2017 - November 26 - Heroes

I almost think I could spend a week with just playing cover versions of David Bowie’s signature song Heroes - and maybe I will do just that. But today I just start with one of them - a version I just stumbled across right now.

I still remember how I really heard Depeche Mode for the first time... Believe it or not, but I was at farmor’s (my grandmother) place - she had cable, and I would sometimes turn on the music channel - not sure if it was MTV or Sky Channel. And I saw one song from the 101 concert movie. It was Everything Counts. And I don’t know if it was because I realized they really were a band and not a producer constellation or the fact that Everything Counts is a great song, but I really liked it. And then they released songs that were so much closer to my sonic sphere with Personal Jesus from Violator and I Feel You from Songs of Faith and Devotion, and I relented. I have great respect for the work they have done and for their sonic landscape.

It is to this sonic landscape they took Heroes. We are not talking earth shattering or mind bending, but it is rock solid. Dave Gahan’s voice really fits the song, Martin Gore’s treatment of the guitar riff makes it interesting - and it’s all played up against Andy Fletcher’s synthesized backdrop. I like this version a lot!

2017 - August 20 - John The Revelator

On cooking shows, they often talk about using an ingredient two ways or three ways. The idea is to showcase several different qualities of that ingredient. The same thing happens in music, when different people interpret a song. Today's song goes back quite a while. Blind Willie Johnson recorded the first version I found - in 1930. Then Son House recorded it in 1965, Depeche Mode wrote a new song - a remodel where the framework still is present - for their album Playing The Angel, and Gov't Mule included it on The Deepest End featuring Dirty Dozen Brass Band - and that's where I noticed it. It's fun tracing the roots and hearing the development...

The song is Gospel blues and uses call and response. Please enjoy John The Revelator four ways...

First, Blind Willie Johnson

Second: Son House

Third: Depeche Mode

And finally, my favorite: Gov't Mule