William Shatner is unleashing a Christmas album next month. Titled "Shatner Claus," it features guest performances by Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Iggy Pop, Rick Wakeman (Yes), Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), and many more. Released by Cleopatra Records, "Shatner Claus" is just the latest in ol' Bill's lengthy recording career that includes "Ponder the Mystery" (2013), "Seeking Major Tom" (2011), "Has Been" (2004), "William Shatner Live" (1977), and, of course, "The Transformed Man" (1968).
Below, Shatner and Rollins "sing" Jingle Bells:
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Kicking off their joint tour, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie offer this growling cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter." Over at Billboard, Gil Kaufman writes:
A few months ago Zombie and Manson got together in Los Angeles to talk about the tour and hang out and Zombie suggested they should record something to celebrate the reunion. Because Zombie is not typically one to collaborate with other artists, he says the goal was to avoid just picking a song to jam on during the shows. "I said, 'let's really figure out something,'" he says. And the answer was so obvious he's surprised they hadn't thought of it years ago.
The pair settled on a cover of The Beatles' legendarily gloomy 1968 song "Helter Skelter," one of the group's grimiest-ever tracks and one that serial killer Charles Manson used to rev up his clan of murderous followers in an attempt to spark a race war. Of course the Zombie-fied track they came up with is even darker, slower and more punishing, perfectly meshing their signature doom-laden vocals and down-tuned guitars for a modern goth pop classic. "I think it's cool because we dirtied it up, slowed it down and made it even heavier and groovier, but still true to the song," he says.
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In 1994, Brazilian singer Vânia Bastos released this scorching cover of Sade's "Sweetest Taboo" sung in Portuguese. Most recently, the track is included on the new compilation "Onda De Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94)" from Soundway records.
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Since everyone's doing posts about their favorite cover of Toto's "Africa," here's my frontrunner, because it's very Norwegian: metal and ironic and funny all at once. Read the rest
Known worldwide for his incredible fingerstyle guitar covers of popular songs, Alexandr Misko performs a-ha's 1985 hit "Take on Me" in his latest video.
The 20-year-old Russian musician writes, "This song is a tough one to play, but i tried my best!" (He's humble to boot!)
Previously: Air-horn version of a-ha's 'Take on Me' Read the rest
Pianist Scott Bradlee gives the old ragtime treatment to Super Mario Bros. It's as if the music was always meant to be played that way.
Here's the obligatory death metal version from the Bowser Castle music:
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When I first saw Will Stahle's cover art for my novel Walkaway, I was pleased beyond all reason (and not least because I am an unabashed Stahle fanboy, as he is behind some of the greatest covers of our era, from Yiddish Policeman's Union to Autonomous to A Darker Shade of Magic to All the Birds in the Sky). Read the rest
Paweł Zadrożniak, aka Silent, created The Floppotron, the greatest new musical instrument in recent memory. Here is it playing Through the Fire and Flames from Dragonforce. Read the rest
Rob Scallon performs ingenious and odd Metallica covers, including this new one, "For Whom The Bell Tools" played on bells of all kinds. Perhaps he could encore with a similar reimagining of AC/DC's "Hells Bells."
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This peppy little cover by Postmodern Jukebox turned out quite nicely. Read the rest
Robbo writes, "Peter Sellers recorded a series of performances, in a variety of voices, reciting the lyrics of popular Beatles songs. It is demented weirdness - and perfect in all its madness." Read the rest
Guitarist Eva Vergilova, from Sofia, Bulgaria, posts videos of herself playing classic rocks songs on the electric guitar. Here's her rendition of Aerosmith's "Dream On." Last year she covered Prince's "Purple Rain." Read the rest
This "olden style" rendition of the New Order classic Blue Monday uses only instruments available in the 1930s. Performed by Orkestra Obsolete, it features a theremin, a musical saw, a hammered dulcimer, a zither, and singing glasses.[BBC via Open Culture] Read the rest
Here's bd594's catchy cover version of the Doors' 1966 hit, “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” performed using old computer equipment. The first half of the video is an instrumental version. The second half has a version with vocals provided by a speech synthesizer.
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A great cover. They are having fun, son. Read the rest
