OK, the "impressed" in the headline might be a bit strong. I wrote about my love of the soundtrack to the film 'Something Wild' back in 2010, but I came across this record in my collection the other day and realized I didn't include this song in the post. Perhaps it's because I have never been sure whether I like it or not. I got the 12" back in '86 because I was a big Buzzcocks fan. Ultimately, I felt there are some songs you just don't mess with, and "Ever Fallen in Love" fell into that category.
Today was my first listen to it in many years, and I have to admit I liked it a little better. I miss the manic feel of the original, but I think the lads in FYC did their best to make it their own. And, hey, they must be fans. I'm sure Mr. Shelley didn't mind the payday either. What do you think? Did FYC do a good job covering a classic? Contrary to the cover above being chock full of 'Something Wild' imagery, this six-plus minute extended version, co-produced by Jerry Harrison and the band, didn't actually appear on the soundtrack. That was the 7", which was quite a bit shorter than even the album version.
Fine Young Cannibals - Ever Fallen in Love (Extended Version) (mp3)
Oh, and for the record, FYC's cover of "Suspicious Minds" would be in the running for Mrs. Linear Tracking Lives' all-time favorite cover. I can't tell you how many times I have been subjected to that one the past quarter century.
5 comments:
Gotta agree with your assessment of FYC's Suspicious Minds...I would listen to it over the original any day...
FYC do a good job with EFIL - good enough that it earns it's place as a good cover of a great song.
And thanks for the kudo's Brian...as you well know, give me a blank box and I will fill it with letters...
I have just seen your Classic Album on the right. Have you got/heard their second album (Celebrate the Bullet)? It is very very good.
Thanks for the kudos from me too, Brian, but let me make a disclaimer first: please take everything I say with a HUGE grain of salt. I’m not a music expert by any means: I’ve always been wildly erratic in my likings, overtly suspicious of anything that’s too serious and I use way too many adverbs. I’ve had more musical guilty pleasures than hot meals and the skeletons in my closet – record collection are so ugly and so many that they have come to life, formed a band all of their own and started playing horrid death metal covers of trashy mid-nineties Eurodance acts in the middle of the night (okay, I may have made the last one up but I think you got the idea).
Having said that, I did like FYC’s modernist take on soul and r’n’b or, in ‘Ever Fallen..’s case, their discovery of the r’n’b roots of an ostensibly punk song. Isn’t that what a cover should be about, by the way? The aim should be that of doing something new with the original material, I reckon. Me, I’ve always been wary of those paint-by-numbers redoings of songs that were already great in the first place.
Hi George. Yes, I like Celebrate the Bullet too. I haven't done a Selecter post in a long while. Perhaps it's time to dust off that album. Thanks for thinking of it.
Hi Luca. I am in complete agreement with you on cover songs. I probably wasn't crazy about FYC's Ever Fallen because I wasn't into their sound at the time. My tastes are much broader now... thus, I have come around on this one. Thanks for the comment.
Oh, and Echorich, the Mrs. is very happy you like FYC's Suspicious Minds.
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