29 December 2017

29 December 2017 - Transvision Vamp - Baby I Don't Care

Yesterday, readers of Totally Covered were witness to a cover by an artist most of them had never heard of, of a song most of them had never heard of. I can't fix that first part.  But I can fix the 2nd. 

Transvision Vamp are a band that was a relative reliable hitmaker for a few years in the UK. Their only US hit was not this song, but a cover of a Holly and the Italians song.  This song, their biggest UK hit, was the lead single and opening track off their 2nd album, Velveteen, one of my favorites of all time - strongly recommended.

The song itself is pretty standard pop.  However, the combination of a band that has serious chops and a deep pedigree, with ties to bands as diverse as X-Ray Spex and Bush, and a dynamic lead singer that was not only not fearful of the spotlight, but embraced it, makes the song memorable.



Wendy James went on to a semi-successful solo career after the band broke up in 1992.  This is one of their last performances.  Incidentally, I would love to start a campaign to get them to reform, like The Darling Buds  (for which we take far too much credit) and The Primitives (I discuss the unfair comparisons between TV and these two bands in that post) did.



28 December 2017

28 December 2017 - Sia - Cheap Thrills (with and without Sean Paul)

Do you remember that time that Sia was on American Bandstand?

That's because it never happened.  But this lyric video - which somehow became the de facto video for this song, even though there's an official video - did.  And it's a really good lyric video, that even mostly gets the lyrics right.  As a bonus, this video also features a version of this song - which was a hit - featuring Sean Paul...


....but the official video - which actually has Sia in it!!!!!!! - features a Maddie Ziegler-centered dance performance - and Sia!!!!!! Facing forward!!!!!!  - and deserves attention.  Since, you know, the song is about dancing. Without Sean Paul, it is, in my opinion, a better song, but either way, it's catchy.