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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Record Club - Never Tear Us Apart

I've always been a sucker for a good cover, especially if it's of a song that I was originally fond of.  When INXS' 'Kick' was released in 1987, I listened to two songs repeatedly, 'Need You Tonight/Mediate' and 'Never Tear Us Apart'.  At the time, 'Never Tear Us Apart' was the quintessential modern rock love song.  Twenty four years later, it's still one of my favorite songs to play and to perform.

In early 2010, Beck formed Record Club.  According to his website:
Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day.  The album chosen to be interpreted is used as a framework.  Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time.   A track is put up here once a week.  The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering.  There is no intention to 'add to' the original work or attempt to recreate to power of the original recording.  Only to play music and document what happens.
So far, they have recorded renditions of albums by the Velvet Underground, Yanni and Leonard Cohen.  INXS' 'Kick' was recorded on March 3rd, 2010.  It was arranged and recorded in twelve hours.  'Never Tear Us Apart' stands out as a haunting track with Annie Clark singing vocals, and a moving violin solo instead of the cheesy saxophone solo that was standard in so many 80's songs.  Enjoy.


Record Club: INXS "Never Tear Us Apart" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

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