I'll Be Your Mirror

 

Sometimes I think it is hip to pay tribute to artists and re-recording their songs. Many of them failed because you can't beat the originals recorded decades ago. But there are less tributes that celebrates a great album. This happened a few days ago when the songs of Velvet Undergrounds first album was re-recorded. Different artists from old heroes and young musicians made this tribute worth to listen because their interpretation spreads from similar to the old sound to a very new interpretation of those classic songs. I don't like every of this cover versions but some are really worth to give them a listen because they included them to their very own sound. Anyway, it is a good reason to listen to the fantastic originals once again.

Your Ghost

 

Since a few week TheRobster is running a superb series of imaginary 7''s after a long running series about the singular adventures of R.E.M by JC & TheRobster. It was a highlight of the weekends during a couple of months and brought me back listening to their albums once again. When I listened to their songs again I remembered a song by Kritstin Hersh from 1994. Your Ghost was her first single and it was remarkable because it was the only collaboration with Michael Stipe on backing vocals. It is song that reached British charts until number 45 and one of those songs touched my soul in a way I couldn't explain. Only because it is beautiful.

Trout

 

There were times when everyone told us that vinyl is going to die and the only media in the future is will be a compact disk. Like many others (and of course you could find less new records on vinyl) I started buying records on this format. I am thankful that times like this are over and nearly every new record will be released on vinyl as well. Sometimes good things come back. I found this track recently in my collection when I was sorting my CD-collection again. Neneh Cherry's second album Homebrew from 1992 is an underrated album because it is far away from the style the mass expected. A hybrid of jazz, hip-hop and rock music seldom made better. Trout is the best example that old fashioned music could be transformed into today's music. Based on the guitar lines of Steppenwolf's The Pusher and Led Zeppelin's When Levee Breaks Neneh collected it as a piece of her own. A forgotten classic.

Neneh Cherry and Michael Stipe - Trout