Rhino’s Got You Covered: Orange Bicycle, King Curtis featuring Billy Preston, Rickie Lee Jones, and...Buddy Ebsen?
It’s Wednesday, so it must be time to take another dip into the Rhino catalog and trot out a new quartet of cover songs that you may or may not have heard before. Let’s get started, shall we?
• Orange Bicycle, “You Never Give Me Your Money / Carry That Weight” (1970): This British band started life as a psychedelic outfit, as evidenced by the singles they released during the first few years of their existence. By the time they released their actual debut album, however, they were moving away from psychedelia, settling instead on a more Beatle-esque sound...and if you’re going to sound like the Beatles, then why not cover them, right? Don’t be surprised if we revisit this album in the future, however, because it also contains a couple of other covers by an up-and-coming singer named Elton something.
• King Curtis featuring Billy Preston, “My Sweet Lord” (1971): Although it’s contained on the album DON’T FIGHT THE FEELING: THE COMPLETE ARETHA FRANKLIN & KING CURTIS LIVE AT FILLMORE WEST, Ms. Franklin does not appear on this particular track, or if she does, then we can’t detect her presence...and let’s be frank: if she was there, she would make her presence known. Preston had a hit with this George Harrison tune, but having Curtis playing on this live performance takes it to another level.
• Rickie Lee Jones, “Sunshine Superman” (1996): Included on the soundtrack to the Fox drama Party of Five, this Donovan cover didn’t get as much attention at the time as the other high-profile cover on the album, Stevie Nicks’ version of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” so we thought we’d give Ms. Jones the spotlight for a change.
• Buddy Ebsen, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1965): Yessir, you read that correctly: ol’ Jed Clampett himself done went and recorded an album for Reprise Records, one that included a few other tunes you’d recognize right away, including “You Are My Sunshine” and “Cold, Cold Heart.” As you might’ve guessed, this was right around the time The Beverly Hillbillies was becoming a pop culture phenomenon, one that also resulted in a soundtrack album which included a tune by Granny – actress Irene Ryan – called “Vittles.” Hoo-boy...
Bonus Palate Cleanser:
• Andrew Strong, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” (2000): It felt just a little too cruel to leave you with Ebsen croaking his way through that Hank Williams standard, so we thought we’d give you a bonus cover to send you on your way. If you don’t recognize the name, you’ll probably recognize the voice: Strong was the lead singer of The Commitments and he recorded this for his second studio album, OUT OF TIME. For whatever reason, Rhino doesn’t have the entire album in our digital catalog, but we do have this tune, so we figured it was as enjoyable a way to wrap things up as any.
