Cover Me Thursday #20: The Man Comes Around

I stumbled across the cover version below recently. It was released late last year - I'm guessing it was an outtake from the More sessions and in days gone by would probably have been a B-side. Not that such things still exist.

I'm sure Jarvis would be the first to tell you that his version can't really compete with the original, one of the last songs Johnny Cash wrote before his death in 2003. Johnny's version is suitably apocalyptic, but Pulp make it their own, particularly towards the end when it starts to sound like a twisted cousin of Running The World.

Both versions take on a new resonance during these, the last days of the American empire...

Celebrity Jukebox #68: Christa McAuliffe

It’s forty years to the day since the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members.

Among that crew was Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly into space. She was shortlisted from more than 11,000 applicants… also on that shortlist was singer-songwriter John Denver, who got as far as the NASA induction programme. When Denver saw what happened on January 28, 1986, he was inspired to write this tribute…

Well, I guess that you probably know by now
I was one who wanted to fly
I wanted to ride on that arrow of fire right up into heaven
And I wanted to go for every man
Every child, every mother of children

I wanted to carry the dreams of all people right up to the stars
They were flying for me
They were flying for everyone
They were trying to see a brighter day for each and everyone
They gave us their light
They gave us their spirit and all they could be
They were flying for me
They were flying for me

Although he survived the Challenger disaster, John Denver died 11 years later when his own home-built light aircraft crashed into Monterey Bay, California.

Denver isn’t the only songwriter to have been affected by what happened to Challenger. Frank Turner was only four years old in 1986, but seeing the accident on TV had a profound effect on him. Many years later, he would imagine hearing Christa McAuliffe’s final broadcast (there is speculation that the crew didn’t die when the explosion happened on board the spaceship, only when it crashed into the sea) over the ham radio he’d played around with as a kid. A “silent key” is the term used by amateur radio enthusiasts to refer to deceased radio operators.

This is one of my favourite Frank Turner tunes. The more I listen to it, the more it breaks my heart.

On the 28th of January 1986
Christa McAuliffe gazed in horror as the O-rings failed
And she died, and she died, and she died
For the next agonising two minutes and forty-five long seconds
She called out the truth on a broken radio:
"I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive"
It came as some surprise to realise that as she lost everything
The world was revealed in a transmission so real that she understood everything:
You're still alive, you're still alive

Namesakes #174: Phoenix

By the time I get to Phoenix, you’ll be ready to abandon this feature altogether, I reckon.

There were over 200 artists on discogs who have chosen the name Phoenix. I clicked on every one… until I lost the will to live.

These are the best of them… imagine what the worst sounded like!

 

PHOENIX #1

We begin with a Romanian Phoenix, originally emerging in 1962, and they appear to still be going strong… though I suspect without any of the original members. After fleeing Romania in 1965, they settled in Germany, where they became known as Transsylvania Phoenix for a while… which makes me wonder if some of the members are older than they look. They went back to Romania in 1990 after Communist rule ended. 

Further investigation reveals that founding member Nicu Covaci played with the band from 1962 until his death in 2024. 

Phoenix - Zori de Zi

 

THE PHOENIX #2

A psychedelic Phoenix next, from the UK some time in the mid-60s – reincarnated from a group known as The Scorpions, so we will have heard these guys before, I guess.

The Phoenix - You Are The Moon And The Stars And The Sun

 

THE PHOENIX #3

A Japanese Phoenix (with Western influences), rising from the ashes in 1968…

The Phoenix - Koisuru Ra-Ra-Ra

 

PHOENIX #4

Apologetic Southern Californian soft-rock types from 1969…

Phoenix - Baby I'm Sorry (What Else Can I Say?)

 

PHOENIX #5

Also in 1969, in Oklahoma, a band formerly known as The Continentals were reborn as Phoenix. Later they’d be reborn again as Harvest. Such is the way of the Phoenix.

Phoenix – Every Now And Then I Cry

 

PHOENIX #6

A Dutch Phoenix from 1971, in love with Jimi…

Phoenix – Ode To Jimi Hendrix

 

THE PHOENIX #7

Indonesian Phoenix from 1975. 162,000 youtube viewers cannot be wrong.

The Phoenix – Ling Ling

 

PHOENIX #8

When Rod Argent’s eponymous band broke up in 1976, John Verity, Bob Henrit and Jim Rodford went off on their own. They were planning on naming their band H.R.V (Henrit, Rodford, Verity) with a marketing slogan that went 'HRV - like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of Argent'. The record company ran with the Phoenix metaphor, and three albums followed before they changed their name to… Charlie.

Phoenix - Easy

 

PHOENIX #9

Another 1976 Phoenix, these guys took flight down under in New South Wales – and yes, they were at the Star Hotel on the night of the riot. (Don't ask me.)

Phoenix – Something Happened To Me

 

PHOENIX #10

A funky Phoenix from 1977, recorded at Uncle Dirty's Sound Machine in Kalamazoo.

Phoenix - Smooth

 

PHOENIX #11

French New Wave band from 1979, looking and sounding a little like Sparks, if you ask me.

Phoenix – Magick

 

PHOENIX #12

Proggy krautrock ensemble from 1979. The back of their album sleeve tells us…

Phoenix ‎– Journey From Night To Day

 

PHOENIX #13

A soulful Phoenix from 1980 on Spoon River Records. Google tells me that Spoon River is a fictional Illinois town, so maybe these guys were a fictional band too.

Phoenix - Lover's Fantasy

 

PHOENIX #14

LA-based Phoenix from 1980, though the video below is from their 1985 reunion gig where the crowds were unbelievable!

Phoenix – Sax Appeal

 

PHOENIX #15

The tube of you informs me these guys came from Camden, New Jersey in 1982. Can’t find much about them on the web of lies, but they have a funky sound.

Phoenix - Live, Love, Laugh (Be Happy)

 

PHOENIX #16

Italian band from 1982… not much else is known.

Phoenix - Ritmo

 

PHOENIXX #17

Heavy Washington Phoenixx (with two xs) from sometime in the 80s…

Phoenixx - Snakebite

 

PHOENIX #18

Fancy some schlager? I’m guessing this is from the 80s, judging by the cover shot.

Phoenix - Nur Für Eine Nacht

 

PHOENIX #19

Generic AOR from Orlando in 1988…

Phoenix – You Break My Heart

 

PHOENIX #20

Swedish metal band from 1989, clearly intent on ignoring Jon Bon Jovi’s instructions…

Phoenix – Say Goodbye

There was another Swedish metal band called Phoenix from a few years earlier, but I couldn’t find any music from them, so you’ll only have to imagine how good they were.

 

PHOENIX #21

From Haslemere, Surrey, the 1990 Winners of Southsea Piers' Band of The Bands. Fortune and glory, kids.

Phoenix – No Time At All

 

PHENIX #22

O… no. That’s not how I’d spell, etc. A French Phenix from 1991.

Phenix - Musik Magik

I think that’s how they spell it in France.

There were also at least 8 Phenix spellings on discogs… you’ll be sad to learn that I couldn’t (be bothered to) find music by any of them.

 

PHOENIX #23

German rockers from 1992, lost in the mists of time…

Phoenix - Do You Believe in Wonder?

 

PHOENIX #24

When compiling Namesakes, the first act to appear in the discogs search is usually the biggest name with that name (forget the numbers – that’s just who registered with discogs first). With that in mind, the most popular Phoenix appears to be this dude: real name David Michael Farrell, the bass player of American rock-rap pioneers, Linkin Park.

Linkin Park (Phoenix on bass) – In The End

 

PHOENIX #25

Whereas the Phoenix that I expected to come first in terms of recognition were these guys – the French alt-rock band who formed in 1995 and are still going strong, though they’re most famous in my house for recording a Christmas song with Bill Murray on vocals. It really is too late for Christmas songs now though… but not too late for songs about 1901.

Phoenix - 1901

 

PHOENIX #26

New Jersey Garage House act from the mid-90s. There were a LOT of House acts called Phoenix, so I can only apologise if I chose these guys rather than the one you loved.

Phoenix – Who Do You Love?

 

PHOENIX #27

French symphonic metal band from 1997. The only link I could find was to their full 20 minute EP… thank me later.

Phoenix – Forgotten Creatures

PHOENIX #28

What says 1999 more than some saxxy jazz?

Phoenix – Jeremy’s Dilemma

Nice.

 

THE PHOENIX #29

Bluesy rock band from some where (sic) in the USA, circa 2002…

The Phoenix - When I Couldn't See

 

PHOENIX #30

You may remember David Beckham’s former PA, Dutch glamour model Rebecca Loos, who caused quite a storm back in 2003 for reasons that have been vehemently denied by Mr. Beckham. Ms. Loos (who is a second cousin of arch-twat Piers Morgan, make of that what you will) traded her sacking for a media career, appearing on Celebrity Love Island, The Farm, Extreme Celebrity Detox, Temptation Island, The X Factor: Battle of the Stars and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. I’m sure you watched them all.

She also recorded the following “banger” in 2008. Although the tube of you call it her “debut”, it doesn’t appear to have been followed up. The world weeps.

Rebecca Loos aka Phoenix Feat. Jah Waggie - Your Boyfriend

 

PHOENIX #31

Norwegian singer-songwriter Marthe Borge-Lunde Pfirrmann makes music under the name Promethea… but occasionally she’s also a Phoenix, as heard on the collaboration below…

Xerxes & Phoenix – First Ray Of Light

 

PHOENIX #32

And finally - are you still here? - some hard-rocking Italian ladies from 2016…

The Phoenix – Party Hard

Which Phoenix has been reborn into your record collection - and which ones do you just want to burn?

Here's my favourite...