a guitar god's classic
• Jay's #10: Dinosaur Jr. makes a Cure song their own
• Phil's #9: Zeppelin's first album features a cover that was previously done by Joan Baez
• Judas Priest also covered a Baez song
• Jay's #9: A signature Blondie song was actually a cover
• Phil's #8: A timeless classic from the late '50s by the Flamingos
• Jay's #8: Sinead O'Connor made the definitive version of a Prince song
• Phil's #7: Faces with a powerful Temptations cover
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 149: Cover Me

Less talk, more rock this week on the podcast as I discuss the fine art of the cover song. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Or you can listen to it here:



The show notes...

Topics:

- Covers rarely outshine the originals

- Hendrix made Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" his own

- Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah" spawned many awful imitators

- American Idol and Glee have made covers more popular than ever

- Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" just won't die

- Tribute albums have grown popular in recent years

- Bonehead of the Week

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.