Our very own label has recently released our 5th comp to date. The musical genre we have chosen to cover this time is Yacht Rock: a genre that all the talented artists in our online network love without shame. It is a perfect summer soundtrack and hopefully you will recognise and sing along to the guilty pleasures and favs from this golden era.
The album kicks off with Harry Cubberly’s project Treatment covering When I Give My Love To You: a Michael Franks cover that was originally a duet with singer Brenda Russel, whose part has been taken on by Harry‘s girlfriend, the lovely Rachel Stewart of the all-girl-band Sedona. Together they have made this classic an up-to-date version with the unmistakable signature Treatment sound.
TheCatherines, who are contributing for the 4rth time to our comps, have actually managed to make Paul Davis‘ Cool Night sparkle a lot more than the original (IMHO) in their own very lofi-jangly TheCaths way.
The wonderful Ablebody, who were part of our first Sophistipop comp (I Remember That!) with a China Crisis cover, have completely re-packaged after a 3-year silence, and return, stronger than ever with a new name (Always You) delivering a poised and balmy version of Hall & Oates’ One On One .
MJ(Marc) Elston who used to form the band Bulldozer Crash (a British band playing C86 indie pop) with Stephen Maughan, has turned his childhood ditty Muskrat Love (Captain & Tennille) to a pleasant earworm in the style of the Pale Saints’ “Kinky Love“. Very hard to get it out your head, once you’ve heard it!
Producer and remixer Paul Andrews has tackled our favourite dancefloor stomper Georgy Porgy (Toto): it’s supertight and slickly produced, very close to the original but with his very own take on the lyrics.
Super 8 (aka Trip aka Paul Ryan) took on Steely Dan‘s Peg, which he regretted the moment he started working on it, as taking on The Dan is not an easy task. He was joined by songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Nick Frater and together they have made it a groovy thing entirely their own.
The Fisherman & His Soul had his heart set on Todd Rundgren’s Cold Morning and anyone who knows anything about music knows that this is no small feat, especially when it comes to vocals! He therefore asked the super-talented UK based Ed Ling to take on this challenging exercise and things have turned out rather perfectly!
Seventh Seals are a new project by the Cali-based duo Max Langensiepen and his girlfriend Sara Pedal, who thought that Sail On Sailor by Beach Boys would be the epitome of Yacht. The result is surprisingly fresh retropop with guileless vocals and heartwarming harmonies.
Tenant From Zero, aka Paul Darrah, the man with the magical sophistipop baritone, insisted on doing- Ace’s How Long. I said “no” at first, but he got the mastermind behind The Fisherman & His Soul and Nah… to scheme along, and in the end, this childhood nag of mine was “redempted”.
When The Skating Party, aka Gregory Harrigan, declared he wanted to take on the impossible task of covering 10CC‘s I’m Not In Love, we were all seriously worried. But Corona made it possible for Gregory to give the track his all and result is truly baffling and near perfect. You just have to listen to it to see what I mean.
Nah… were originally going to cover Black Cow by Steely Dan, but The Covid situation kind of ruined that. Sebastian had been working on a Jan Hammer cover (Don’t You Know) with his friend Peter Gaide under the moniker My Shiny Teeth. Originally the vocals were going to be sung by someone who had difficulty with the freaky/jazzy chord fluctuations, so the proposition arose to turn it into a Nah… track. It was an ordeal, but we got there in the end.
Sun Kin presented us with a soulfully smooth and quirkily timed rendition of A Love Of Your Own, originally recorded by Ned Doheny and Lonely Benson + Mr. and Mrs. Muffins round off the comp nicely with the last tango before the disco shuts down for the night with Craig Ruhnke’s Give Me The Night Time.
Seriously people, this comp is shipshape and “rocks”! Support the comp and the bands: their page is linked in the tracks!
