Cover track #5

Although the shadow of Radio 1's Live Lounge (part of Jo Whiley's show) is long and dark, there are other places around the world that are doing similar sessions. And one of those places is right here in London, from the UK's XFM, and their Live From Leicester Square spot has had a few pretty good highlights over the months.

In a sense, it's a shame that they've followed the Radio 1 'quirky cover' route but on the other hand, if the results are at least interesting (and on occasion, actually good), then what the hell - the more the merrier.

Go to the Live From Leicester Square XFM page and you can listen to a bunch of these, such as The Thrills' Dancing In The Dark (Springsteen), Jack Penate's Dub Be Good To Me (Beats International), Nine Black Alps' Pay No Mind (Beck), The Go Team's Rocky Theme and Stereophonics Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles). There's plenty more.

But the one you should really listen to is definitely The Coral's Everybody's Talkin'. There've been a few covers of this Fred Neil track, most notably of course by Harry Nilsson for the movie Midnight Cowboy, but the Wirral band really do a superb job here. I've long been a fan of James Skelly's vocals, and though their music doesn't always particularly move me, his 'I've smoked ten thousand fags this morning and work down the mines' voice is always listenable. And, as it turns out, it works particularly well on this acoustic, rueful track. Seek it out and you won't regret it.



PS. Sorry, couldn't find a picture of The Coral at XFM, which you'd think would have been a given for the radio station to do for their website, but apparently not. Anyway, that's them at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, London.