Album Cover
Last week, (rock) music photographer, Pennie Smith received an "outstanding contribution" gong at the Record of the Day bash. Pennie Smith is famous for her iconic image of bass smashing Paul Simonon; as used on The Clash London Calling album. This image is my second favourite rock photograph. Pennie herself finds fault with this image (because of the blur); but you can't fault the great anticipation and framing in capturing a timeless moment.
My #1 favourite rock image is a photograph of Elvis Presley (on stage) taken by photographer Roger Marshutz. Here's a link to it. It's loosely connected to the Clash image because the "London Calling" cover was inspired by the cover of Presley's debut album.
And talking of covers.................
Cover Songs
Last week Radio Scotland asked listeners to send in their favourite cover songs. My initial thought was "that's easy, covers are normally pretty tame compared to the original". So I jotted down a few favourites but the list grew and grew and grew. Over the next few weeks, and as a bit of John Peel type festive fun, I'll blog my 100 favourite cover songs.
Here's the countdown 100 - 71
My 100 Favourite Cover Songs (100- 71)
100 Rocket Man : William Shatner (Elton John)
99 Maggie's Farm : Rage Against the Machine (Bob Dylan)
98 Couldn't Get It Right : Fun Loving Criminals (Climax Blues Band)
97 Chelsea Hotel : Lloyd Cole (Leonard Cohen)
96 Enjoy The Silence : Lacuna Coil (Depeche Mode)
95 Stepping Stone : Sex Pistols (The Monkees)
94 Needles and Pins : The Ramones (Searchers)
93 Havana Affair : Red Hot Chili Peppers (The Ramones)
92 O Holy Night : Nat King Cole (traditional Carol)
91 Lets Spend The Night Together : David Bowie (The Rolling Stones)
90 Make Me Smile : Wedding Present (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel)
89 Baby Hit Me One More Time : Travis (Britney Spears)
88 Creep : Richard Cheese (Radiohead)
87 Always on my Mind : Pet Shop Boys (Brenda Lee)
86 Brother Louie : Hot Chocolate (The Stories)
85 Tears of a Clown : The Beat (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles)
84 Wind Cries Mary : Jamie Cullum (Jimi Hendrix)
83 She's Not There : Sanatana (The Zombies)
82 Torn : Natalie Imbruglia (Ednaswap)
81 Rocket Man : Kate Bush (Elton John)
80 Delilah : Sensational Alex Harvey Band (Tom Jones)
79 The Day Before You Came : Blancmange (ABBA)
78 Venus : Bananarama (Shocking Blue)
77 Word Up : Gun (Cameo)
76 Sweet Child of Mine : Luna (Guns N' Roses)
75 Step On : Happy Mondays (John Kongos)
74 I Call Your Name : The Boys (The Beatles)
73 Never Tear Us Apart : Tom Jones & Natalie Imbruglia (INXS)
72 The Air That I Breathe : Hollies (Phil Everly)
71 Black Magic Woman : Santana (Fleetwood Mac)
(70 - 41 will be next Sunday, 40 - 11 the following Sunday and 10 - 1 on Christmas Eve).
I make no excuses for the William Shatner cover making the list. There's a "car crash" quality to it; a work of accidental genius you could say.
