MORE SENSELESS ACTS OF BLOGGERY

I have said harsh things about Spotify and I stand by them. But occasionally its recommendation engine sends me something delightful – like Shonen Knife doing a cover of Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”.

Even better, it’s part of a Dr Demento project called “Covered In Punk”, which came out last year completely under my radar – I didn’t even know of its existence until Spotify hipped me to it.

It’s pretty ambitious – two hours worth of Demento staples like William Shatner, Barnes & Barnes and Weird Al covering punk songs, and bands like Misfits, Vandals and The Meatmen covering novelty records that Demento made famous.

It’s a wonderful thing. You’ve got Shatner doing “Garbageman”.



You've got Brak from Space Ghost doing “Institutionalized”.



And of course Shonen Knife doing “Eat It”, which actually starts by stealing the riff to Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” for no apparent reason.

Listen.



Don't you tell me you’re full,

This is dF

Way, way back when I started this series, the inspiration for it was Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”, which is widely regarded as the ultimate example of a music artist taking someone else’s song and making it definitively their own – even Dylan was so impressed with Hendrix’s take that his future live performances were based more on Hendrix’s interpretation than his original recording.

One thing I didn’t mention the first time around is that Hendrix wasn’t the first to cover the song.

That honor supposedly belongs to the Nashville Teens (who weren’t from Nashville, but Surrey), who released a cover version in March 1968.



Then there’s this version by The Alan Bown, which came out later that year.



Confusingly, this version is said to have been a direct influence on Hendrix’s take – but it came out after Hendrix’s version, and Hendrix actually began working on his version at the start of 1968. But as near as I can tell, Hendrix was influenced by their live version, which they had incorporated into their stage show. So in that sense, you could say The Alan Bown were arguably the first to do a cover version of the song on stage, but not the first to release a recorded version.

In any case, of these two, I rather like the Alan Bown version. It’s not as good as the Hendrix version, of course. And frankly the horn section gets a little weird. But it’s an interesting interpretation. By comparison, the Nashville Teens version seems a little stiff.

The hour’s getting late,

This is dF

I was in Honolulu a couple of weeks ago, and of course this was running through my head the entire time I was there.



Because come on, I’m in Jack Lord’s town.

Anyway, when I looked up the Hawaii Five-O theme, I was reminded that The Ventures did a great cover version of it.



Then, when I was looking for some Don Ho songs to post over on the Facebooks, I found out that Ho had actually done his own cover version – with added lyrics.



According to legend, when the TV show became a hit, someone decided to add lyrics to the theme to make a proper song out of it so they could release it as a single and cash in on the show’s popularity. Which is kind of odd, since the theme is awesome just as an instrumental, as the Ventures version demonstrated. I assume the decision was mainly due to the fact that you need lyrics if singers are going to do cover versions. Like Don Ho.

Or Sammy Davis, Jr.



Strangely, Sammy’s version has similar but different lyrics to the Don Ho version. I’ve no idea why. It’s probably to do with individual style. Don was strictly a crooner, and his version notably slows down for the lyrics about sweet lovin’ in Hawaii. Sammy was more Vegas showmanship, so he maintained the brisk tempo, while the lyrics are – kinda sorta – focused on Steve McGarrett’s character.

Something like that.

Anyway, it makes for good trivia and novelty, but you can’t beat the original.

FUN FACT: The Sammy Davis Jr version is from the 1976 album Song And Dance Man, which also features covers of five other TV theme songs.

BONUS TRACKS

There are other covers of the Hawaii Five-O theme out there, of course.

Here’s one of many punk versions.



And here’s a ska version.



And here’s a song by Radio Birdman that’s not a cover per se, but it’s about Hawaii Five-O, and the lead break does kind of use the theme as a reference point.



There's also a great version by a band called Furious George on this compilation of TV themes (which I have a copy of somewhere), but sadly it's not on the YouTubes.

Book ‘em Danno,

This is dF

Now that I’ve posted the Kiss 45s, the next logical question is:

“How about the Ace Frehley solo song? Bet you had that one too.”

Yes I did.



As history has recorded, everyone in Kiss released a solo album at the same time in 1978. I’m not sure of the exact reasons for this – supposedly their 1976 contract with Casablanca included four solo albums, which would count as half an album each towards their five-album deal, so I guess it was about maximum exposure.

To be honest, I’ve never listened to any of them, so I can’t really tell you how they measure up to each other and to Kiss’ back catalogue. I don’t think I really made the association between this song and Kiss until a little later. (I said I liked Kiss at the time – I didn't say I’d memorized all the names of the band members.)

It’s pretty well understood that Frehley’s solo album was the most successful in terms of chart singles and sales (though that depends on whether yr asking Gene Simmons or someone other than Gene Simmons). They’ve all been certified platinum, and by some accounts have sold at least as many copies as Love Gun. In any case, Frehley was the only one to have a hit single – which, interestingly, was a cover version of a song recorded by glam-rock also-rans Hello, and written by Russ Ballard.

Which makes it the third time Ballard has been represented in this series.

Here’s the original.



Obviously Frehley didn’t take too many liberties with the formula.

Here I am in this city with a fistful of dollars,

This is dF

Yet another series I’ve been ignoring. But somehow the topic of Iron Butterfly came up, which is not something you’ll hear a lot of people say in 2015.

Iron Butterfly, of course, is a textbook example of the One Hit Wonder. They’re only known for one song, and it’s 17 minutes long.



Okay, most people probably know the single edit, which is as much of the song as you probably need to enjoy it. But there’s no denying its iconic status. You know you’ve made it when The Simpsons works you into a scene.


Anyway, it’s not a song that lends itself easily to cover versions, depending on whether yr attempting the album version or the single version. But several acts have tried.

There’s a disco version.



There’s the thrash-metal version.



There’s the alt.folk version.



And – my personal favorite – the bongo version.



Come with me and walk this land,

This is dF

Leave it to Primus to do an album covering the entire soundtrack to Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.

Some may be surprised to see Primus is still active. They were on hiatus for over a decade before their 2011 “comeback” album Green Naugahyde, which I confess I missed. I loved Primus in their heyday, but at the time I was skeptical of any band getting back together and trying to live up to their own legacy. Also, Antipop was admittedly not that good a note to go on hiatus. 

However, when I saw their new album in a music store in Stockholm, I was intrigued for two reasons: (1) the Willy Wonka film was as seminal to me as it has been for Les Claypool, and (2) Primus generally do very interesting cover versions of songs.

And by “interesting” I mean “twisted and bizarre”.

Suffice to say the album exceeds my expectations. Claypool bends the songs completely out of shape, but not to the point of making them unrecognizable. And the material suits both his musical style and his cartoonish drawl.

I think this track gives you a good idea of what to expect.



Primus has always been an acquired taste that was arguably most accessible with Tales From The Punchbowl, so I doubt this will win over the haters. But this is their best album since the underrated The Brown Album.

Or not. Anyway, it’s a late contender for Album Of The Year for me.

You can even eat the dishes,

This is dF

If you’ve followed the “dEFROG On 45” series from the beginning, you know there are a lot of one-hit wonders in my collection. There’s also a lot of disco.

Here’s one of both.



This one comes with an amusing anecdote: When this came out, I was reasonably convinced that Amii Stewart was Rod Stewart’s sister.

Why? Because they had the same last name. Obviously.

It was only later I saw a picture of her, and realized I might have gotten that one wrong.

Told you it was amusing.

FUN FACT: This is actually a cover of an Eddie Floyd song.



It’s hard to compare the two. They’re different enough versions (classic Stax/Volt sound vs Gary-Glitter inspired disco) that they kind of stand on their own.

The way you love me is frightening,

This is dF

Does the world really need another Ramones cover song?

Probably not. But it’s getting one anyway. Because why not?



================================================

Written by Dee Dee Ramone
Ruined by Banäna Deäthmüffins


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

================================================

Like this song? Why not down it and other fine lo-fi tracks from the official Banäna Deäthmüffins page on Soundcloud?

Also, be the first to like us on Facebook.

Involved again,

This is dF

Remember those songs we did where we pretended John Bonham was our drummer?

Well, the group that spawned that project has spawned another one. Which somehow led to the following question:

Suppose Keith Moon had been in ABBA instead of The Who?

It would probably sound nothing like this. But it’s all in good fun, so who cares?



================================================

Written by Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson
Ruined by Banäna Deäthmüffins


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

================================================

Like this song? Why not down it and other fine lo-fi tracks from the official Banäna Deäthmüffins page on Soundcloud?

Also, be the first to like us on Facebook.

I wish I understood,

This is dF

The reaction to our radical re-working of Samantha Fox’s “Touch Me (I Want Your Body)” has been pretty much what we expected – a whole lotta enthusiastic head-scratching, followed by the question, “So what about that other version you were talking about? Is that better?”

By which they mean the LOUD version.

As for whether it’s better or not, we’ll let you decide. Because by popular demand, we’re releasing it … NOW.




And of course here is the first version, for comparison purposes.





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Written by M.Shreeve/J.Astrop/PQ Harris

Ruined by Banäna Deäthmüffins

Recording ©2013 Terribly Frog Music. Derechos Reservados!

Deepest apologies to Samantha Fox

================================================

Like this song? Why not down it and other fine lo-fi tracks from the official Banäna Deäthmüffins page on Soundcloud?

Contrast and compare,

This is dF