COVER THE EARTH: Bizarro Versions of Your Favorite Oldies From Across the World Wide Weird

There are lots of foreign-language covers out there, but what really intruiges me is when non-Anglo/Americans approach the material from their own ethnic/cultural background.  Sometimes it's kinda clueless, like the South African group who sound like they really don't know their rockabilly (tho I'm sure they know rock better then most Americans know mbaqanga), while others are clearly going for a cross-over audience, e.g. the "chutney" version of Arrow's soca classic "Feelin' Hot Hot Hot": East Indians go to the West Indies. I'm pretty sure the Bappi Lahiri track was no more then the prolific Bollywood composer finding himself short on material and thinking no-one would notice if he ripped-off some Western oldies, but Tuva's Yat-Kha, on the other hand, apparently is a big fan of Western pop, and performing it in his "throat-singing" style seemed like the natural way to go - a tribute to his boyhood favorites. And Panta Siklja Nafta might be the first reported sighting of Serbian outsider music.

Plenty here were done simply to cash in on the teen rock market that emerged across the world by the 1960s. Jah Division, and The Ramones bossa, and steel pan covers are just good old-fashioned gimmicks, but fun ones, and The Dragons have even been accused of being somewhat of a hoax - their release, covering the likes of The Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones - was supposedly smuggled out of China after the band overheard Western music on Hong Kong radio, but some have levied the accusation that they were, in fact, Chinese folks living in France at the time, and a smart-aleck record label put them up to the task.  Who knows - the Pistols on traditional Chinese instruments sound amazing, and that's all I care about.

Cover The Earth

1. Bogard Brothers [South Africa] - I'm In Love  (Elvis/Little Richard)

2. Yat-Kha [Mongolia] - When The Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin)
3. Yat-Kha [Mongolia] - Man Machine (Kraftwerk)
4. Panta Siklja Nafta [Serbia] - Nafta u Mojim Mislima (Ray Charles)
5. Wanderlea [Brasil] - Vou Lhe Contar (The Seeds "Pushin' Too Hard")
6. Bogard Brothers  [South Africa] - She Keeps On Knocking  (Elvis/Little Richard)
7. Yat-Kha [Mongolia] - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (Iron Butterfly)
8. Panta Siklja Nafta [Serbia] - Lav Mi Tender (Elvis)
9. Duangdao Mondara & Chailai [Thailand] - The Black Super Man (Johnny Wakelin & The Kinshasa Band "Muhammad Ali Black Superman")
10. Yat-Kha [Mongolia] - Play With Fire (Rolling Stones)
11. Manster [USA] - Over, Under, Sideways, Down (Yardbirds)
12. Bappi Lahiri [India] - Everybody Dance With Me (Iron Butterfly/The Troggs)
13. Glambeats Corp. (feat. Chepito) [Euro/Brasil/Carribean] - Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones) 
14. The Dragons [China] - Anarchy In The U.K. (Sex Pistols)
15. Dunny Lida & Paradise King [Japan] - Surf City (Jan & Dean)
16. Jah Division [US/Jamaica] - Dub Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
17. Babla & Kanchan [India/Trinidad] - KUCH GADBAD HAI (Arrow/Buster Poindexter "Feelin Hot Hot Hot")
18. Malik Adouane [Algeria] - Shaft (Isaac Hayes)
19. Mariachi El Bronx [US/Mexico] - I Would Die 4 U (Prince)
20. Tracy Thornton [US/Caribbean] - Rockaway Beach  (Ramones)
21. Sroeng Santi  [Thailand] - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng (Black Sabbath "Ironman")
22. Unknown Japanese - Queen Medley

Thanks to Dragan Vuković!