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Welcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Looking for something previously featured? Click here.
Because last week's Second Sunday Slowly feature also ended up being a throwback to the twentieth century, I had the notion that I'd consider THAT the "throwback" for the month and NOT do Third Sunday Throwback as regularly scheduled. I decided I'd do a "throwback" to the early years of the twenty first century, but after carefully reviewing the covers available from the artist I picked to feature... I am instead sticking to the twentieth. Clearly I've gone berzerk...:
Apoptygma Berzerk – All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
The Velvet Underground and Nico released their first single, All Tomorrow's Parties, in July 1966. A version almost three minutes longer was included on their self titled and only album in March 1967 before ending their collaboration, due in part to their low record sales.
Songwriter Lou Reed has said that the inspiration came from observations made of the decorative people attending the infamous parties held by Andy Warhol (who financed the recording) in his New York studio, The Factory. However, there are claims that the song had actually already been written before Reed met Warhol. Confusing that story further, the song's pianist, John Cale recently revealed in an interview that the song was about a girl called Darryl with whom both Cale and Reed had affectionate interests, despite the threat of her allegedly violent boyfriend.
Warhol is said to have considered this his favorite of their songs, though it's possible that affection had more to do with Nico's involvement since it was he who thought she should work with the band in the first place.
The song title has been referenced in film, literature, and musical productions. It was also prominent in Rob Zombie's 2012 horror film, The Lords Of Salem and was the title of an episode of One Tree Hill, where the story depicted the traumatic consequences of excessive alcohol consumption at seemingly glamorous parties.
Both Lou Reed and Nico went on to record their own versions of the song. Additionally the song has been covered at least 50 times by artists such as Jeff Buckley, Icehouse, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Simple Minds, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rasputina, Bryan Ferry, Hole, and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. There seems to be a misconception that the Bauhaus had covered it as well. The confusion may come from the fact the band had toured with Nico for a time and both artists appear on a number of goth classic compilations that usually feature Nico's version. (Unless their cover of it does exist and I missed it in my research. That's entirely possible as well.)
The Norwegian futurepop project Apoptygma Berzerk released their version of All Tomorrow's Parties on their debut album Soli Deo Gloria in December 1993. The track was later included on their covers compilation album, Sonic Dairy, released in 2006. It collected their previously released covers of Kim Wilde, U2, The Cure, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, The House Of Love, Kraftwerk, and OMD, with additional covers of Keane, Visage, and New Order done specifically for the album. (Their cover of Peter Schilling's Major Tom was released seven years later.) In the liner notes for Sonic Dairy, frontman Stephan Groth describes these artists as "the start of Apop." In an interview this year when asked about the covers he chooses, Groth said "usually it is an homage to the original track/artist, and most of the songs I have made a cover of have been important to me in my youth or in my musical background. So, to understand APOP completely, you need to know my roots and this is my way of showing you where I come from. To me, The Velvet Underground and their infamous “banana” album have been particularly important; hence this was the second song ever covered in the history of APOP. The first being The Model by Kraftwerk."
For having been so influential to various goth and industrial artists, the original single is truly rough around the edges, recorded in mono, rhythmically discordant, and kind of messy. Even the longer album version, which had somewhat better production value, is still as chaotic, so it seems evident that was by design. Apoptygma Berzerk transforms the ballad into a cleanly produced dark dance track, possibly just as good as any of their hits.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
The eyes have it for a synthpop cover of an early nineties alternative rock'n'rose track about the need for loving veneration.
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 reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
(And if, after 4 years and 225 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, please click over to my profile and find out how you can leave us a tip if you like.)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Aug 11 - Kidneythieves – Crazy (Patsy Cline)
Aug 04 - In Strict Confidence feat. Melotron – The Sun Always Shines On TV (A-ha)
Jul 28 - Fur – Cruel Summer (Bananarama)
Jul 21 - Stromkern – The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Jul 14 - Clavvs – I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
. 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.
Looking for something previously featured? Click here.
Because last week's Second Sunday Slowly feature also ended up being a throwback to the twentieth century, I had the notion that I'd consider THAT the "throwback" for the month and NOT do Third Sunday Throwback as regularly scheduled. I decided I'd do a "throwback" to the early years of the twenty first century, but after carefully reviewing the covers available from the artist I picked to feature... I am instead sticking to the twentieth. Clearly I've gone berzerk...:
Apoptygma Berzerk – All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
The Velvet Underground and Nico released their first single, All Tomorrow's Parties, in July 1966. A version almost three minutes longer was included on their self titled and only album in March 1967 before ending their collaboration, due in part to their low record sales.
Songwriter Lou Reed has said that the inspiration came from observations made of the decorative people attending the infamous parties held by Andy Warhol (who financed the recording) in his New York studio, The Factory. However, there are claims that the song had actually already been written before Reed met Warhol. Confusing that story further, the song's pianist, John Cale recently revealed in an interview that the song was about a girl called Darryl with whom both Cale and Reed had affectionate interests, despite the threat of her allegedly violent boyfriend.
Warhol is said to have considered this his favorite of their songs, though it's possible that affection had more to do with Nico's involvement since it was he who thought she should work with the band in the first place.
The song title has been referenced in film, literature, and musical productions. It was also prominent in Rob Zombie's 2012 horror film, The Lords Of Salem and was the title of an episode of One Tree Hill, where the story depicted the traumatic consequences of excessive alcohol consumption at seemingly glamorous parties.
Both Lou Reed and Nico went on to record their own versions of the song. Additionally the song has been covered at least 50 times by artists such as Jeff Buckley, Icehouse, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Simple Minds, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rasputina, Bryan Ferry, Hole, and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. There seems to be a misconception that the Bauhaus had covered it as well. The confusion may come from the fact the band had toured with Nico for a time and both artists appear on a number of goth classic compilations that usually feature Nico's version. (Unless their cover of it does exist and I missed it in my research. That's entirely possible as well.)
The Norwegian futurepop project Apoptygma Berzerk released their version of All Tomorrow's Parties on their debut album Soli Deo Gloria in December 1993. The track was later included on their covers compilation album, Sonic Dairy, released in 2006. It collected their previously released covers of Kim Wilde, U2, The Cure, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, The House Of Love, Kraftwerk, and OMD, with additional covers of Keane, Visage, and New Order done specifically for the album. (Their cover of Peter Schilling's Major Tom was released seven years later.) In the liner notes for Sonic Dairy, frontman Stephan Groth describes these artists as "the start of Apop." In an interview this year when asked about the covers he chooses, Groth said "usually it is an homage to the original track/artist, and most of the songs I have made a cover of have been important to me in my youth or in my musical background. So, to understand APOP completely, you need to know my roots and this is my way of showing you where I come from. To me, The Velvet Underground and their infamous “banana” album have been particularly important; hence this was the second song ever covered in the history of APOP. The first being The Model by Kraftwerk."
For having been so influential to various goth and industrial artists, the original single is truly rough around the edges, recorded in mono, rhythmically discordant, and kind of messy. Even the longer album version, which had somewhat better production value, is still as chaotic, so it seems evident that was by design. Apoptygma Berzerk transforms the ballad into a cleanly produced dark dance track, possibly just as good as any of their hits.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
The eyes have it for a synthpop cover of an early nineties alternative rock'n'rose track about the need for loving veneration.
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 reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
(And if, after 4 years and 225 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, please click over to my profile and find out how you can leave us a tip if you like.)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Aug 11 - Kidneythieves – Crazy (Patsy Cline)
Aug 04 - In Strict Confidence feat. Melotron – The Sun Always Shines On TV (A-ha)
Jul 28 - Fur – Cruel Summer (Bananarama)
Jul 21 - Stromkern – The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Jul 14 - Clavvs – I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .