I had not planned on compiling another selection of odd ethnic covers of Western hits, thinking that I had exhausted that particular well, butour pals over at the Growing Bored For A Living blog hit us with a treasure trove of exotic, unlikely reworkings of famous songs that you thought you were sick of, and it just demanded another volume. Whichreminded me of some comments left in previous "Cover The Earth" posts offering suggestions, which I then tracked down. And I did have a fewnew discoveries me own self (I take full blame for the bagpipes). As with the previous volumes, some extreme liberties have been taken with the material, sometimes rendering them almost unrecognizable. Just the way we like it.
So thanks to Growing Bored (check the mammoth Bob Dylan cover project), and the nice Maniacs who suggested some suggestions.
01 2Cellos - Welcome to the Jungle (Croatia/classical) 02 Red Hot Chili Pipers [that's PIPERS! Not "Peppers"] - We Will Rock You/Eye Of The Tiger/The Clumsy Lover (Scottish bagpipes) 03 Pastel Vespa - L'Anarchie dans l'U.K. (The Sex Pistols go French yeh-yeh, tho Ms. Vespa is Brazilian) 04 20th Century Steel Band - Loves Theme (Barry White goes Carib steel drum) 05 Don Sornrabeab - Mao (Drunk) (Play That Funky Music, Thai boy) 06 Alyssa ZezZA - Purple Rain (Italian singer, but a Brazilian bossa style here) 07 Ray Barretto - James Bond Theme (Latin jazz) 08 Red Hot Chili Pipers - Smoke on the Water/Thunderstruck/Upside down at Eden's Court 09 The Maytals - Give Peace A Chance (John goes Jamaican) 10 Finger 5 - I Want You Back (Jacksons go J-pop) 11 Isaya Mwinamo & His Merry Men - Bamba Ya Afrika ("La Bamba" in Kenya) 12 Joya Landis - Kansas City ('50s rock-n-roll inna ska stylee) 13 20th Century Steel Band - Theme From Shaft 14 Pastel Vespa - Blue Monday (a bit of Joy Division also cleverly cuts into this Brazilian bossa nova cover) 15 Los Tropicanos - Light My Fire (think these guys are also Brazilian, but I wouldn't call this bossa nova; 'Latin psych,' maybe?) 16 Ukulele Clan Band - Money for Nothing (Spanish folkies getting kinda bluegrass-y; hey, they kept the original un-PC lyrics) 17 Faye Wong - Dream Person (Chinese Canto-pop cover of The Cranberries' "Dreams") 18 Red Hot Chili Pipers - Hey Jude/The Mason's Apron
When will it end?! Still more bizarre international ethnic versions of Western pop hits. And by 'ethnic' I also mean American and European styles like bluegrass (# 6) and polka. Also: several Trinidad steel drum tracks (# 1, 9, and 18); the Moog hit "Popcorn" played as a South American chicha; Guns'n'Roses go cumbia; The Buggles go Bollywood; a jazz classic performed on sitars and tablas. And wasn't Bob Marley a lot more fun in the '60s, when he was covering the Archies? COVER THE EARTH Vol. 5 1. Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers - The World is A Ghetto 2. Arsenio Rodriguez & the Afro Cuban Sound - Hang on Sloopy 3. Bappi Lahiri - Auva Auva ("Video Killed The Radio Star"/India) 4. Bob Marley - Sugar Sugar 5. Brave Combo - Double Vision cha cha 6. Bruce Hornsby-Ricky Skaggs - Superfreak 7. Cachicamo con Caspa y Leiko el perro de la IIIII dimension -Sweet Child o' Mine (Venezuela) 8. Chang Loo - Jambalaya (Hank Williams/China) 9. Esso Steelband - I Want You Back 10. Jimmy Sturr - Splish Splash polka 11. Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All Stars - Kono Mune no Tokimeki o ("You Don't Have To Say You Love Me") 12. Lelu Thaert - Dance Soul (Booker T & The MGs "Hip Hug Her"/Cambodia) 13. Lennie Hibbert - Nature Boy ("It Was A Very Good Year"/Jamaica) 14. Los Tropicanos - My Sweet Lord (Brasil) 15. Petty Booka - Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Japan/Ja-waiin) 16. Chicha Libre - Popcorn Andino (Gershon Kingsley's "Popcorn"/Peru-USA) 17. Sachal Studios Orchestra - Take Five (Dave Brubeck/Pakistan) 18. Sapodilla Punch - Hold on I'm Coming 19. The Polka Floyd Show - Another Brick in the Wall In case you missed 'em: Vol. 1 Vol. 2 Vol. 3 Vol. 4
UPDATE 8/10/13: File is back up. I'm a little worried that it disappeared as I haven't had any trouble with zippyshare...yet... Yet another batch of strange and wonderful covers of Western pop songs performed by people of other lands on ethnic instruments in various exotic styles. Some real mind bogglers here, e.g.: Jamaican senior citizens playing Iggy Pop, Joy Division goes calypso, surf music on sitars, Bowie's "Space Oddity" turned into a Mexican comedy routine, but the gamelan orchestra recorded "in the field" in Indonesia performing a song by the late '70s British marxist art-punk band Gang of Four truly takes the cake. What the heck is the story behind this? I couldn't find out, and maybe that's just as well. There are still some mysteries the universe is not willing to share with us... COVER THE EARTH 4 1. Los Miticos Del Ritmo [Columbian cumbia] - No Pares Hasta Tener Lo Suficiente [Jacko "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"] 2. Zia [Iran] - Man Kiam? [Monkees "I'm A Believer"] 3. Surf Champlers [Japan] - "James Bond Theme" 4. Willie DeVille [US/Mexican mariachi] - "Hey Joe" [Jimi Hendrix] 5. Luna Lee [Korea] - "Voodoo Chile" [Jimi Hendrix] video below 06 The Jolly Boys [Jamaican mento] - "The Passenger" [Iggy Pop] 07 Sekar-Melati [Indonesian gamelan]- "Not Great Men" [Gang of Four] video below 08 Louis Brennon [France] - "l'anarchie pour UK" [Sex Pistols] 09 Grupo Falso Baiano [Brasilian samba]- Irmaos Super Mario [Super Mario theme] 10 Hermanos Calatrava [Mexico] - "Space Oddity" [David Bowie] UPDATE: a commentor on WFMU's twitter feed claims this is Spanish, not Mexican 11 Steel Harmony [UK/Caribbean steel drum] - "Transmission" [Joy Division] 12 Caetano Velosa [Brazilian bossa nova] - "Billie Jean/Eleanor Rigby" [Jacko, Beatles] 13 Banda Plástica De Tepetlixpa Mex. [Mexican brass band] - "Yesterday" [Beatles] 14 Kumbia Queers [Latin American cumbia] - "Luci, Fer y Sam [Pink Floyd "Lucifer Sam"] 15 The Draytons Two [Barbados spouge] - "Blueberry Hill" [Fats Domino] 16 Wganda Kenya [Afro-Columbian] - "Combate A Kung-Fu" [Carl Douglas "Kung Fu Fighting"] 17 Rita Chao [Singapore] - "Proud Mary" [Credence Clearwater Revival] 18 The Bombay Beach Boys [US/India] - "Pipeline" [The Chantays] 19 Ondatrópica [Columbian cumbia] - "I Ron Man" [Black Sabbath "Iron Man"] 20 Jimmy Sturr [US polka] - "Fun Fun Fun" [Beach Boys] 21 The Soul Fantastics [Panama] - "Ain't No Sunshine" [Bill Withers] 22 Funk Como Le Gusta [Brasil] - "16 Toneladas (Sixteen Tons)" [Tennessee Ernie Ford] 23 Shang Shang Typhoon [Japan] - "Let It Be" [Beatles]
The first "Cover The Earth" collection we posted here a couple of weeks ago has been quite the success - twice as many downloads as usual for these parts. And since some of you nice maniacs out there have been emailing me mp3s and suggestions for other foreign/ethnic cover tunes, I was inspired to dig thru my cd archives and come up another volume. And this batch is really nuts, more out-there then Vol. 1, I'd say, sometimes veering pretty far from the originals. The versions of "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" and "Imagine," in particular, are especially retarded.
Ingredients: a version of The Champs' "Tequila" by an out-of-control Indian wedding brass band; "Rock Around The Clock" played on a Spike Jones-like honk-horn novelty instrument (pictured right); two salsa artists (Celia Cruz, Manny Manuel) who start off fairly faithful to the originals, apart from singing in Spanish, before pushing the songs into Afro-Latin territory that has nothing to do with the original songs; a Frenchy version of "Witchy Woman" on musical saw (just about the only way I can take The Eagles); lots of Beatles, inc. a small taste of the zillions of Beatles covers recorded by Jamaican reggae artists in the Sixties; more Tuvan throat-singing; an early-'80s Dutch track (RTC) that would have fit on one of my "New Wave Covers" collections; and "Purple Haze" on bagpipes. What more could you ask for?!
COVER THE EARTH 3 1. Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys (Japan/Afro-Cuban) - James Bond theme 2. Tobi Rix (Netherlands) - Toeteriks-boogie [Bill Haley & Comets "Rock Around The Clock"] 3. Tanh Nam Teu (Vietnam) - Bat Ghen [Theme From 'Bonanza'] 4. Babu Band (India) - Tequila 5. pedro de la hoya (Spanish, tho he's French) - kiss kong five [Prince "Kiss"] 6. Celia Cruz (Cuban) - Yo Viviré [Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive"] 7. The Presidents (Germany) - Love Bug [Supremes "Love Is Like An Itching"] 8. Bugotak (Tuva) - Kon Togethy [The Beatles - Come Together] 9. Alton Ellis (Jamaica) - And I Love Her 10. Charlotte Dada (Ghana) - Don't Let Me Down 11. RTC (Holland) - Drive My Car 12. cachicamoconcaspa y leyko el perro de la IIII dimensión (Venezuela) - Imagine 13. Keith Lynn, The S.P.M's & Byron Lee & The Dragonaires (Jamaica) - My Sweet Lord 14. Svetlyo Zhilev (Bulgaria) - Purple Haze 15. Yat-Kha (Tuva) - Love Will Tear Us Apart 16. Dan Bau Vietnam - Rider in the Sky ["Ghost Riders In The Sky"] 17. Manny Manuel (Cuba) - I Want To Hold Your Hand (Tu Mano Cogere) 18. Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers (Cajun Louisiana, USA) - Hi-Rollers Theme/Low Rider [War "Low Rider") 19. Barat Dangdut-Terpopuler 95 (Indonesia) - Hotel California 20. Randall Throckmorton w/ Larmes de Colère (French, tho Mr.Throckmorton is from Minneapolis) - Femme de Sorcière [Eagles "Witchy Woman"] 21. Yat-Kha (Tuva) - Black Magic Woman
As an addendum to the "Cover The Earth" post of bizarre international versions of your favorite oldies, here are various rock remakes recorded over the years by The Ukrainians. Peter Solowka, one of the members of the popular '80s/'90s British combo The Wedding Present, is of Ukrainian descent, and picked up on the music from his father. He hooked up with musicians from the old country to play Ukrainian folk music, but then threw in some covers relevant to his present condition as a rocker living in the UK. And it is some crazy stuff. No wimpy hippie folk music here, thanks to the occasional addition of some of Solowka's old Wedding Present buddies injecting some rock'n'roll energy into the mandolin-and-fiddle based tunes. By the early '90s, Solowka had quit the Wedding Present to make the Ukrainians his full-time gig.
Included here: the entirety of the "Pisni Iz The Smiths (Songs Of The Smiths)" ep from 1992, Sex Pistols and Velvet Underground covers from a 1993 live album, a 1996 Kraftwerk cover commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, and two Pistols covers from a 2002 single. (They also have a 3 song single of Prince covers that I haven't found a copy of yet. Anyone?)
*smacks head* Ah, durn! I forget to include Googoosh's berserk Iranian assault on Otis Redding/Aretha Franklins' "Respect" on the first "Cover The Earth." So here 'tis, as a most thoroughly non-Ukrainian bonus.
1. Batyar (The Smiths - 'Bigmouth Strikes Again')
2. Koroleva Ne Polerma (The Smiths - 'The Queen Is Dead')
3. M'yaso Ubivstvo (The Smiths - 'Meat Is Murder')
4. Spivaye Solovey (The Smiths - 'What Difference Does It Make?')
5. Anarkhiya (Sex Pistols - 'Anarchy In The UK')
6. God Save The Queen(Sex Pistols) 7. Pretty Vacant (Sex Pistols) 8. Chekannya (Velvet Underground - 'Venus in Furs')
9. Radioactivity [Orthodox mix] (Kraftwerk)
BONUS:
10. Googoosh: Respect
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.
I had not planned on compiling another selection of odd ethnic covers of Western hits, thinking that I had exhausted that particular well, but our pals over at the Growing Bored For A Living blog hit us with a treasure trove of exotic, unlikely reworkings of famous songs that you thought you were sick of, and it just demanded another volume. Which reminded me of some comments left in previous "Cover The Earth" posts offering suggestions, which I then tracked down. And I did have a few new discoveries me own self (I take full blame for the bagpipes). As with the previous volumes, some extreme liberties have been taken with the material, sometimes rendering them almost unrecognizable. Just the way we like it.
