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seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
It's time for Second Sunday Slowly, this week featuring a seductive shadow-lined downtempo cover brought to you in part by the French. The original artist is named after a character from a French adult comic-made-film. The covering artist's name means "black" in French. And then the title of the song itself is the French word for "driver:"
Noir - The Chauffeur (Duran Duran)
English new wave rockers Duran Duran released their second album, Rio, in May 1982. The Chauffeur was the last track on the album and never released as a single itself but became one of the band's most recognized songs nonetheless. An earlier acoustic style demo version of the track was later released is a b-side of the Rio single. The lyrics were written by singer Simon Le Bon in 1977 as a poem before the band had even formed. Some stories claim it was this poem that earned him the gig at his audition for the band. In one interview keyboardist Nick Rhodes remarked that the song was, "an important stepping block in our sound during the making of the Rio album. It was the first really completely electronic thing that we’d done, and it’s turned into this sort of strange cult" favorite.
Part of the reason for its cult success might be because the song is one of two non-single tracks from the album treated to a fully produced video. The video (in which the band does not appear) was directed by Ian Emes, who had previously animated, directed, and consulted on many of Pink Floyd's videos. His take on The Chauffeur was done seemingly in homage to the eroticism of both the works of a German/Australian photographer named Helmut Newton and a 1974 Italian movie, The Night Porter, paying special tribute to Charlotte Rampling's topless dance scene (though Emes extracted it from all reference to any Nazi imagery that otherwise appears substantially in the film.) The video's nudity obviously made it inappropriate for MTV but it was included on Duran Duran's 1983 self-titled video collection, released in VHS, laserdisc, and other similarly now-expired media formats.
The track has been covered by more than 25 other artists, including Deftones, Sleepthief, Sneaker Pimps, Unwoman Tre Lux, Jvne, Warpaint, and Johnathan|Christian (the latter two, my alternate choices to feature here.)
Noir is a darkwave project formed by vocalist/producer Athan Maroulis, previously known for Fahrenheit 451, Vampire Rodents, Tubalcain, The Blue Dahlia, Spahn Ranch, and Black Tape For A Blue Girl. They released a four-track EP dedicated to the memory of David Bowie, The Burning Bridge, in May 2016. The title track is an original but the three other songs are covers: The Chauffeur, Same Old Madness by Ministry, and a live version of the previously released In Every Dream Home A Heartache by Roxy Music. In a recent interview, Maroulis says he had read once that Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music would overcome bouts of writer's block by recording covers and discovered it worked for him as well. He also stated that he had shelved his cover of The Chauffeur that he had been developing first with an earlier project and only completed it after working with Noir co-writer, programmer, and producer Erik Gustafson, also of 16Volt and Adoration Destroyed. All members of the collaboration record their parts at great distances from each other with Maroulis assembling the final tracks from their contributions via e-mail. Noir has also released a cover of The Cure's A Forest and Maroulis is considering a number of songs for a full album of covers. He says, "I love the fact that covers are so out of vogue these days. Ironically, the first 50 years of the music industry, cover material or interpretations made up about 90% of all recorded music and continued well into the ’60s."
Noir's version of The Chauffeur is a brilliant modernization of the track, adding a touch of mechanized growl and silvery female backing vocals, thickening the whole of the track while maintaining its overall downtempo character. I certainly can't speak to the accuracy of his perspectives on the industry, but whether or not covers are in or out of vogue seems pretty subjective. If they are so out of vogue as he believes, I suppose this entire blog is an exercise in off-road wanderlust and I continue, as ever, your driver.
The Cover:
https://metropolisrecords.bandcamp.com/track/the-chauffeur
The Original:
Next week:
If you were in any way expecting a full month of holiday-specific covers, sorry to disappoint. Yes, I could do that, and do have one very special one planned, but for our Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century we're going to have to address the fear of the bomb that never dropped with a 90's electronic synthpop cover of an 80's indie rock classic, all because we again find ourselves potentially facing the end-times. 'Tis the season... ☉_☉
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
This Friday is one of two public year-end/holiday parties I'm spinning! As always, the details can be found on my schedule if you're Boston-side and want to join us! ಠ‿↼
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Dec 03 - Obscenity Trial - Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
Nov 26 - NoNotNever - Cold-Hearted Snake (Paula Abdul)
Nov 19 - Alien Sex Fiend [as The Dynamic Duo] - Batman Theme (Neil Hefti)
Nov 12 - Inertia(w/Ayria) - Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Nov 05 - Rummelsnuff - Mongoloid (Devo)
Oct 29 - 5X5: Bonecollectors/Dead Brothers/Camping Car/Godhead/Pink Skulls - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
It's time for Second Sunday Slowly, this week featuring a seductive shadow-lined downtempo cover brought to you in part by the French. The original artist is named after a character from a French adult comic-made-film. The covering artist's name means "black" in French. And then the title of the song itself is the French word for "driver:"
Noir - The Chauffeur (Duran Duran)
English new wave rockers Duran Duran released their second album, Rio, in May 1982. The Chauffeur was the last track on the album and never released as a single itself but became one of the band's most recognized songs nonetheless. An earlier acoustic style demo version of the track was later released is a b-side of the Rio single. The lyrics were written by singer Simon Le Bon in 1977 as a poem before the band had even formed. Some stories claim it was this poem that earned him the gig at his audition for the band. In one interview keyboardist Nick Rhodes remarked that the song was, "an important stepping block in our sound during the making of the Rio album. It was the first really completely electronic thing that we’d done, and it’s turned into this sort of strange cult" favorite.
Part of the reason for its cult success might be because the song is one of two non-single tracks from the album treated to a fully produced video. The video (in which the band does not appear) was directed by Ian Emes, who had previously animated, directed, and consulted on many of Pink Floyd's videos. His take on The Chauffeur was done seemingly in homage to the eroticism of both the works of a German/Australian photographer named Helmut Newton and a 1974 Italian movie, The Night Porter, paying special tribute to Charlotte Rampling's topless dance scene (though Emes extracted it from all reference to any Nazi imagery that otherwise appears substantially in the film.) The video's nudity obviously made it inappropriate for MTV but it was included on Duran Duran's 1983 self-titled video collection, released in VHS, laserdisc, and other similarly now-expired media formats.
The track has been covered by more than 25 other artists, including Deftones, Sleepthief, Sneaker Pimps, Unwoman Tre Lux, Jvne, Warpaint, and Johnathan|Christian (the latter two, my alternate choices to feature here.)
Noir is a darkwave project formed by vocalist/producer Athan Maroulis, previously known for Fahrenheit 451, Vampire Rodents, Tubalcain, The Blue Dahlia, Spahn Ranch, and Black Tape For A Blue Girl. They released a four-track EP dedicated to the memory of David Bowie, The Burning Bridge, in May 2016. The title track is an original but the three other songs are covers: The Chauffeur, Same Old Madness by Ministry, and a live version of the previously released In Every Dream Home A Heartache by Roxy Music. In a recent interview, Maroulis says he had read once that Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music would overcome bouts of writer's block by recording covers and discovered it worked for him as well. He also stated that he had shelved his cover of The Chauffeur that he had been developing first with an earlier project and only completed it after working with Noir co-writer, programmer, and producer Erik Gustafson, also of 16Volt and Adoration Destroyed. All members of the collaboration record their parts at great distances from each other with Maroulis assembling the final tracks from their contributions via e-mail. Noir has also released a cover of The Cure's A Forest and Maroulis is considering a number of songs for a full album of covers. He says, "I love the fact that covers are so out of vogue these days. Ironically, the first 50 years of the music industry, cover material or interpretations made up about 90% of all recorded music and continued well into the ’60s."
Noir's version of The Chauffeur is a brilliant modernization of the track, adding a touch of mechanized growl and silvery female backing vocals, thickening the whole of the track while maintaining its overall downtempo character. I certainly can't speak to the accuracy of his perspectives on the industry, but whether or not covers are in or out of vogue seems pretty subjective. If they are so out of vogue as he believes, I suppose this entire blog is an exercise in off-road wanderlust and I continue, as ever, your driver.
The Cover:
https://metropolisrecords.bandcamp.com/track/the-chauffeur
The Original:
Next week:
If you were in any way expecting a full month of holiday-specific covers, sorry to disappoint. Yes, I could do that, and do have one very special one planned, but for our Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century we're going to have to address the fear of the bomb that never dropped with a 90's electronic synthpop cover of an 80's indie rock classic, all because we again find ourselves potentially facing the end-times. 'Tis the season... ☉_☉
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
This Friday is one of two public year-end/holiday parties I'm spinning! As always, the details can be found on my schedule if you're Boston-side and want to join us! ಠ‿↼
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Dec 03 - Obscenity Trial - Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
Nov 26 - NoNotNever - Cold-Hearted Snake (Paula Abdul)
Nov 19 - Alien Sex Fiend [as The Dynamic Duo] - Batman Theme (Neil Hefti)
Nov 12 - Inertia(w/Ayria) - Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Nov 05 - Rummelsnuff - Mongoloid (Devo)
Oct 29 - 5X5: Bonecollectors/Dead Brothers/Camping Car/Godhead/Pink Skulls - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
nice one
Date: 2017-12-12 09:02 pm (UTC)