Video of the Day: Elvis Costello, Bono and The Edge, “Get On Your Boots and Pump It Up”
On Elvis Costello’s “Spectacle” show on Sundance, Bono and The Edge joined in on a spirited and sloppy mash-up that acknowledges the considerable debt U2′s recent single owes to not only Elvis’ “Pump It Up,” but also Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” The only thing missing is a verse of The Escape Club’s “Wild Wild West.”
Holiday Video of the Day: Billy Idol, “White Christmas”
Well it’s a — nice day for a — “White Christmas.” Owwwww!!!
Video of the Day: Broadcast and The Focus Group, “I See, So I See So”
From Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age — guaranteed to turn you into a newt.
Holiday Video of the Day: Pomplamoose, “My Favorite Things”
The band that derives its name from the French word for “grapefruit,” then adds a little Bullwinkle for good measure, takes on the Julie Andrews classic.
Video of the Day: Portishead, “Chase the Tear”
Portishead - Chase The Tear from Mintonfilm on Vimeo.
This benefit for Amnesty International, released Thursday for International Human Rights Day, is one of Portishead’s best songs ever, propelled by Giorgio Moroder-style pulses and full power of Beth Gibbons’ anguished vocals.
Holiday Video of the Day: Fall Out Boy, “What’s This?”
Not an official video, but it certainly syncs well with Jack Skellington, doesn’t it?
Video of the Day: Mos Def, “Supermagic”
A boomtastic, psychedelic powerhouse track from The Ecstatic, a clear contender for hip-hop album of the year.
Holiday Video of the Day: Band Aid, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
This arrived during my senior year of high school, so I look upon it as a snapshot of my general Anglophilic pop sensibility at the time, and it’s a perfectly solid Christmas pop choral benefit — completely beats the hell out of “We Are the World,” which followed the pop star choir formula a few months later. (In fact, I think “Just Give a Kidney” is better.) Not a lot of the Band Aid performers still have rock-ribbed music careers these days (no, I’m not a “Fandau”), but Paul Weller was there, so it will forever have the mark of cool.
As a footnote, the part that Paul Young sang at the beginning was written for David Bowie to sing, but scheduling issues forced Bob Geldof to sub-in Mr. Young. Bowie did sing it at Live Aid the following summer, and my sense is that the original single would have much more solid legs if Bowie had made it on time for the recording session. Subsequent re-recordings have been total wastes of time.
Video of the Day: The Rural Alberta Advantage, “Drain the Blood”
A nice, compact, three-minute paranoia dramedy from the Toronto-based trio’s debut disc, Hometowns. See them at the Conservatory tomorrow night.
Video of the Day: The Fiery Furnaces, “Even in the Rain”
Eleanor puts her motorcycle boots on to play Peter Fonda in the scrupulously footnoted, “Easy Rider”-inspired clip.
