Cover Version: Nick Cave's songs @ Community Cup 2011, Elsternwick Park

OK, I been wanting to do some blog posts of my favourite cover versions but haven't yet. Over this weekend in Melbourne there was a footy game called Community Cup which is local bands/artists vs local radio and the Espy Rockdogs thrashing the RRR/3PBS Megahertz. Also happening at this footy game is some bands play some covers and this year it's songs by Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard. Someone video taped them and I love them all unlike the two new Nick Cave songs with Unkle and Neko Case, both really do sound like they are not in the same room, maybe this is his new thing. So the new Bad Seeds album will be done by email so no one has to be in the same recording studio together. Anyway here are four of the best as recorded by Carbie Warbie plus go to ToneDeaf for lots more, you just wish you lived in Melbourne.

The Rebelles


The Rebelles and Dan Sultan


Tumbleweed


You Am I


By the way, Triple J this is what Dan Luscombe looks like. They have got his top ten Aussie albums on their website but they have a photo of The Drones line-up pre-Dan, the pic is from around 2004. It's most likely some I.T. idiot but Triple J should know this if you're going to select him out of 175 people voting in their hottest 100 Aussie albums industry poll. He's picked some great albums and Rowland S. Howard's Teenage Snuff Film coming in at his number one. If you check out their website in the first day or so they had Gareth Liddiard's top ten but changed it to Dan for some reason. Luckily I've written it down, I should post it up on my blog, eh?

More Gaz: The Custom-made Bobblehead, ha-ha!

Well, I work at a hobbie shop in a Perth city mall. I look at these bobbleheads all day and someone came in and asked where you can get a custom made bobblehead and I say "I don't know" but another bloke said "Google it" so I did. I ended up sending in a photo of Gareth Liddiard for a mock-up but I should have sent a colour photo because his head is black and white and he's got a yellow jumper and blue jeans (below). Then I did send in another photo which is the top photo, maybe not as funny (above). It was a really slow day at work and this made it a bit better. I like how they have added The Drones logo. Anyway I can't stop laughing but it costs $189 in U.S.A. dollars so it is a bit much just for a joke. Anyway you can get your own here or just your own free mock-up bobblehead.

They do have all kinds of bobbleheads already available for indie singers like Roky Erickson, G.G. Allin, Mark Lanegan and the more classic rock singers like Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison plus Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee from The Ramones are all coming soon.

I did bring home the Ned Kelly and Che Guevara ones, is that a bit mad?

Great Read: The 100 Best Australian Albums by John O’Donnell, Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson

OK, I'm going to write something about this book that is not too long. It came out late last year so it's taken me a while to read. I read bits and pieces then went and started at the introduction and it made a bit more sense. To start with I just thought it was a bit silly because of the selection of albums but there are some rules they have gone by which are briefly: No greatest hits after 1970's because singles were the main format at this time. No live albums but they broke that by including Billy Thorpe's album, they have to be Australians of-course but artists and bands who fuck-off overseas like Kylie Minogue, AC/DC and Bee Gees are included and also New Zealanders who have based themselves in Australia are here too. The albums are NOT their favourite but have to have "had a enormous effect on the the culture and the nation." Anyway record sales they say are a consideration but NOT the main reason for ranking, it's amazing though how many are here. So I have about 30 of these 100 albums on vinyl or CD but a few on the computer as mp3's but if I can't hold it in my hand I don't really count them or if I can't be stuffed going out and buying it in a shop, it's not that important then, yeh?

The top ten have a few pages written about them each and the next ninety have one page of writing and a page is the album cover art. It's good writing about each album and all have valued points about each band/artist/album. I could say it's great because this book has even got me to revise my view of Cold Chisel which for years and years I couldn't stand listening to because my dad would play them all the time as a kid, it was like not this bloody music again but it didn't change my mind about solo Jimmy Barnes. So the four pages did it for Circus Animals but not the one page for For The Working Class Man but I do now have my dad's vinyl copy so maybe one day I'll put it on turntable.

Triple J is now doing a Hottest 100 voting poll thingy and their industry list is even more totally silly compared to this book. It includes 8 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds plus 2 Birthday Party is overstating his importance just a bit too much and I'm a fan but really only three of these albums were recorded in Australia anyway. I think there are to many repeated artists/bands on their industry list but they did included three The Drones albums. A voting poll I think will be even worse but I never agree with Triple J any-more because they're too mainstream and play too many major label records these days.

There are some records I don't think should be included in the book too but I think I'll make my own list as my next blog posts. I think I would rate this book: The 100 Best Australian Albums by John O’Donnell, Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson, 4 stars or 4 out of 5. I did also get the 5 CD set too so it can't be all bad. Hearing just one song for those albums I don't like was OK because there's so much good or even great stuff here and like the authors point out nothing like it has been done before. So go a read it yourself too or just listen to your favourite Aussie albums again.Stay tuned for more soon...