As mentioned in the spring, Mark Kozelek’s latest Sun Kil Moon album, Admiral Fell Promises, comes bundled with I’ll Be There (if purchased directly from Caldo Verde Records), a limited-edition EP of mostly covers that includes renditions of songs by Stereolab, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and a title track by the Jackson 5.
Hearing Kozelek, who’s in his early 40s, sing this understated take on the lead vocal made famous by a then 12-year-old Michael Jackson is both haunting and beautiful, morphing the joyous 1970 hit anthem into a kind of hopeful dirge. Stream Kozelek’s solo-acoustic take on “I’ll Be There” and watch a classic live clip of the original below:
Sun Kil Moon – “I’ll Be There”
Jackson 5 – “I’ll Be There” (Live on the Diana Ross Special)