Brian's Tribute to the Violet One

(Scott) Welcome back to Brian, who has been away for a little while, he has created a new covers/tribute
thing which he does so well......I listened to most of it this AM, and you guys are really going to like this one....I am not going to say too much, and as you read on, you will see why, but other than that, this is another gem, and a timely one as well.
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Out of the loop for a few weeks. I had two other things going, but this suddenly took precedence of creation. And this post I have to be absolutely careful with! One of the other bits of news to go along with his death was his suing of fans and bloggers. And somebody else is gonna be fighting over that catalog now, so ssshhhhhh...... keep any comments non-specific.

I have been a fan of P since I was a kid. I was seven years old when my mom took me to see P. Rain in 1984. Even when I was young, I could see that P was a real musician, compared to somebody else like M.J. He was a pop star, yes, but he was also a soul star, the only popular funk artist of the 80's, and above all he really was a Rock Star. 

The news of his death really hit me, as much if not a bit more than Bowie's passing. P was my childhood and adolescence. While I admit I fell in and out of his music over the years, I stayed aware of the major sea changes of his career. He may have been a mystery to us normal humans, but he was a prodigious and accomplished musician. The guy could play anything.

This covers project came together quickly, over the course of about 6 hours last Friday night. Like many of my covers projects, this is an eclectic mix. The true mark of an artist is the ability to influence people outside of their own style of music. Some of you may be sick of hearing P's music by now, but I made this in the depths of my mourning for him, and it is really good....check the tracklist....

                   

I can't refer to things by track titles, it'll attract bots like flies to shit. But I do want to talk about it, so I'll mention the artists' names....

Incubus's cover is the perfect lead off track for this. You can really tell they dug the movie when they were young. Norwegian metal/dark ambient collective Ulver deliver a great version of their track. Chris Cornell's cover is here instead of Ms. O'Connor's because I think he really digs into the meat of it, and it's not as precious as her version.

The Foo Fighters' cover is just awesome...I feel ashamed I didn't know about it before. The version of "K-i-s-s" is a great one by a band I found on YouTube named Frank Velardo's Aardvark Felon (http://youtu.be/PTE81EbgX04). It's only had a few hundred views, and I think it's the best version out there. I like the bassline and the singer's Bootsy-like falsetto. Scottish electronic pop group CHVRCHES are the perfect choice for their song. It's got the same youthful vigor and hope as the original, and I'm always a sucker for a pretty Scottish girl....

QOTSA's great cover is from one of the "Desert Sessions" discs. Warren Zevon's cover shows the sweet rock and roll heart that was often at the core of P's music. Arcade Fire's cover was an interesting funky find. The Eels' live version is a great reimagining of that song, too. Once again, Etta James shows up in a cover project of mine, delivering a heartbreaking version of THE P. song.

Misty Dixon's cover is a great, spacey version. Corrine Bailey Rae's song is a funky version of one of P's earliest singles, with the same playful synths. Sufjan Steven's cover is a fun modern reimagining. The track by Muse is a great version of one of P's best topical songs. The next two covers are by two of P's pop contemporaries from the time, Marshall Crenshaw and Gary Numan. I really like Crenshaw's track. Numan, I can only assume, was looking for a hit after "In Cars".

If you've heard previous covers comps of mine, you know Laibach is always liable to show up to give a song a brutal facelift. And here, they manage to take one of the most optimistic songs off of Sign... and give it a very different meaning. The comp ends with Sandra Bernhard's transcendent cover, which may be familiar to the few of you who downloaded her album I posted last year. It's a heartbreaking closer.

Big ups to Jonder for helping me with this one, eliminating banter and editing down track lengths. We've got a David Lynch anthology coming sometime soon, with the music and movie dialogue blended into suites. We've been obsessing over it, and it's gonna be really cool, so keep an eye out.

Guys, even with me being careful with this post, there's no guarantee of how long this will be up. So, if you read this, you download it, y'hear? And please, READ THE TEXT FILE THAT COMES WITH THE COMP. THERE ARE ADDITIONAL GOODIES TO BE FOUND IN THERE.

There is a bonus comedy link for this post, a collection of stories by a guy you may know named Charlie M. One of the best tracks is about playing basketball and having pancakes with P.