For their newest single, Vitamin String Quartet continue their decade-plus exploration of the music of Radiohead. On this release, they focus in on the bookending tracks from Radiohead’s latest A Moon Shaped Pool; driving, ominous opener “Burn the Witch” and sparse, melancholic closer “True Love Waits.”
Vitamin String Quartet has brought a sophisticated twist to your favorite pop and rock tunes for more than a decade. Now these exclusive VSQ string arrangements are available for purchase. Each edition includes a score and four individual parts for Violin I, Violin II, Viola and Cello.
Digital Delivery Edition – Download and print your favorite VSQ arrangement immediately with VSQ’s Digital Delivery Edition. All Digital Delivery Editions can also be viewed on up to six devices, including desktop computers, laptops and mobile devices. Click here for more information.
PLEASE NOTE: There may be differences between this sheet music arrangement and that of any corresponding Vitamin String Quartet recordings, including any studio version.
Mr. Little Jeans Covers Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”
From upbeat indie shuffle to soothing electric pulse, Mr. Little Jeans’ cover of “The Suburbs” is almost unrecognizable from Arcade Fire’s more naturally instrumented original. More traditional instruments are replaced with shimmering synths and drum machines that lie underneath apathetically sexy female vocals, which sensually warn of a suburban shootout: “You always seemed so sure / That one day we'd be fighting / In a suburban war / Your part of town against mine.” The soft singer effortlessly brings out the slight rhymes in Win Butler’s restrained falsetto chorus “Sometimes I can’t believe it/ I’m moving past the feeling,” in a warm bath of sound.
Duffy Covers Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Live And Let Die”
An unmistakable voice covers an unmistakable song with an unexpected result. Duffy’s distinct quavering vibrato is accompanied by equally charming vibratos on violin and electric guitar on her cover of Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Live And Let Die.” Duffy’s simple yet soulful reinterpretation of a famous song into her own style even gained McCartney’s public approval after it appeared on War Child’s Heroes charity album. In the same way that musical complexity makes McCartney’s original so majestic, Duffy’s stripped-down sound makes her cover beautifully understated.
James Vincent McMorrow Covers Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love”
Irish folk singer James Vincent McMorrow has been compared to Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and Ray LaMontagne, but he really makes Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” his own in this cover. He takes the song higher, singing it in a delicate yet powerful falsetto backed by simple and deliberately placed piano notes that sink into disappearing echoes. McMorrow’s emotionally intimate and personal tinge put a gentler touch on the otherwise cheerfully poppy 1986 number-one hit song.
The Kinks’ lead man, Ray Davies, has reemerged from the shadows with a new duets album that revisits a lot of the old material that made his name synonymous with rock and roll. The new album, titled See My Friends, features a wide range of artists, from Metallica, to Bruce Springsteen, doing the duet treatment to his greatest hits.
Ah the 80’s, you simultaneously shame me and make me want to break out into dance. 80’s covers have always sort of been horrible, why is that? I’m guessing that has to do with the overall quality of music in that time period. No one seemed to know what the hell was going on (except Michael Jackson). Here’s a list of some odd covers coming from some odd bands in the last 10 years.
10. Dinosaur Jr. “Just Like Heaven” (The Cure)
Every band has covered this song, but no one makes it their own like Jay Mascis. The amount of distortion and sloppy shredding going on before the lyrics come in is truly inspiring. It’s the most ballsy a Cure song has ever sounded.
9. Kings Of Convenience "Free Fallin’” (Tom Petty)
This is one of those songs that guy at the party who brought a guitar always plays. Luckily, these guys do it so well, that you’re free to smash that guy’s guitar and play this instead.
8. Postal Service "Against All Odds" (Phil Collins)
The first time I heard this cover I almost thought it was an original until I heard the chorus. Postal Service does it so well, adding a good amount of desperation in a way only Ben Gibbard can.
7. She & Him "Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want" (The Smiths)
I’m admittedly not a fan of sad British pop music from the 80’s, but I do love me some Zooey Deschanel and I very much enjoy this cover that was set to 500 Days Of Summer’s soundtrack.
6. Band Of Horses "You Make My Dreams Come True" (Hall & Oates)
Come on, you knew I wouldn’t make a list like this without some Hall & Oates, the king and queen of the 80’s (I’ll let you decide who the queen is). This song makes me want to get up and just kick the air.
5. David Byrne "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (Whitney Houston)
David Byrne makes this song funky, not that it already didn’t have a good rhythm for dancing. I remember my sister all scrunchied up dancing to this song back in the day.
Hearing Ceelo sing this song works, but it’s really all about the xylophone, and Danger Mouse does the Femmes proud here. Yes he can play instruments, no he’s not just a DJ anymore.
3. The Lemonheads “Skulls” (The Misfits)
This is one of my favorite covers of all time, and I’ve spent many weeks attempting to find it after it disappeared from my iTunes. While most of the Lemonheads’ other work doesn’t quite hit me, hearing Glenn Danzig’s song about mounting skulls on his wall sung so sweetly is just perfect.
2. Gary Jules "Mad World" (Tears For Fears)
Thanks to Donnie Darko, Gary Jules came under most peoples’ radars with his whisper soft cover of this totally 80’s hit. This version just makes a bit more sense to me without a lot of overused synthesizers.
1. Tori Amos "Raining Blood" (Slayer)
Yes, this really happened. I actually don’t like Tori at all, she’s very much a diva and is not polite to those she doesn’t know. But, behavior aside, this is one of the more interesting covers of any band ever. I wonder if Slayer enjoyed it?
Honorable Mentions:
Gossip "Careless Whisper" (Wham!)
Boy Least Likely To "Faith" (George Michael)
The Flaming Lips “Borderline” (Maddona)
The Arcade Fire “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (Cyndi Lauper)
What are your favorite covers of songs from the 80's?
According to NME, The Killers’ vocalist Brandon Flowers has mentioned an album in the works for The Killers, only this time it will consist of cover songs. When we saw this headline, we could hardly believe our eyes! We love it when our favorite artists appreciate cover songs as much as we do.
Though they released a Bright Eyes cover earlier this year, they are still deciding on a tracklist for the album.
“It’s difficult for each of us to pick songs that represent us as individuals. I mean, I have a lot of personalities myself! I’ve gone through everything from Neil Diamond to The Cars.”
Brandon Flowers
Ronnie Vannucci, drummer for The Killers, has mentioned possible covers of Genesis, Cyndi Lauper and even Tom Waits (can we suggest our version of Hold On as inspiration?).
Being on tour for their most recent album Day And Age won't stop the band from getting started - they've brought along their recording gear and will be working on tracks while they’re out on the road.
A while back Beatcrave was nice enough to feature a review of our new albums, including tributes to Radiohead, No Age, Animal Collective, Cat Power, and many more. Now they want to know your opinion about tributes. They just posted a poll asking readers whether or not they listen to covers and tributes.
Most people think cover bands are lame, but is a “cover,” itself, lame?
Ah the 80’s, you simultaneously shame me and make me want to break out into dance. 80’s covers have always sort of been horrible, why is that? I’m guessing that has to do with the overall quality of music in that time period. No one seemed to know what the hell was going on (except Michael Jackson). Here’s a list of some odd covers coming from some odd bands in the last 10 years.
