ISO50

The Boy With The Thorn In His Side was the first single off The Smiths’ 1986 album The Queen Is Dead. It’s certainly one of my favorite songs from Morrissey and Co., but I found a cover version by Jeff Buckley that might rival the original. The only problem is the poor quality, it sounds like it was recorded with a camera phone or something but it’s so good it’s still worth listening. Does anyone know where to find a better copy of the Buckley version?

The Smiths – The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
[audio:thorn.mp3]

Jeff Buckley – The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
[audio:thorn-buckley.mp3]

As sort of a follow up to the previous post, I thought I’d post something about the band Wire. The cover above are from their albums Chairs Missing (1978) and 154 (1979). The following song, The 15th, is from the latter (awesome synth work at 0:47). There’s also a very nice live version here.

Wire – The 15th

[audio:15thwire.mp3]

I could fill an entire blog with posts about B&S songs, the list never ends. But in the interest of not boring everyone to death I’m keeping it to my absolute favorites. Stuart Murdoch is an incredible poet and it’s a wonder they also come up with such beautiful music to accompany his words. Something that has always struck me about their recording style is the one-take nature they all seem to have (pre-The Life Pursuit albums at least). Not a ton of effects or production work, just them and their instruments. If you check them out live this fact becomes even more evident. Here’s a great video of them performing this song live.

I also love this cover, for obviously reasons. The type treatment is great and the color scheme is perfect. It’s definitely a break from the sort of duo-tone photos they typically feature on their covers, but this was just an EP and I think they might reserve those for the full albums most of the time. Sorry for the poor quality, I couldn’t find a proper scan of the cover anywhere.

Belle & Sebastian – The Loneliness Of  A Middle Distance Runner