cover of the week – observatory crest
mp3: mercury rev – observatory crest [link expired]
the cover this week comes from mercury rev’s 2002 little rhymes pt. 2 single and is a first for the bat and the bird. it’s the first cover i’ve ever posted without being intimately (or on occasion vaguely) familiar with the original. “observatory crest” can be found on captain beefheart and the magic band’s 1974 album bluejeans and moonbeams… for a price. the album , like a few other beefheart releases, is out of print. so if you want to hear it you’ll have to pay an inflated price on ebay or go rummaging through your local record store’s used bins and hope to get lucky.
of course i do want to hear it, and if i didn’t have a habit of always trying to make informed purchases i likely would have long ago. but i do. and with bluejeans and moonbeams being universally declared beefheart’s worst album, this period’s lineup being jokingly referred to as “the tragic band”… i just can’t justify shelling out the extra cash for it. so until i find this waiting for me in the used bin, or my income increases significantly, mercury rev’s cover is the only “observatory crest ” for me.
is it as good as the original? obviously i can’t say with any degree of authority. but if i had to bet i’d put my money on beefheart, even if the band was missing some of their magic.
little rhymes pt.1 and pt. 2 are both in the same availability category as bluejeans and moonbeams. so i don’t think there’s any harm in sharing them with you, minus the title track, which you can find on all is dream. 2 out of 3 of these are covers too, so it fits quite nicely.
mp3: mercury rev – i keep a close watch [link expired]
john cale cover, from his 1975 album helen of troy. the album includes cale’s cover of the modern lovers’ classic “pablo picasso”. but wait, the modern lovers wasn’t released until late 1976, one year after helen of troy.. what’s the deal, you may ask. well, what would become the modern lovers was recorded way back in ‘72 (the band was long broken up by the time its debut album surfaced in ‘76) and the sessions were produced by none other than john cale (cale even played piano on “pablo picasso”). so that’s how cale was able to cover the song a year before it was released.
i think it’s important to note that cale wasn’t trying to get the jump on richman… the original modern lovers had disbanded a year before helen of troy’s release , richman had practically disowned all their songs and i don’t believe there was any indication (there was certainly no desire on richman’s part) that the ‘72 recordings would ever be released. and considering richman’s professed love for the velvet underground, i can’t imagine he would have minded one of the band’s founding members covering his song.
mp3: mercury rev – streets of laredo [link expired]
“streets of laredo” is a traditional cowboy ballad that has been recorded by a number of people, including johnny cash on 2002’s american iv: the man comes around. i guess mercury rev could be space cowboys.
mp3: mercury rev – chains (strings mix) [link expired]
as with most remixes, i greatly prefer the original version of this one. though i am not sure that this is a “remix”. it may have been a serious contender for inclusion on all is dream for all i know. regardless, the full band version is immensely more interesting.
Related posts:
