Beck has recruited MGMT, Devendra Banhart and Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale to join his Record Club for a one-day, no-rehearsal studio performance of Leonard Cohen’s entire iconic Songs of Leonard Cohen. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Beck’s Record Club last tackled Velvet Underground & Nico over the course of 11 weeks — though the songs are recorded all in one day, Beck unleashes them on his Website one song a week — and now the recast Record Club returns with Banhart in the spotlight for a folky, tambourine-and-upright bass heavy rendition of Cohen’s “Suzanne.”
“As you will hear, some of the songs are rough renditions, often first takes documenting what happened over the course of a day. There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens,” Beck writes on his official site. “And those who aren’t familiar with the albums in question will hopefully look for the songs in their definitive versions. Songs Of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen was chosen by Andrew from MGMT. For those interested, our close second choice was Ace Of Base, which we’ll keep on the list for next time.”
Ironically, back in July, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Cohen was asking for a moratorium on people covering his song “Hallelujah,” so thankfully the Record Club opted for 1967’s Songs Of and not 1984’s Various Positions, which houses “Hallelujah.”
As Rolling Stone previously reported, other albums that seemed poised to get the Record Club treatment is Sonic Youth’s Evol and a version of Skip Spence’s Oar featuring the boys from Wilco. Between the Record Club, hilarious interviews with Tom Waits and Will Ferrell and the ongoing acoustic rerecording of Modern Guilt, it’s pretty mandatory th...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily