Vampires should eat David Caruso too

October 31st, 2006

Time for the obligitory Halloween-related download!

The Original Music From ABC-TV’s Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows was the best vampire soap opera ever! Okay, so it was the only vampire soap opera ever, but whatever, my hypothesis still works. I wasn’t around when the show first aired, but I know a bit about it. What most people don’t know is that it started out as a fairly bland run-of-the-mill soap opera with mediocre ratings – until about a year into the show, when the vampire Barnabas Collins showed up and fucked shit up hardcore.

I respect a show that does something like that, and I think others should follow in its path! Think about it for a second. Yes Dear is a shitty stupid little show, now imagine if zombies showed up and ate half the cast! That would be totally awesome! ER sucks…so maybe a werewolf should show up and eat John Stamos (of course, I’ve been wishing that would happen for years.) Law & Order has been on for over a decade now and is getting a little stale, I say an alien invasion is in order.

Hey Dick Wolf, call me!

Oh yeah….the soundtrack. This album came out in 1969 and features the series score and some odd songs featuring monologues by Quentin and Barnabas. If you liked the show you should dig it.

Now for some non-scary stuff.

Yellow Magic Orchestra
Nice Age
Day Tripper
I have no idea who these guys are. I picked up this record on a whim, just because of the insane cover, and was delighted to find the music is just as nutty as the sleeve protecting it. ‘Nice Age’ sounds like a combination of The Cars and Gary Numan (in Japan) and their cover of ‘Day Tripper’ is just…fucked.

Queen – Westwood Radio One Concert
This was my biggest find from the recent record show that was in Pittsburgh. I’ve seen a few ‘Superstar Concert Series’ LPs before, but I never wanted to shell out the money for them. Of course, that was before I found one by Queen. I payed too much for this (40 bucks) but I don’t care, it’s motherfucking Queen! Taken from their 1986 tour (which happened to be their last) this 18-song concert is a great collection of ‘classic’ Queen as well as their later stuff. Highlights include the opener ‘One Vision’ (which I mistakenly labeled ‘One Hope’ in the zip file – sorry about that), a seriously rocking cover of ‘Tutti Frutti’ and the underrated ‘Seven Seas Of Rhyme.’ I split it up into four zip files because it was so damn big.

Part 1
1. One Hope
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. Hammer To Fall
4. Seven Seas Of Rhyme
5. It’s A Kind Of Magic

Part 2
6. Under Pressure
7. Another One Bites The Dust
8. I Want To Break Free
9. Instrumental (if you know what this is let me know)
10. Now I’m Here

Part 3
11. Love Of My Life
12. Is This The World We Created
13. You’re So Square (Baby, I Don’t Care)
14. Hello Mary Lou
15. Tutti Frutti

Part 4
16. Bohemian Rhapsody
17. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
18. We Are The Champions

Bruce Springsteen Vs. The Undead

October 26th, 2006

My .mac account is sucking up a storm right now and making it damn near impossible for me to post entire albums as zip files. Once I get that figured out I’ll be uploading an awesome Queen set from 1986 taken off of a Westwood One radio concert. Until then, here’s some stuff that I promised yesterday.

Day Of The Dead Original Soundtrack
The Dead Walk
Escape Invasion
If Tomorrow Comes
Break Down
The World Inside Your Eyes
The Dead Suite
Since it’s almost Halloween I figured I should start posting some scary shit, and since I didn’t pick up that David Hasselhoff album I saw today this one will have to do.

Supposedly the soundtrack to Day Of The Dead is incredibly hard to find, unless you live in Pittsburgh (which I do). As any zombiephile can tell you, Pittsburgh is the zombie capital of the US as all three of Romero’s original trilogy (Night, Dawn, And Day) were filmed in the greater Pittsburgh area. The soundtrack to Day was pressed in Pittsburgh (by Saturn Records) I guess they only sold them in Pittsburgh. I’ve seen 10 or so copies of this at several record stores in the greater Pittsburgh area – Hell, I bought two. It was released on CD a bit ago, but with a limited run of 3000 copies, it went pretty fast and is now a sought-after collector’s item. I wish I had that one, because it has some bonus tracks on it.

The first half of the album is alright, with some decent instrumental tracks making up for the god-awful songs that feature singing by “Sputzy Sparacino.” The real highlight is the long form instrumental ‘The Dead Suite’ which is the entire B-side of the album.

Siouxsie And The Banshees
Song From The Edge Of The World (7 Inch Mix)
Song From The Edge Of The World (Columbus Mix)
Mechanical Eyes
The Whole Price Of Blood
Siouxsie And The Banshees is one of those bands I have absolutely no excuse for not knowing more about. I only have a couple of their singles and a greatest hits set, and that makes me sad. Hopefully I’ll get some more soon. These tracks are off of the 12-inch Song From The Edge Of The World EP. The Columbus mix of the song was recently put on a greatest hits package, and the other two b-sides are only available on the band’s pricey box set

Bruce Springsteen
57 Channels (And Nothing On) Little Steven Mix Version 1
Part Man, Part Monkey
Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!!! Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!!

Sorry about that, it’s a reflex. A love of Bruce Springsteen runs in my family – I inherited it from my mom. I read an article saying that hipster kids have been getting into him recently, which is cool because his anti-war, fuck-the-man stance would mesh well with them. Both these songs are off of the 57 Channels 12-inch single. ‘Part Man, Part Monkey’ is also on the Tracks and 18 Tracks collections if you’re interested in picking it up on CD.

I’m Only Available on a Specially-Priced Maxi-Single (Japanese Import Only)

October 25th, 2006

Ugh, I’ve been very busy and I am very tired so unfortunately this post will be shorter than I originally intended. I apologize for the lack of updates this past week, blame my fucking economics class. And you can blame the lack of updates the rest of the week on my brother’s impending wedding that I will be in. I’m going to try and upload some more stuff tomorrow night, including some good Siouxsie And The Banshees B-sides, some Springsteen rarities and an incredibly hard-to-find soundtrack to an 80s horror movie…

You’re luck you’re getting anything though considering the response (or lack there of) my last post got! Those were three of the weirdest albums in my collection, and I was hoping for at least some kind of reaction, whether it be “that was nuts” or “fuck you!” I especially thought someone, somewhere would’ve had something to say about The Happy Moog! If you passed it over because Moog music isn’t your thing, I implore you to check it out – it’s one of the strangest records you’ll ever hear.

And while I’m begging, please download Music From Mathematics if you already haven’t and give it a listen. Many of you seem to dig electronic stuff and it’ll do you good to find out your roots!

David Bowie
Time Will Crawl (Extended Mix)
Girls (Extended Mix)
Girls (Japan Version)
I mentioned a little bit ago that in the 80s David Bowie recorded album (Never Let Me Down) that even he thought was a piece of shit. Well, ‘Time Will Crawl’ is off of that album – enjoy! Seriously though, ‘Time Will Crawl’ is probably the best song off that album and this extended version is pretty good too. The B-sides to this one are more interesting though. I’ve never heard of this extended version of ‘Girls’ anywhere – in fact, I’ve never heard of the original version either so I don’t know where else you’re going to find this one. The Japan version is the non-extended version sung in Japanese. Its not as interesting as the German version of ‘Heroes’ but it’s fun.

New Order
Shellshock (Extended Mix)
This is an extended dance mix of an already incredibly danceable song by those godfathers of 80s dance New Order. Download it and dance.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Two Tribes (Annihilation Mix)
Probably the only thing more bizarre than a political song by Frankie Goes To Hollywood (the pervs that brought you ‘Relax’) is the fact that its a pretty damn good song. ‘Two Tribes’ was the closest thing the band had to a hit in the states after their infamous first single, and was probably done as a way of showing that the band was capable of more than singing instructional ditties about how not to blow your load too quick. This extended mix is off of an EP of the same name.

How Happy Can A Moog Be?

October 20th, 2006

The Happy Moog
Sometimes I buy an album that I think it super-obscure and incredibly hard to find and then I find out that it has a huge cult following and I’m late to the game. The Happy Moog is one of those albums. Never released on CD, this album is a real hoot and is a must-listen to anyone that digs early electronic music. I could give some backstory about the album, but this site tells it much better.

The Ultimate Radio Bootleg Vol. 1
Now for the really odd crap. This “bootleg” is nothing but random soundbites from various radio DJs, commercials and jingles from KCBQ in San Diego. There’s no rhyme or reason to how these clips were selected, its just totally out there, man. There are some great little clips in here though, including some awfully awful jokes from Steve Martin!

Tomorrow Media Side 1
Okay, I bought this on a whim for about 2 bucks and have been trying to figure out what it is ever since then. From what I can gather it’s a promotional album from Tomorrow Media – one of those evil demographic companies that helped turn radio in a sea of mediocrity throughout the 70s and into the 80s. Its two LPs. Three sides are just samples of their various programs and radio ads and are incredibly boring. However, the first side is…really…um…special.

Posing itself as a broadcast from the future (2076) it tells the story of how direct marketing saved the universe. Going back and forth between silly soundbites and badly acted skits involving spacemen and radio programmers, it is hands-down the weirdest thing I ever bought from a record store. I don’t know what Tomorrow Media was thinking with this one, who would hear this and think “They’re right! Demographic studies are the future of radio – so says this spaceman!!!”

Maybe if Tomorrow Media would’ve spent more time working with their customers instead of making silly records then they’d still be around right now.

The Other Eye
A soundtrack album to U.S. News & World Report. From the back cover:

“Here are themes from the striking, multi-media portrait seen through ‘The Other Eye.’

Fresh, imaginative, buoyant, contemporary, these selections illuminate the profile of the typically human U.S. News And World Report reader. He is a man of achievement and affluence. A homeowner. Family head. Leader. An active, well-educated individual with youthful tastes and the above-average means to enjoy them.

Most important is the fact that for news he is so deeply, personally involved with U.S. News And World Report. And there are seven million others who share his preference, comprising one of the most important markets in America.

The USN&WR reader is a man worth knowing. So we invite you to listen…to relax and enjoy this tuneful album…and to see him with “The Other Eye.”

Okay, um…what the fuck? “the typically human U.S. News And World Report reader?” as opposed to the canine USN&WR reader? And all readers of this mag are hip cool cats with money to burn? My dad reads USN&WR, and he sure as hell ain’t hip or cool. I’m digging it though (the music, not the magazine.) There’s no artist information on the record, so the performers/writers are mystery….

I’d bang Shirey Bassey tonight if she asked me to.

October 17th, 2006

Later this week I will be putting up the strangest collection of bizarre shit I have ever posted – not only that, most of it will be in the form of complete albums. So if random 90s electronic music isn’t your thing (and why isn’t it?) then come back in a couple of days…

The Propellerheads
History Repeating (Knee Dip Mix)
History Repeating (Ankle Length Mix)
History Repeating (Hip Length Mix)
In my last post I discussed the amazing vanishing act that was Luscious Jackson. In keeping with the “What the hell happened to them?” theme, I present The Propellerheads.

The Propellerheads are one of the reasons I got into electronic music. Their 1998 debut album, Decksanddrumsandrockandroll was just what the title suggested, a perfect mix of electronic music and rock, fusing live instrumentation and DJ skills in a way I have never heard before. It’s full of great tracks, from their stunning remix of the theme to the James Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” to the loopy psychedelic fun of ‘Velvet Pants’ and ‘Take California,’ it’s one of those records that really has it all.

So what the hell happened to them? Will White, half of the duo, became very ill in the late 90s, so much so that they had to slow things down for a bit, working on various side gigs since the beginning of the millennium. That long-rumored second album is supposed to be coming out soon though!

In the meantime, enjoy these these three remixes of ‘History Repeating,’ their bitchin’ collaboration Shirley Bassey – the who sung the theme to the Bond classic Goldeneye Goldfinger (EDIT: I’m an idiot). These tracks are off of a 12-inch single.

XC-NN
Lifted (Industrial Mix)
Lifted (Industrial Mix Instrumental)
From the “Where Are They Know?” file to the “Who The Hell Are These Guys?” one. I have no idea who these dudes are, I picked up this single because it featured remixes by The Dust Brothers. I’m diggin’ it, but I suspected that was only so because of The Dust Brothers – and a quick sampling of their actual, non-remixed, music proved me right. Bummer.

I’m Naked Right Now

October 13th, 2006

I recently added a bunch of blogs to my blog roll on the right over there. A lot of them focus on rare and hard to find albums, especially soundtracks, so you should totally check them out.

Luscious Jackson

Naked Eye (Original Mix)
Naked Eye (Totally Nude Mix)
Naked Eye (Tony’s Magic Mix)
Naked Eye (20/20 Mix)
Naked Eye (Suntan Knee-Hi Mix Instrumental)
Banana’s Box
Foster’s Lover
Are there still any Luscious Jackson fans out there? I remember when this song broke and they seemed to be fucking everywhere. And then *poof!* they were gone. Wasn’t one of them related to a Beastie Boy, or dating a Beastie Boy, or something with a Beastie Boy? I seem to recall there being a definite Beastie Boys/Luscious Jackson connection going on (aside from LJ being on the Boys’ label Grand Royale.) All of these songs and remixes come off of a Naked Eye EP. The two Non-‘Naked Eye’ tracks, ‘Banana Box’ and ‘Foster’s Lover,’ never came out on the states on CD. Also of note, this thing has a really annoying misprint that made labeling these tracks a real mother.

X – Wild Thing
It’s time for another random cover!! Yay!! I don’t know nearly enough about X to go into some long-winded thing about them, so I’ll just say that they rock and you should buy some of their shit. Also, if your a fan of obscure 80s music documentaries and have worn down your 8thUrgh! then try to track down a copy of The Decline Of Western Civilization. It has some great footage of X as well as other LA punk rock bands like The Germs and Fear.

Yaz
Don’t Go (Remix)
Don’t Go (Re-Remix)
I know I just put some Yaz tracks up a few days ago, but here at The Lost Turntable we (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘me’…or is that ‘I’…whatever) are all about redundancy. We are also about being redundant and repeating ourselves. Okay, enough grammar and vocab jokes. Both of these remixes came off of the ‘Don’t Go’ 12-inch single. I love this one because it calls the second remix a ‘re-remix’ and it also lists its B-side (the album cut ‘Winter Kills’) as “not Remixed, Not Extended” so it saved me the time of comparing it to the original. Way to help me be efficient Yaz! Here at The Lost Turntable we are all about efficiency…and redundancy…and filling space with really stupid jokes when we can’t think of anything interesting.

I’ve Got To ‘Ave It

October 10th, 2006

I’m glad I got a couple responses to last week’s rant about Pitchfork. If you feel the same way about them, I suggest checking out Daytrotter. They’re similar to Pitchfork, but their reviewers don’t walk on hipster horses that judge you if you happen to like a single that is in the Top 40.

On to the rock.

John Lydon – The Rabbit Song
Yes, more John Lydon. I don’t care if I’ve already posted tracks by The Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd. and Time Zone, I just love the cranky bastard. This is a strange-ass song. It’s off of an excellent compilation of Lydon’s greatest hits called The Best Of British £1 Notes which features Lydon’s best work from all of those previously mentioned bands, as well as some other collaborations he’s done over the years. This track is touted as one coming off of his ‘soon-to-be-released album’ but since it’s been nearly a decade since his first (and last) came out I’m not exactly holding my breath.

Still, this track is pretty fucking out there – much like early PiL it rambles on, switching meter about halfway through and breaking its own rhyme structure more than once. It’s the musical equivalent of one of my blog postings.

Peter Gabriel
In Your Eyes (Special Mix)
Sledgehammer (Extended Dance Mix)
When I was a kid I loved ‘Sledgehammer.’ It was probably because of that awesome video (which is still the most played video in MTV history) and not because of the lyrics. I was five at the time after all, and I most likely didn’t realize the song I was singing while jumping up and down on my bed was actually about some serious hardcore fucking. Of course, I bet most of America, regardless of their age, didn’t know that either, just look at the popularity of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax.’

On the other hand, everyone knows what ‘In Your Eyes’ is about. It’s about Llyod Dobler’s unconditional love towards Diane Court. The ‘In Your Eyes’ remix is the B-side on the 12-inch single to ‘Don’t Give Up’ and the extended dance mix of Sledgehammer is off of that song’s 12-inch import.

Neil Young
Computer Age
We R In Control
These two songs are off of Trans, which is Neil Young’s electronic album. I’ll repeat that – Neil Young recorded an electronic album. Between this one and some of the records he recorded after it, Geffen Records actually sued him for, well, not sounding like Neil Young. Not surprisingly, this album has never been released on CD in America. If I can ever dig up my LP, I record the rest of it and put it on here.

Think About Destruction

October 5th, 2006

Okay, first a rant, then the tunes:

In regards to Pitchfork Media’s review of Jet’s latest album

Wow guys, what an awesome burn! Way to find a video that everyone else saw in 1997 and use that as a form of insightful and informative criticism!

You hipster kids sure are cool! When the idea for this little gem of a review was thought up did you guys nearly jump out of your purposely worn-down canvas shoes and ironic t-shirts to give half-mocking/half-serious high-fives to each other? Did you guys actually know it was a dumb idea and were just doing it in an ironic way? If you did, wow, you guys sure are trendsetters. It’s a great idea, I hope you guys keep it up, maybe you could dig up some old clip of a skater hurting his balls and use that as a review for The Killers’ new album? Maybe you could find a way to work in that clip of the dancing baby too, I’m sure a lot of people still haven’t seen that one!

I don’t give a fuck if you hated the album, shit I didn’t like it either – but if you’re going to hate something that much, you should, oh I don’t know, do your fucking job and tell us why! I’ve been reviewing albums off-and-on for nearly 10 years now and I’ve been tempted to do the one-word review for a pile of shit, or just post some random picture instead of having to spew out 500 words on some amazingly awful piece of emo garbage, but I didn’t. Instead I found a way to express my emotions via the written word. You know why?

Because I’m a fucking writer!

Ah…that felt good. Now, onto happy happy music time. I’m not going to be able to post for about a week so I got a lot of stuff tonight.

Tears For Fears
Shout (US Remix)
Shout (UK Remix)
One of my first memories of elementary school was seeing three kids running around the playground singing, “Fart, fart, let it all out!” over and over again. Man, when you’re six that’s some funny shit. Anways, here are two really extended mixes of the seminal Tears For Fears hit. As per usual – the UK version is better, but both are pretty bitchin’ overall.

Depeche Mode
Get The Balance Right! (Combination Mix)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (Live)
These are off of a 12-inch single I picked up at a record convention last weekend. It’s strange, I’ve never been a huge fan of Depeche Mode’s albums but I’ve almost always dug their singles. This extended remix of Get The Balance Right! is excellent, and the live take of Tora! Tora! Tora! is good as well.

David Bowie
Jump They Say (Hard Hands Mix)
Jump They Say (Leftfield 12” Vocal)
The original version of ‘Jump They Say’ was on Bowie’s 1993 release Black Tie White Noise, a great album that was more or less ignored in America when it came out. Bowie had no one to blame for this except himself at the time though, because it was the follow-up to the horrifically bad Never Let Me Down (a record that was so bad he apologized for it) and the amazingly uninteresting Tin Machine records. After its release Bowie went all industrial with 1. Outside and because of this it’s usually overlooked by most casual Bowie fans. It shouldn’t be though, because its really good, and was even labeled as Bowie’s “comeback” album in the U.K. ‘Jump They Say’ was written as a response to his brother’s suicide (he was mentally ill and jumped off a building) – so its dance beat hides some pretty brutal lyics and imagrey. These two remixes came off the a 12” single. There are about 80 different remixes of this song (it was a pretty big hit in Europe) and if you like these you might want to try and track some of them down too.

Time Zone
World Destruction
World Destruction (Alternate Mix)
Time Zone was a side-project/pseudonym of Afrika Bambaataa in the 80s. The last song he made under that name was this one, which features John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) on vocals. Very similar to what Lydon was doing at the time with PiL, it’s a great piece of late-80s dance music and definitely deserves to be mentioned with other hits by the Zulu Nation like ‘Planet Rock’ and ‘Renegades Of Funk.’ These two mixes are pretty similar (the second one adds some random news clips to the mix) but I figured posting both wouldn’t hurt.

Resonance And The Rabbit People

September 30th, 2006

I have a Statcounter on my site that only I can view – mostly because I don’t want anyone else to know how few visitors I have – and I’m constantly amazed at the variety of people I get here. While most of you are in the US, it seems that quite a few of you are in Canada (as far north as the Yukon!) Ireland, England, Norway, Lithuania, Croatia, Kuwait, Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Brazil and Australia. Its nice to see my unique message of obscure 80s music and random hate-filled ranting is making its way around the world.

Echo & The BunnymenRollercoaster
Echo & The Bunnymen are the patron saints of The Lost Turntable. I’ve featured them three (or four) times already, and have repeatedly declared them to have ‘The Best Band Name Of All Time” (the worst, in case you are curious is a tie between Hoobastank and Hot Tuna). I recently picked up an awesome limited edition version of the single to ‘Lips Like Sugar’ that came in an oversized box and was packaged with awesome postcards! ‘Rollercoaster‘ was the B-side, and since the only version I had of that previously was off of a shitty floppy record, I re-recorded it and am offering it again for you hardcore Bunnymen out there.

Yaz
Situation (The Agressive Attitude Remix)
Situation (Deadline Mix)
Although I had heard ‘Situation’ and ‘Only You’ before, my first real recognition of Yaz was on LCD Soundsystem’s hipster-reference-laden single ‘Losing My Edge” in which James Murphy yells, “I hear you’re buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.

For some reason I had Yaz mixed up with Yello – and the reference made little sense to me. When I picked up Future Retro, a remix album of 80s tunes, I heard ‘Situation’ again and suddenly it all came together. I didn’t know until today, however, that it was primarily the work of Vince Clarke of Erasure and early Depeche Mode fame. Between all three of these acts I think it can safely be said that synth-pop probably wouldn’t exist without him.

These remixes of ‘Situation’ come off the three-track EP of the same name.

Toyah
IEYA
The Helium Song
Toyah was an post-punk/new-wave band of the early-80s that had some success in the UK, mostly due to the unique look and voice of lead singer Toyah Wilcox. Toyah broke up in the mid-80s and Toyah tried to go solo as Toyah Wilcox, releasing a mediocre pop album that was widely ignored by everyone. Ever since then she’s toured under the name Toyah. So, that’s a little confusing and a lesson to everyone not to name a band after your lead singer, because unless you are the lead singer it’ll probably end up screwing you over later.

Toyah’s known for readers of this blog because of her involvement in Urgh! To people who aren’t unhealthily obsessed with 80s new-wave, Toyah Wilcox is a b-level celebrity who has recently sunk to the level of reality star ‘celebrity’ in the UK – appearing on shows like “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” and “I’m Famous And Frightened!” Considering her penchant for reality TV and her amazingly history of tragically awesome hair and makeup choices, she should seriously consider doing a team-up with Flava Flav.

These two songs were taken of of the IEYA single. IEYA is available on quite a few Toyah greatest hits packages, but ‘The Helium Song’ is a bit harder to find. And after you listen to it you will hear why…it’s an ear-full.

Fairly Used

September 28th, 2006

People keep telling me I’m angry, and I usually tell them to fuck off. But they may have a point. Here are some selections from some of my older postings:

  • September 18th:
  • “…the record industry is run by batshit crazy jackasses.”
  • August 31st:
  • “Sting Is A Pussy”
  • This entire post
  • July 7th:
  • “(Dashboard Confessional are) dickless emo fuckers.”

Meh. Whatever, being nice happy is totally overrated.

Originality is highly overrated too, so all the songs on tonight’s post are covers. Actually, I’m posting covers because these are some of the only songs I have left on my hard drive that I can turn into a quick post. I haven’t gotten around to recording all the vinyl I bought this week. They say necessity is the mother of all invention, but I think laziness is its father. It’s hard to tell though, because necessity was totally a slut.

Sonic Youth – Touch Me I’m Sick
This is off of a split single Sonic Youth did with Mudhoney – it’s never been put out on CD as far as I know. I was thinking it over and this record was probably one of the first LPs I bought as an adult – God, what does THAT say about me? I’ve always dug this song. It’s one of the only songs I can play on bass and sing at the same time – proving once again my amazing musical prowess.

System Of A Down – Metro
This cover is up there with Evergreen Terrace’s remake of ‘Mad World’ and In Flames’ take on ‘Land Of Confusion’ as one of the best hardcore covers of a non-hardcore song. Berlin (my fav 80s synth band) originally did it, and this cover is off of the Dracula 2000 soundtrack. That, my friends, was a shitty movie.

The Vines – Ms. Jackson
Man, what the fuck happened to these guys? I remember checking them out live right before their first album came out. It was at a dive in Detroit that held about 50 people. They were utterly amazing and tore the shit out of that place. Less than two years later I caught them again and they were the worst band I have ever seen live (and I’ve seen Hootie & The Blowfish, so that means something). Even worse, their past two albums have been awful and forgettable (in that order.) What a shame – these dudes had some serious talent. This is a cover of the Outkast classic that they’ve routinely performed live ever since they first formed – this is the only studio version of the cut I could ever find though, it’s off some lousy compilation celebrating Rolling Stone’s anniversary.