Cover Wars: All My Friends
With the announcement coming this past weekend that LCD Soundsystem would be playing their final show on April 2nd at Madison Square Garden, it seemed appropriate that we select one of their tunes for Cover Wars. All My Friends was released as a single for LCD’s 2007 album Sound of Silver. As you’ll see below, that single included two covers of All My Friends.
The Contestants:
Franz Ferdinand is the first of two artists this week who recorded a cover of All My Friends specifically to be released as a B-Side to the single.
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Franz Ferdinand has played it live on a number of occasions:
READ ON for four more covers of All My Friends…
For their Halloween 2008 show, The Indobox played five different LCD Soundsystem covers for the assembled crowd in Harrisburg, PA. This recording is from New Year’s Eve 2009. Source: 12-31-2009
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John Cale, a former member of The Velvet Underground, also recorded this for the LCD Soundsystem single. When it came out back in 2007, Stereogum pointed out that “Cale’s version sounds like ‘Isolation’ off of Joy Division’s Closer, just with a James Murphy melody, right down to Cale’s Curtis-sized delivery.”
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Perpetual Groove first debuted this cover in 2008 and it has been a staple in their live rotation since. Source: 8-22-2008
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PGroove amps up the crowd:
PGroove guitarist and lead vocalist Brock Butler also frequently plays All My Friends in his solo acoustic performances:
Los Angeles band Vanaprasta contributed this track to the benefit album Uncovering A Cure, for APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles.)
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And here they are playing it on a rooftop in New York:
Checking in on last week’s Row Jimmy Cover Wars, it was a close fight. Trey Anastasio, The Decemberists and Jazz Is Dead all received at least 25% of the vote, but Trey currently holds first place with 38.1% of the vote.
A few LCD videos before we go:
Later with Jools Holland, 25 May 2007:
Pitchfork 2010:
A great combination of band and crowd shots from Sasquatch 2010:
The Cale version haunts me…so good
I listened to this song about 5 times today while working out, pondering how I can get to the last show…great choice today!
Vanaprasta’s version is awesome!
I have seen Vanaprasta do this live. It is amazing!