In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I have begun to re-use album covers. Just wanted to put that out there.
Below are magnified fragments of album covers. Most of them are well-known albums, but there are a few obscure covers (or lesser-known albums from well-known artists) mixed in to keep you honest. You must guess both the artist and album cover. In order to keep things simple, live albums, soundtracks and singles compilations will not be used, and with all apologies to our European and Japanese friends, we are going with the covers that appeared in the US record stores…back when we had record stores. Sigh.
The rules are the same as Name That Tune. Each player can make three guesses between updates (“Update” is defined as “The time when I post a comment listing all of the covers that have been guessed correctly,” “Guess” is defined as “any attempt to identify a single cover”), so everyone will have a chance to contribute. And, just to spice things up, we have a puzzle cover this week, yay! One guess per player of the puzzle between updates, please.
There is a (very obvious) acrostic this week. The FIRST letter in the name of the artist or band will provide a clue as to the puzzle cover’s identity. Good luck!
A girl on whom I held a massive crush in high school gave me one of her senior year photos, and on the back she wrote, “I will never hear Simple Minds without thinking of you.” And even then I thought, “Um, thanks?” Which is no disrespect to one of Scotland’s finest, but rather that if you remove the upper case in that band name, it goes from compliment to slam in a nanosecond. Still, I knew she wasn’t calling me a simple mind; I played the daylights out of those guys for anyone who’d listen, beginning with 1984’s drumtastic Sparkle in the Rain. My rocker friends caught on the following year when the band released their breakthrough hit Once Upon a Time, but by then, I was going back and discovering the New Romantic beauty of New Gold Dream. Today’s WLW will highlight mixes of two songs from these three albums, hopefully without dredging up any painful high school memories in the process. (more…)
MAXIMUM THREE GUESSES between updates of the list, to give everyone a chance to play. An update of the list is when I post the entire list of correct guesses with the words “OFFICIAL UPDATE.” “Guess” is officially defined as “attempting to identify any one song.” Therefore, one comment that lists three songs counts as three guesses.
While I’m not going to be a stickler for spelling and punctuation, you must guess the correct musician and song title to a close approximation.
How the game is played: I have uploaded twenty-five very brief song clips. Please bear in mind that both my record collection and knowledge of music are probably 5% of that of Scraps’, so these quizzes won’t be nearly as comprehensive – or even hit-based – as his were. I will use mostly well-known songs, but I reserve the right to use something obscure if it suits my needs, like it does this week. Live versions and covers are also fair game, though I will stay away from remixes, because that’s just mean.
There is a puzzle this week, and the songs in the game will offer a (painfully obvious) clue as to the puzzle song’s identity.
I suggest subscribing to the comments on the post to more easily follow the progress of the game. Remember — please! — NO MORE THAN THREE GUESSES between updates of the list. Have fun!
As we discussed in the previous PGTW installment, Disc One of Ruby Trax was a rather inauspicious first step for such an ambitious project. They had their pick of the UK’s top acts, and they thought that letting the Fatima Mansions creep their way, both literally and figuratively, through Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It for You)” was not only a good idea, but worthy of the opening disc? Huh.
And in the interest of full disclosure, that would not be the last lapse in judgment they would have. In fact, Disc Two of Ruby Trax, while far more consistent than Disc One, opens with Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine covering… “Another Brick in the Wall.” (Brought to you by Bad Idea Jeans.) On the surface, you might think that the boys behind “Sheriff Fatman” might be able to inject a little fun into Pink Floyd’s dark disco juggernaut, but no. Instead, they slow it down to a snail’s pace, and for no reason whatsoever, they shout “Motherfucker!” after the second chorus. Next.
The next two songs have been the subject of much discussion and debate, even between the bands themselves. Blur tackles “Maggie May” minus bassist Alex James (he was vehemently opposed to covering Rod the Mod and refused to play on the song), and how much you like this cover depends greatly on your reverence for the original. Personally, I like “Maggie May” but heard it more than enough growing up, so I’ll take Blur’s cover gladly, though it sounds like they recorded it in about 20 minutes. Then comes Tears for Fears’ note-for-note cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes,” and once again I will admit my bias. One of my favorite Bowie songs being covered by one of my favorite singers, ever. I couldn’t care less that it’s identical to the original, since it’s a pretty hard song to “make your own,” as it were. Apparently Roland Orzabal had tried doing something left-field with it, but it wasn’t working, so they went the Gus Van Zant “Psycho” route instead. Orzabal acknowledged that the band more or less took the easy way out with the Bowie cover when compiling B-sides for the band’s Saturnine Martial & Lunatic album, but then said, “Still, it’s better than Blur’s version of ‘Maggie May.’ (Or is it?)” Yes, Roland, it’s better. But I like your version too, Damon. I’m such a kiss-ass. (more…)
In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I have begun to re-use album covers. Just wanted to put that out there.
Below are magnified fragments of album covers. Most of them are well-known albums, but there are a few obscure covers (or lesser-known albums from well-known artists) mixed in to keep you honest. You must guess both the artist and album cover. In order to keep things simple, live albums, soundtracks and singles compilations will not be used, and with all apologies to our European and Japanese friends, we are going with the covers that appeared in the US record stores…back when we had record stores. Sigh.
The rules are the same as Name That Tune. Each player can make three guesses between updates (“Update” is defined as “The time when I post a comment listing all of the covers that have been guessed correctly,” “Guess” is defined as “any attempt to identify a single cover”), so everyone will have a chance to contribute. And, just to spice things up, we have a puzzle cover this week, yay! One guess per player of the puzzle between updates, please.
There is no acrostic this week, but there is definitely a theme. Good luck!
From a personal standpoint, the summer of 1986 was, well, awful. I just graduated from high school, and had absolutely no idea what I was going to do from there. (Man, were we lucky in that regard; the kids today do not have that option.) My musical life was undergoing a similar transformation. I had always been a pop boy who dabbled in off-the-radar bands — which, in the early ’80s, meant Simple Minds and Icehouse — but after two seminal modern rock albums and a game-changing soundtrack appeared in the spring (Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration, the Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead, and the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink, for those keeping score at home), I could tell that a change was a-coming.
But a leopard doesn’t change his spots; while I was eagerly devouring this strange new music coming out of the UK, I was also still buying albums like Glass Tiger’s The Thin Red Line. Hey, like I said, I’m a pop boy, and today’s six-pack is a somewhat fond look back at when Pop Boy met Alterna-Boy.
Pet Shop Boys – Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
Never mind being one of the greatest singles acts of all time – the Pet Shop Boys are one of the best BANDS of all time. This single marks the first of many PSB songs to be mixed by the once-ubiquitous Shep Pettibone, and he’s not subtle about his intentions, taking the original version’s syncopated, slightly industrial drum track and replacing it with a fat-ass kick and snare, with an actual bass guitar playing the bass line. True story: I used the contact information on the back of this 12″ single to try and score an interview with Shep for a college paper. His manager told me Shep was too busy…but would I be interested in talking with Junior Vasquez? Yes. Yes, I would. (more…)
MAXIMUM THREE GUESSES between updates of the list, to give everyone a chance to play. An update of the list is when I post the entire list of correct guesses with the words “OFFICIAL UPDATE.” “Guess” is officially defined as “attempting to identify any one song.” Therefore, one comment that lists three songs counts as three guesses.
While I’m not going to be a stickler for spelling and punctuation, you must guess the correct musician and song title to a close approximation.
How the game is played: I have uploaded twenty-five very brief song clips. Please bear in mind that both my record collection and knowledge of music are probably 5% of that of Scraps’, so these quizzes won’t be nearly as comprehensive – or even hit-based – as his were. I will use mostly well-known songs, but I reserve the right to use something obscure if it suits my needs, like it does this week. Live versions and covers are also fair game, though I will stay away from remixes, because that’s just mean.
There is a puzzle this week, and the songs in the game will offer a (painfully obvious) clue as to the puzzle song’s identity.
I suggest subscribing to the comments on the post to more easily follow the progress of the game. Remember — please! — NO MORE THAN THREE GUESSES between updates of the list. Have fun!
The early 1990s were a good time to be an Anglophile. Even more so than during the whole Britpop thing, if you can believe that.
Allow me to explain. Modern rock radio was exploding, but as eager as they were to crown new kings, the format still had great respect for the bands that blazed the trail before a clear path existed. And the programmers didn’t look down their noses at a band if they had commercial success, either; Tears for Fears were just as welcome on the dial as The The. There were no subgenres under the British pop umbrella, either; British pop was British pop, with no separation of the “cool” from the “uncool.” And everyone had a shot at scoring a hit. It was a beautiful time.
Few compilations from the era demonstrate this all-for-one approach better than Ruby Trax, a three-disc compilation assembled by rock mag (or is it rag?) NME as a benefit to the Spastics Society. The magazine had turned the big 4-0, and to celebrate, they asked a bunch of bands – forty of them, natch – to cover a Number One single from the rock era. Many bands played to their strengths and covered material that was similar to their own; others went completely off the rails. Sometimes this was a good thing. Other times, not.
Disc One is, by this writer’s estimate, the weakest of the three. It starts out strongly enough with the Wonder Stuff’s fiddle-happy take on Slade’s “Coz I Luv You,” and Billy Bragg unleashes his inner disco dancer on, of all things, the Three Degrees’ ballad “When Will I See You Again.” The Jesus and Mary Chain – surprise! – get lost in feedback on a cover of Howling Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” (the Stones took it to the top), and then the Mission goes absolutely supernova on their cover of Blondie’s “Atomic.” I still put the Mission and Stuffies covers on mix discs. (more…)
Lord Jefito and I are still trying to figure out how this posted nearly a month early. My apologies to those of you who already submitted guesses – and early congrats to that rat bastard drxl, who’s already guessed the puzzle cover – but if it’s all right with you guys, I have deleted all of the previous comments, and we’re going to start from scratch. Although I replaced the puzzle cover.
Seriously, drxl, how did you get that so quickly? I thought I disguised it pretty well. Not well enough, apparently.
Below are magnified fragments of album covers. Most of them are well-known albums, but there are a few obscure covers (or lesser-known albums from well-known artists) mixed in to keep you honest. You must guess both the artist and album cover. In order to keep things simple, live albums, soundtracks and singles compilations will not be used, and with all apologies to our European and Japanese friends, we are going with the covers that appeared in the US record stores…back when we had record stores. Sigh.
The rules are the same as Name That Tune. Each player can make three guesses between updates (“Update” is defined as “The time when I post a comment listing all of the covers that have been guessed correctly,” “Guess” is defined as “any attempt to identify a single cover”), so everyone will have a chance to contribute. And, just to spice things up, we have a puzzle cover this week, yay! One guess per player of the puzzle between updates, please.
There is no acrostic this week, but there is definitely a theme. Good luck!
All right, so maybe silence wasn’t the best approach to this column. You have to understand that I approached remixes more as a fan of the art of the remix, rather than as a fan of the band. This has left me a bit short when it comes to talking up certan songs or artists, but I think I’ve found a compromise: I’ll do it “Mix Six”-style, offering what tidbits about said song or remix that may still be bouncing around in my booze-addled cranium.
ABC – Be Near Me (Ecstasy Mix)
This was the dub mix, as it were, from the American 12″ single, but in many ways I liked it more than the Munich Disco Mix. The bass licks in the late break, combined with the processed “Ecstasyyyyyyy” vocals, were just too much for my teenaged brain to handle. I knew it was amped-up disco – which was still terribly uncool in late 1985 – but that is what made it so awesome.
Climie Fisher – Love Changes Everything (House Mix)
If I hadn’t been working in a record store when the song was released, I would have thought that this was Rod Stewart too, except that this came out at the same time as Stu’s (awful) Out of Order album. There is no mistaking this mix of the song for Rod the Mod, however, as the songwriting duo of Simon Climie and the late Rob Fisher hands themselves over to Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s remix slave Phil Harding, who proceeds to house the ever-loving shit out of them. Read into that statement however you like.
Hipsway – The Honeythief (Galus Mix)
However right or wrong this may be, I’m giving all credit for this mix’s awesomeness to Gary Langan, because he has done what I consider to be great work (early Art of Noise, Billy Idol’s “Flesh for Fantasy” remix, ABC’s Beauty Stab). The other producer Paul Stavely O’Duffy, however, I have generally written off as a guy that succeeded in spite of the bands that he’s produced, not because of them. Then again, our good friend Mark S. Berry loves Paul, so maybe I’m being too hard on the guy. Whoever was in charge of this mix, I like the occasional forays into crazy.
Kool Moe Dee – Wild Wild West (Extended Mix)
Imagine my surprise when Bryan “Chuck” New, the man that mixed this record, popped up on the remix credits for “Pictures of You” by the Cure. Never saw that coming.
Roxette – The Look (Head Drum Mix)
An import 12″ from the Netherlands, this is amusing in retrospect only because it’s the kind of mix that any of us could probably assemble from home today, but at the time was a cutting-edge piece of work, blending the “Ashley’s Roachclip” drum beat (known as the Milli Vanilli beat to the unenlightened) with the then-ubiquitous “Aww yeah!” vocal sample. I never did find out where that “Aww yeah!” came from. I heard it sampled in a million other records (”Bring Me Edelweiss,” to name but one), but never heard the original. Anyone? Bueller?
Scritti Politti – The Turntable Mix
This is EXTREMELY rare, so if you thought for even a nanosecond about downloading this, do it now, now, now. This was a B-side to the import 12″ mix to “The World Girl,” but not every pressing of “The World Girl” contained this mix, which segues “Hypnotize,” “Wood Beez,” and “Absolute.” Cabaret time, fuckers!
(more…)
As we discussed in the previous PGTW installment, Disc One of Ruby Trax was a 
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