Covers! Covers! Covers! week continues with a recent release (at least, in terms of historical perspective) by Dave Pajo entitled Scream With Me. What makes this release so special (other than the fact that it includes a CD with all the same tracks as the vinyl) you ask? Well, it’s an album entirely comprised of Misfits covers! All your favorites — if you only have 9 favorites — are there, and Pajo’s interpretations and arrangements are fantastic. If you’ve heard his Audio Tour Diaries (recorded under the moniker Papa M) it is likely you are familiar with his style. In that series he covered “I Am The Light Of This World” by Rev. Gary Davis, as well as “Black Is The Color” (traditional) and “Truckstop Girl” by Lowell George. In fact, Pajo’s rendition of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by Pete Seeger inspired the original “Covers! Covers! Covers!” mix tape that inspired my Sunday Mix Tape feature as well as this week’s installment of this new An Album A Day venture of mine.
Phew. That seemed like a mouthful. There really isn’t much more to say about this one other than it was initially limited to 1000 copies that were housed in nice (but thin) spray-painted and silk-screened covers. I saw these at stores all over Los Angeles right after it was released, and I had heard some MP3s before that, but for some reason I didn’t buy one right away. Maybe I thought they would be around, or maybe I was budgeting for something else around the time. Back in February of 2009 I would have been low on funds as my ex was born in late September, Christmas was a couple months later, our anniversary a few weeks after that and less than four weeks before Valentine’s Day. I remember those four or five months were always hard on me. In fact, back in 2009 I might have still only been working part time. It’s hard to remember. Either way, I wasn’t buying new release vinyl so by the time I got around to wanting a copy they were all gone. I searched for a year, until a user on the Electrical Audio Forum posted that he was selling his record collection. I don’t remember if I had to e-mail him to see the list or of it was posted online but I wound up buying Scream With Me from him along with A Silver Mount Zion’s 13 Blues For 13 Moons, a split 12″ between Konono No. 1 and The Dead C, and Didn’t It Rain by Songs: Ohia. All of those records joined my collection of the 29th of July in 2010. Happy little additions, probably the best of which is this one. Not because I don’t like those other records, but it’s certainly the most unique of the batch.
All of these songs are brilliant, I should say. I think my top-three would be “Angelfuck,” “I Turned Into A Martian” and “Where Eagles Dare”. If pressed to pick one? I’d go with “…Martian”. Although I have not provided a full-album download link for this release, it’s readily available if you Google the title and some combination of “zip” or “rar” or “MediaFire”.
Oh yeah, and the record plays at 45rpm. HOW FUCKING ANNOYING IS THAT?
…for those of us who have to manually adjust turntable speed, that is.
Pajo
Scream With Me
(Black Tent Press – WILD 02, 2009)
A1. Angelfuck
A2. Hybrid Moments
A3. Where Eagles Dare
A4. Bullet
A5. Teenagers From Mars
B1. Devil’s Whorehouse
B2. I Turned Into A Martian [MP3]
B3. Horror Business
B4. Attitude
