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13 posts tagged Meg White
Video: Of Montreal Cover “Fell In Love with a Girl”
This week’s A.V. Undercover clip caught me by surprise: I would have predicted of Montreal would cover Prince’s “Little Red Corvette,” Kanye, or even Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping,” but Kevin Barnes and Co. opted to rock a White Stripes classic instead. While the quartet did a solid job at channeling Jack and Meg’s hyped-up garage-rock breakthrough, what truly shines here is Barnes’ impressive take on Jack White’s previously inimitable vocals. Check it out above.
“I’ve got three fathers: my biological dad, God, and Bob Dylan,” said Jack White once of the poet laureate of rock, with whom he has since shared the stage and collaborated on an album of music written for unreleased Hank Williams lyrics that has yet to surface. It’s fitting, then, that Dylan’s songs have been adapted by Jack White and his White Stripes, Dead Weather, and other Third Man bandmates so seamlessly — a near-hereditary passing of the torch, perhaps. Notably, Dylan played an important role in White’s early career as well: granting permission for the Stripes to cover Desire’s “One More Cup of Coffee” on their self-titled debut and inspiring Jack’s earliest shows, at which he performed Dylan’s entire first album for apathetic audiences in Detroit coffee houses.
There have been many Dylan covers unleashed by White live, in the studio, and on the radio since his salad days, of course. So, without further ado, enjoy our collection below:
Speaking of Meg and Jack White, how’s this for great Friday news: Third Man Records announced today that they will release a live double-LP of the White Stripes’ final live performance in Southaven, Mississippi on July 31, 2007, two of the band’s earliest recordings (Otis Redding and Love covers dating back to just months following their 1997 live debut) on 7” vinyl, and a live DVD called Under Moorhead Lights All Fargo Night, which features footage from their 2000 concert in Moorhead, Minnesota.
You must join their subscription service, The Vault, to obtain these awesome items at this time. Check out more details, including the film and live album’s tracklist, here or below:
Video: Congresswoman Quotes White Stripes in Gov. Shutdown Debate
Maryland congresswoman Donna Edwards took to the floor of the House of Representatives today to address the standoff that might lead to a partial government shutdown with “a lesson for [her] Republican colleagues, courtesy of the White Stripes.” Watch above, as Edwards quotes the lyrics to Jack and Meg White’s 2007 Icky Thump song “Effect and Cause.”
This year’s surprise White Stripes split was a bit devastating for some of us, sure, but Jack White’s Third Man Records deserve plenty of credit for helping with the healing process: Not only has White begun performing old favorites live again, but the Nashville label are now set to reissue both of the duo’s stunning debut singles, “Let’s Shake Hands” b/w “Look Me Over Closely” (Marlene Dietrich Cover) and “Lafayette” b/w “Sugar Never Tasted So Good.”
According to the label’s official site and Buy These Records (via CoS), the pair of 1998 singles will arrive on Record Store Day (April 16) alongside more TMR 7” releases: two unreleased Karen Elson tracks “Vicious” and “In Trouble With The Lord” with rose pedals inside the 1,000 limited vinyl copies and “Two Against One”/”Black”, a pair of cuts off Jack White’s Danger Mouse/Daniele Luppi-led project, Rome.
Between these releases and recent reissues of the first three White Stripes LPs, it’s clear that White and friends are making good on their promise to re-release their entire catalog over time. Y’know, even tunes originally put out on 45s fetching $18,000 at auction.
Rather than expound on the significance of the White Stripes, mere hours after the announcement of their breakup, or reflect at length on the personal significance of Meg and Jack White’s musical partnership (too soon!), I thought it best to recall a few fond memories I’ve had as a longtime fan. If random events from the life of a dude you’ve never met aren’t your thing, enter at your own risk, but otherwise, here are 5 moments (alongside streaming songs) I’d like to bookmark before forging on into the White Stripes-less future…
White Stripes Cover David Bowie - “Moonage Daydream”
Legend has it that one of the first songs Jack and Meg White performed together, circa 1997, was a cover of David Bowie (aka Arnold Corn)’s “Moonage Daydream.” So in honor of the Thin White Duke’s 64th birthday today, let’s revisit an uber-rare recording of the White Stripes unleashing their take on his 1971 classic at Detroit’s Gold Dollar bar back in the day. How far back in the day, you ask? Well, Chromewaves thinks it’s from ‘97, but let’s just say it was back when Jack White’s “this is my little sister Meg White on the drums” introduction garnered the following priceless audience reaction: “He sounds like a weirdo!”
Sonic Youth aren’t the only ones to dust off their in-the-vault Captain Beefheart covers in light of the legendary avant garde rocker’s recent passing: Third Man Records announced the 2011 First Quarter package for their subscription service/fanclub, the Vault, today, which includes a double-LP compilation of last year’s singles (we’re talking incredible recordings from Laura Marling, Wanda Jackson, Conan, and more here, people), a 5.6.7.8’s 7-inch, and a reissue of their 2001 Sub Pop Singles Club contribution — “Party of Special Things to Do”, “China Pig,” and “Ashtray Heart” — in honor of both Don Van Vliet and Sub Pop’s Andy Kotowicz, who tragically passed away at only 37 in October.
Join the Vault before January 31 for the aforementioned goods, and revisit the early Stripes take on “China Pig” after the jump:
“We went back in the fall and got the master tapes and cut new vinyl masters right from the tapes,” Jack White said last summer, revealing The White Stripes’ plans to reissue their first three albums, The White Stripes, De Stijl, and White Blood Cells, via Third Man Records. Now four months later (and just in time for the holidays), the reissue project is ready for release.
Though they’ve been out of print in North America for five years, November 30 marks the day that all three records — remastered without ever being converted to a digital format and pressed on 180-gram vinyl for the first time — will be available again for purchase, this time from the Third Man online store. Packaging has been updated, too:
Back in October of 1998, Jack and Meg White unleashed their 2nd single as The White Stripes, “Lafayette Blues,” on 15 limited vinyl 45s sold after an early gig at Detroit’s Gold Dollar bar. As you might guess, Stripes fans and collectors alike have been dreaming of getting their hands on one of the über-rare, hand-painted records in the decade-plus that followed. “No one’s gonna buy it at the Gold Dollar for six dollars!” White recalled telling Ben Blackwell at the time (via CoS). Well, not only did all the Dave Buick (Italy Records) and Jack White-designed copies sell out immediately, but those lucky early fans were also making a pretty wise investment, it seems. Third Man Records’ Ben Swank reports:
The first copy to sell went for $800 back in 2003 and it’s been sky-rocketing ever since. Just recently I’ve had the pleasure of coordinating the sale of one of these singles for the stately sum of $18,000. Yes, you read that correctly…eighteen thousand United States dollars. This copy was painted by Mr. Buick and is pressed on especially swirly red/white vinyl.
Fortunately, while most of us don’t have that kind of dough to spend on rare vinyl, we can enjoy the recording itself — albeit on an inferior digital format. Hear “Lafayette Blues” and check out footage of Jack and Meg performing their first single, “Let’s Shake Hands,” at the Gold Dollar in ‘99 after the jump.