Slaraffenland "Take on Me"

Slaraffenland Sunshine CD EP (Home Tapes, 2008)

To quote The Damned, I'm "Sick of Being Sick." I've had the flu, or something similar, for the last week, hence the lack of posts. I'm still sick, but feeling up to posting at the moment, so you get one! No kisses, though. I'm not sharing my germs; they're MINE MINE MINE!!! One of the things I love about covers, is a cover can take a song one absolutely loathes and make it listenable, nay, even enjoyable! Today's example comes courtesy of Denmark's Slaraffenland, from their fourth release, the Sunshine EP. Now, I'm not gonna say who did the original, but I'll link the video after the jump. I just searched it out on YouTube, and, yep, I still hate it. Were it not for the innovative video techniques, including ripping off Altered States, I doubt it would've been the massive hit it was. I discovered Slaraffenland, btw, via the bargain bin at my favorite local record store. Their second album (and third release, overall), Private Cinema, was in the bin of oddly shapped stuff and it really grabbed my eye and pulled. Hard. See, it was packaged in a little hardback book, rather than a jewelcase or digipak. On top of that, the band name was interesting, the artwork was neat, and IT WAS PINK! Sold!

Dump "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat"

Dump Women in Rock CD EP (Shrimper, 1999)

This one is for listener VirginiaM, who commented in the previous post: I won't be happy until you've featured the actual true very best horror film doomed-heroine warble: "Words Get Stuck in My Throat" from Gargantua. Well, luckily for all y'all out there in internetland, I don't own that. Besides, she couldn't even get the movie title right; it's The War of the Gargantuas. All is not lost, however! The mysterious James did a swell cover of "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat" with his one man band Dump, so here it is for your listening pleasure. I say mysterious, by the way, only because in re-reading my post about his band the Maynards, I realized I never mentioned his last name; it's McNew.

The Burning Hotels "Stuck in the Middle"

The Burning Hotels Eighty Five Mirrors CD EP (self-released, 2007)

I found this one in a dollar bin this past Saturday at a little store around the corner from my house. The band name was intriguing and the cover art eye-catching, so it whored itself out and went home with me (if it'd been in a free bin, it would've been just a slut, not a whore). Today's song is the leadoff track and it jumped right out of the CD player and grabbed me by the ears on first listen. I checked their MySpace and they've released a single and another CD since this, so you'd better believe I will be investigating further.

The Dentists "Where's My Chicken, You Bastard?"

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The Dentists
You and Your Bloody Oranges
12" EP
(Spruck Records, 1985)

One of the fun things about doing this blog is finding out new stuff about bands I'm featuring. In this case, I've found that The Dentists have been doing reunion shows! Unfortunately, only on the other side of the Earth, but, still, YES! In addition, there is a collection of rarities and unreleased material, If All The Flies Were One Fly, coming out this month!

Anyhow, this song is from their third release, following their debut single, Strawberries Are Growing in My Garden (and it's Wintertime), and first album, Some People Are on the Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now. As you can see, they've got quite the knack for song titles.

In 1992, the US label Homestead Records released a compilation of tracks from 1985 through 1987: Dressed. Tracks from all five of their releases in that time period were included, but no record was represented in its entirety. This is one of the songs to not make the grade, despite having one of the greatest titles both of theirs and of all bands.

The Spinto Band "Atlantic"

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The Spinto Band
The Spinto Band
7" EP
(Sleepglue, 2003)

I was introduced to the music of The Spinto Band by Joel Alter, leader of the most excellent ensemble The Martha Dumptruck Massacre. I was the only person who showed up at their second Atlanta-area appearance (not their fault, it was a disreputable club that did no promotion whatsoever for touring bands), so he gave me this little record as a thanks. It was on the same label as MDM, Sleepglue, which I think was Joel's label.

Of the four songs present, Misogyny Is Cool was later re-released as a b-side on the CD single for Direct to Helmet, and Small Burg appeared on a Japanese compilation CD. The other two are, to the best of my knowledge, completely exclusive to this record. Both are good, but I prefer Atlantic to Leave This Town, so here it is.

^_^

Yes, MDM will be featured here sometime soon, too.