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Monday, March 2, 2009

Flannel Forever



I'm constantly flipping through my vinyl and CD collection to find stuff to write about. Today I dug out my No Alternative CD to write a brief post about The Beastie Boy's live version of "It's The New Style". No Alternative was a 1993 alternative music compilation sold to raise money for AIDS awareness. I bought the CD in late elementary school, sometime around 1996. I was a member of BMG's Music Club (remember those days?) and copped it during one of their crazy sales.

"It's The New Style (Live)" is a pre-Mixmaster Mike creation that features some great live doubles provided by DJ Hurricane. Recorded live on a Tascam MSR 16 in Dallas, Texas in late 1992, this song still sounds as fresh as ever.



It's got that unmistakable Beastie feel to it, and I love the way they let the beat breath for nearly 30 seconds before they start kicking their verses. Short but sweet, this is essential listening, even for non-Beastie fans.



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It's The New Style (Live)- The Beastie Boys

After listening to The Beastie Boys track I decided to revisit some other tracks on the album that caught my eye. The first one I played was Uncle Tupelo's "Effigy". Originally performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Uncle Tupelo successfully made a cover that is on par, if not better, than the original. While I personally like 90's "alternative" music, a good percentage of it doesn't quite translate like it used to. This song, however, sounds even better than I remember it sounding years ago.



Uncle Tupelo is a band that, according to my friend Wikipedia, is known as "one of the founders of the alternative country genre". They are also well known for spawning the bands Wilco and Son Volt.



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Effigy- Uncle Tupelo

As a bonus treat I've included the hidden track from my version of No Alternative, "Verse Chorus Verse" by Nirvana. This is an often overlooked track by one of my favorite bands.



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Verse Chorus Verse- Nirvana

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