Tune du Jour: “Wave of Mutilation” – The Pixies
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Kristin Hersh vs. Naht vs. OK Go
VOTE, COMMENT, then do SOMETHING ELSE EQUALLY AS SUBSTANTIAL
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Everybody’s Dressin’ Funny … Cover Me Impressed!
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The Original
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The Pixies:
Nice stripped down acoustic version by Black Francis:
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THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
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Kristin Hersh vs. Naht vs. OK Go
It was tough picking the three contestants for this song. There are quite a few strong covers of this most excellent of songs.
Kristin Hersh:
Naht:
OK Go:
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Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!?
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Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
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cover me impressed 
I was majorly into the Pixies, back in the day. I find that I really can’t listen to their stuff easily now. It’s excellent stuff, but it really does sound dated. It’s so ’90’s. This is a great song, and I do think an acoustic style is more suited for it. I think Black Francis’s acoustic song is superior to the original. Of the covers, Kristen Hirsh’s version is terrific. She really nails it.
The Pixies first three efforts (Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and Doolittle) were and still are spectacular. And while I do not queue-up and Pixies as much as I should these days, when I hear them I’m always exciting, leaving me to wonder why I don’t listen to them more regularly.
Arnie, since you like Kristin’s version, I suggest you search her out on YT. There are a few live versions she does with Black Francis of Wave of Mutilation.
It’s interesting, while I have found a dearth of great Pixies’ covers there is no shortage of good to great covers of Wave of Mutilation. I limit my posts to 3 covers and it was really hard choosing between the OK Go cover and another live version by Rhett Miller with Joey Santiago. They are similar, slow acoustic versions of the song so I decided to include only one. But Rhett and Joey’s version will definitely make its way onto the blog in the near future.
I have a thing for stripped down, acoustic versions of songs that were originally raging, foot-stompers. I’ve written this a few times this week but again I like all three covers a lot. But the OK Go version stood out to me as superlative. Just a great unplugged take. Probably the best two-man guitar with a xylophone accompaniment that I’ve ever heard! Here’s another version of OK Go’s Wave of Mutilation, which has better vocals but, alas, you lose the xylophone 😦