What is the best way to celebrate the 100th release of one of the most oustanding record label of its generation ?
Simply by asking some of its artists to cover songs by other artists signed on the label. That's indeed how Patrick Mathé asked its artists to cover songs done by other New Rose artists. Among the label's few various artists releases, Play New Rose For Me shows how coherent and how close the artists signed on the label were, with the feeling of being part of a large family based in Paris but spreading as far as New Zealand, Australia, Sweden the UK and the US.
No strange at all that it begins in Memphis, Tennessee, the birthplace of universal popular culture, from supermarkets to rock'n'roll. First released on Jim Dickinson's legendary Dixie Fried lp, Oh How She Dances shows Tav Falco's epic grandeur, backed up by usual suspects from Lorette Velvette to Durand Mystérion. Other locals like Sid Selvidge, Lee Baker and Jimmy Crosthwait, with the ubiquitous Dickinson on vocals embody Memphis' best under the Mud Boy & The Neutrons monicker, paying tribute to the all-time classic Bo Diddley written by Ellas 'Bo Diddley' McDaniel himself. What other track can claim to have been covered by the likes of Muddy Waters, Tim Hardin, Roy Orbison, The Meters, Bill Black, Buddy Holly, The Animals, Ronnie Hawkins or The Shadows ? With an innate good taste, Alex Chilton sings and plays all by himself on With A Girl Like You, a Troggs chesnut to be found on the band's first lp released in 1966. Also in love with the British Beat sound, Beatnik Flies' claim of fame came with 1988's Behind These Walls lp. Before that, the band did cover Double Six, another forgotten Troggs oldie. Unsurprinsingly enough, Divine Horsemen's pick show a big Cramps fancy, withVoodoo Idol, a good Eighties rockabilly number originally to be found on Psychedelic Jungle back in 1981. Perfectly suited to Jello Biafra's Dead Kennedys, I Fought The Law is as good as the Bobby Fuller or The Clash versions. The DK were also responsible for diggin' up Raw Hide, a country & western theme to which Blood On The Saddle infuses Californian punk influences. Closer to their contemporaries, Imitation Life deliver a sped up version of The Replacements' I Will Dare, an indie rock perennial to be found on 1984's Let It Be album. Hailing from Sweden, The Bangsters revisit a Roky Erickson classic, also covered by the Minutemen. Probably as legendary as Thirteenth Floor Elevators leader, Seeds' frontman Sky Saxon vigorously cover Rocky's Dont Slander Me on his comeback album World Fantastic, with the great Mitch Mitchell on drums Backed up by his Kings of White Trash, the great Dino Lee resurected the always friendly Pushin' Too Hard, a Seeds garage classic. From Boston,The Count Joe Viglione is some sort of local heroe knowing where he belongs, especially while covering another Boston's treasure, Radio Heart, written by Willie Loco Alexander. Pretty much the same applied to Dramarama who did another Alexander cover with the infectuous Hitch-Hiking. Forerunner ot this incestuous Boston scene, Willie Loco Alexander did himself a great version of The Lyres' anthem Dont Give It Up Now. What's best for fifties rock'n'roll fans than to cover the groudbreaking Bo Diddley Put The Rock in Rock'n'Roll ? That's what the Kolliopoulos brothers did with Fortune Tellers. Building up most of their career standing in the shadows of their Cramps buddies, The Mad Daddys paid a great homage to them covering New Kind Of Kick. From remote New Zealand, via Australia, Reptiles At Dawn paid their tributes to the Lower East Side punk scene, giving a try at Chinese Rocks, a staple of the Ramones and Johnny Thunders repertoire. Warum Joe emulated with great success the genius of Jeffrey Lee Pierce's Gun Club, doing a cool Sex Beat version. With a little help from his good friends, Chris Bailey does a superb rendition of Me & My Uncle, a traditional number adapted by the late great John Phillips, sung in the Sixties by the Grateful Dead and also by Dino Valente of Quiksilver Messenger Service fame. From Washington DC with pride, The Slickee Boys infuse a great deal of energy to the Saints' Misunderstood. From Scotland, The Primevals give another reading of the electro-punk nugget Diamonds, Furcoat, Champagne, a Suicide original, later covered by Fatima Mansions. What a greater cover than Ultra Violence, a Métal Urbain anthem, done by the mysterious Sirens of 7th Avenue ? No way that prolific and obscure R. Stevie Moore could be left over from a New Rose comp, Charles de Goal offering a twisted and Eighties flavored reading of I Wanna Hit You, a perfect way to illustrate the mighty New Rose spirit.