O.K…..it’s fun to finally hear Courtney Love’s version of the Vertebrats’ Left in the Dark…..particularly after hearing rumors about it for so long…..but I am quite biased and prefer the original.
What do you think?
or of course there’s always The Leonards’ version….
Well, I guess I love them all…..great song after all……
Have to hear it at home (Courtney’s that is, been waiting for a bit on that too) but did you ever hear the Replacement’s take on it?
Paul Westerberg had the perfect voice for it. I heard him sing it at one of the last Replacements shows, at the Milwaukee SUmmerfest some years back. And lots of Milwaukeeans knew the song, because hometown boys Plasticland were also on that Battle of the Garages LP.
OK, now I’m home, I’ve listened to it. But I agree with Mel. Too studied. Too, “Aren’t I cool that I even know this song?” and very, “I, like every other cool rock and roll woman on the planet, desperately wish i were Patii Smith.”
That’s what it sounds like to me. A poor man’s Patti, taking on the Brats. Not bad, but she references too many people in her version that she doen’t have her own voice, which, over the years, appears to have taken quite a beating.
I’ll stick with the Replacements for my cover of this.
V’ron, I agree, vocally she sounds just like Patti Smith. Roy had the best comment. He said our recording (Mark Rubel, Faithful Sound, before Pogo existed) had that “could fall apart at any second feel that you just don’t get with professional musicians.” I was pleased that she read the lyric sheet that I sent to Jim Barber. All in all, it was much better than I expected, though.
ahhhhh, that’s how she got the lyrics down so clearly…. yeah, her version is missing the tension….
Well, I’m biased too but I think her version is OK