DJ Xero, Operative of SeeDarkly™ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seedarklyxero) wrote2019-09-15 10:00 am
seedarklyxero) wrote2019-09-15 10:00 am
SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies: Unneighborly
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.
Today's Third Sunday Throwback to the twentieth century features another "not-explictly-goth" cover from a group whose dark trip hop style has nonetheless earned them space within sects of the goth community. As it turns out, as made evident by this cover of a sixties pre-reggae track, their sound may be more influenced by goth music than some might think.:
Massive Attack – Man Next Door (The Paragons)
The ska/rocksteady group The Paragons released Man Next Door as the B-side of their 1968 single, Left With A Broken Heart. The song had two other titles, Quiet Place and I've Got to Get Away. The song didn't appear on the concurrent 1967 album On The Beach (though it has been included on recent deluxe edition reissues) but instead was included years later on a self-titled 1981 album, labeled in some regions as Sly & Robbie Meet The Paragons. The song itself is a short bit of ska telling the story of a family man living next door to someone who comes home late making noise overnight and their wish to move somewhere peaceful. While it wasn't much of a commercial success, it does have some underground notoriety and has been covered a half dozen times, mostly by reggae acts excepting one by the British post-punk band The Slits.
Massive Attack, a British trip-hop project, released their third album, Mezzanine, in April 1998. Among the more goth-popular tracks found on the album (Teardrop & Inertia Creeps) is their lesser known cover of Man Next Door. While it may not have been intentional, there's a degree to which the song captures the band's sense of internal unrest as conflicts within the group led to chaotic recording schedules and the eventual departure of Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles. The song features samples from Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks and The Cure's 10:15 Saturday Night (a song they are apparently covering in its entirety live in recent concerts where they have also been performing Bela Lugosi's Dead.) There is some evidence to suggest that Massive's inspiration for The Paragons cover came not from the original version but from the cover done by The Slits in 1980 which had actually been a top ten hit on the UK indie charts. Not to say Massive Attack don't also draw inspiration significantly from similar roots as The Paragons; other artists they've covered include William DeVaughn, The Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, and Rufus and Chaka.
But in their version of the The Paragon's song they instill a sense of dark menace coming from Man Next Door, as not just a simple annoyance, but a potential threat from whom they need to escape. Combined with their signature trip hop dance rhythms, you may not want "to get away" but it's not improbable you'll want to move!:
The Cover:
The Original:
Compare with The Slits version
Next week:
In tribute to an electronic techno artist who passed away earlier this year and would've turned 50 this month, we'll feature a track from a benefit album that will be released on his birthday. It's an EBM cover of a song found in a sci-fi film that also featured another song from the same album as today's cover.
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.
I've got some gigs coming up and possibly more to announce soon! What IS confirmed is coming up in a couple weeks and in two vastly separate areas of New England, but if you care to join either, please check my schedule for details!
(And if, after 4 years and 229 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, consider leaving me a tip in the form of the gift of music and get me something from my wishlist on Bandcamp if you like. It'll go to good use! Thanks!)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 08 - Lana Del Rey – Doin' Time (Sublime)
Sep 01 - HexRX – Living On Video (Trans-X)
Aug 25 - Iris – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
Aug 18 - Apoptygma Berzerk – All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
Aug 11 - Kidneythieves – Crazy (Patsy Cline)
. 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.
Today's Third Sunday Throwback to the twentieth century features another "not-explictly-goth" cover from a group whose dark trip hop style has nonetheless earned them space within sects of the goth community. As it turns out, as made evident by this cover of a sixties pre-reggae track, their sound may be more influenced by goth music than some might think.:
Massive Attack – Man Next Door (The Paragons)
The ska/rocksteady group The Paragons released Man Next Door as the B-side of their 1968 single, Left With A Broken Heart. The song had two other titles, Quiet Place and I've Got to Get Away. The song didn't appear on the concurrent 1967 album On The Beach (though it has been included on recent deluxe edition reissues) but instead was included years later on a self-titled 1981 album, labeled in some regions as Sly & Robbie Meet The Paragons. The song itself is a short bit of ska telling the story of a family man living next door to someone who comes home late making noise overnight and their wish to move somewhere peaceful. While it wasn't much of a commercial success, it does have some underground notoriety and has been covered a half dozen times, mostly by reggae acts excepting one by the British post-punk band The Slits.
Massive Attack, a British trip-hop project, released their third album, Mezzanine, in April 1998. Among the more goth-popular tracks found on the album (Teardrop & Inertia Creeps) is their lesser known cover of Man Next Door. While it may not have been intentional, there's a degree to which the song captures the band's sense of internal unrest as conflicts within the group led to chaotic recording schedules and the eventual departure of Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles. The song features samples from Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks and The Cure's 10:15 Saturday Night (a song they are apparently covering in its entirety live in recent concerts where they have also been performing Bela Lugosi's Dead.) There is some evidence to suggest that Massive's inspiration for The Paragons cover came not from the original version but from the cover done by The Slits in 1980 which had actually been a top ten hit on the UK indie charts. Not to say Massive Attack don't also draw inspiration significantly from similar roots as The Paragons; other artists they've covered include William DeVaughn, The Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, and Rufus and Chaka.
But in their version of the The Paragon's song they instill a sense of dark menace coming from Man Next Door, as not just a simple annoyance, but a potential threat from whom they need to escape. Combined with their signature trip hop dance rhythms, you may not want "to get away" but it's not improbable you'll want to move!:
The Cover:
The Original:
Compare with The Slits version
Next week:
In tribute to an electronic techno artist who passed away earlier this year and would've turned 50 this month, we'll feature a track from a benefit album that will be released on his birthday. It's an EBM cover of a song found in a sci-fi film that also featured another song from the same album as today's cover.
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.
I've got some gigs coming up and possibly more to announce soon! What IS confirmed is coming up in a couple weeks and in two vastly separate areas of New England, but if you care to join either, please check my schedule for details!
(And if, after 4 years and 229 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, consider leaving me a tip in the form of the gift of music and get me something from my wishlist on Bandcamp if you like. It'll go to good use! Thanks!)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 08 - Lana Del Rey – Doin' Time (Sublime)
Sep 01 - HexRX – Living On Video (Trans-X)
Aug 25 - Iris – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
Aug 18 - Apoptygma Berzerk – All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
Aug 11 - Kidneythieves – Crazy (Patsy Cline)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .