Via Pitchfork today we have a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” from the Kills:
Now compare to the original:
With its polished vocals and heavy guitars the Kill’s cover is a plastic imitation of Lou Reed’s original. #FAIL
Categories: Music
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And yet, sometimes polish works on the VU. I always thought Japan’s take on “All Tomorrow’s Parties” was pretty good, and it gleams with polish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHkh7nLBxkA
durr…… what would I know? I likes it and a cover is a cover, but then I listen to bands like Washed Out and Neon Indian. More electro, more distortion, and I’m gonna come out as a total bint and say that I like the Kills cut better……
Neither is anything to write home about but I prefer The Kills arrangement. Neither should be 5:30 plus and anyone’s vocals are polished compared to Reed’s.
totally agreed regarding the length of the tracks
vu’s version seems to be recorded with reed hooked up to a heroin iv drip
the kills version seems to want some “hipindiestreetcred” for covering vu
btw- i was wary of this thread since the vu are the pinnacle of lightening rods for ze internet warz
I know: there are “cool” bands you can’t touch no matter how miserable their music. To me having a tribute show to Leonard Cohen is like having a tribute to a block of cement. And all the people who like all these cool bands have perfect teeth from a lifetime of perfect living. When I start listening to what middle class rednecks tell me to it’ll be time to move on.
To me, it seems that the big attraction of the Velvet Underground was that they weren’t good, save for a few inspired songs, full or partial. By that I mean that their music didn’t give the impression of being highly polished or studio-tweaked to perfection, but the output of a few creative but rough artists. A garage band before the idea of garage bands was popular.
It’s an old saw that “Only a handful of people ever bought a Velvet Underground album, but every one that did created a band”, but one with a germ of truth I think. Many musicians cite VU as one of their big influences, but perhaps not so much for their music but for the “hell, let’s try something different and see if it works” approach.
That said, I personally love the Cowboy Junkies’ cover of “Sweet Jane”. Then again, I could listen to Margo Timmons’ singing from now until the end of days.