Autumnal covers #6

Early followers of this 'ere blog will know I am massively stupidly in love with Kate Bush and her weird and utterly wonderful world. I'm not the only one, you know. Now, if I had much in the way of musical talent, I probably still wouldn't really try to cover one of Kate's songs as there's no way I think I could ever do it justice. There are those who do possess such talent, however, and are brave enough to have a go. There have, as expected, been mixed results.

Jane Birkin is better known for her saucy vocals on Je'taime...Moi Non Plus with Serge Gainsbourg, but she's been making records of her own since the early 70s - 12 studio albums to date. In 2006 she released 'Fiction' which contained a rather lovely version of Kate's Mother Stands For Comfort. Ian Black was once the bass player of Field Music. Nowadays he records as Slug and released his debut album back in the Spring. He's also put out a version of another Kate Bush song from 'Hounds Of Love' - Big Sky. In his words:

"The approach was not try to match the majestic original (for I would have lost....badly) and have some fun with it. It has Rundgren pianos, daft synthesisers, a Led Zeppelin breakdown and myself struggling with the vocal delivery that only Kate would be able to pull off so brilliantly. Hope you enjoy it."

I did, actually.


Soundtrack:

• Mother Stands For Comfort - Jane Birkin (from 'Fiction')
• Big Sky - Slug (digital single)