Strawberry Fields Forever II: Strawberries Reloaded
First off is a sort of mash-up that was actually created and sent to me by a C&T reader. Los Angeles-based producer Steve Deutsch used the "Strawberry Fields" covers released by XTC and Todd Rundgren to create this duet between Rundgren and Andy Partridge. The result is pretty cool. Check it out:
For more on Steve's work check out his website.
With a couple of exceptions, the rest of today's artists are generally more obscure than those offered last week. I imagine you'll still enjoy them.
The Ventures give the song the surf guitar treatment for which they're known, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes offer a fairly sloppy punk version. The 80s-90s hardcore band Redd Kross are featured here with a version of the song surprisingly loyal to the original. Early 90s band Candy Flip do "Strawberry Fields" with an electronic twist, and actually hit #3 on the UK charts with the song in 1990. British psychedelic band Tomorrow included the song on their 1968 self-titled album; their version is more spacey and jangly than that of the Fab Four. The Bobs and King's Singers take the broadest departure from the Beatles version. The Bobs take is a cappella, much like that of the Swingle Singers below, only with male rather than female singers. The King's Singers are a choral group from the UK and are backed on their track by ample instrumentation.
The Bobs - Strawberry Fields Forever
Tomorrow - Strawberry Fields Forever
Candy Flip - Strawberry Fields Forever
King's Singers - Strawberry Fields Forever
Redd Kross - Strawberry Fields Forever
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Strawberry Fields Forever
Have a great Monday, everyone.
Bonus Beatles covers:
Allison Crowe - In My Life
Dondero High School A Capella Choir (Royal Oak, MI) - Baby, You Can Drive My Car [live 3/2005]
The Four Croakers - Here Comes the Sun [live 11-11-2003; Ken Stringfellow, Scott McCaughey, Robyn Hitchcock, Mike Mills]
Elsewhere...
rbally has an R.E.M. radio performance from 1984.
So Much Silence has a performance by The Boy Least Likely To on KCRW last week.
Captain's Dead has Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers doing a set of Rolling Stones songs.
posted by Rich at 12:12 AM
8 Comments:
Hey Rich,
I run an mp3 blog, Great Body of Water, and I'm starting a new featurette called Bands A to Z and Everything in Between, if you could check it out and leave me some feedback that would be really cool. Keep up the amazing covers your posting, me and my friend are especially digging the beatles ones!
Thanks
1:11 AM
Thanks for all of it, but for the XTC/Todd in particular.
I'm an XTC obsessive, so allow me to add to the nerdfest.
It was former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory who played and recorded every instrument on the track. It's apparently a hobby of his to try to dissassemble and reassemble his favorite songs.
Andy Partridge showed up at Dave Gregory's door one day in September 1985 for a social visit and was greeted with a complete instrumental version of Strawberry Fields Forever, recorded on a TEAC four-track. It went straight onto tape. Gregory did not have a mixing board at the time.
Gregory asked Partridge to sing on it. Partridge obliged. It's became available on CD, 20 years later,as part of Andy Partridge's collection of home demos, Fuzzy Warbles. It's been passed around in the interim, however. I recall grabbing it from Napster back in the day.
9:34 AM
Excellent info! Thanks!
Interesting you mention that -- I just downloaded a package of 23 covers done by Dave Gregory solo. Supposedly all recorded during a period when XTC was fighting with their label. You probably already have it, but I'm interested in checking it out. Haven't done so yet.
10:28 AM
60's UK psychedelic gods Tomorrow covered Strawberry Fields on their debut (and only) album. I can send you the MP3 if you like...
10:42 AM
You know, I am an XTC obsessive too and I hadn't heard the Strawberry Fields track before so I don't know what it sounds like in its non-mash-up format (I am also a huge Rundgren fan) but I thought this sounded like bad kareoke, and I couldn't really distinguish either artist.
10:42 AM
Jeff, look at the third track listed. ;)
Wendy, the Partridge/Gregory (XTC) version is like three posts down here on the blog.
11:08 AM
How did I miss that? It's Monday I guess.
Anyway, thanks for posting these, it's a great idea.
12:20 PM
Thank you, looking forward to these.
3:50 PM
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