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Between the Covers

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Chromatics Cover Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” Portland indie-electronica and New Jersey heartland rock collide in Chromatics’ cover of Bruce Springsteen’s slow-burner “I’m On Fire” (pun intended). The plucked beats of the cover tiptoe over a faint female voice that is more ephemerally atmospheric than the original’s bold yet soothing male vocals. Despite the gender (and possible lyrical story) change, the band keeps the smoldering passion of The Boss alive, though slightly sedated.

STRFKR Covers Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” In another gender-bending cover of a classic by a Portland electro-indie group, STRFKR had some fun with this Cyndi Lauper favorite. Keeping the delightfully '80s echo claps and electronic instrumentation, STRFKR added a thick bass line and lowered the vocals to revive the girl power anthem for a new generation and from a new gender (though the song was originally written by a man, Robert Hazard). The background music is surprisingly spot-on, but the band added their own modern instrumentation for teenagers of the 21st century, who still “come home in the morning light” and whose phones still ring “in the middle of the night,” instigating the ever-present judgment of their unfun parents.

Owl Eyes Covers Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” Ok, so we may all be a little tired of this Foster the People song that has taken over radio and brainwaves – but sometimes the best way to liberate a melody that’s stuck in your head is to play it, or cover it. And that’s precisely what Australian Idol graduate Brooke Addamo of Owl Eyes did on Australian radio station Triple J’s segment “Like a Version.” (Apparently, the Aussies like their puns, too.) In the studio, the singer said she chose the song because of the more sinister substance behind the upbeat pop. Addamo and her band explored the pop hooks with keyboards, bass and glockenspiel for a fresh take on this incessantly catchy hit.

Be sure to check out:

The String Quartet Tribute to Bruce Springsteen Available now at iTunes and Amazon

Vitamin String Quartet Performs Modern Rock Hits 2011 Vol. 2

Available now at iTunes and Amazon

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Between the Covers

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Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Fallon (as Neil Young) Cover LMFAO’s “Sexy And I Know It” Click here to listen!

As a viral-destined finale to Bruce Springsteen Week on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” last month, The Boss and Jimmy Fallon did a hilarious cover of the LMFAO hit “Sexy And I Know It.” While Fallon did his surprisingly spot-on Neil Young impression during the song, busting out a harmonica, acoustic guitar and cowboy hat, Bruce Springsteen did his own impersonation – of himself. In a cut-off jean jacket, aviators and a red forehead bandana, Springsteen sang “Girl I got that body / I work out” with his straightest face and lowest voice, flexing his biceps to prove the lyrics true, even after 62 years. As the cover followed the unlikely duo’s 2010 performance of Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair,” hopefully they’ll give more modern hits the classic rock treatment soon.

Ben l’Oncle Covers The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” Since covers come after the original song is recorded, you’d expect remixes to have a more modern flare . But sometimes they rewind the sound a little back in time, like French soul singer Ben l’Oncle’s rendition of The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army.” Jack and Meg White’s minimalist guitar and drums are expanded into an upbeat orchestra of muted horns, rich vocals and screaming organ solo, leaving the telltale bass line (which is actually Jack White’s Kay Hollowbody guitar run through a DigiTech Whammy pedal set down an octave). Although rock fans are usually quite protective when it comes to preserving the dignity of an original classic like this one, crossovers into unexpected territory do stretch the songs into intriguing forms, giving them a new life – or at least new YouTube comments. Nevertheless, the Grammy-winning, chart-topping song has made quite the journey since Jack first named it after a misheard pronunciation of “Salvation Army” when he was little.

RAC Covers The Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” Remix Artist Collective (RAC) continues to build its remix empire (which includes The Shins, Kings of Leon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Edward Sharpe) with this ‘90s alt-rock cover of The Smashing Pumpkins. Sung by RAC founder André Allen Anjos’ wife Liz Anjos, the song turns Billy Corgan’s characteristically coarse vocals into silky female melodies that glide over ethereal electricity. More synth than guitar-driven, this bubbly electronic remix emphasizes the more kinetic side of apathy in the lyrics “We don't even care as restless as we are…The street heats the urgency of now / As you see there's no one around.”

Check Out Vitamin String Quart tributes to: The String Quartet Tribute to Bruce Springsteen Available at iTunes and Amazon

The String Quartet Tribute to White Stripes Available at iTunes and Amazon

The String Quartet Tribute to Smashing Pumpkins Available at iTunes and Amazon

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Longest Wait Between Albums

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Call us impatient, but it can be frustrating when our favorite artists take a vacation from the studio and create years of hang time between new albums. These are the artists from whom we’ve had to wait the longest for new material, and whose back catalogs we listened to on repeat in the mean time. Bruce Springsteen Wait Time: Seven Years The seven years that elapsed between 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad and 2002’s The Rising represented the longest gap between new studio album releases in Bruce Springsteen's storied career. Since that September 11th inspired LP, there has been a comparative flood of new Springsteen material:  Devils & Dust, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Magic and Working on a Dream – which all came out between 2002 and 2009. Incubus Wait Time: Five Years It took SoCal based Incubus five years to record 2011’s appropriately titled If Not Now, When?, the long-awaited follow-up to their 2006 album Light Grenades. In the half decade between albums, the band went on a hiatus, during which lead singer Brandon Boyd enrolled in art school, guitarist Mike Einziger studied music composition at Harvard and drummer José Pasillas had a baby. Said Boyd, “There's a lot of normal life stuff going on right now—school, babies, mortgages. I'm of the mind to say it wouldn't be a bad thing to disappear for a year or two years. A lot of people would say culture moves too fast and you need to remind people, but I would argue there's not any rush." Guns N' Roses Wait Time: Fourteen Years The prize for longest wait for an album goes to Guns N' Rose’s fourteen years in the making of Chinese Democracy. Axl Rose, (the only original member of GNR involved in the recording process), delayed the follow-up to 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident with a production style described by many overseers as “obsessive.” It was no surprise then that when the album was finally released, many reviews called the album “overproduced.” In an open letter to fans, Rose wrote: “To say the making of this album has been an unbearably long and incomprehensible journey would be an understatement.” We feel the same way about the wait. Be sure to check out: Hometown: The String Quartet Tribute to Bruce Springsteen Available now at iTunes and Amazon The String Quartet Tribute to Incubus Available now at iTunes and Amazon The String Quartet Tribute to Incubus Vol.2 Available now at iTunes and Amazon The String Quartet Tribute to Guns N' Roses Available now at iTunes and Amazon

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Baseball’s Greatest Hits

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The 111th major league baseball season began last Thursday. In belated honor of Opening Day and all that it means in terms of sunny afternoons at the ballpark, national hot dog consumption, and singing during the seventh inning stretch, we give you five classic songs about baseball. “Centerfield” – John Fogerty “Put me in coach! I’m ready to play, today!” sings former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty on this 1985 hit. “Centerfield” is a standard baseball game crowd pleaser and plays on a continuous loop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, and Ty Cobb are all referenced on the track. Former president George W. Bush has said that “Centerfield” is his favorite song. “Catfish” – Bob Dylan Dylan wrote this song about Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter in 1975, the year that Hunter was the league’s highest paid player. The song, however was not released until 1991 on Dylan’s Bootleg Series album. “Catfish, million-dollar-man, Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can,” goes the tune. “Glory Days” – Bruce Springsteen “I had a friend who was a great baseball player back in high school,” begins this tale of former greatness. “He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool.” “Glory Days” was the seventh top-ten hit off of Springsteen’s massively successful 1984 album Born in the U.S.A. <br /> “The Greatest” – Kenny Rogers This 1990 hit by country icon, Kenny Rogers, tells the story of one little boy’s love for the sport and has been known to elicit a tear or two when played at little league games. <br /> “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” – Jack Norwith and Albert Von Tilzer The granddaddy of all baseball songs was written in 1908 by Jack Norwith and Albert Von Tilzer. At the time that they wrote “Take Me Out,” neither man had ever been to a baseball game. No word on whether they had ever bought peanuts and Cracker Jacks either. Be Sure to Check Out: Vitamin String Quartet Tribute to Bob Dylan Available now at iTunes and Amazon Vitamin String Quartet Tribtue to Bruce Springsteen Available now at iTunes and Amazon

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Arcade Fire Play Surprise Show in Haiti

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Arcade Fire delighted a tiny audience with a surprise set at a hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on early last week. The 45 minute show included covers of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time,” Blondie’s “The Tide is High,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and Cyndie Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” in addition to Arcade Fire’s own “Keep the Car Running,” “Rebellion (Lies)” and, of course, “Haiti.” In honor of this surprise cover-heavy set by one of our favorite bands, we give you five of our all time favorite surprising covers. 1. Hallejulah – Rufus Wainwright covering Leonard Cohen Cohen’s 1984 “Hallejulah” was poorly received until a number of covers, (Jeff Buckey’s is also classic), brought the song new life. Wainwright called his cover a “purifying and almost liturgical interpretation” ) 2. Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez covering The Knife José González gave the The Knife’s 2003 dance hit a decidedly more low key feel when he covered the synthy jam on his 2006 album Veneer. Pitchfork Media ranked The Knife’s original version at #15 on their Top 500 Songs of the 2000’s list. ) 3. I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston covering Dolly Parton Whitney Houston's 1992 mega hit "I Will Always Love You" was written and recorded by country diva Dolly Parton almost 20 years earlier. The rumor is that Whitney’s record company wasn’t a fan of the song’s a cappella introduction, but those music-free opening notes have become the song’s trademark, as has the famous high note that Houston nails later on in the song. ) 4. Blinded by the Light – Mannfred Mann covering Bruce Springsteen "Blinded by the Light" was the first single from Bruce Springsteen's 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. The boss’ version was unsuccessful and the song was mostly unknown until Mannfred Mann’s 1977 cover made us all wonder if he was actually singing “wrapped up like a douche.” The lyric is actually “revved up like a deuce.” Springsteen has joked that it was not until Mann rewrote the song to be about a "feminine hygiene product" that it became popular. ) 5. Hurt – Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails Music icon Rick Rubin, producer of Cash's American series and a friend of Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor, suggested the song to country legend Cash. The line "crown of sh-t" was changed to "crown of thorns" to make the song more appropriate for the highly religious Cash. ) Be sure to check out: Vitamin String Quartet Tribtue to Bruce Springsteen Available now at iTunes and Amazon The String Quartet Tribute to Nine Inch Nails Available now at iTunes and Amazon

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Songs of the Month

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The Vitamin String Quartet’s gorgeous renditions of songs by The Decemberists is scheduled for release this month. The album includes Decemberists favorites including “O Valencia” and “The Mariner’s Revenge Song.” In honor of this release and the imminent change of seasons, we give you our five favorite month-of-the-year themed songs. “November Rain”: This iconic, multi-movement epic from Guns n’ Roses 1991 album Use Your Illusion I was released a full eight years after Axl Rose began working on it. The music video for the eight minute 57 second song cost a cool $1.5 million to produce, making it one of the most expensive music videos ever made. The video was done twice, as Axl was dissatisfied with the first attempt. Rose’s then girlfriend, supermodel Stephanie Seymour, plays his girlfriend/wife and wore an $8,000 gown in the video’s wedding scene. “Wake Me Up When September Ends”: This 2005 Green Day hit was rumored to be about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, however Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong has stated that he wrote the song about his father, who passed away when Armstrong was ten years old. The song became a tribute to the victims of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and was the first song performed at the Superdome in New Orleans after the storm. “Month of May”: Arcade Fire closed the 2011 Grammy Awards with this heavy rock anthem immediately after the eight member Canadian indie act won the Album of the Year award for The Suburbs. “A Long December”: This melancholic Counting Crows hit comes from 1996’s Recovering the Satellites. Crows singer Adam Duritz wrote the song while splitting between the recording studio and a hospital where friend who had been seriously injured in a car accident was recovering. The song’s music video features “Friends” star Courtney Cox, who Duritz was dating at the time. “4th of July, Asbury Park, (Sandy)”: This 1973 songs appears Bruce Springsteen’s The Wild, the Innocent at the E Street Shuffle. The romantic ballad has been described as the “perfect musical study of the Jersey Shore boardwalk culture” and was one of the two Springsteen songs drummer Max Weinberg knew when he auditioned for a spot in the E Street Band in 1974. Be Sure to Check Out: The String Quartet Tribute to Guns N' Roses Available now at iTunes and Amazon Vitamin String Quartet Performs Green Day's American Idiot Available now at iTunes and Amazon Vitamin String Quartet Tirbute to Arcade Fire's Funeral Available now at iTunes and Amazon Hometown: The String Quartet Tribute to Bruce Springsteen Available now at iTunes and Amazon

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Vitamin String Quartet Salutes Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

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1. Atlantic City (originally performed by Bruce Springsteen) 2. Imagine (originally performed by John Lennon) 3. Back in Black (originally performed by AC/DC) 4. Dazed and Confused (originally performed by Led Zeppelin) 5. Heart Of Gold (originally performed by Neil Young) 6. Iron Man (originally performed by Black Sabbath) 7. The Unforgiven (originally performed by Metallica) 8. Maggie May (originally performed by Rod Stewart) 9. Changes (originally performed by David Bowie) 10. God Only Knows (originally performed by The Beach Boys) 11. Hurts So Good (originally performed by John Mellencamp) 12. Bohemian Rhapsody (originally performed by Queen)

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