PopTodd

"Blessed are the ones living holy lives Here's to the rest of us who try" Paranoid Larry - "Jesus Shaves"

"The talking leads to touching And the touching leads to sex Then there is no mystery left" -- "Portions for Foxes" - Rilo Kiley

And, for that matter: Willie Nelson's To Lefty From Willie All covers of Lefty Frizzell songs. Great record.

No, Louie... it's an album featuring just one artist as performer, but they can cover as many bands as they want. So those Ray and Emmylou albums would, in fact, qualify. I see how there could be confusion, though. Sorry. And, yeah, I can't believe that I forgot the Nilsson Sings Newman record, either!

"Nobody writes them like they used to, so it may as well be me" -- Belle & Sebastian - "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying"

Just saw this over the weekend and enjoyed the hell out of it! Probably more than I should have, because it was a better movie than it should have been. Probably destined for cult movie status. If you can handle some blood and gore, and, especially if you love movies like Evil Dead 2 or Sean of the Dead, you should see this thing. Technically, it's not really a horror/comedy, because there's not much in the way of real horror stuff, other than the blood and guts. The horror thing is just a jumping-off premise for what is a really funny, gory comedy of errors. Plot synopsis: Trailer: http://

"I wasn't born so much as I fell out..." -- The Clash - "Lost in the Supermarket"

Almost forgot this one: All Portugese-language, Brazilian takes on Bowie songs. Haven't heard the whole thing, but what I have heard allows me to recommed this one wholeheartedly!

Oh, and this is the album that is perched near (possibly at) the top of my best of 2011 list: Mark Caputo of Belleville and Al Chan of The Rubinos bringing new life and new perspective to a bunch of already amazing songs. Finding new melody, harmony, and emotional depth in songs that you already know and love. Seriously. A really great album. A bunch of videos here: http://yepsongs.com

"Every night I tell myself 'I am the cosmos, I am the wind' But that don't get you back again..." -- Chris Bell - "I Am the Cosmos"

As we near the end of 2011, and an album perches near (possibly at) the top of my year-end list that consists of almost entirely cover songs (Yep - Once), it got me thinking about albums - NON-COMPILATION ALBUMS - that a single band has filled up with cover songs. Not talking about multi-band tribute records or other compilations, but instances where ONE band has decided to do a bunch of tunes that they did not write, and that were not written for them. What are some of the good ones out there? The ones that are worth picking up? A few that come to mind for me: All Hank Williams covers. And a

Yep - Once Collection of (mostly) covers done by a couple of guys who know their way around a song: Mark Caputo of Belleville and Al Chan of The Rubinoos. They take a bunch of songs that you probably already know and cast them in a way that brings out new melodic, harmonic and emotional wrinkles that were always there, but that you probably never noticed before. Here's a perfect example: Love it.

If tonight belongs to you, tomorrow's mine! "Valentine" by The Replacements

That Bangles record is a 2011 release. And it's great.

From "In the Bar" by Peter Laughner: "The only time that I say 'no' is when they ask if I've had enough."

Nothing sounds quite like a Fender through a Fender.

My guitar rig is based upon economy. 1988 customized Squier Strat (w/ Chandler "Hot Rails" in the bridge position & coil-splitter switch) 1996 Peavey Delta Blues 115 TurboRAT distortion If you can afford to build up your rig, do it! But it's really how you use what you got.

"Why Not Your Baby" by Gene Clark contains the great line: "The truth rang out when you called me, and called my name" Love it.