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  1. #1
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    Cortez the Killer

    I'm a big fan of this song from Neil Young's Zuma. Not a huge fan of that album as a whole, but "Cortez the Killer" is pure amazing, and is sometimes my favorite NY song. Part history, part make believe, and part magic. One of those songs where the guitars really do give it something otherwordly.

    So I was listening to Built To Spill Live the other day, and many of you know that they do a pretty amazing 20 minute version smack in the middle of that set. At the time I told myself that I'd like to hear it mastered a little nicer, more like the original. So I checked to see if there were any more BTS live versions around, and came upon this guy who has thousands of Neil Young cover versions cataloged and stored in mp3 at his site. So I downloaded 60 versions of "Cortez the Killer". That's a lot of Neil Young impersonators

    And it's kind of funny because I generally prefer cover versions that re-imagine a song, but here my favorite ones all tend to remind me of the original, and I think the original is still the best of any I've heard. The 54-40 version is very good, as are those by Slint and Pearl Jam and many others. The Mike Keneally version is very odd, since in some ways his playing is so different from the original feel of the song, it takes on kind of a Santana sound, way too busy. Of course, all the Govt. Mule/Dave Matthews/Warren Haynes versions sound good, if a bit forgettable. The Dave Rawlings/Gillian Welch take is very stripped own, and another standout, though Rawlings does sound a lot like Neil, his voice isn't quite as good, nor as expressive. Marissa Nadler gives it a very spiritual sound. The Elliot Murphy track has some really nice guitar sound, but the vocals are too up front and rushed out. Anyway, list below. Fun listen, though I still haven't got around to all of them, and I'm sure I never will.

    Have you ever done something like this?


    01 - 54-40 (Borrowed Tunes, 1994)
    02 - Betsy Franck and the Bare Knuckle Band (The Pour House James Island SC 6-7-2007) (FYV6)
    03 - Bottle Rockets (Neenah, WI 9-20-2008)
    04 - Bryn Jones with Ben Granfelt - Helsinki, Finland 11-14-2007)
    05 - Built to Spill (Live, 2000)
    06 - Built to Spill (Portland, OR 12-9-1999)
    07 - Canyon (Live in NYC, 2003)
    08 - Carrie Rodriguez with Tim Easton
    09 - Chris and Carla (Come As You Aren't, 2003)
    10 - Chris Eckmann (Ljubljana, Slovenia 10-28-2008)
    11 - Dark Hollow (Lock 24 Restaurant Baldwinsville NY 6-9-2006) (FYV3)
    12 - Dave Mathews Band 12-13-2000
    13 - Dave Matthews and Warren Haynes (Pepsi Center, Denver, CO 5-10-2002)
    14 - Dave Matthews Band (The Central Park Concert, 2003)
    15 - Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch (San Fransisco 03-24-2009)
    16 - Ed Mundell (Maxwell's 5-24-2005)
    17 - Elliott Murphy (Zurich Schiffbau Switzerland 6-17-2006)(FYV2)
    18 - Garrin Benfield Band (The Independent San Francisco CA 9-30-2004) (FYV4)
    19 - Gov't Mule (Alanta 12-31-1998)
    20 - Gov't Mule (Asheville, NC 12-16-2006)
    21 - Gov't Mule (Hollywood, CA 4-17-2004)
    22 - Gov't Mule (Hunter Mountain, NY 5-29-2009)
    23 - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (10-9-2007)
    24 - Hallo Venray (This Note's for You Too!- A Tribute to Neil Young,1999)
    25 - HeSaidSheSaid (Demos and Covers,2009
    26 - Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons (New Orleans, LA 5-1-2002)
    27 - Johnathan Martin (No Quarter) (In My Blood, 2007)
    28 - Johnny Yuma & Lazy Buffalo (Amelinghausen, Germany 6-13-2008)
    29 - Lazy Buffalo (9th German Neil Young Camp, Krügersdorf, Germany 6-18-2010)
    30 - Lemonheads (Duesseldorf Philipshalle Germany 3-31-1991)
    31 - Little Green Chairs (Bell's Brewery Kalamazoo MI 9-1-2006)(FYV5)
    32 - Los Lobos (The Fillmore, San Fracisco, CA 12-12-2009)
    33 - Marco Benevento's Quartet the Killer 2-24-09 Oakland, CA
    34 - Marissa Nadler (Ivy and the Clovers, 2006)
    35 - Matthew Sweet (Chestnut Cabaret, Philadelphia, PA 9-9-1992)
    36 - Michelle Malone (Sunscream - Live, 2008)
    37 - Mike Hallal Band (Live At Lizard Lounge, 2008)
    38 - Mike Keneally (San Diego, CA 10-19-2003)
    39 - Nad Nelso (Back from Gone, 2007)
    40 - Named By Strangers (Nectar's Burlington VT 8-12-2005) (FYV14)
    41 - Pearl Jam (Pulled the Covers, 2006)
    42 - Petrified Alien Brain (Too Wet To Plow, Too Windy To Stack BBs, 2000)
    43 - Rootstand (Rootstand Live at Blind Pig 09-04-2004)
    44 - Rust Never Sleeps (Bisonpark, Krügersdorf, Germany 6-18-2010)
    45 - Scotty Bratcher Band (Fairfield, OH 6-26-2010)
    46 - Seth Yacovone Band (Winooski, VT 5-3-2002)
    47 - Shawn Johnson and the Foundation Lizzard's lounge Prescott, AZ) (FYV1)
    48 - Slint
    49 - Son Volt (Kamelon BergenFest, Bergen Norway 5-4-2005) (FYV15)
    50 - Stellar Road Acoustic (Alpha's II Joliet IL 11-12-2005) (FYV9)
    51 - TDJ (Fuzz Land Studios Somewhere PA 2-6-2006)
    52 - Ted Matsumura (Be the Rain, 2006)
    53 - The Church (A Box of Birds, 1999)
    54 - The Dead (Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO 6-16-2004)
    55 - The Drones
    56 - The Gourds (The Continental Club Austin TX 9-19-2004) (FYV13)
    57 - Tio Manuel (3 Cosas, 2008)
    58 - Warren Haynes and Friends (Nashville, TN 8-31-2008)
    59 - Young & Old
    60 - Young Neils (Live at Loge, Bergen, Norway 5-12-2010)

  2. #2
    Rae
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    a golden ball of light Rae's Avatar
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    I love both the original and the BTS live version. One of my favorite jams of all time.

    I'd like to hear that Slint version... and the Lemonheads and Matthew Sweet versions too, only because I can't imagine what that would sound like.

    ~Rae

  3. #3
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rae View Post
    I'd like to hear that Slint version... and the Lemonheads and Matthew Sweet versions too, only because I can't imagine what that would sound like.

    ~Rae
    Most of these are live recordings so the sound quality isn't always the best

    Slint mp3

    Sweet mp3


    The Matthew Sweet version is great. You may know, but he has a bunch of live versions out there, including the one on the Goodfriend companion disc to Girlfriend, recorded live at San Diego State with the Indigo Girls. Hot stuff.
    Last edited by Davey; 07-05-2011 at 09:25 AM.

  4. #4
    Rocket Surgeon Swish's Avatar
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    My ears were bleeding...

    Quote Originally Posted by Davey View Post
    Most of these are live recordings so the sound quality isn't always the best

    Slint mp3

    Sweet mp3


    The Matthew Sweet version is great. You may know, but he has a bunch of live versions out there, including the one on the Goodfriend companion disc to Girlfriend, recorded live at San Diego State with the Indigo Girls. Hot stuff.
    ...during the Slint version. Oy vey!
    I call my bathroom Jim instead of John so I can tell people that I go to the Jim first thing every morning.

    If you say the word 'gullible' very slowly it sounds just like oranges.

  5. #5
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Swish View Post
    My ears were bleeding during the Slint version. Oy vey!
    Yea, it is kind of low fidelity, and maybe not the tightest performance. The guitars sound pretty cool, though. Maybe I'll look for a better version. I wonder if there is one.

  6. #6
    music geek Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid's Avatar
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    That exercise is a little bit extreme IMO.
    My vote would go to the Govt Mule version on "with Little help from my friends", though I havent heard all the versions that you mention. I'm surprised you didn't call out The Church version, is that one good?
    I agree that Cortez is an awesome song.

    Cheers!

  7. #7
    Rae
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    I put a few of these including the Slint and Matthew Sweet on shuffle this afternoon whilst getting a little drinky and reading a paperback. They all sounded pretty okay until the Built to Spill version came up and then the rest of them (save for Neil himself) just sounded like amateur hour.

    ~Rae

  8. #8
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rae View Post
    I put a few of these including the Slint and Matthew Sweet on shuffle this afternoon whilst getting a little drinky and reading a paperback. They all sounded pretty okay until the Built to Spill version came up and then the rest of them (save for Neil himself) just sounded like amateur hour.

    ~Rae
    Yea, I do tend to agree, the BTS version is special, and is the one that led me here. The only thing I don't love about it is that the CD is mastered too loud, and so the dynamics are squashed giving it a modern sound. Probably sounds better on the vinyl, but I don't have that one.

    And for Rael's question, the Church version is another long one at over 11 minutes from their Box of Birds covers record. It does have some nice sound on the guitars with more of that complex interplay they are known for, but with the psych drone always building and releasing throughout. Surprisingly, it's Kilbey's vocals that bring it down for me, they just seem lightweight and that doesn't fit the needs of this song.

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