Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The First European (Proto) Velvets Cover?

Thinking about Bowie and his early championing of Reed/Cale, I have always liked the Downliners Sect crusher "Why Don't You Smile Now" but forgot that of course, it is in part a Reed-Cale composition. From the same year, 1967, as Bowie's VU covers. Bowie acknowledged the Downliners Sect as a big influence on David Jones and the King Bees, so do we thank Don Craine for the Velvets intro to the UK (along with Bowie). The Sect 45 was a Sweden-only release and Pärson Sound were already onto their VU/Cale drone sound via Terry Riley among others, but this may have been Cale-Reed's intro to Swedish am radio:
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2 comments:

  1. Mikko KapanenFebruary 17, 2016 at 5:44 AM

    Great post, I love this song. Several (mostly garage punk) bands of course covered the song over the years following the Downliners Sect version. I recently did a version for a compilation more in the style of the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t1sR4GISnk

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  2. Papa JonFebruary 18, 2016 at 1:07 PM

    Thanks for reading Mikko. Dug the cover and the others (and the Dave Davies comment on yer bandcamp page!). Frame that one

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