Wednesday, October 12, 2005

A Handful Of Covers - John Lennon

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The latest issue of Q Magazine is a tribute to John Lennon, who would have been 65 this year. The cover mounted CD is also a Lennon tribute - 14 of his songs covered by a who's who of Brit rock, 10 of them *exclusive to the compilation. There are two different covers of the mag available, and two different versions of the CD. I got the one with Badly Drawn Boy instead of Elbow. It's a mixed bag of mostly good stuff - I'm not too sure how I feel about Maddy's Imagine, and the Sugababes' Come Together leaves me unmoved. The rest, as you can see, is mostly rockist fare. Oasis are loud and noisy, Paul Weller is tasty and Badly Drawn Boy is OK. My faves are by the hot and hyped new-comers, Hal & The Subways and a recent-comer, Maximo Park. The Maximo boys take what is a sad and slow song and make it their own - a speedy 1:13 of their taut, angular melancholia. I really like it. I have always liked You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, and the Subways are pretty reverent to the original - it's an acoustic, strummmy version with a gorgeous guitar solo. Hal I've read about but never heard. Their version of Mindgames is a very Flaming Lips-y treatment of the song, albeit a slicker version. It's got a funky disco bass line and some nice sweeping synths. A pretty rather than gritty approach. Not a bad comp for the price of the magazine.

Madonna - Imagine (live) *
Oasis - I Am The Walrus (live)
Paul Weller - Instant Karma (We All Shine On)
Feeder - Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) *
Sugarbabes - Come Together *
The Vines - I'm Only Sleeping
Joseph Arthur - Look At Me *
Maximo Park - Isolation *
The Subways - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away *
Hal - Mindgames *
Willy Mason - Nobody Told Me *
Stereophonics - Don't Let Me Down
Kubb - Mother *
Elbow - Working Class Hero * (on #1)
Badly Drawn Boy - Merry Xmas (War Is Over) * (on #2)

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