Originally released as part of the Covers EP (essentially performing B-side duties for the also excellent Love is Strange), Alison found its way onto the Acoustic album for release outside the UK. It’s stripped back to just a single acoustic guitar and the duo’s trademark harmonies, and it’s beautiful, with Tracey Thorn’s stunning voice given plenty of space to impress. You see, as good as Elvis Costello’s original Alison is, the Everything but the Girl version is better, as far as I’m concerned. You know how irritating it is when someone tells you they love a cover of a classic track that simply cannot be improved upon? Well, buckle up because I’m about to be that someone. It’s an organic recording packed with detail and dynamic nuance, and listening to it in analogue is really the only way to do it justice.īuy The Road (vinyl) by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis on Amazon (opens in new tab)Įverything but the Girl Alison (opens in new tab) (Blanco y Negro, 1992)
#Vinil music pub full#
In an album full of melancholic beauty (and the occasional bit of cacophonic terror), it’s The Mother that stands out most, with its simple and stripped back but achingly haunting string arrangement. I’ve said it over again to anyone who will listen (and plenty who won’t) – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s soundtrack to The Road is one of the finest soundtracks ever produced, and it sounds best on vinyl. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis The Mother (opens in new tab) (BMG, 2009) Big band at its best.īuy Songs For Swingin' Lovers (vinyl) by Frank Sinatra on Amazon (opens in new tab) Tom Parsons, AV Editor And it’s a fun, light, easy-going concoction that’s perfect for a late-spring evening. Makin’ Whoopee appeals particularly though, as a beautiful synergy between two musicians at the top of their game. You can pretty much take your pick of tracks from either of those wonderful collections – Nelson Riddle’s musical arrangements are simply genius, and Sinatra is on peak mid-season form, with hypnotic phrasing and nonchalant ease with a lyric. It was a toss-up between this and Mood Indigo from another Sinatra/Nelson Riddle masterpiece, In The Wee Small Hours.
And, talking of perfection, it all makes a fitting prelude to the next track on the album, the sadly now overplayed – but still sublime – Perfect Day.īuy Transformer (vinyl) by Lou Reed on Amazon (opens in new tab)įrank Sinatra Makin’ Whoopee (opens in new tab) (Capitol, 1956)
That evocative intro in particular benefits from the warmth of vinyl, but the dynamism of the track lends itself to the fine old format as well. And made more perfect when played on a record player. Quite soon things kick off with the full band, Bowie and Ronson on backing vocals and some frankly bizarre lyrics. The second track on Reed’s glam-rock influenced (produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, it could be nothing else) Transformer meanders in with Reed’s vocal and a slowly wandering bassline. Lou Reed Andy’s Chest (opens in new tab) (RCA, 1972)
0 kommentar(er)
