Armed with only a four-track cassette recorder and Coles 4038 ribbon microphone (one of Jack White’s faves), Richard Swift and Damien Jurado got together over a recent August weekend to record their first volume of collaborative covers, dubbed humbly: Other People’s Songs. Given such limited equipment, time constraints, and excellent choice of source material, my curiosity was piqued to say the least, and, thankfully, we needn’t pay a dime to try it on for size.
MBV points out that “Volume One” of the Swift-Jurado 9-track collection, which includes covers of Bill Fay’s sublimely hopeful “Be Not So Fearful,” Chubby Checker’s “If The Rain Stops Fallin’,” “Sweetness” by Yes, and more, is available as a free download and/or stream. My personal favorite upon one listen is their take on Link Cromwell (aka Lenny Kaye) & the Zoo’s 1966 tune “Crazy Like A Fox.” Hear/grab the album below:
- “Be Not So Fearful” – Bill Fay
- “Hello Sunshine” – Relatively Clean Rivers
- “Sweetness” – Yes
- “Sincere Replies” – Oh! Calcutta! Original Broadway Cast
- “If The Sun Stops Shinin’” – Chubby Checker
- “Follow Me” – John Denver
- “Outside My Window” – The Fleetwoods
- “Radioactivity” – Kraftwerk
- “Crazy Like A Fox” – Link Cromwell & The Zoo