sonic youth superstar other recordings of this song

SONIC YOUTH SUPERSTAR OTHER RECORDINGS OF THIS SONG CRACK

The vocals return and we’re back in the land of the familiar.

We are led there by a fairly straightforward descending riff on the guitar, but by three-and-a-half minutes that is lost in a squalling solo hurried beneath a thundering baseline.Īfter a foredooming period of quiet around for minutes, and ascending riff brings us back up as the rest of the band kicks back in, building to a wall of noise that gives way around five minutes in to the original riff. What starts as a straight ahead, catchy alt-rock single descends into and then ascends out of a classic, edgy, dissonant Sonic Youth instrumental breakdown before the three-minute mark. SY do a great spooky Thurston led take on the Carpenters semi-classic, and then just as the noise has faded, in comes the glorious, crystal clear Carpenters version and make no mistake - Karen was one of the most remarkable singers of any genre, any generation.

Sugar Kane is six minutes long, but Vig’s efforts to focus the band pay dividends. Maybe it only came out in Australia like this - my little contribution to the SY discog here on rym. What is sad though, is that James Wilsey in his solo career never finished a recording of his own “Superstar.” And that’s the motivation and gist of it for our recording.īelow, hear the Holy Motors version of “Superstar” along with Wilsey’s live take.Thurston Moore talks Sonic Youth and solo albums They titled it “Groupie.” It’s definitely not a lament. But these were not the women that a young Bonnie Bramlett was writing and singing about in Superstar a song with the working title Groupie. But originally the song wasn’t written by a sibling duo, as you might have heard or known from yer own previous existence, but rather by Leon Russell and a married couple of soul and country music named Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. And then Karen sang it in for the Carpenters. In a strangely similar fashion in ’71, Richard Carpenter happened to hear Bette Midler sing this same song on late night television. The melody was spaced out in echo and beautiful and he was just pushing it down hard on the vibrator bar of his silver-sparking fender Stratocaster. Some years back I saw James Wilsey’s performance of “Superstar” on the internet. Here’s Raus with some context on the cover: Today that latest version of “Superstar” is out in the world along with news of a fifth-anniversary reissue of Holy Motors’ debut album Slow Sundown on red vinyl. That rendition of the song made its way to Lauri Raus, guitarist for Estonia’s woozy Western-psych band Holy Motors, inspiring yet another cover in the same spirit.

Although he was a member of the early LA punk band the Avengers, Wilsey is best known as a member of Chris Isaak’s band - that’s him making the guitar gently weep on “Wicked Game.” Ten years ago he published a live recording of his stirring instrumental version of “Superstar” to YouTube, showcasing those same eerie slide-guitar and tremolo skills.

SONIC YOUTH SUPERSTAR OTHER RECORDINGS OF THIS SONG CRACK

The married couple, who performed as Delaney And Bonnie, recorded the first version of the song in 1969 under the title “ Groupie (Superstar),” but it’s since been covered by countless acts, most famously the Carpenters in 1971 and Luther Vandross in 1983, though everyone from Bette Midler to Sonic Youth has taken a crack at it over the years. The old standard “Superstar” originated with Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell, who wrote it with an assist from Bramlett’s husband Delaney.

Sonic youth superstar other recordings of this song