Version 2.0

Last week; we looked at Placebo’s very different, but faithful interpretation of Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush. This week we’re going to look at  versions, whilst having differences, are also very similar. That’s not to diminish either one; we just need to look at them in a different context. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5cp0S5TUsykE80AbvwBFej?si=QxUzGqEjRGmRcUva5GWvUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmD_HcOcfU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVOuRQPPdoo Versions are done for many reasons. Sometimes, it’s done out of love and respect for someone else’s artistic work. Almost all bands start out doing versions of other people’s songs, they learn by copying, by doing, continuing that process even after writing your own music, is natural and organic. Then there’s the business side of things. Covering a hit by a big artist has its own built in marketing, as the public already have some “brand name awareness” of the song. They essentially want to ride the tai...

We often lose ourselves in the media spin; the spectacle of it all. The idea that the news was a service providing information to the public, so they could make informed decisions(even if that was true if only for a few brief moments)has been replaced by a big top of spinning intro scenes and generic notes,strung into a tune. I find myself having to take breaks from it,to remind myself of the real and concrete around me. When the words literally and figuratively, were declared interchangeable by the Oxford English Dictionary, everyone blamed the flaws of our education system, but no one considered that it was just a symptom of living in an ever increasingly virtual world. The blurring of those worlds happens on line and in our minds, and so our language blurred too. HBO’s Newsroom   written by legendary screenwriter Aaron Sorkin,   shows Sorkin being the best at what he does, taking complex social and political ideas and wrapping them up in interesting characte...

Welcome to Version 2.0!   A music blog, where I explore the relationship between an original song and another artist’s cover version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM Kate’s Bush’s 1985 hit “Running up That Hill” is pure emotion, pushed to the surface. From the lush sounding synth; filling   the space beneath everything, to the heartbeat pulsing rhythm, to Bush’s harmonies and counter harmonies,   all woven together into a tapestry that’s dense and rich. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-mYX0qKkB8 Placebo’s 2003 version is a different beast. Surprisingly from a band, the cover is sparser. This track is obviously darker, but I think a lot of that comes from the empty space that the aforementioned synths are filling in on the original. This empty space around the other instruments makes Brian Moloko’s vocals sound, well… lonelier. The most interesting thing for me, when looking at these two alongside each other, is the change of perspective. In Plac...