Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ah, Look At All The Lonely People.

If you're a long time reader of S & Cs you know by now that I'm a youtubaholic. I get stuck so bad on Youtube it's pathetic. Tonite was no different. I actually had a purpose when I clicked the link... I wanted to hear Eleanor Rigby, to kinda play along on the mando and see what it sounded like.

I got sidetracked.

I got started listening to... I don't really know, maybe 30 or 40 versions of Eleanor, I couldn't stop. So I just decided to gloss over some of 'em and link in 'em in here. I'll try and weed out the turds for you. Keep an open mind 'cause my critique is pretty broad in styles.

This is a too long blog post. I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself.

First a cover by Thrice. It bores me. Not much extra goin' on here. A bit of a drive towards the end, some screaming vocals that add a bit of interest but mostly... it sucks.






Ray Charles. That's all I need to say 'bout this one. Okay, one more thing. Awesome.







Next is a 1970 cover by a band called The Zoot. Not a bad cover but the highlight of this one is a babyish Rick Springfield on guitar in this band.








Acceptance. I don't. They suck. The singer is pretentious, the guitar player needs to cover his entire body with Preparation H... Might take away some of the soreness.







Godhead. I really liked this version a bunch. The singer is a little scary looking in a mascara laden Uncle Fester sort of way... but he probably had a rough childhood and came from a broken home, someone might have stomped his parakeet to death or something. Lotta style.








Some guy that's probably famous but I don't know him so he ain't squat. lol He's playing a carbon fiber turd and goes into some pretty cool effects. It held my attention for probably 45 seconds.







2 words. Stanley. Jordan. Stanley is ALWAYS worth listening to. Incredible fusion, tapping guitarist.







And I saved my favorite for last. A little 3 piece Latino band called "Gauchos". I never heard of 'em before, don't think they're famous anywhere, but they oughta be. The phonetically sung lyrics is killer lol but that little head banging, half sized bass player... he rules.








I'm all done with Eleanor now. No, I didn't even pick up my mandolin.







.

11 comments:

Ziggy Stardust said...

Fun stuff. Eleanor is one popular lady.

rebelsrider said...

I liked the Goth Eleanor version by Uncle Fester, but the sawed-off, head-banging bass player was the most entertaining of all the picks. That boy is a natural head-banger...you just can't teach that stuff!

Really, I must stop reading your blog at work. Supressing laughter is not one of my strong points.

~E said...

Don't hate me, but I've never even heard of the original...much less the remixes.

You hate me now right?

I knew it!

Jennifer and Sandi said...

Some nice bass play'n there from the young'n!!

- Jennifer

WowsRose said...

That is funny because a few months back, Martin and I searched YouTube for that song. Thrice was a joke. lol

I got to see Godhead twice open for GK and both times they played Eleanor Rigby and both times it rocked. Hands down our favorite version, next to the original.

I dare you to not search for all the Yellow Submarine clips on YouTube now...

Unknown said...

this is great and actually this happened to me yesterday...

but my song choice is embarrassing....

but I listened, and then clicked on the next version and giggled and so on...

good times.

Nej said...

Ray Charles...be still my beating heart! I'd never heard him sing this...it's wonderful!

Dr Zibbs said...

Great post I love covers.

And I love that song. And I agree that last band had a great take on ER.

Jerry said...

That Stanley Jordan is an artist! I liked the Gauchos, too. Entertaining!!

Nothing beats the original, though. It's like how Mom made potato salad. :)

Candy's daily Dandy said...

Great post Cowguy!! Love the different versions of that classic song. This was a great idea.

Fave? The legendary and coolest cat who ever graced our planet.....Mr. Ray Charles.

Yeah......

Mary@Holy Mackerel said...

Love that song. A lot. And I also love the mandolin.