By Chris Moore:
While I always have been and always will be an “album guy,” I have to admit that the ability to download singles does indeed have its merits. Until recently, music fans haven’t had very good options when their favorite artists and bands record non-album tracks. We’ve essentially had two options: 1) buy the soundtrack, import, etc. that the song was released on, or 2) wait years for an official compilation album to come out. In the first case, you’ve spent more money than it’s probably worth and you’re left with a handful of songs that you don’t want and won’t listen to. In the second case, well…
Who wants to wait that long?
So, I’ve just recently been putting aside my distaste for downloading music and started scavenging iTunes for songs I’m interested in. What I never expected to find was a wealth of non-album tracks from two of my all-time favorite bands: the Barenaked Ladies and the Wallflowers. I was thrilled to find twenty songs that weren’t forgettable throw-aways. For the most part, the twenty songs I found and downloaded were well worth the price of admission.
Of course, I couldn’t help myself: I just had to create a playlist!
The twenty songs you’ll find below run the gamut from demos to covers to generally unheard gems. I couldn’t get enough of the Wallflowers’ take on the Rubber Soul classic “I’m Looking Through You,” so that quickly became the lead-off track. Odd as it may seem coming from a guy who regularly contributes to a cover song music video blog, I don’t consider myself a fan of covers. (You’d better believe, for instance, that I laughed out loud about two sentences into a serious article about an upcoming Phil Collins album of Motown covers.) That being said, there are some phenomenal ones here, not the least of which are BnL’s cover of “Oh Yoko” and Jakob Dylan and Dhani Harrison’s take on “Gimme Some Truth.” There’s something special about hearing a performance by the sons of two of the best singer/songwriters in rock music history, one of whom is a distinguished singer/songwriter in his own right.
I was blown away by the Barenaked Ladies originals that I found. Typically, a band saves their crummiest little numbers for this sort of fare, so I certainly didn’t expect a BnL song on the Simple Life soundtrack to be anything stellar. Go ahead, though: listen to “The Other Day I Met A Bear” and just try to stop yourself from dragging and dropping it into your BnL music folder. While “One Little Slip” isn’t anything outstanding, it’s a fun track, as much as “La La La La Lemon” is a funny track.
What weaves these covers and originals together on this playlist are the great live takes, particularly the iTunes Originals versions. “After the Blackbird Sings” hails from the Wallflowers’ forgettable self-titled 1992 debut, but it is more than resurrected here. I was thrilled to finally get a live version of “It’s All Been Done,” made all the more enjoyable for me because it reminds me of singing backup during MoU performances of this great track.
If you’re a Barenaked Ladies and/or Wallflowers fan, and especially if this year’s All in Good Time (BnL) and Women & Country (Jakob Dylan) releases weren’t enough to satiate you, then I know you’ll love the songs on this playlist.
1) “I’m Looking Through You” – The Wallflowers
2) “One Little Slip” – BnL
3) “After the Blackbird Sings” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers
4) “The Other Day I Met A Bear” – BnL
5) “Everything I Need” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers
6) “Easy” (acoustic) – BnL
7) “6th Avenue Heartache” (Live) – The Wallflowers
8) “La La La La Lemon” – BnL
9) “God Says Nothing Back” (Demo Version) – The Wallflowers
10) “Gimme Some Truth” – Jakob Dylan (feat. Dhani Harrison)
11) “It’s All Been Done” (Live) – BnL
12) “Whispering Pines” – Jakob Dylan
13) “Sleepwalker” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers
14) “Oh Yoko” – BnL
15) “Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)” (Original Demo) – The Wallflowers
16) “Into the Mystic” – The Wallflowers
17) “Eat You Sleeping” – The Wallflowers
18) “They Long to Be Close to You” – BnL
19) “Letters from the Wasteland” (iTunes Originals Version) – The Wallflowers
20) “Don’t Cry No Tears” (Live) – The Wallflowers