This leaves a nasty taste in my ears…

I like June Tabor's folk albums. I like Oysterband. I like Joy Division. I like covers of Joy Division/New Order tracks. I actually go out of my way to collect them.

But I don't like this Tabor/Oysterband version of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' one little bit. I'd be embarrassed if someone walked in on me listening to it. It's just removing all the dynamics and getting the words in the right order with very little empathy.



To make up for it, here's June Tabor's heartbreakingly beautiful cover of Richard Thompson's 'Waltzing's For Dreamers' and a couple of really good versions of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Susannah and the Magical Orchestra, and a rather more tongue-in-cheek but no less beautiful rendition by Nouvelle Vague. Sadly, the very best Joy Division cover every, Rheinallt H Rowlands' 'Gwawr Newydd yn Cilio' (New Dawn Fades) isn't on the net.







In the absence of Rheinallt, you can have Frente's tender cover of New Order's 'Bizarre Love Triangle' instead. The original is beautifully lush electronica, and there's also an early Boo Radleys version that turns it into a full-on shoegaze noise machine - on vinyl only, sadly.

Weep, you brutes

I'm off home now - the first time in months that I've gone home before 7 p.m. Before I go, I'd like to plug a song I heard for the first time today.

Unfortunately, I can't post The Deer Friend (vocals) with Zoot Horn (guitar) performing 'Waltzing's for Dreamers' utterly heartbreakingly, as this blog can't do sound files. Instead, here's Richard Thompson's original, followed by June Tabor's slow, sadder version - which is still not as evocative as Deer/Horn's version (see what I did there?). I thought I knew a lot of Thompson's stuff, but he always has something more to surprise us. I've just had to buy the Tabor album, The Quiet Eye.

Have a good weekend. I'm calling into the Great Western later, then off to Doves at Delamere Forest tomorrow, so won't be blogging at all until Monday.