By Carrie Clancy on Friday, 15th December 2017 at 6:00 pm
Mancunian alt-rock stalwarts Elbow have just unveiled a new video for their cover of The Beatles tune ‘Golden Slumbers’, which, if you’re on the UK side of the pond, you might already have heard in the recent John Lewis Christmas advert. Despite its obvious commercial angle, the video treatment in this promo gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the advert, while somehow managing not to dispel any of its cleverly-crafted holiday magic.
‘Golden Slumbers’ features on the Northern group’s new double-LP compilation ‘The Best Of’, which also contains a collection of the Manchester band’s favourite tracks from across their 20-year history. Outfitted as a bonus track on the record, ‘Golden Slumbers’ fits beautifully into Guy Garvey’s warm tenor voice, and Elbow’s rendition is a warm and comforting addition to the holiday canon.
Elbow are currently taking a holiday break from their extensive tour in support of 2017 LP ‘Little Fictions’, which was released back in February. A full listing of Elbow’s 2018 live dates can be found on their official Web site. Editor Mary’s review of their recent Washington, D.C. show is right back here, and our full previous coverage of Elbow is collected through here.
By Mary Chang on Tuesday, 26th September 2017 at 6:00 pm
Fresh off touring with Portugal. The Man and Dan Croll, The Dig have just begin a new headline tour of themselves. To celebrate this, they’ve released an animated video for their most recent release. It’s special because it’s a cover of The Kinks’ ‘People Take Pictures of Each Other’, available now. Its promo video, created by James Kerr / Scorpion Dagger, pokes fun and takes full advantage of society’s current preoccupation with selfies.
Why this Kinks song? They explain further: “The best songs tend to feel current in any age. They seem to only get stronger and more relevant as time goes by. The Kinks released ‘People Take Pictures of Each Other’ about 50 years ago, but the line “people take pictures of each other, just to prove that they really existed,” sounds like it could have been written as a commentary on pop culture in 2017. The idea that if it isn’t on social media, it didn’t happen. Ray Davies is the master at writing about this kind of serious subject matter while making it feel playful and lighthearted at the same time. This same mix of humor and serious craftsmanship is what drew us to James Kerr’s stuff. Everything he makes is really funny, but you sense that he’s diving into some pretty intense subject matter at the same time. Taking a stroll through ‘The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society’ recently and hearing this song come on, we were amazed at how current it sounds and felt inspired to create our own version. We wanted it to feel like an extension of some of the sounds and vibes we were experimenting with on our new album ‘Bloodshot Tokyo’, while staying true to the fun and dance-y aspects of the original.”
Watch the video for The Dig’s cover of The Kinks’ ‘People Take Pictures of Each Other’ below. For more on The Dig on TGTF, follow this link.
By Mary Chang on Thursday, 16th February 2017 at 4:00 pm
It’s good to be Stockport, Greater Manchester group Blossoms. The band have been nominated for the British Breakthrough Act at this year’s BRITs, and there’s still time to get your vote in for them (or whichever of the nominees you prefer) through here (UK residents only) before next week’s awards show. As a part of a special week at the Radio 1’s Live Lounge, as the radio station is celebrating the BRITs, they invited Blossoms in yesterday as award nominees in to play a song of their own, plus as is standard for all their Live Lounge performances, a cover.
Choosing to do a cover of 50 Cent’s ‘In Da Club’ mashed up with Wham!’s ‘Careless Whisper’ has been controversial for their fans (if you question this, just read the comments section here from their Facebook), but what is not at all controversial is their performance of ‘Honey Sweet’, featured on their self-titled album released last summer. Watch both performances below; you can listen to the Radio 1 programme for the next 28 days via Radio 1’s Web site. ‘Blossoms’ is out now on Virgin EMI, and my review of the LP is through here. I’ve written a fair bit on the North West band here on TGTF, and you can catch up on all our past coverage on them if you head this way.
By Carrie Clancy on Wednesday, 21st December 2016 at 10:00 am
Newcastle quartet and TGTF favourites Boy Jumps Ship have donned their holiday jumpers for a zany new Christmas video. Their cover of ‘All Alone on Christmas’, originally sung by Darlene Love for the film soundtrack ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’, is fairly true to the familiar version written by Steve Van Zandt and backed by the famous E Street Band, but predictably, it leans more toward laid-back guitar rock than rapturous gospel vocals. It’s hard to say whether the Boy Jumps Ship lads might have had more fun recording the track or re-enacting the scenes from ‘Home Alone 2’ in their promo video. Either way, this will be sure to put you in the mood for hot cocoa and classic Christmas movies.
By Mary Chang on Tuesday, 6th December 2016 at 6:00 pm
Neo-soul singer from Birmingham Laura Mvula revealed her sophomore album this summer. Out now on RCA Records, ‘The Dreaming Room’ garnered plaudits from all over. Tonight, we’ve got something for you that’s a little different. A few weeks ago, the Brummie songstress released to the wild ‘Ready or Not’, her cover of The Delfonics’ late ’60s hit single ‘Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love)’.
In her version, Mvula decided to take a more in your face approach, which also extends to her high contrast in colour promo video, full of reds, blacks, whites and blues. She even picks up a keytar at one point! Watch the video below. Read Rebecca’s review of ‘The Dreaming Room’ through here. For more of TGTF’s coverage of Laura Mvula, go here.
By Mary Chang on Wednesday, 19th October 2016 at 4:00 pm
The Alex Turner we knew from Arctic Monkeys now appears to be an entirely different person than the one we’ve come to know in The Last Shadow Puppets. Fair enough that in the latter, he’s joined by his now practically joined at the hip buddy Miles Kane, a solo musician in his own right, so they’re entirely different projects. I guess what I’m saying is that I never expected Turner’s transformation into a 21st century Elvis, which is how he comes across in the latest Last Shadow Puppets video. Following the release of original music album ‘Everything You’ve Come to Expect’ this spring (reviewed here by Rebecca), they’re now gearing up to release an EP of covers.
‘The Dream Synopsis’, scheduled to drop on the 2nd of December – just in time for Christmas shopping, folks! – and will include covers of songs from The Fall and Jacques Dutronc, among others. A tune by one particularly beloved performer is also covered on the new release, Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, who recently told The New Yorker “I am ready to die”. Right, then. So it seems even more poignant now that the pair chose to put their stamp on Cohen’s ‘Is This What You Wanted’. Do they do the man justice? Watch Turner gyrating and emoting on a stage with Kane adding some unnecessary guitar flourishes (in my opinion, anyway) to the song in the video below. For more on TGTF”s coverage of The Last Shadow Puppets, go here.
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