Today’s Random Weekend track is a cut from the bonus disc of Elvis Costello’s 2002 reissue of his 1979 album Armed Forces.
‘Big Boys’ is the fourth song on Side One of the original album, and it’s a tight, angry song about sexual immaturity and corrosive infatuation. It’s pretty much perfect as is.
This “alternate version” is similar to the album track structurally, but nowhere near as successful.
Daryl Hall & John Oates’ ‘Adult Education’ was released in 1984 as one of two new songs appearing on a greatest hits collection titled Rock ‘n Soul Part 1. The other new track was ‘Say It Isn’t So.’ ‘Say It Isn’t So’ made it to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, while today’s SOTD peaked at #8.
Calling that collection a “greatest hits” was the opposite of false advertising. Every song on that record was a smash of one degree or another, with four tracks making it to #1. When even the two bonus tracks on your compilation become top ten hits, you know you’re on a roll.
In 1980, Blondie’s ‘The Tide is High‘ reached #1 on the British, Canadian, New Zealand and American charts, giving the band its third chart-topper in the United States. The reggae treatment was a new sound for Blondie, whose previous hits ‘Call Me’ and ‘Heart of Glass’ were very synth-heavy.
It turns out that stylistic departure was in keeping with the song’s origins. ‘The Tide is High’ was first recorded by a Jamaican ska band called The Paragons, who included the track on their debut album, 1967’s On the Beach.
I really like when a cover tales a song in a whole new direction.
In 1975, Scottish hard rock band Nazareth released a passionate power ballad treatment of ‘Love Hurts’ that reached the top ten in the U.S. and Australia and #1 in three other countries. It’s the only version of this song I know, and I assumed the tune originated with them.
Here’s a song I might have known was a cover if I were a little older, or a little more up on the 1960s Dutch rock scene.
In 1969, psychedelic rock band Shocking Blue released ‘Venus’ in the Netherlands and saw it reach #1 in nine countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Lead singer Mariska Veres, often compared to Cher, delivers the track with an alluringly sultry nonchalance.
Meet Me In Montauk 