Monday through Friday at 5pm join Dave Cowan for the "Five O'Clock Shadow" on the Trail. As Bill Cosby once said: "You'll have fun...and if you're not careful, you might even learn something." We'll explore all types of cover versions...and we'll have the opportunity to play things you wouldn't normally hear on the Trail.
This week (week of 3/21) it's all Beatles covers on the 5:00 Shadow. No special reason....I guess that I just stumble on more Beatles covers than anything else....and then I say to myself, "I can't play that, I just did a Beatles cover last week." So, you see, they just sort of pile up. All four Beatles covers this week are fairly rare and unique....I don't think I've ever heard any single one of these on the radio before. They're all done by British acts, too - but that's just a coincidence. Monday's features one of those bands that spawned a dozen other classic rock acts. Foreigner, Mott the Hoople, Stealers Wheel and Humble Pie can all trace a member back to Spooky Tooth.
Here's Mumford & Sons from a BBC Radio show
Wednesday - Peter Gabriel from the soundtrack to the bizarre musical documentary "All This and World War II" (1975)
Thursday - Robyn Hitchcock....from a 2009 compilation celebrating the 40th anniversary of Abbey Road (Mojo Presents Abbey Road Now)
Jan. 27, 2011 - I'm not a huge fan of live albums. Usually they are a curiosity...something to give you just a bit more from a band you love. Usually nothing that you'll be listening to years in the future. However I have always loved Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus." I often tell the story of spending all day installing my new cassette into my car one summer day in 1979 (I was 16...the car was a '68 Pontiac Lemans) When I finished I grabbed my copy of "Waiting For Columbus" and drove off to savor my work. I grew up near Washington, DC and that was one of the (few) places that really supported Little Feat. I also remember the night Lowell George died....he was in town for a concert when his heart gave out (too much cocaine and pizza, I guess not to mention the hepatitis that kept him down and contribuetd to that weight gain) I remember Cerphe (probably the best DC dj of that era) playing Little Feat stuff into the night.
Anyway, Waiting for Columbus is THE live record I never tire of. Last Halloween, Phish were in concert in Atlantic City and surprised the audience by playing Waiting for Columbus in its entirety. So I'm excited to play "Dixie Chicken" for today's 5:00 Shadow. Some of Waiting For Columbus was recorded at the Rainbow in London in 1977....the clip below comes from The Rainbow in 1977, so it lines up nicely with the era I'm trying to spotlight.
Here's Phish performing Dixie Chicken from that night last year in Atlantic City. It's rare that I get two YouTube video clips to match so well with one of my 5:00 Shadows....enjoy! dave
I love the concept of Beck's record Club. Invite a few friends over and cover an entire album in a day. Earlier this year it was "Kick" from INXS. A stellar job here on "Never Tear Us Apart" - especially considering that St. Vincent did the vocals in a single take:
Oh boy...what happened to August? September was a fun month for the 5:00 Shadow. Personally, my favorite of the month is today's (9/30) Blitzen Trapper's spastic cover of Heart's classic "Crazy On You." It's epic! I like to post videos of my favorite 5:00 Shadows each month, and the best stuff I can find on YouTube from September would have to be "Something In the Air." Check out this vintage video of Thunderclap Newman's 1969 hit:
Tom Petty covered it in the early '90's, but the YouTube offerings are pretty modest for Tom's version.
Here's my favorite 5:00 Shadow from July (YouTube style)
and here's a link to the slick video the record company did for Camper Van Beethoven's version (embed not available for this video)
and here's CVB live:
Damn...missed a couple months....I'll try to make up for it with a three-video post pertaining to my fave June 5:00 Shadow. It's John Prine's "All the Best" in honor of the very cool new John Prine Tribute Album....
We'll start with a vintage clip of John performing the song shortly after it was released:
Here is (just the audio) of My Morning Jacket's very cool cover from the new CD, "Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows"
Finally, John and Yim Yames together from a recent Letterman
Here's March's:
For February, it's M. Ward's cover of David Bowie's Let's Dance: A great example of how you can take a joyful pop song and turn it into something different - a beautiful love song.
