How well do you know the sound of a band you like? If I told you to check out the new song by Death Cab For Cutie, would you be interested to check out this link?
I don’t know how to disguise this video – so I’ll just tell you, it’s not DCFC – It’s a band called Velveteen. A blogger named Joe Berkowitz was fooled by another blogger who claimed to have a leak of the last DCFC album, Narrow Stairs. But in fact, aside from actually containing the single “I Will Possess Your Heart,” the “leak” actually was music by the band Velveteen.
Read here.
To Mr. Berkowitz’s credit, he does refer to himself as a “jackass,” and further, I certainly hear the similarity between DCFC and Velveteen. But then, he also goes on to say, “the rest of the album hit all major points on The Death Cab For Cutie Sound checklist.” Now does it? Does it really?
The writer’s byline is vague, but it’s my feeling that if he really thought this music was by Death Cab, then he has no business writing about music. Despite the similarities, he can’t hear the difference between the vocalists? What about the drumming? Death Cab’s drummer, to me, is very distinctive because he plays some very technical stuff and lays down a deep pocket, deeper than the casual listener might realize. But then, it says he’s an “assistant editor,” so for all I know, his gig is reading manuscripts from the slush pile for a publisher of romance novels.
This person listened to the wrong album for 16 months, and apparently thought it was great. Do you think you could listen to an album for that stretch of time, not realizing that you were actually listening to something else? Really, I want to know.
No. No way. As a historian, I’m always interested in context and would have done a little research.
almost 10 years ago, my wife and I were on our honeymoon in the Abruzze region of Italy. My wife’s family is from there and we reconnected with the side of her family that never left.
Well most of them spoke no english and we speak no Italian, so we had to wing it with translation dictionaries, hand gestures, and high school French and Spanish.
One day Giuseppe, my wife’s cousin’s husband, took us for a ride to their national park which was amazing; winding hills, animals, olive trees, amazing.
Half way through our day, Giuseppe pulls an old 80’s looking TDK cassette out of the glove compartment. He holds it up and i can see that it has “grand funk” written on it in pen.
He says with mucho macho, “Le Grand Funk!” I said “go for it!”
Well he popped that cassette in and on came Cat Stevens’ Greatest Hits.
I didn’t say a word.
I could totally see RTH critic KingEd falling for something like that. (Ed, how are you coming along with that backlog of reviews?)
Hey, shawnkilroy, my maternal grandmother’s side is from Abruzzo, the towns of L’Aquila and Termine, specifically. We visit relatives there every few years. Most of them live in Rome but still own their ancestral homes. Nothing beats a few days spent in the mountains. That national park is awesome! The Grand Funk/Cat Stevens story is awesome too. My Italian is good enough to enable me to wash dishes in a restaurant and be thought of as the “dumb foreigner,” but man, I’ve found it’s tough understanding a native Italian speaker who’s trying to tell me she loves Neil Young.
Lanciano and Pescada.
I need to get back there.
I think this is a symptom of music overload. It’s harder to sound distinctive now, and it’s harder for the listener to distinguish among the many songs that are passing through his or her head.
The answer to your question is obviously it depends on how familiar you are with the artist. I wouldn’t know DCFC if it peed on my foot, so I could definitely listen to an album by Velveteen thinking it was them. But if it was some artist I was intimate with, I doubt it, though I do remember the first time I heard Japan on the radio I went to the record store looking for the new Roxy Music album.
you heard Japan on the radio?!?
did you grow up in England?
shawnkilroy, that grand funk story is fantastic
College radio.
duh
of course.
OK, it’s confession time.
The first time I heard Night Moves, and for several days or weeks following, I honestly thought the singer was Ray Charles. I was a youngster with barely a blade of grass on the infield, but I would have bet any amount of money it was Brother Ray.
When the deejay informed me I was wrong, I was crushed. This is my first telling of that experience and I feel a tremendous weight lifted from my shoulders.
Thank you, RTH!
Huh. First time I heard “Night Moves” I thought it was Joe Cocker. I kid you not. I think I was maybe 11 or 12.
The first time I heard Night Moves, was at the drive in with my parents watching Ralph Bakshi’s American Pop.
I thought that blonde cartoon sang it.
I can’t really imagine that because I don’t steal my music, so I have the cover to look at. It’s hard to not know what you’re listening to when you have the cover. My kids like some Death Cab, and I wasn’t impressed and tuned it right out, so I’d believe someone that said I was listening to them and switching it with Velveteen, which I couldn’t tell from anything because I’ve never heard of them.
In the vinyl bootleg days, someone put Brown Eyed Girl and a Shadows of Knight song on a record and attributed them to The Stones. How can anyone think Van Morrison sounds like Mick Jagger? Once mp3’s made bootleg recordings impossible to check on, I must have had thirty people send me those songs. The Shadows of Knight song was supposed to be the studio version of Let It Rock, and man, it doesn’t sound like The Stones to me. I still get people asking me if I’ve heard them.
Looking through my nephew’s iPod a few years ago, I noticed a whole bunch of songs where the artist was misidentified. Most of the songs were pop one hit wonder type stuff from the 80s so I’m not sure why it even bothered me, but it did.
When I used to hear Piano Man on WIP I always though it was a woman singing the higher parts (“He said son can you play me a melody…”).
I think the mislabeling of “shared” information may be the very thing that turned me off to the whole download revolution. It wasn’t until very recently that I got an iPod and I’ll admit that I have fallen for its many charms. I remember the whole Napster thing and it always bothered me that Stan Bush (“You’ve Got The Touch”) could be labeled as “Van Halen.” There’s NOTHING about that that sounds anything like Van Halen. All those “dirty” Weird Al songs also bother me.
TB
Owl City’s “Fireflies” caused a big ruckus because a lot people thought it was Death Cab or Postal Service when they first heard it and then got ticked off, because they were fooled. I’ve never seen so much “indie” negativity aimed at an artist before. The dude in Owl City got the last laugh, though!
sonny wrote:
Thank YOU, RTH, for the expressions you continue to teach me!
Remember when Klaatu was The Beatles?
That was funny!
But for 16 months, to say this was an album that you absolutely loved? I find that to be a bit ridiculous.
When Napster was happening, I went searching for XTC oddities, such as the Jules Verne Sketchbook. I did find some interesting things (since made available in “official” releases) but one piece was a particularly interesting instrumental, very electronic in nature, with samples that seemed to be from American newscasts. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Andy Partridge could create such a thing. But even from the get-go, I was suspicious, and rightfully so.
That Grand Funk story *is* great. But I think introducing a language barrier into the equation gives the duped listener a huge pass.
Clearly Mr. Berkowitz is not of the caliber of music listening brethren whom I believe frequent this site. For him to have been fooled – ok, an error, but not a substantial one. But to have believed, for such a long time, that the band was DCFC suggests that he does not have the level of persnickety exploration that is required of a true music fan. Where is the obsession? The quest? Let’s just say I was disappointed.
I once had a tape that I copied from another friend, and it was clear that she had copied over something else in her dilettante maneuvering. The last 2 songs were fabulous, but when I asked her what they were, she had no idea as they represented the last of the taped over album. It has taken me over 20 years to search out those songs, both early James. Can I tell you the titles off the top of my head? No, I am a slacker. But I can tell you that they are not DCFC.
Lastly, I see a post that needs to be done of misheard lyrics. Shall we start one? One of my favorites: My brother thinking that Wings’ “Live and Let Die” actually says, “Little Red Guy.” Hmmm.
ladymisskirroyale, thanks for suggesting a new thread. I’m going to bring your suggestion to The Main Stage and we can take it up from there. If you’re interested in contributing new threads in the future, stay tuned: I’ll contact you offlist to discuss. This IS your Rock Town Hall.
I know there are a few Beatles “outfakes” that have been around for many years now – songs that people were convinced were lost Beatles demos or outtakes. The only one that comes to mind right now is alternately called “Peace of Mind” or “The Candle Burns”, maybe the most well known of these. I don’t think it was ever established who actually did it or how it came to be passed off as a lost Beatles song.
i’m now writing a song called “dilettante maneuvering”.