I found the secrets, I found platinum…
BowieNetter Chris Gaffney has been singing the praises of Irish band
Well, now having listened to some of their stuff on the EMI Platinum Collection released this week, I find it even more incredible that Aslan are practically unknown this side of the Irish Sea. Add to that the fact that the band sell out The Dublin Point (the very venue where A Reality Tour DVD was filmed) for a Christmas show every year, and it’s even more astonishing that the name Aslan is met with puzzled looks over here.
The Platinum Collection is a great introduction to Aslan and comprises three CDs: Disc 1 – A Sides; Disc 2 – B Sides; Disc 3 – Rarities.
Of interest to most here is the second disc which includes two excellent Bowie covers. First up is a beautiful version of Five Years, complete with strings, that stays respectfully close to the original arrangement, but adds something of its own at the same time. Next is a piano led rendition of Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide, which owes more to the David Live arrangement than the original Ziggy version.
On
Other covers worth a mention on Disc 2 are versions of Working Class Hero, particularly well suited to Christy’s voice which has a flavour of Lennon about it anyway, and a sensitive reworking of Lou Reed‘s Caroline Says (Part 2).
There’s also a cracking live version of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel‘s Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) which almost takes on the air of a rebel song (pun unavoidable) particularly with the slight adjustment of the lyric to: “There’s fuck all left, they’ve taken everything”. Great stuff… I’m looking forward to the A sides disc on the strength of these covers alone.
You can view the full tracklisting and order the album by clicking on the signed (thanx Billy) cover above. Thanx again to Chris G for his gentle persistence.
It’s a tough week for Aslan to have chosen to release a CD with a Bowie cover, especially with competition like this…
Cranking up the volume of a Michael Ball song…
“It has been such fun selecting, refining and recording this selection of what are in my opinion some of the finest examples of contemporary music and song.”
So says
He’s a nice enough chap (at least he seemed to be on the
Here’s what the man says about his version of Life On Mars? on
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LIFE ON MARS (David Bowie 1971 from Hunky Dory)
I?ve always done ?Life On Mars? in my one man show, Alone Together, when I?m accompanied by piano only so it?s very much about the words and about the character (in Alone Together) breaking down and railing against life and society. This is not a slavish copy of Bowie in any way but we?ve got the orchestra and guitars in there; it?s such a great song to sing, it?s powerful, it?s cynical with its biting lyric and it soars.
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BowieNetter Dukebox also caught last Saturday’s JR show, and he seems to like this version a little more than I do: “I’m not sure that Michael Ball’s recording of “Life On Mars?” has particularly added anything to the original, but it’s a pretty good arrangement and MB can sure belt it out – he has a good set of lungs on him, that bloke!”
If you want to judge for yourself, you can still hear the song via the listen again feature on the