How To Do a Cover Version

It may have escaped your attention, but the other week it was Record Store Day.

I’m never quite sure what to make of Record Store Day.

Sure, I see it’s intentions are honourable, the aim being to attract punters back into (independent) record stores, part with their hard-earned cash, and keep the shop alive and kicking for a while longer.

And that’s great.

But what it also does, with its slew of limited edition releases set free for that one specific day, is feed the record buying equivalent of the ticket tout.

Whilst you will see ticket touts outside gigs, flogging their grubby wares, they’re far more likely to sell over-priced tickets online, and these exclusive Record Store Day releases are going the same way.

Take, for example, one of the most sought after releases this time around, the Foo Fighters Hail Satin album, which includes a load of Bee Gees overs.

Now, I don’t know how much these were being sold for in-store; I would imagine being a limited edition release by one of the world’s biggest rock bands, who are fronted by a guy who used to be in one of the world’s most iconic and influential bands, I’d have thought round about the £50 – £60 mark would be appropriate.

Now have a look at how much they are being going for on ebay:

Fair enough, the first guy has had the decency to throw in a couple of DVDs which you could probably pick up in your local Cex store for a couple of quid each. But those prices are just ridiculous.

In the same way as bands, venues, ticket selling outlets and festivals are trying to crack down on the ticket touts, something needs to be done to prevent this exploitation of genuine fans.

As it happens, I’ve managed to *coughs* obtain a copy of the album in question. Released under the name Dee Gees, as a nod not just towards the source act in question, but to main Foo Dave Grohl. (I had to explain this to somebody on Twitter who thought it was a fake…)

I know what you’re thinking: the Foo Fighters covering the Bee Gees? That sounds awful!

It really isn’t. For a start, it’s only the ‘A’ side that’s covers (the ‘B’ side is a load of live recordings from the Foo’s most recent album, which I don’t own, so can’t really comment on, other than to say they sound like every Foo Fighters live song I’ve ever heard), but it’s quite surprising how good, and faithful to the originals, the covers are. For a start, Grohl rocks a really quite impressive falsetto which I don’t ever recall hearing on his previous records. He should try it more often.

Here’s a taster:

Dee Gees – Night Fever

More soon.