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Cover Versions of #1s – Bob Geldof & Sinéad O’Connor

/ UK #1s blog / 8 Comments

As with my previous cover versions post (featuring the Manics and Suede), I am again mining ‘Ruby Trax’, the 1992 covers compilation put together by the NME to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the singles chart (and of the NME, where the very first charts were published).

While the forty acts featured on the album tended to be the hot rock and indie bands of the day – Teenage Fanclub, The Wonder Stuff, Inspiral Carpets and so on – there was room for some less predictable choices. Such as relative veteran Bob Geldof’s take on the Kinks’ 1966 classic ‘Sunny Afternoon’.

It’s actually a great cover, taking the original’s already strong music hall sound, and turning it into a rousing bar room anthem. You can almost hear Geldof and his band rolling out the barrel, while the strings and accordion give it a nicely Celtic feel. I mean, it is a song about a drunken, dissolute character, and so giving it a boozy edge certainly does work.

Elsewhere on the 3-CD album, another outspoken Irish star took on an even more golden oldie. ‘Secret Love’ was a nine-week number one for Doris Day way back in 1954, taken from the soundtrack to the movie musical ‘Calamity Jane’.

Sinéad O’Connor takes what was a fairly sparse and emotive ballad, and turns it into a swinging, big band extravaganza. I think this style suits the lyrics better, as she sounds suitably happy that her secret love is no secret anymore. (Though I’ve never seen ‘Calamity Jane’, and am unsure whether this is a good thing in the context of the film.) One thing O’Connor keeps the same is the way she belts out the iconic Now I shout it from the highest hill… in a manner befitting of Day herself. The song also featured on O’Connor’s 1992 covers album ‘Am I Not Your Girl?’

Cover Versions of #1s – Suede and Manic Street Preachers

/ UK #1s blog / 6 Comments

In 1992, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the UK Singles Chart, the NME released ‘Ruby Trax’: an album of forty cover versions of number one singles. It featured acts as diverse as Billy Bragg, Dannii Minogue, and the Jesus and Mary Chain, and it is a wonder. And something I shall be mining for all my upcoming ‘Cover Versions of #1s…’ posts.

Starting with two covers by two of the early nineties’ biggest alternative bands. November 1992 saw British rock on the verge of a big shift. The following May, Blur would release the first of their Britpop trilogy, ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’, shortly after the arrival of the eponymous debut LP from Suede.

Suede had only released two singles when they contributed this cover of the Pretenders’ ‘Brass in Pocket’ to ‘Ruby Trax’, but they were already darlings of the music press. ‘The Best New Band in Britain’ according to Melody Maker upon the release of their first single (and, in hindsight, probably the very first ‘Britpop’ single) ‘The Drowners’.

Their cover of ‘Brass in Pocket’, is a slow-burn, adding a layer of menace that the more upbeat, seize-the-day feel of the original lacks. Brett Anderson’s voice, though, has persuasive charm like Chrissie Hynde, albeit the persuasive charm of someone begging you for drugs at a party (note also the subtle lyrics changes that add some early-nineties edge). This cover wasn’t released as a single, but was included on a 2018 re-issue of Suede’s debut album.

The only single released from ‘Ruby Trax’ was by perhaps the hottest band in Britain in 1992: Manic Street Preachers. Their take on ‘Suicide is Painless’, AKA the theme from ‘M*A*S*H’, became the band’s first Top 10 hit, peaking at #7.

I’m reluctant to ever claim a cover version as ‘better’ than an original – can you ‘better’ something that isn’t your original work? – but I will say that the Manics’ version sounds much more how I imagine a song titled ‘Suicide Is Painless’ should sound. Despite the sombre topic, the light arrangment and the choral voices of the original theme mean it can’t help sounding like a TV show theme. Which, I’ll admit, was probably the point.

In the Manics’ hands, overwrought lyrics like The game of life is hard to play, I’m gonna lose it anyway… hit home. Even the clunky title line Suicide is painless, It brings on many changes… works. Just about. Of course, knowing now the widely-believed fate of Richey Edwards adds a very sad edge to the Manics singing a song about suicide. Here though, Edwards joins the band in bringing the song to a garage rock crescendo.

I hope you enjoyed these two covers, especially if they’re new to you. If anything, it’s been nice to break up the relentless pop and dance of the year 2000’s chart-toppers for a moment… A very brief moment. I’ll feature some more covers from ‘Ruby Trax’ later in the year.