Marshmallow Coast - "Never My Love"

Once upon a time, there weren't a lot of free and legal mp3's floating around The Internets. Those were the days when mp3.com was a treasure trove of new and undiscovered artists offering free songs, and file sharing programs were only coming into widespread use. I can't even remember what the first ones were in those pre-Napster days. Morpheus/Grokster comes to mind, but I'm pretty sure there were one or two before that. No matter.

Among my favorite online finds back in those days was the Intertwined: I Hope This Helps in Some Way compilation released via Excellent Online in 2001. It's nice to see it's still available. The album featured 16 indie acts from the U.S. and U.K., each assigned to cover a song by an artist not from their own home soil. Among the tracks on that compilation was the first I'd heard by Marshmallow Coast (now M Coast). It's a lo-fi, imperfect, single take recorded straight to 2-track, and I think it's lovely.

The song in question is a cover of "Never My Love" by The Association performed by Andy Gonzalez (M Coast/Marshmallow Coast, Music Tapes, ex-Of Montreal). Notably, it seems Andy cheated a bit, as both he and The Association are from the U.S. of A. Frankly though, I don't care. To me, this heartfelt little track is a gem.

Marshmallow Coast - Never My Love [The Association cover]

One word of warning -- if you go download the rest of the compilation, be careful with that Brave Captain cover of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited." To be polite, I would have deleted it long ago if not for my completist tendencies. Remember, the whole comp is available from Excellent Online.

Bonus mp3, also from the compilaton:
Koala - American Music [Violent Femmes cover]
Turnerjoy - I Wanna Be Adored [Stone Roses cover]