![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
I really wasn't paying attention. When I decided I'd devote this month's entries specifically to female covers I did so thinking I had a peculiar lack of such on the blog overall after sharing a few entries for International Women's Day. It's come to my attention that March also happens to be Women's History Month. Ok then, even better timing for these!
In today's Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th Century, a long time death-rocking "Queen of Darkness" covered what might be a strange song for her to connect to given its "divine" origin and her more "devilish" persona.:
Eva O - The Killing Moon (Echo and the Bunnymen)
New Wavers Echo and the Bunnymen released The Killing Moon as the first single from their fourth album, Ocean Rain, in January 1984, months before the LP. According to interviews done by songwriter and frontman Ian McCulloch, his claim is that the words came to him one morning on waking, he says, "as if God had given it to me in my sleep." While the lyrics may have had that celestial source, the instrumentation was derived from playing David Bowie's Space Oddity in reverse and working through the chord arrangement until they were satisfied. McCulloch has a pretty high opinion of this song, one of the band's highest charting tracks despite its otherwise general lack of commercial success. Without irony he has called it a psalm, a hymnal and "the greatest song ever written." In another interview he boasted,"You don't need to read The Bible, you can listen to 'The Killing Moon' and get as much out of it."
The track was included in several films and soundtracks: Gross Point Blank, The Girl Next Door, Gia, and Donnie Darko (though apparently the director's cut moves the song to a different part of the film.)
Most covers of the track (well over 30 at current count) were done after the turn of the century. It was 13 years after the original release that Pavement would be the first to cover the song, followed by Wendy Rule, and then Eva O.
Eva O (Ortiz) has been a member or frontwoman of such death-rock, goth metal, and post-punk bands as Super Heroines, Shadow Project, Dead Babies, and, most notably, Christian Death with Rozz Williams, her husband and musical partner. Cleopatra Records included her cover of The Killing Moon in the various artists compilation, New Wave Goes To Hell - A Gothic-Industrial Tribute To The Music Of The 80's, released in October 1998. Cleopatra also released it again later on their 2008 Covered In '80s Hits collection. If Eva O has spoken of her motivations for the cover, her pronounced distaste for organized religion might make it seem a odd choice. However, though there is nothing that specifically suggested this is relevant, Rozz Williams had died [committed suicide] on the April Fool's Day prior to this release. Could it have been a lament of sorts? She certainly sings it mournfully and passionately, backed by an atmospheric and moody arrangement, fairly reminiscent of the sound of Christian Death.
Such artists may at times go largely unknown or unsung following the end of their better known projects, but in January, Eva O released her first solo album in ten years. This 57 year old veteran goth-mother of the form is showing no signs that she'll stop having something to add to the rich and dark fabric of goth music any time soon.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
In that director's cut of Donnie Darko, the original placement of today's track was replaced by a track from a band that "kicks." A different song by that band, but from the same album, got covered by a female fronted industrial duo whose namesake is very much the place in which you might find yourself dancing to it!
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.)
I'll be spinning a goth/industrial PJ party near the end of the month! Check my schedule for details, the RSVP link on Facebook, and other upcoming events and news! ↼‿ಠ
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Mar 11 - Grypt(w/Myrrh Ka Ba) - Naughty Girl (Beyoncé)
Mar 04 - Ayria - Headhunter(Front 242)
Feb 25 - The Alpha Complex - #1 Crush (Garbage)
Feb 18 - Assemblage 23 - Love My Way (The Psychedelic Furs)
Feb 11 - Johnny Hollow - Temple of Love (Sisters of Mercy)
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.
I really wasn't paying attention. When I decided I'd devote this month's entries specifically to female covers I did so thinking I had a peculiar lack of such on the blog overall after sharing a few entries for International Women's Day. It's come to my attention that March also happens to be Women's History Month. Ok then, even better timing for these!
In today's Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th Century, a long time death-rocking "Queen of Darkness" covered what might be a strange song for her to connect to given its "divine" origin and her more "devilish" persona.:
Eva O - The Killing Moon (Echo and the Bunnymen)
New Wavers Echo and the Bunnymen released The Killing Moon as the first single from their fourth album, Ocean Rain, in January 1984, months before the LP. According to interviews done by songwriter and frontman Ian McCulloch, his claim is that the words came to him one morning on waking, he says, "as if God had given it to me in my sleep." While the lyrics may have had that celestial source, the instrumentation was derived from playing David Bowie's Space Oddity in reverse and working through the chord arrangement until they were satisfied. McCulloch has a pretty high opinion of this song, one of the band's highest charting tracks despite its otherwise general lack of commercial success. Without irony he has called it a psalm, a hymnal and "the greatest song ever written." In another interview he boasted,"You don't need to read The Bible, you can listen to 'The Killing Moon' and get as much out of it."
The track was included in several films and soundtracks: Gross Point Blank, The Girl Next Door, Gia, and Donnie Darko (though apparently the director's cut moves the song to a different part of the film.)
Most covers of the track (well over 30 at current count) were done after the turn of the century. It was 13 years after the original release that Pavement would be the first to cover the song, followed by Wendy Rule, and then Eva O.
Eva O (Ortiz) has been a member or frontwoman of such death-rock, goth metal, and post-punk bands as Super Heroines, Shadow Project, Dead Babies, and, most notably, Christian Death with Rozz Williams, her husband and musical partner. Cleopatra Records included her cover of The Killing Moon in the various artists compilation, New Wave Goes To Hell - A Gothic-Industrial Tribute To The Music Of The 80's, released in October 1998. Cleopatra also released it again later on their 2008 Covered In '80s Hits collection. If Eva O has spoken of her motivations for the cover, her pronounced distaste for organized religion might make it seem a odd choice. However, though there is nothing that specifically suggested this is relevant, Rozz Williams had died [committed suicide] on the April Fool's Day prior to this release. Could it have been a lament of sorts? She certainly sings it mournfully and passionately, backed by an atmospheric and moody arrangement, fairly reminiscent of the sound of Christian Death.
Such artists may at times go largely unknown or unsung following the end of their better known projects, but in January, Eva O released her first solo album in ten years. This 57 year old veteran goth-mother of the form is showing no signs that she'll stop having something to add to the rich and dark fabric of goth music any time soon.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
In that director's cut of Donnie Darko, the original placement of today's track was replaced by a track from a band that "kicks." A different song by that band, but from the same album, got covered by a female fronted industrial duo whose namesake is very much the place in which you might find yourself dancing to it!
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.)
I'll be spinning a goth/industrial PJ party near the end of the month! Check my schedule for details, the RSVP link on Facebook, and other upcoming events and news! ↼‿ಠ
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Mar 11 - Grypt(w/Myrrh Ka Ba) - Naughty Girl (Beyoncé)
Mar 04 - Ayria - Headhunter(Front 242)
Feb 25 - The Alpha Complex - #1 Crush (Garbage)
Feb 18 - Assemblage 23 - Love My Way (The Psychedelic Furs)
Feb 11 - Johnny Hollow - Temple of Love (Sisters of Mercy)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
very cool
Date: 2018-03-18 06:26 pm (UTC)