Two of our favorite ’05 discoveries tide over fans with under-the-radar releases, both of which include interesting takes on synth-heavy ’80s megahits.
First up: Grizzly Bear‘s cover of Yes’ “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” from the forthcoming Sorry For The Delay (The Early Recordings).
Never been a big Yes fan (though I own every Genesis CD — go figure). But I love this song and always had a ridiculous theory about its … uh, genesis: Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin buys a 1983 top-of-the-line keyboard and convinces the band that inane audio punctuation was the sound of the future. Somehow it works (and it was Yes’ sole chart-topper). On this cool cover version, Ed Droste drops the electro-theatrics in favor of subdued guitars and atonal harmonies, creating a haunting meditation on loneliness.
Yes – “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” (MP3 Link Expired)
Grizzly Bear – “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” (MP3 Link Expired)
Ed tells Stereogum the super-early recording is actually just him before he put the band together.
“I used to obsess the song as a kid and I remember that funny video with the crowds of bleak people walking in their business attire … Anyhow, it came on shuffle (god bless iTunes shuffle) and I just suddenly heard this really great, tragic slow version of the song. Granted, I couldn’t really shred the solo parts but I took the parts that seem to work the best and just added and added harmonies over it until it felt like how I would have wanted it. But I do love the original.”
On a similar note, a few months ago Thomas from Doveman produced an album of his banjo player Sam singing folk songs … and one Tears For Fears cover. I inquired if it was “Head Over Heels,” one of my favorite ’80s tunes, and indeed it was. The cover’s eighties-ness is peeled away, as like Ed Grizzly’s approach, but it’s a harder sell because Sammy’s vocals are an acquired taste. Incidentally, Thomas tells us this cover made its way to Björk, and she’s really into it.
Tears For Fears – “Head Over Heels” (MP3 Link Expired)
Sam Amidon & Doveman – “Head Over Heels” (MP3 Link Expired)
Enjoy.
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as a graphic designer, i can without a doubt say this looks like crap?or worse.
I am loving the Grizzly Bear version, it’s a breathe of fresh air on classic joint.
Hey what’s the new Phoenix going to be called?
I love Yes almost as much as I love Genesis. I hope the indie-rockers-covering-80s-and-prog trend continues.
seriously love the grizzly bear version.
“Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin buys a 1983 top-of-the-line keyboard and convinces the band that inane audio punctuation was the sound of the future.”
It wasn’t Trevor Rabin, it was Trevor Horn:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar05/articles/trevorhorn.htm
“I could program in drums and very basic sequences using the Minimoog, and that’s how I did the Dollar records. By the time Malcolm McLaren arrived, I’d got a Fairlight. I’d already seen one ? Geoffrey [Downes, Horn's partner in the Buggles] had a Fairlight but he’d gone off to form Asia. So when he went I bought a Fairlight. That, actually, I must admit, freaked my wife out because it was £18,000 and that was a fortune back then! There was only four of them in the country and I had one of them. But what was even more important was I knew what it was capable of, because I understood what it did. Most other people didn’t understand at the time ? sampling was like a mystical world… But when the Fairlight arrived there was no real way of locking it to my little rig. It was very primitive. I realised almost straight away that it was a full-time occupation for somebody, but luckily there was a guy called JJ Jeczalik [co-founder of Art Of Noise, now occasionally recording as Art Of Silence] who worked with Geoff Downes. He was bored and looking for work, so I did a deal with him and I gave him the Fairlight and he worked on it night and day….
Just as the McLaren thing came to an end, Page R arrived on the Fairight. And that was gobsmacking because that was the first time you heard those sort of sounds sequenced. And that’s where the Art Of Noise came from. We were in a very lucky position because when Page R arrived I was doing Yes. So I had Alan White’s drums and it was Alan White’s drums that became [Art Of Noise's debut single] ‘Beat Box’.
“One of the big things at the end of the Yes album [1983's 90125] was that this gizmo came along called the Conductor. It was a device that allowed you to connect a Linn drum machine to Page R. And that might seem like a minor detail now but, boy, that was breathtaking for us back then, because it meant you could lock a Linn drum machine to Page R! And all of the early Art Of Noise stuff was locking things to Page R. The very first thing was ‘Beat Box’ and it came from JJ Jeczalik messing around with Alan White’s drums while I was working on 90125. I brought the Fairlight into 90125 for all that stuff on ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’. We did use the Synclavier also at the time, but all of that ‘da, ba ba ba’ and all that stuff ? that was the Fairlight. So JJ was screwing around in the back room and I remember him playing me that ‘Beat Box’ drum loop and I said ‘Jees, that’s fantastic, they’ll love that in New York.’
80′s covers by indie bands are the coolest… Case and point, Postal Service’s cover of Against All Odds… Boioioioing!
Non-80s-covering but still indie goodness is Sufjas Stevens Illinoise and My Morning Jacket’s It Still Moves… Get them here.
http://www.thechrisivesexperience.com/2006/03/sufjan_stevens_.html
It’s almost Friday… Cheers!
as long as nobody covers starship’s WE BUILT THIS CITY…..
cause that shit would suck…..
As a grizzly bear, I can without a doubt say this looks strictly for ninjas?or worse.
More importantly does anyone have an MP3 of the new Walkmen track?? Anyone???
That Grizzly Bear rendition is an old favorite of mine (old meaning year-or-two-old. That’s a long time when you’re young and sexy).
I heard the new Grizzly Bear material and it’s beautiful. I’m happy to see them getting the attention they deserve.
When is someone going to cover “Cry Little Sister”?
That’d be pretty next-level.
zzzzzzz …..
Thank you for reminding me how much I love Yes. Excuse me whilst I sing into this hair brush in front of my Lamborghini poster.
Yes! Um, I mean, awesome. I too was obsessed with that song back in the day. That and “Once in a Lifetime” were my favorite early MTV videos. thanks for posting these.
goodness gracious that grizzly bear cover is the goodness.
Yeah the Grizzly cover is top notch. But even furthermore, I agree with Patrick, the new material surpasses this by many miles. Even if it isn’t a classic Yes song.
OK, I can get into the Grizzly Bear. But the Samamidon & Doveman? Now there’s a remix that shouldn’t have happened. Yuck! Love you guys anyway.
Hey ‘NoFrontin’ … New phoenix is called “It’s Never Been Like That.”
Um…Stereogum is a great site but that cover of “Owner of Lonely Heart” is dreck. Horrible.
edgar has too much earwax building up. don’t be a chumpsky
That’s interesting about the Fairlight, Whitaker. Rabin wrote the song, though, right? No doubt Horn was instrumental, so to speak, in making it a hit.
i love this kind of thing, the grizzly bear one is really a nice spin on it.
gah!! as i read this, ‘head over heels’ is playing on itunes… it is my alltime favourite tears song and i’m not willing to download the folk/banjo version. it will probably break my heart