This weekend, I was looking through some old CDs and found the following gems:
Pearl Jam: Live on Two Legs (live concert album)
Moby: Play
Cake: Fashion Nugget

The latter two are special because I totally thought they were lost. But no! I immediately imported to my computer and iPod and have been happily listening for days. Does anyone else remember the genius that is “Southside“, “Run-on”, “Stickshifts and Safety Belts“, “Perhaps“, and the live version of “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town?” It’s 1997 again!

Here’s the question, though. Cake’s “I Will Survive”: Great cover song or Greatest cover song? Covers are a difficult thing, and if you blow it, you really blow it. (See, Blige, J. Mary and U2’s “One”. I’m still not over it.) But if you tap into something previously unheard in the song,  you could have something truly spectacular. (See Cocker, Joe and  The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends”.)

This cover is what made me love Cake back in the day, and even though I kinda hated their follow up album Prolonging the Magic, there’s no doubt these guys have talent. And seriously, the guitar and sax solos they deliver? So, so good.

Once again: Great cover or Greatest cover? You be the judge:

(Though, to be fair, their cover of “Manamana” is pretty epic, too.)