The Black Keys - "Hot Spares"

The Black Keys have issued 10 albums (plus a collaborative album), and are about to release their 11th album next month. So this seemed to me to be a good time to collect all of their single B-sides, non-album singles, soundtrack cuts and bonus tracks onto one album.

1. Ohio - non-album single
   
2. Chop and Change - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack
   
3. Keep My Name Outta Your Mouth - Brothers (Deluxe Edition)
4. Black Mud Part II - Brothers (Deluxe Edition)
   
5. Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles - Covered, a Revolution of Sound: Warner Bros. Records (Captain Beefheart cover)
   
6. The Way I Feel When I'm with You - B-side of "Your the One" single
   
7. Can't Find My Mind - Never Give Up Your Hallucinations compilation and He Put the Bomp compilation (Cramps cover)
   
8. Something on Your Mind - B-side of "Strange Times" (Dino Valenti) (Karen Dalton cover)
   
9. The Wicked Messenger - I'm Not There soundtrack (Bob Dylan cover)
   
10. If You Ever Slip - The Hottest State soundtrack
    
11. Stay All Night - Waxploitation Presents: Causes 1 compilation (Junior Kimbrough cover)
    
12. Flash of Silver - B-side of "'Till I Get My Way"/"Girl is on My Mind" single
    
13. Evil - B-side of "Set You Free" single
    
14. Summertime Blues - B-side "10am Automatic" single (Eddie Cochran cover)
    
15. No Fun - B-side of "The Moan" single and on the vinyl version of The Big Come Up album (Stooges cover)
16. The Moan - non-album single
17. The Baddest Man Alive (with KZA) - The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack
    

I kicked off the set with "Ohio," a non-album single and homage to their home state that seemed like a good song to start things off. The album is heavy with cover tunes - seven in total -- and range from Captain Beefheart to Eddie Cochran and Cramps to Bob Dylan. There are four tunes from soundtrack albums, including "The Baddest Man Alive," recorded with KZA and used here to end the album.

The result is a nice 17-track compilation album that features both originals and cover tunes. I didn't include remixes, alternate versions and live tracks that have appeared in various formats as I just didn't think they were essential. 

For the cover artwork, I took inspiration in that the Black Keys are from Dayton, Ohio, once a big tire manufacturing town, and used a photo of a big tire fire. And continuing with the theme, I thought Hot Spares made a good title.

Veruca Salt - "Rub Her Soul"

Veruca Salt seemed to have a lot going for it. Fronted by Louise Post and Nina Gordon, the group alternated from catchy power pop to grunge, perfect for the '90s. However, since Gordon's more pop-oriented music ended up on the radio and MTV, friction may have been inevitable. 

Gordon left the group in 1998 for a solo career, and Post continued with Veruca Salt with all new members other than herself. Both released new albums in 2000. It occurred to me that if you took the best of both albums, you could have something that might resemble what a third album by the group could have been had the split not happened.

1. Same Person
2. Alone With You
3. Wet Suit
4. Like It Happens Everyday
5. Yeah Man
6. Unsafe at Any Speed
7. Imperfectly
8. Number One Camera
9. Officially Dead
10. Badway
11. Hellraiser
12. Tonight and the Rest of My Life

To narrow down the choices, I decided against Post's "Born Entertainer" and "Only You Know" and Gordon's "Black and Blonde" as they seem to be angry bashes of each other.

I think it's interesting that Gordon seems to have shied away from the pop-rock that had been successful with Veruca Salt, and instead focused on ballads. Three of her more rock-oriented songs didn't make the cut for her solo debut. But I've included two -- "Alone with You" and "Unsafe at Any Speed" -- here as they both would have made good Veruca Salt songs, I think. I also took the two most rocking songs from the solo album -- "Badway" and "Number One Camera." Finally, I also added "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" since it was the album's title cut.

From Resolver, the Veruca Salt album that Post released on her own, I chose "Same Person," "Wet Suit," "Yeah Man," "Imperfectly," "Officially Dead" and "Hellraiser" as I think they are the best of the bunch. 

And then it was simply a matter of weaving the songs together to make a nice 12-track album. To my ears, this is a better result than the two albums that were released. I like the alternating lead vocalists and the combination of hard rock and power pop that was Veruca Salt's signature.

Since Veruca Salt used plays on Beatles titles as well as some song references, I did the same here by titling it Rub Her Soul. For a cover, I found this image of boot prints by Gavin Turk and added the titles.

Cheap Trick - "Cheap Flicks"

For this entry, I put together a compilation of Cheap Trick tracks that have appeared as part of various movie soundtracks over the years.

1. Everything Works If You Let It ["Roadie"]
2. Reach Out ["Heavy Metal"]
3. I Must be Dreamin' ["Heavy Metal"]
4. Spring Break ["Spring Break']
5. Born to Raise Hell ["Rock & Rule"]
6. I'm the Man ["Rock & Rule"]
7. Ohm Sweet Ohm ["Rock & Rule"]
8. Up the Creek ["Up the Creek"]
9. Mighty Wings ["Top Gun"]
10. Money (That's What I Want) ["Caddyshack II"]
11. You Want It ["Say Anything"]
12. I will Survive ["Gladiator"]
13. Wild Thing ["Encino Man"]
14. Surrender '99 ["Detroit Rock City"]
15. Transformers (The Fallen Remix) ["Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"]

What I've included are Cheap Trick songs that were exclusive to the films, i.e. songs that didn't appear on the band's regular albums. So, although "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me" were used (along with a few other band tracks) in many films over the years, they are not included here (except for the rerecorded version in 1999).

I arranged the tracks chronologically, beginning with "Everything Works If You Let It" from 1980 and ending with "Transformers (The Fallen Remix)" from 2009. Since this would be a post-2009 release, I didn't divide the album into two sides like I usually do for a theoretical vinyl album. 

Most of the tracks can be found on the official soundtrack albums, and some can also be found on band compilation albums. There was never a soundtrack album released for the animated film "Rock & Rule" (aka "Ring of Power"), and Cheap Trick's three songs from the film were eventually released on the compilation Sex, America and Cheap Trick.

"Transformers (The Fallen Remix)" appears on the soundtrack for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," but is not actually used in the movie for some reason. I decided to only include songs from movie soundtracks, but you could also include "Out in the Streets" (aka "That '70s Song") from the TV show "That '70s Show."

For a cover, I used a movie marquee generator and then made some simple modifications.

"The Big Empty" soundtrack

One night, about a year ago, I was flipping through channels on TV and came across this goofy movie from 2003 called "The Big Empty." I'd never seen it or even heard of it before.

"The Big Empty" stars Jon Favreau who agrees to deliver a package for money to pay off his debts, and ends up with a whacked-out cast of characters in a desert town. Along the way, there's an oddball neighbor, a jealous boyfriend, a mysterious cowboy, space aliens and a conspiracy theorist. It's a crazy dark comedy, sort of in the same realm as "Repo Man" and "Roadside Prophets." And the fact that Favreau plays a struggling actor in L.A. almost makes it seem like a bizarre sequel to "Swingers."

Honestly, it's kind of surprising that not only did a movie with such a quirky story get made, but that the filmmakers managed to enlist such actors as Favreau, Daryl Hannah, Sean Bean, Bud Cort, etc.

Anyway, besides enjoying the movie, I also liked the soundtrack, which included mostly country-rock tunes. When I looked it up, I discovered that while the movie score by Brian Tyler was released, an actual soundtrack that included the songs had not. That led me to gather them all into one place.

1. 18 Wheels & A Crowbar – BR549
2. Silver Pieces – Carnival Dogs
3. Go Cat Go – Carl Perkins
4. Last Go Round – Ron Levy
5. Lucky’s Lullaby – The Country Cabin Boys
6. Truck Driver Man No. 1 – Sonny George
7.  Walk Way – Smokestack Lightnin’
8. I’m Your Breadwinner, Baby – Lazy Lester
9. Rolling Stone from Texas – Don Wasler
10. Duckwalk – Roy Rogers
11. Strange Things Happen – Lazy Lester
12. All I Know – Dead Rock West
13. The Longest Goodbye – Tim Gales
14. Almost Out of Gas – Greg Brown
15. That’s Alright – John Lee Hooker, featuring Charlie Musslewhite and Roy Rogers
16. We Who Are Not as Others – Sepultura
17. This – Sheila Chandra
18. Honkytonk Maniac from Mars – Jason Ringenberg

This is a fun collection of tunes and kind of benefits from the inclusion of fairly obscure artists to most people (Carl Perkins and John Lee Hooker notwithstanding). The only song that doesn't fit with this otherwise bunch of blues and honky tonkers is the Sepultura death metal song. You may want to skip that one.

For a cover, I simply took an image of the movie poster (or maybe it's the DVD cover) I found on the web and manipulated it a bit.

David Bowie -- "Bowie-ing Out"

Tuesday is David Bowie's birthday -- he would have been 72 -- so I thought this would be a good time to offer this idea of a covers album.

Bowie's 1973 album Pin Ups was supposed to be the first of two collections of 1960s cover versions. While Pin Ups featured covers of British songs, the second was to be made up of songs by American artists. One tentative title for the second album was Bowie-ing Out although that title was being considered for a live album as well.

Why the plan for the second album fizzled is not really clear. What is known is that Bowie loved Bruce Springsteen's then-new debut album Greetings from Asbury Park and recorded two of the tracks. However, since Springsteen's album was a 1973 release, the two tracks didn't really fit the original concept of covering 1960s songs.

But while Bowie never released Bowie-ing Out, he did continue covering 1960s/early 1970s songs throughout much of his career. 

1. Growin' Up - Bruce Springsteen [Pin Ups - 1990 reissue]
2. I Keep Forgettin' - Chuck Jackson [Tonight]
3. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan [Heaven and Hull (Mick Ronson)]
4. God Only Knows - Beach Boys [Tonight]
5. I'm Waiting for the Man - Velvet Underground [Bowie at the Beeb]
6. Knock on Wood - Eddie Floyd [David Live]
7. Alabama Song - The Doors [Scary Monsters (and Super Freaks) - 1992 reissue]
8. White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground [Bowie at the Beeb]
9. I've Been Waiting for You - Neil Young [Heathen]
10. America - Simon and Garfunkel [The Concert for New York]
11. I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship - Legendary Stardust Cowboy [Heathen]
12. I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges [Glass Spider]
13. It's Hard to be a Saint in the City - Bruce Springsteen [The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979]

Since the Springsteen songs were from 1973, I used only covers of tracks that were from that year and prior. The rip-roaring version of "Like a Rolling Stone" actually comes from Mick Ronson's Heaven and Hull album and features Bowie on lead vocals.

Yes, I know that "Alabama Song" was written in the 1920s, originally in German and translated into English soon afterward. But let's face it, the version most people know is that of The Doors. 

I mixed up the songs from different years as well as studio and live tracks. Although it doesn't really mirror Pin Ups, I think this is an interesting compilation that forgoes the usual songs found on hits collections (and Bowie certainly has plenty of those already). This collection could have been a compilation album released during the 10-year gap between Bowie's Reality and The Next Day albums.

For a cover, I wanted something contemporary but also somehow mimicked the Pin Ups cover, where Bowie appears with supermodel Twiggy. I found it when I spotted a series of photos of Bowie posing with supermodel Kate Moss in (I think) 2003. I liked this photo best and added titles. 

Interestingly (at least to me), the Pin Ups cover shoot was photographed for Vogue Magazine, but Bowie requested the use of it for his album instead. The picture of him and Kate Moss was also part of a photo shoot for Vogue. So it all comes together.

Los Lobos - Tributos

It seems that if you want to put together a tribute album, you should have Los Lobos on speed dial. 

This is a collection of songs the band Los Lobos has recorded for 15 different tribute albums over the years, ranging from a Disney movie tribute in 1988 to a Latin-flavored Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute in 2016. And truth be told, there may be other tribute albums out there that the band has contributed to that I haven't yet come across.

Below is a track list of songs, including the tribute album they come from:

1. Bootleg - Quiero Creedence (2016)
2. And It Didn't Even Bring Me Down - Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (2009).
3. A Man of Somebody's Dreams - A Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to Chris Caffney (2010)
4. The Fat Man - Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (2007)
5. Pawn Shop - Look at All The Love We Found: Tribute to Sublime (2005)
6. Sleeping on the Sidewalk – Killer Queen – A Tribute to Queen (2005)
7. Never Take the Place of You - The Q People: A Tribute to NRBQ (2004)
8. Johnny 99 - Badlands - A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (2000)
9. Are You Experienced? – Searching for Jimi Hendrix (1999)
10. Midnight Shift - Not Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly) (1996)
11. Lonely Avenue - Till the Night Is Gone - A Tribute to Doc Pomus (1995)
12. Down Where the Drunkards Roll - Beat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson (1994)
13. Alone in the Crowd - I Only Wrote This Song for You - A Tribute to Johnny Thunders (1994)
14. Bertha - Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead (1991)
15. I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song) - Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films (1988)

What might strike you off the bat is the variety -- Fats Domino to Sublime, Queen to Grateful Dead. But after each song is put through the Los Lobos blender, they come out sounding as if the band itself wrote these. Each track manages to be respectful of the original recording, and true to the band's own unique sound.

In the end, this is a great collection of interpretations—and it really doesn't even scratch the surface. Los Lobos has also contributed cover songs to several soundtrack albums and even put out Ride This—The Covers EP, a CD of seven cover tunes. If you like this collection, there's plenty more where this came from.

For a cover, I took the artwork that was used for a Los Lobos tribute beer from Garage Project Brewery and altered it a bit.