[2018-05-18] John Wesley Harding "Greatest Other People's Hits" covers compilation (Omnivore)

Linda · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:12 pm

Description
First collection of covers by John Wesley Harding, expanded for CD. Includes the Madonna cover "Like A Prayer." Appearances by Bruce Springsteen, The Minus Five, Kelly Hogan, Fastball, and others. First hitting the scene in the late '80s, Wesley Stace, professionally known then as the singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, scored some early musical success, especially on the college radio airwaves with songs like "Here Comes The Groom," "The Devil In Me" and an unlikely cover of Madonna's "Like A Prayer." Over 20 albums and collections later, he tends a multi-faceted career as a novelist, singer-songwriter, festival curator, University teacher, and variety show host. Now, he can add singer of greatest other people's hits to his long list of accomplishments! John Wesley Harding has put together a fantastic release of songs by artists as varied as Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, Roky Erickson, Madonna, Pete Seeger, and Serge Gainsbourg among others. For Record Store Day 2018, a 10-track collection was released on vinyl. Now, that release has been expanded to 17 tracks for CD. In addition to Harding's renditions of songs by those great composers, the new version adds tracks originally recorded by The Velvet Underground and Conway Twitty as well as performances with Lou Reed and Rob Wasserman, Kelly Hogan, Rick Moody, and Elizabeth Barraclough joining the LP's collaborations with The Minus Five, Fastball, Eric Bazilian, The Universal Thump, and Bruce Springsteen.

Tracklist
1. If You Have Ghosts
2. Words Words Words (feat. The Minus Five)
3. Star (feat. Fastball)
4. Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M?en Vais
5. Jackson Cage
6. Storyteller
7. Need I Know
8. It's Only Make Believe (feat. Kelly Hogan)
9. Old Bourbon (feat. Rick Moody
10. Benedictus (feat. Eric Bazilian)
11. Another Age
12. Wah Wah (feat. The Universal Thump)
13. Wreck On The Highway (feat. Bruce Springsteen)
14. Covered Up In Aces (feat. Elizabeth Barraclough)
15. Think It Over
16. Satellite Of Love (feat. Lou Reed & Rob Wasserman)
17. Like A Prayer

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BQNDXH8/?tag=imwan-20

NoPhoneNoPoolNoPets · 17 Jul 2007

A fun concept for a compilation, and one I will pick up even though I already have most of this material already.

Wes has performed a variety of covers throughout his career. I am a little bit surprised that this release does not contain his rendition of "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (which appeared on his studio album The Name Above The Title), or his hilarious duet with Kelly Hogan covering Donny & Marie's "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock 'N' Roll" .

I also have a fuzzy recollection of hearing Wes cover the Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown" on a promo CD or a live recording. Of course, he sings a few bars of the original on his kinda-sequel song "Cathy's New Clown" from his debut album, but I think a cover of the full song is out there somewhere, though I may be mistaken.

Linda · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2018 4:17 am

The pre-order price has dropped by $4, down to $12.86:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BQNDXH8/?tag=imwan-20

Here's the official video for the Springsteen track:

[2018-05-18] John Wesley Harding "Greatest Other People's Hits" covers compilation (Omnivore)

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