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There are few bands out there with a fanbase as obsessed as The Smiths; a circumstance due to which there are innumerable tribute albums to the band, ninety percent of which (of those that I have heard) are ninety percent rubbish, not so much for tainting a gently beautiful song with their hardcoreness (you wouldn't believe the amount of hardcore punk emo lordknowswhat tributes to the Smiths out there, e.g. The World Still Won't Listen, which is entirely hideous, or How Soon Is Now, which actually has its listenable points and, with the inclusion of Cursive, Hundred Reasons, YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO and Million Dead, isn't even a couple of no names trying to sell something) or whatnot but for doing very, very little to it at all, which in most cases has to result in something not entirely unlike a bad karaoke rendition. For this reason and others (some of which I myself don't understand yet), bands that I love and adore have failed to record satisfying (to me) versions of the songs I love and adore - such as There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. The Lucksmiths do it marginally better on one of the few tributes I can listen to from beginning to end painlessly, Matinée's Romantic and Square is Hip and Aware. There is nothing innovative on there, nor any carbon copy of the original, but none of the tracks really sounds mortifyingly awful, either, and since indie pop/twee is a style I'm very fond of in general I use it more as a compilation for that than as a Smiths tribute. I might not know Pipas yet if it weren't for this collection and I'd certainly regret that.
There is also a bizarre little gemstone called Pizni is The Smiths, which I only came across when I looked up The Ukrainians after hearing The Wedding Present's Ukrainian sessions (their ex-guitarist Peter Solowka formed the band). Of course it's of interest mainly due to its novelty character - the Smiths covered in Ukrainian of all languages! (I believe there are Spanish and Italian covers as well, and the odd reference in other languages*, but they don't seem half as interesting, somehow ...) My favourite out of these songs is probably Batyar, otherwise known as Bigmouth Strikes Again. I've no clue if what they're singing is in any way related to what the original lyrics said, but it sounds fun. The Weddoes connection brings us to London. I've never liked Cinerama as much as TWP and I probably never will - they made "London", one of the fastest tracks ever to involve Morrissey, an exceedingly slow affair, but without making it dark or heavy or any such things, it's just another nice indie pop song. I should probably give them points for daring to turn the song into its opposite tempo-wise, but frankly I would have preferred hearing it done same-old same-old by The Wedding Present (see also: their cover of Getting Nowhere Fast).
I mentioned The Divine Comedy's "There Is ..." - it's to be found on (amongst other places, I suppose) The Smiths Is Dead, which I noticed over time comprises more 'big' names than I was aware of upon first listening to it. Frankly, Mr Shankly is charming in a similar way as David Bowie's very first recordings for Deram, "Love You 'Til Tuesday" et cetera, soft, quietly smirking sixties pop. I've never heard or read Morrissey's opinion on this, but I like to assume he'd like it. Never Had No-one Ever is quite close to the original, similarly depressing, similarly dull (I'm no fan of the big Depressing In Both Lyrics And Music Smiths songs, not at all - see also: "I Know It's Over", done here by The Trash Can Sinatras, who, despite being a band of my liking in general, manage to turn it from the plainly tenacious into something sickly annoying vaguely resembling your best mate's little brother's two-week-old Radiohead tribute band). The standout for me is the opener (the album is track-by-track cover of The Queen Is Dead, in case you didn't notice), The Queen Is Dead, which through some fascinating turn of events manages to sound nothing like a)The Boo Radleys or b)"The Queen Is Dead".

*my favourite out of which being Wilhelm, Das War Nichts, certainly a wink to William, It Was Really Nothing - although the two songs themselves have nothing whatsoever in common neither lyrically nor musically. In this context I suppose it's impossible not to mention Steven, You're Still Really Something, the 'reply' to the song (thus of mildly tributing character as well, no?) after rumours came about that the Associates' Billy MacKenzie - rest in piece - was the subject of "William ..." - which in fact he was most likely not; the song is near-clearly at least partly inspired by Keith Waterhouse's "Billy Liar" or John Schlesinger's film version thereof (both of which I may add are brilliant and absolutely hilarious and the connection may just be the main reason I still listen to "William ..." regularly). The Decemberists, in turn, recorded a song called "Billy Liar" that has nothing whatsoever to do with neither book nor film, but who knows if old Colin Meloy didn't only watch it (then use the title) because of Morrissey? At least he recorded Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey, which has the character of a student party coming to its end with just one bloke and a guitar left, but because of its utter modesty, because you feel that playing these songs for you now is a wish come true for him, it's very worthwhile listening.

I've had Pizni iz the Smiths (Songs of the Smiths) for many years now. Its one of my favorite EPs -- see http://www.last.fm/user/foetusized/journal/2006/01/16/60128/.

I just got this:


And I have no Idea how to tag the artist correctly...don't wanna spoil my playlist but I'd really be interested in listening to it.
The official name is "Read:Interpreting Bjork" - any ideas?

In My Life (1998)



Top Tracks:
A Hard Day's Night
I Am The Walrus
In My Life

I can't find anything either. AMG & CDDB also came up with "Various Artists".

I'd be more inclined to tag it "Unknown Artist", as that'd be more accurate.

I'll copy this the Correct Tagging Kiosk, as Ghozza may have some answers. :)

i heard a cover version of Tomorow Never Knows [the beatles] the other day, by The Chameleons, tagged on at the end of an album, bonus track i assume, just after 'john, im only dancing' as a matter of fact, and funnily enough later in the day i heard another cover of it, and although i cannot find it right now, i thought it was on a reggae meets rai cd i have, it was an indiany guy singing, for all i know it was the original, the beatles nicked a few tuned from india im lead to beleive, lucky guy [child of nature] anyway.
now u know.

I'm thinking it wasn't The Muffs. :)

milkbone said:
Perhaps by Ms. Dynamite?

I really should've said at first that it's a male who's covered it, i think it's from the 80's too. Thanks anyway tho'.

I've recently realize that Jeepster is just about the best cover ever.

Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man

This makes my third Leonard Cohen tribute album. This one is from live performances arranged by Hal Willner. I wonder if it will measure up to I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen.

It's time for "100 Great Cover Songs"...

You know the drill, copy/paste the below into the next post and add one of your own. Keep it A-Z and in plain text.

Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Neil Young)

mark ronson just released a cover album, didnt he.