And They Said I Couldn't Be Done*
July 22, 2015 11:53 AM   Subscribe

* (Not really, but they would have if they had given it any thought) Mosey Sumney does an improvised cover of Laurie Anderson's O Superman. He doesn't attempt the verses, but it is still going to the top of my summer playlist.
posted by rtimmel (16 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
It has its own beauty, if a bit strong on the heavy breathing at parts. And Anderson was a pioneer when it came to remixing and synthesizing ideas so it almost works for me.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 12:17 PM on July 22, 2015


Suggested by Youtube Gail Ann Dorsey (labeled Bowie, but he's backup).
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 12:31 PM on July 22, 2015


This is off the free -to stream, anyway- Translation Drifts: Mioogfest Volume 1 EP released in connection with Moogfest 2016 The complete track list:
  1. “Space Girl Blues”, performed by YACHT (Devo Cover)
  2. “Shopping”, performed by ADULT. (Pet Shop Boys Cover)
  3. “Dream Baby Dream”, performed by Juliana Barwick (Suicide Cover)
  4. the FPP'd “O Superman” cover
  5. “1/1”, performed by Dan Deacon (Brian Eno Cover)
posted by Going To Maine at 1:20 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


woah, woah, woah, YACHT covering a Hardcore-era DEVO song? ADULT. covering Pet Shop Boys? The "O Superman" cover left me cold, but those two are the stuff of dreams.
posted by SansPoint at 1:47 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


This is giving me MAJOR early James Blake vibes. In fact, if someone just played this without telling me who it was by i probably would have guessed that.

Also, holy crap, that Yacht cover is epic. I might have to actually give that band a second look.
posted by emptythought at 2:18 PM on July 22, 2015


YACHT is one-half of The Blow, which has also put together a few interesting things
posted by Going To Maine at 2:23 PM on July 22, 2015


also of note, MeFi's own Cortex pulled off a nifty O Superman a few year's back ...
posted by philip-random at 2:24 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Welp I guess I'm just listening to Laurie Anderson the rest of the week.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:43 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


O Superman was a #2 hit in the UK, for reasons nobody has ever been able to adequately explain, except it was 1981 and things like that happened back then. It got me between the eyes, and Big Science remains one of my favourite albums. To this day, practically the only German I know is "Beispiele paranormale Tonbandstimmen. Was sind paranormale Tonbandstimmen? Es sind Stimmen unbekannter Herkunft." Which is not as useful as you might think.

This cover, well, it's its own thing. Starts promisingly, but goes nowhere I particularly want to follow. Apart from the bit in the middle that makes me think I'd rather like to hear a gospel version.

Much preferred Cortex's rendition, which gets the spirit of the original in a way I didn't expect.
posted by Devonian at 4:43 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


This pokes a raw nerve for me (with an electric cattle prod). It replaces all of the wit and thoughtful construction of the original with with cliché and easy gesture.

Sorry, I'm too easily irked.
posted by cleroy at 6:45 PM on July 22, 2015


I loved Yacht's Shangrila album. The first two songs in particular are mind-bogglingly awesome.
posted by kaibutsu at 6:54 PM on July 22, 2015


clergy This pokes a raw nerve for me (with an electric cattle prod). It replaces all of the wit and thoughtful construction of the original with with cliché and easy gesture.

I'm not a fan of the "O Superman" cover either. Feels like it cut out the meat of the song (like the commentary on American militarism, which is even more relevant in 2015 than it was in 1981). Still, it's the one down-point in an otherwise really cool set of covers. I'm not sure what I love more: YACHT doing DEVO or ADULT. doing Pet Shop Boys. That "Dream Baby Dream" cover ain't no slouch either, though I still prefer Savages version.
posted by SansPoint at 7:41 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Big Science remains one of my favourite albums

You should take the full journey into the depths of United States I-IV sometime, if you haven't already.

Incredibly enough, many of the links in this post aren't dead even a while after posting, so enjoy! (Still no update on when, if ever, United States V will tour. Sadly.)
posted by hippybear at 12:37 AM on July 23, 2015


Jim, that link is dead.

Also, context?
posted by clvrmnky at 6:15 AM on July 23, 2015


Are you asking me about my link?

The links to United I-IV are not dead in that post.

Context: Big Science is a single album edited down from a 5-LP release by Laurie Anderson. O Superman came from there.

Or is someone here named Jim, and I missed it, and that's who you are talking to?
posted by hippybear at 9:21 AM on July 23, 2015


No, I get who Anderson is, and the history of the original. But why is this cover of particular interest, other than the source material?

Does this SoundCloud account usually do odd covers? Are they out of their usual comfort zone? Are the known for anything else of note?

If it's just a passing reference of interest, that's cool. But, when handed a few names like this, I'm left to wonder if there is a particular intersection I might want to know about.

The SoundCloud link was dead when I clicked on it.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:00 AM on July 27, 2015


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