As we celebrate five years of Hidden Track, I could think of no better selection for this week’s Cover Wars than Five Years by David Bowie from his 1972 album Ziggy Stardust. What I’ve always liked about this tune is that the listener always feels like the “Five Years” refrain should come at the end of the first verse, but it doesn’t. In case you missed it, late Sunday night we launched the redesigned Hidden Track – newer, better, wider, more social and guaranteed to make you want to listened to these five (ehh? 5?) covers or your money back.
We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that’s all we’ve got
The Contestants:
Artist: Arcade Fire
Live Show: .2 Contamination: a Tribute to David Bowie
The Skinny: Arcade Fire contributed this cover to a 2008 David Bowie tribute album which features covers from The Dresden Dolls and many other artists. A great cover that Arcade Fire has also had the pleasure of playing with Bowie.
Video from Austin City Limits 2005:
Artist: Mike Ford of Moxy Fruvous
Live Show: 6-15-1999
The Skinny: This show, which is available for download from the Live Music Archive, starts off with the members of Moxy Fruvous playing solo tunes and Mike Ford plays this as his selection.
Artist: Old 97’s
Album: Mimeograph EP
The Skinny: Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Old 97’s recorded this cover on this 2010 EP and we’ve also got some live video of the band playing it on July 4th in New York City.
Artist: The Polyphonic Spree
Album: Hanging Around 1
The Skinny: The Polyphonic Spree released this cover on their 2003 single Hanging Around. Of this week’s covers, it certainly is the performance that most channels the glam-rock of David Bowie. The ensemble have also had the honor of performing with David Bowie as they opened his 2004 tour and regularly guested for Bowie’s Slip Away. Video from the Jones Beach performance of Slip Away from 2004 is below the audio.
Artist: Seu Jorge
Album: Life Aquatic Studio Sessions
The Skinny: As you might remember, though probably not because I did not remember until I looked it up, Seu Jorge also appeared in the Life On Mars? Cover Wars. Jorge’s collection of Bowie covers that he sings in Portuguese is featured in the movie Life Aquatic and he then issued this LP with even more material. Fun fact, the translations are far from exact as Jorge takes some liberty in what it is he’s actually sing to us.
