Are there clones on Mars?

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · Talk to me!

David Bowie

Seu Jorge

Portuguese is the language that best picture sadness. All you can say, sound sadder in Portuguese. That explains, for example, why the Fado is wonderful. Moreover, that is the reason why this clone of Life on Mars? is incredible. Recorded by Seu Jorge for the soundtrack of Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, he full the song with so much melancholy, that the open question in Bowie’s voice, only can have a negative answer with Jorge: No, definitely there is no life on Mars.

David Bowie – Life on Mars?
16 Life on Mars_

Seu Jorge – Life on Mars?
Life On Mars

August 31, 2010 · Tagged with David Bowie, Seu Jorge

Classic Rock, Fusion

Clone my fire

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · Talk to me!

The Doors

José Feliciano

All of us have a great band we can’t stand for. In my case is The Doors, and I know why: I always have hated the sound of Ray Manzarek’s keyboard, sound that probably is the most distinctive characteristic of the band after the totemic figure of Jim Morrison. That’s the reason why when I say that Light my Fire is an incredible song when José Feliciano sings it, I am not trying to be controversial, I am just being honest. At the end, our real guide, like it or not, is our personal taste. The tropical rhythm erases any trace of Manzarek’s keyboard, and that is enough to turn this clone in one of my favorite songs.

The Doors – Light my Fire

José Feliciano – Light my Fire

August 21, 2010 · Tagged with José Feliciano, The Doors

Classic Rock, Latino

I’ll feel a Whole Lot Better Clone

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · 1 Comment

The Byrds

Charly García

What a lot of Spanish Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneers did was to take the songs of the English repertoires and translate them. In their defense, those sounds were too new, different, and unique to push the envelope a little harder at the latitudes down the Río Grande. To sing “Tú la vas a perder/Sí, sí/ Tú la vas a perder” (“You are going to lose that girl/You are going to lose that girl“) or “¿Por qué se fue y por qué murió?/¿Por qué el señor me la quitó?” (“Oh, where oh where can my baby be?/The Lord took her away from me“) was original and innovative enough to ask for more to the bands of that era.
When Charly García cloned in Spanish The Byrds’ classic, I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better, I thought the clone was perfect because those lyrics sound written by García. However, we also can see the song as a tribute not only to The Byrds but to the pioneers of the Spanish rock ‘n’ roll. Being García indeed a Spanish rock pioneer, we cannot rule out the auto tribute.

The Byrds – I’ll feel a whole lot better

I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better

Charly García – Me siento mucho mejor

04 Me Siento Mucho Mejor

August 14, 2010 · Tagged with Charly García, The Byrds

Fusion, Latino

The Clone of The Rising Sun

Posted by DanielPratt · Talk to me!

Sex Mob

Santa Esmeralda

Last time, I wrote about the origins of The House of The Rising Sun, turned by The Animals into one of the essential tracks of the British Invasion.

Fifteen years after The Animals’ version, Santa Esmeralda, a french-american band, created a disco-flamenco-funk fantasy which, at 15 minutes, undoubtedly must be the longest version of The House of The Rising Sun ever recorded.

In addition to its length, I should also remark the precise placement of the strings and metals. There’s a moment, past minute 5, in which one would be tempted to forget that this is originally a folk track, and it’s always been an overwhelming disco song.

Fast-forward twenty years, Sex Mob, the jazz band, created an irresistible cover. Its centerpiece, the band’s characteristic slide trumpet. That album, Din of Inequity, is in turn a covers compilation with some unusual arrangements. In some of the tracks, the similarities with the original stops at the name. However, in this case I have to admit that if I were in The House of The Rising Sun, and had to choose a song in the jukebox, it would be this one.

The House of the Rising Sun + Quasimodo Suite

The House of the Rising Sun – Sex Mob cover

Related Clone: The House of the Rising Clone

August 3, 2010 · Tagged with Santa Esmeralda, Sex Mob

Classic Rock, Latino

Strawberry clones forever

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · Talk to me!

The Beatles

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs

Strawberry Fields Forever has that especial thing so many Beatles’ songs have: a personal reference became poetry, metaphor, pure symbolism. The Strawberry Field existed, but at this point probably few people can recognize the reference, and that doesn’t matter. With the years, the strawberry field has become personal, everybody has its own private strawberry field thanks to the powerful images John Lennon gave us forever.
In Los Fabulosos Cadillacs’ cover, the strawberry field is full of palm trees, the psychedelic music turned to Caribbean ska and the LSD became marihuana. This is a wonderful clone, recorded at the creative peak of the Cadillacs career. In this cover, Debbie Harry has a small participation, but she didn’t bring much to the song.

The Beatles -Strawberry Fields Forever
1-01 Strawberry Fields Forever

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs -
Strawberry Fields Forever
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs – Strawberry Fields Forever

July 29, 2010 · Tagged with Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, The Beatles

Classic Rock, Old Fashion

The House of the Rising Clone

Posted by DanielPratt · 1 Comment

Roy Acuff

The Animals

The Animals’ House of the Rising Sun
The House of the Rising Sun, is one of the essential tracks of the British Invation. Recorded in 1964, it could be argued that without Eric Burdons’ bloodcurling execution in vocals, and Alan Price’s Vox Continental solo, the whole section of pop music that revolves around The Doors, wouldn’t have existed.

Like almost all those early rock anthems, The House of The Rising Sun comes from a blues: Rising Sun Blues, or The Rising Sun, whose authorship is unknown, but was first comercially recorded by the country artist Roy Acuff, in 1938.

Depending on the version and the time it was recorded, the house in the song it’s sometimes a bar, a jail, or a brothel. In Acuff’s version it appears to be a speakeasy kind of joint, while The Animals’ one suggest such a wide range of places that it has inspired archaeological excavations in New Orleans.

However, every artist agrees that the house is a place you should keep away from, and avoid the risk of falling into the horrible side of life. This appealing and ductile characteristic, has turned The House of The Rising Sun in rock’s most emblematic cautionary tale.

The Rising Sun – Roy Acuff

The House of the Rising Sun
- The Animals

July 25, 2010 · Tagged with Roy Acuff, The Animals

Electronic, Indie

Every time I see you cloning

Posted by DanielPratt · Talk to me!

Frente!

Computer Club

My Bizarre Love Triangle relationship started with that Frente! cover which was the sales hook of a frankly horrible album, but brings back the memories of that brutal period that starts at the end of high school.

In retrospective, I think that Frente!’s BLT effectively captures that 90s “indie aesthetic”: the minimalistic soundscapes that served as counterweigh to the rising of grunge rock.

Similarly, Computer Club’s version is a product of its time. At the beginning of the 90’s it would’ve been uncool to record an electronic cover of the song. However, in 2008, years after electronica escaped the dance halls, Computer Club created what I think is the decade’s Bizarre Love Triangle.

With hints of the seminal Blue Monday, Computer Club’s BLT is a multi-level cover. The violence in the execution and the saturated bass, play a proper homage to New Order. One of the bands that enriched and redefined our idea of dance music, and still is –after thirty years– an indispensable reference to whoever wants to lay a hand on a synthesizer.

Frente! – Bizarre Love Triangle

Frente – Bizarre Love Triangle

Bizarre Love Triangle – Computer Club

Related Clone: Bizarre Love Triangle

July 22, 2010 · Tagged with Computer Club, Frente!, New Order

Fusion, Indie, Pop

Bizarre Love Triangle

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · 1 Comment

New Order

Occidental Brother, Dance Band International

Few bands have accomplished what New Order did: They began from the ashes of Joy Division and set a unique, distinctive and influential sound, without being overshadowed by the legacy of Ian Curtis and all his iconic power. With a perfect combination of dance rhythms and beautiful lyrics, New Order was one of the bands that defined the sound of the ’80s. The power of their songs stands in any genre, as Occidental Brothers show it with their clone of Bizarre Love Triangle. An African music band from Chicago, Occidental Brothers fill with colors an already colorful song, giving new meanings to one of the most intelligent lyrics that have ever sound on a dance floor.

New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle

06 Bizarre Love Triangle

Occidental Brothers – Bizarre Love Triangle

Occidental Brother – Bizarre Love Triangle

July 19, 2010 · Tagged with New Order, Occidental Brothers

Latino, Punk

I am cold through the eyes

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · Talk to me!

The Clash

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs

It is a destiny’s joke that a band who called its most ambitious album Sandinista!, has ended as an example of disdain for other languages and cultures. Maybe was the result of a short budget, so they could not hire a translator. It maybe was because someone who they trusted fool them telling that he or she knew Spanish. The truth is that Should I Stay or Should I go always will say “Saves que robas me querda” instead of “¿Sabes qué ropa me queda?” as a translation of “Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?”, and “querda” is not even a word in Spanish. Worst is the case of “Yo me frio o lo sophlo”, phrase that doesn´t make any sense, and it supposed to be the translation of “Should I cool it or Should I blow?”. However, the poetic justice made various generations of Spanish speakers sing “Tengo frío por los ojos” (“I am cold through the eyes”) instead of “Yo me frio o lo sophlo”, and the Argentinian band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs took notice of that when they cloned the popular The Clash’s song.

The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go
The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs -
Should I Stay or Should I Go

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

July 12, 2010 · Tagged with Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, The Clash

Alternative

Cactus, bonus track

Posted by Luis Alejandro Ordóñez · 1 Comment

Pixies

Frank Black

The artists with a solo career, keep in and take out songs of their repertoires without more explanations than the personal mood of the moment. In the other hand, those soloists that made before career as members of a group, usually have a difficult relationship with their old repertoire. Is the case of Frank Black, who after the separation of Pixies, the first thing he did was to leave behind his stage name of Black Francis. However, at the end he reconciled himself with his Pixies’ legacy, recording again some of the songs of the band in an album that he signed as Frank Black Francis. In other words, in that album, Frank Black cloned Black Francis; other people have to go to therapy because of multiple personality disorder.

Frank Black – Cactus

Frank Black_02_03_Cactus

July 9, 2010 · Tagged with Frank Black, Pixies

ARTISTS
Charly García Computer Club David Bowie Frank Black Frank Sinatra Frente! José Feliciano Los Fabulosos Cadillacs New Order Occidental Brothers paul anka Pixies Roy Acuff Santa Esmeralda Seu Jorge Sex Mob Sex Pistols The Animals The Beatles The Byrds The Clash The Doors the wallflowers TV on the radio

ARTISTS