Blindfold Test

by Jen Eide and Jack Probst

Last week I was playing "Straight To Hell" from Combat Rock by the Clash when Jack had the realization that M.I.A. used it as a sample on the song "Paper Planes" on her recent album Kala. Since I grew up with the Clash song and Jack had not, this got me thinking about the cultural disconnect between generations, sub-cultures, economic classes, etc. Sometimes listeners don't always have the same reference point for what they are hearing. While I didn't have a mix prepared with songs that were later sampled elsewhere, I did have this mix of obscure and not-so-obscure covers. So I'm giving Jack the old blindfold test--he's hearing these tunes for the first time and trying to guess who is performing the songs or who the original songs were written by. We didn't have a blindfold, so he's obscuring his vision with headphones. We'll be better prepared with a blindfold next time.



Jack--"I Heard it Through the Grapevine"... I know it's a famous soul singer, and not the California Raisins. Otis? Marvin?

Jen--You got the tune right. The one you're probably thinking of is by Marvin Gaye, although Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded it first. Knight's version is the definitive one for me with it's frenzied gospel throwdown. This cover--or deconstruction, perhaps--is by the late 1970's UK punk/ska band The Slits, from their album Cut. This album is a early punk classic and influenced an entire generation of musicians.


Jack--The tune sounds familiar, but I have no idea.

Jen--This would have been a stretch for most people, as you don't expect a surf-punk interpretation of a Duke Ellington tune. That was "Caravan," by Marc Ribot & the Rootless Cosmopolitans from the album Requiem For What's His Name. Marc Ribot has played guitar with Tom Waits, among other high profile musicians.


Jack--Kinda sounds like Kim Deal? Or not? This totally sounds like the Who.

Jen--This is "So Sad About Us" by the Who as covered by The Breeders on their sadly out-of-print Safari EP.


Jack--Is that Sleater-Kinney playing? Maybe?

Jen--Close! That was Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein's collaboration with Mary Timony of Helium fame. This is also a Who cover entitled "I Can't Explain" and it's featured on the only EP recorded by The Spells called The Age Of Backwards.


Jack--I know that's X playing. That's all I can tell you.

Jen--I'll never understand how Ray Manzarek from the Doors wound up producing a bunch of L.A. punks, but the best result was this cover of the Doors' "Soul Kitchen." From the definitive American punk album Los Angeles by X.


Jack--A weird version of Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary." I like it better than the original...

Jen--Me too. As much as I love the original I must give this instrumental the nod. This is Marc Ribot again from the album Rootless Cosmopolitans. I love his interpretive powers, his ability to tear things down and make them fresh again. I always thought he was the first musician to take Thelonious Monk's approach and bring it to the guitar.


Jack--"Happiness is a Warm Gun" by The Beatles... Wait, is this Kim Deal now? The Breeders? I'm pretty sure they covered it at some point.

Jen--Yup, this is The Breeders from their first album Pod. I like their post-modern spin on this tune, but the smartest decision they made was to leave out the corny lyrics "When I hold you in my arms / And I feel my finger on your trigger / I know nobody can do me no harm." I always thought those lyrics were a foolish songwriting device on the Beatles part.


Jack--I should know this... "I Can't Stand the Rain." Is that the title? I'm drawing a blank. Joni Mitchell?

Jen--You've got the title correct. This was Memphis soul diva Ann Peebles' big hit, though I was guessing that your reference point for this was gonna be Missy Elliot's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)." This is jazz vocalist supreme Cassandra Wilson from the album Blue Light 'Til Dawn. By reinterpreting contemporary pop songs she has redefined jazz music for an entire era--and in a much more successful and creative way than by Wynton Marsalis. You may have been thinking of Joni Mitchell because Wilson has covered at least one of Mitchell's songs and I believe that Mitchell was somewhat of an influence, at least on Wilson's "pop" stuff.


Jack--"Oops I Did It Again", Britney Spears as performed by Richard Thompson. I've not heard this before, but I heard about it. I guess it's good that Neil plays his albums a lot. There's no mistaking that voice.

Jen--Bingo! I love the role reversal here. The fact that an older man is singing these particular lyrics make it creepy in a truly interesting way. From Richard Thompson's 1,000 Years of Popular Hits.



Test Break: "Expectations" by Belle & Sebastian. While not a cover, it does mention The Velvet Underground. Do I get points for that? It's from the album Tigermilk.


Jack--Camera Obscura doing "Super Trouper" by ABBA. I've not heard this before. Lovely!

Jen--I adore this cover. As much as I enjoy the original, Tracyanne Cambpell brings so much melancholy to the vocal that I finally took notice of these very sad lyrics for the first time. I think this cover completely surpasses ABBA's version. This is from Camera Obscura's three song single Tears For Affairs.


Jack--Britt Daniel doing a Sam Cooke song. Is the title "Bring It On Home to Me"? I have this on some compilation.

Jen--Very good! I stumped Steve with this one the other day. This is one of the few solo pieces that I know of by the Spoon frontman (aside from the EP's he recorded under the pseudonym Drake Tungsten in the mid-1990's). Britt quite simply has the best howl and falsetto in the business--both are on good display here. This is from a various artists compilation called Bridging The Distance which features artists from Portland, OR (where Daniel is now a resident).


Jack--Spoon - "Don't You Evah," which Jen told me was a cover a while back. I don't know the original. That little yellow robot dances to it in that video on youtube.

Jen--This is from Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. They recently released "Don't You Evah" as a single with remixes by Ted Leo, Diplo, Matthew Dear and some other folks. But the thing that really impressed me was that Spoon actually put the original version by The Natural History on the single. I thought it was very magnanimous on Spoon's part to give that kind of exposure to a little known band who had already broken up. Go here to hear the original.


Jack--Nirvana doing David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World". I remember the day I figured out the opening guitar part to this while noodling around with the guitar in high school. Yay Bowie!

Jen--From Nirvana's Unplugged In New York.


Jack--Xiu Xiu doing the Bowie/Queen track "Under Pressure."

Jen--This is from the new Xiu Xiu album Women As Lovers. That's Michael Gira from Swans guesting on vocals. Xiu Xiu threw one of the best concerts I've seen earlier this year at the Lemp Arts Center, though they did not perform this song.


Jack--No clue.

Jen--This is another Marc Ribot instrumental, "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" from Rootless Cosmopolitans.


Jack--Elliott Smith doing "Because" by The Beatles from the American Beauty soundtrack.

Jen--I think this was the first Elliott Smith song that I ever heard, though it is so true to the original that I was not sure if I was hearing the Beatles or a cover when I initially heard it in the end credits of the movie.


Jack--Sounds familiar, but in a different language.

Jen--This was from the Mulholland Drive soundtrack--it's Rebekah Del Rio singing "Llorando" in Spanish--which is actually Roy Orbison's "Crying." The performance of this song was a pivotal part of the movie...so emotional. I have no idea if Del Rio has any other recorded output, although if she does I'm certain it's outstanding.



Jack--Xiu Xiu doing Tracy Chapman.

Jen--"Fast Car" from Xiu Xiu's album A Promise. I always thought that this is how Jamie Stewart would sound if he were singing his way through a nervous breakdown. Honestly, this tune is so deconstructed that I didn't recognize it as the ubiquitous Tracy Chapman song until after a dozen listens.


Jack--Someone doing "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young.

Jen--This is Cassandra Wilson from the album New Moon Daughter. I love how organic this sounds...replete with cricket noise in the outro. Absolutely gorgeous. I hope that Neil Young has the opportunity to hear this someday.
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Well, Jack's promised to turn the tables on me sometime in the near future, so check back to see how I do on his blindfold test.