Various Artists - Beck's Song Reader (2013)

In 2012 Beck Hansen released one of the most unusual modern albums - an illustrated collection of sheet music entitled 'Song Reader'. He'd been working on the idea since 2004, and when the artifact was released none of the twenty songs could be heard by anyone unless they could read music and play an instrument. Complete with full-colour art for each song and a lavishly produced hardcover carrying case, 'Song Reader' was an experiment in what an album could be at the end of 2012. The idea behind the release was that Beck hoped that enterprising musicians would record their own versions, and scores of them have done just that, uploading them to Youtube and Soundcloud, as well as to Beck's Song Reader website. In July 2014 the 'Warby Parker Presents Beck Song Reader' album was released, which featured studio recordings of the twenty tunes as interpreted by Jack White, Jack Black, Jeff Tweedy, Fun., Norah Jones, David Johansen and many more, as well as one song being performed by Beck himself. This followed a live concert the previous year at the Barbican Centre in London, which involved a huge cast of more than forty players, including Jarvis Cocker, Franz Ferdinand and Beth Orton, and the handsomely realised performances were regarded as a great success. Beck has performed a few of the songs himself over the years, and these have been collected together, alongside a few other live performances, by Paul over at albumsthatshouldexist in an attempt to construct a 'Song Reader' album by Beck that you could actually listen to, although he could only locate ten of the songs for his project. I've gone down a different route for this post, which is in line with Beck's original vision for the release, and I've trawled Youtube and Soundcloud to find what I think are the best rock versions of the songs. There are a few bands who have taken the project very seriously, with The Song Preservation Society, Jason Crosby and The Jehnny Dopps covering at least five or six of the songs, and The Portland Cello Project have recorded a whole album, while other Youtubers have picked just one song and made an outstanding job of it. I've tried to pick bands and artists that have performed the songs in a similar style, so that the album flows as if it's done by one band, and I'm sure that fans of Beck will appreciate the loving care that these artists have taken with his songs. I've also included a folder of the full-colour art which accompanied each piece of sheet music.  

Track listing

01 Don't Act Like Your Heart Isn't Hard (Song Preservation Society) 
02 I'm Down (Jerry Borge)
03 Saint Dude (Kurt Anderson & Studio 360)    
04 Do We? We Do (Benedikt Band) 
05 Eyes That Say I Love You (Milktooth)       
06 Now That Your Dollar Bills Have Sprouted Wings (Bigmedicinefilms) 
07 Please Leave A Light On When You Go (Song Preservation Society)
08 Sorry (Song Preservation Society)
09 Old Shanghai (Zoo Pilot)   
10 Rough On Rats (Jason Crosby And Friends)
11 Just Noise (Song Preservation Society)
12 We All Wear Cloaks (The Jehnny Dopps)   
13 Mutilation Rag (Jason Crosby)
14 Heaven's Ladder (Jason Crosby And Friends)  
15 Why Did You Make Me Care? (Jason Crosby And Friends)   
16 America, Here's My Boy (Paul Lambeek)
17 The Wolf Is On The Hill (Song Preservation Society) 
18 Title Of This Song (The Jehnny Dopps)  
19 The Last Polka (Discombobulator)
20 Last Night You Were A Dream (The School Of Rock)  

Johnny Marr - ...and on guitar (2010)

John Martin Maher (aka Johnny Marr) was born on 31 October 1963, and originally had aspirations to become a professional footballer, being approached by Nottingham Forest, and securing trials with Manchester City. At the age of 13, Marr's family moved him to a new neighbourhood in Manchester where he met up with a bunch of guitar players which changed his life, including The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy, who Marr would listen to rehearsing across the street from his new house. He formed his first band at 13 with Andy Rourke and Kevin Williams, and The Paris Valentinos performed at a Jubilee party in Benchill in June 1977, playing Rolling Stones and Thin Lizzy covers. In 1979 he re-united with Rourke in White Dice, who won a demo-tape competition organised by the NME, for which the prize was an audition with F-Beat Records, although it didn't result in a record deal. In October 1980, Marr enrolled at Wythenshawe College, and after White Dice dissolved in 1981, he and Rourke formed a funk band, Freak Party, with Simon Wolstencroft on drums. By early 1982 Freak Party had fizzled out, being unable to find a vocalist, so Marr approached Rob Allman, singer in White Dice, who suggested Steven Morrissey, a singer with the short-lived punk band the Nosebleeds. Marr approached a mutual friend asking to be introduced and they visited Morrissey at his house in Kings Road, Stretford in May 1981. With the line-up of The Smiths completed with he addition of Mike Joyce on drums, the band signed to Rough Trade Records and released their first single 'Hand In Glove' in 1983. 

By February 1984, the band's fanbase was sufficiently large to launch the band's long-awaited eponymous debut album to number two in the UK chart. Early in 1985, the band released their second album 'Meat Is Murder', which was more strident and political than its predecessor, becoming the band's only album (barring compilations) to reach number one in the UK charts. In 1986 the band released 'The Queen Is Dead', an album which has consistently topped polls of the greatest albums ever made, but despite their continued success, personal differences within the band, including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr, saw them on the verge of splitting. In July 1987, Marr left the group, and auditions to find a replacement for him proved fruitless. By the time 'Strangeways, Here We Come' was released in September, the band had split. The breakdown in the relationship has been primarily attributed to Morrissey's becoming annoyed by Marr's work with other artists, and this collection shows that he did offer his services to a number of artists between 1984 and 2010, although seemingly not that many while he was still a member of The Smiths. In August 1987, he was very briefly an official member of the Pretenders, touring with the band and appearing on the single 'Windows Of The World', and after leaving The Pretenders he recorded and toured with The The from 1988 to 1994, recording two albums with the group. He simultaneously formed Electronic with New Order's Bernard Sumner, releasing three albums during the 90's, and in 1992 he recorded a cover version of Ennio Morricone's 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' with Billy Duffy for the NME compilation 'Ruby Trax'. He's also worked as a session musician and writing collaborator for artists including Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Tom Jones, Kirsty MacColl, Black Grape, Talking Heads, and Beck, and this double disc set shows the wide variety of artists who have felt that having Marr added to their music would make it just that little bit special.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Hand In Glove (single by Sandie Shaw 1984)
02 Greetings To The New Brunette (single by Billy Bragg 1986)
03 Windows Of The World (single by The Pretenders 1988)
04 (Nothing But) Flowers (from 'Naked' by Talking Heads 1988)
05 Still Feel The Rain (single by Stex 1990)
06 This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave (from 'Behaviour' by Pet Shop Boys 1990)
07 Walking Down Madison (from 'Electric Landlady' by Kirsty MacColl 1991)
08 This Is Your Life (from 'Ripe' by Banderas 1991)
09 The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (from the 'Ruby Trax' compilation 1992)
09 Dogs Of Lust (single by The The 1993)
10 Rays Of The Rising Sun (single by Denise Johnson 1994)

Disc Two
01 Fat Neck (single by Black Grape 1996)
02 Rhythm And Blues (from 'Fresco' by M People 1997)
03 Lust For Life (from 'Reload' by Tom Jones 1999)
04 Milk And Honey (from 'Midnite Vultures' by Beck 1999)
05 Fool's Mate (from 'Crimson Tide' by Bert Jansch 2000)  
06 (Probably) All In The Mind (from 'Heathen Chemistry' by Oasis 2002)
07 Even A Child (from 'Time On Earth' by Crowded House 2007)
08 Enough Of Me (from 'The Empyrean' by John Frusciante 2009) 
09 The Whale Song (from 'No One's First, And You're Next' by Modest Mouse 2009)
10 Ordinary Millionaire (from 'Propellor Time' by Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 2010) 

Thanks to the Anonymous comment just before Christmas for suggesting this one.