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bedsitter23One of my favorite 90s songs is More Than This by 10,000 Maniacs, which went to #25 on the US chart in 1997. Unexpectedly, as I was a Maniacs fan, but this Roxy Music cover was from the post-Natalie Merchant band.
Mary Ramsey had the unenviable task of replacing Natalie as the band was just beginning to reach new heights, putting her in a position like Gary Cherone or the dude who won the INXS talent show, who could only fail.
Ramsey’s history actually made her a perfect fit. She had played with original Maniac and songwriter John Lombardo in John & Mary, and as for herself, she had played on the Maniacs’ biggest hits.
In any case, to me there is no better marriage of voice and lyric. Unfortunately, I never did seek out any more of the Merchant-less Maniacs. Like the Pogues without Shane or the Bunnymen without Ian, it just didn’t seem like the same. Still, I loved this song, so I should go back.
The original is pretty great, too. Bryan Ferry debuted as a Lounge Lizard from Outer Space a long with Eno at his side on Roxy Music’s debut. By 1982, he was mainly just a Lounge Lizard.
Roxy Music were no strangers to covers.
This single followed their cover of Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” (which is another great original/cover pairing where both songs are classics). I would be here awhile if I named all of Ferry’s covers but “A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall”, “Like a Hurricane “ and “Lets Stick Together” are the top of the long and diverse list.
Ferry recently did a Dylan covers album and now as the Bryan Ferry Orchestra, he’s taken to covering himself.
It sounds like a cash grab but his collection of earlier Ferry/ Roxy songs in 2012 as 1920s Jazz and 2018 as Weimar Republic cabaret are absolutely fantastic.
The song became a popular concert cover for Blondie and Robyn Hitchcock and of course, all probably remember it was sang by Bill Murray in Lost in Translation
Of course, the 10,000 Maniacs - for a band who had fantastic and unique poetic lyrics- biggest hit was a cover of Because The Night- which is another example of equaling the original.
Mary Ramsey had the unenviable task of replacing Natalie as the band was just beginning to reach new heights, putting her in a position like Gary Cherone or the dude who won the INXS talent show, who could only fail.
Ramsey’s history actually made her a perfect fit. She had played with original Maniac and songwriter John Lombardo in John & Mary, and as for herself, she had played on the Maniacs’ biggest hits.
In any case, to me there is no better marriage of voice and lyric. Unfortunately, I never did seek out any more of the Merchant-less Maniacs. Like the Pogues without Shane or the Bunnymen without Ian, it just didn’t seem like the same. Still, I loved this song, so I should go back.
The original is pretty great, too. Bryan Ferry debuted as a Lounge Lizard from Outer Space a long with Eno at his side on Roxy Music’s debut. By 1982, he was mainly just a Lounge Lizard.
Roxy Music were no strangers to covers.
This single followed their cover of Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” (which is another great original/cover pairing where both songs are classics). I would be here awhile if I named all of Ferry’s covers but “A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall”, “Like a Hurricane “ and “Lets Stick Together” are the top of the long and diverse list.
Ferry recently did a Dylan covers album and now as the Bryan Ferry Orchestra, he’s taken to covering himself.
It sounds like a cash grab but his collection of earlier Ferry/ Roxy songs in 2012 as 1920s Jazz and 2018 as Weimar Republic cabaret are absolutely fantastic.
The song became a popular concert cover for Blondie and Robyn Hitchcock and of course, all probably remember it was sang by Bill Murray in Lost in Translation
Of course, the 10,000 Maniacs - for a band who had fantastic and unique poetic lyrics- biggest hit was a cover of Because The Night- which is another example of equaling the original.
