New Music: John Cale: "All My Friends" (LCD Soundsystem cover) [Stream]
Given all the squall he's been responsible for over the years,
John Cale's take on LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends" plays it awfully
straight; after a celestial orchestra tune-up, Cale approximates the
original tune's steady stomp, replacing the insistent pianos with only
slightly more laissez-faire guitar twinkle and a little viola.
Cale's shaky voice is the most striking thing here, wavering like a
vibrato note over the otherwise stolid groundwork. It's just fine,
but unlike Franz Ferdinand's knotty take on the same tune, it's less of a righteous reinterpretation than it is a capable cover.
Stream: > John Cale: "All My Friends"
[from LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends" 7" single; due 05/21/07 on DFA/EMI]