First Aid Kit covers list

The video above is a  video of First Aid Kit  performing a song originally done by Fleet Foxes, it was taped outside their home  in 2008. The song was their breakthrough video.

The  Swedish sister vocal duo, First Aid Kit has made quite a  reputation from performing covers as well as from singing original self written numbers.  Below you will find  list of the covers that they have done usually as live performances, Radio&TV appearances, or the occasional self produced video.
 At least nine songs, "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song", "Walk Unafraid", "Universal Soldier", "America", "Gloomy Sunday" , "On the Road Again" , "Come Give Me Love" and "When I Grow Up' have been formally released by the group as recordings but most of the songs have not been formally released as recordings. Among their most praised performances are their  three appearances at Polar Music Prize ceremonies  performing songs written by Emmylou Harris, Paul Simon and Patti Smith. In 2021, the group added a whole album of Leonard Cohen songs to their list of released cover songs.

Some of their covers are straight forward attempts at duplicating the original song such as "Crazy for You"- their Heart cover.   Many of their covers are different from the originals simply because they are women  performing songs originally performed by men.   However, many of their most potent covers change the song in fundamental ways such as the "Tiger Mountain Pleasant Song". Sometimes, First Aid Kit manages to  mutate itself into something different  such as in their trance-like version  of  "Dancing Barefoot".

All they do cover  current  songs on occasion, a surprisingly large number of their songs come from country rock and folk performers of the 1960's and 1970's.  First Aid Kit seem to prefer covering acts that are genuine and who lack artifice.

It is quite rare to hear vocal harmony today-especially by singers who match so well together..  The other refreshing  aspect of this act is their willingness to perform acoustically pretty much  alone, and live.  More than once I  have been blown away by their songs-and performances and  I can tell you that a rare thing nowadays.

Note: The act listed in parenthesis is the most famous person to record the song.  A few of  First Aid  Kit's covers were  performed   in collaboration with other acts. A few of the covers are only snippets of songs.   I have listed   72 songs here, though I believe there are a few more. In 2019, The group performed a whole Christmas concert with covers many of which they hadn't done before, but many of those songs haven't been shared on the internet.   I haven't included the dozen or so recordings by artists that First Aid Kit  perform backing vocals on. 

America (Simon and Garfunkel)
Angel From Montgomery (John Prine) 2020
Awake My Soul (Mumford and Suns)

Blue Christmas (Elvis)

Blues Run the Game (Jackson Frank)
Chandelier (Sia) 

Chelsea Hotel no 2 (Leonard Cohen)
Christmas TV (Slow Club)

Chiquitita (ABBA )

Colorado Girl  (Townes Van Zandt)

Come Me Give Me Love" (Ted Gardestad)

Complainte pour Ste. Catherine (McGarrigles)

Crazy On You (Heart)
Dancing Barefoot  (Patti Smith )

Devil in Disguise (Flying Burrito Brothers)

Diamonds and Rust (Joan Baez )

Enter the Ninja (Die Antwoord)
Fairytale of New York (Pogues)

Gloomy Sunday (Billie Holiday)

Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Harvest (Neil Young)
Happy X-Mas (War is Over) John Lennon
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland)

Heart Like a Wheel (McGarrigle’s)

I Could Be The One (Avicii)

If It Be Your Will (Leonard Cohen)

It Ain't Me Babe (Bob Dylan )

It Hurts Me Too (Elmore James)
It Must Have Been Love (Roxette)
I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash)

Kathy's Song ( Simon & Garfunkel ) 

Love Interruption (Jack White)

Moving Up (Primal Scream)  
No Tears Left To Cry (Ariana Grande)

On The Road Again (Willie Nelson)

One More Cup Of Coffee (Bob Dylan)

Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland)

Perfect Places (Lorde)
Play With Fire (Rolling Stones)
Random Rules (Silver Jews)

Red dirt girl (Emmylou Harris)
River (Joni Mitchell)
Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush)
Runs in the Family  (The Roches)

Sån’t är livet (Anita Lindblom, Roy Hamilton)

Seven Nation Army (Redstripes)

Side of the road (Lucinda Williams)

Simple Man (Graham Nash)

Song for Zula ( Phosphorescent) 

Stand by your man (Tammy Wynette)

Still Feeling Blue (Gram Parsons)

Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan)

Talk to Me Of Mendocino  (McGarrigles)

The Gambler (Kenny Rogers )

The Partisan   (Leonard Cohen)

The Rose (Bette Midler)
There's A Light (Beth Nielson Chapman)

The Swallow  Song (Richard & Mimi Farina)

Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran )

This Land is Your Land (Woody Guthrie)

Those Memories of you (Trio)

Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (Fleet Foxes)

Universal Soldier (Buffy-Sainte Marie)

Visa vid midsommartid  (Anita Lindblom)

Waiter at the Station (Willy Mason)

Waiting Around to Die (Townes Van Zandt) 

Walk Unafraid (R.E.M)

War Pigs (Black Sabbath )

Waterloo Sunset (The Kinks) 

Went to War (Amason cover)

We're Going To Be Friends (White Stripes)

What's The Point (Johnossi)

When I Grow Up (Fever Ray)
White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes)

Who By Fire (Leonard Cohen)

Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? (Carter family)

With God on Our Side (Bob Dylan)

"Dancing Barefoot", First Aid Kit's Patti Smith cover played at the Polar Music Prize ceremony.

(This post was originally published July 2, 2017 and has been updated regularly since then as the group covers new songs). Written by J.C.Bernhardt

A short history of the American guitarist, Jen Turner (updated)

Jen Turner playing  bass at the Coachella Festival.

She appears to have come out of New Jersey. She was born about 1971, Her first instrument was the piano, but at some point she was also a ardent drummer playing in drum circles.  As a teenager, she hitched around the country for four months to learn to play guitar. 

   

Jen Turner performing at the Meadowlands in 1995 with Natalie Merchant.

Somehow in early twenties, she  ended up being picked to play lead guitar on Natalie Merchant’s debut solo album, Tigerlily. That is where her  biggest  commercial success occurs with her playing some just  amazing guitar on the album's  songs, most notably on "Carnival" and "Wonder".   Turner  was so good that she was almost upstaging  Merchant. After two years she ended up leaving the Merchant backing band and formed her own group, Furslide  in 1997.

Furslide, which she fronted as lead singer and guitarist  also  included  Jason Lader and Adam MacDougall. They  released their debut album titled Adventure in fall 1998 and played a few shows subsequently in the US, the UK and all across Europe ( opening for Lenny Kravitz on October 8, 1998 in Detroit, they also where the support act for Kula Shaker, Alanis Morissette and Ben Folds). In 1999 they dissolved, not having been commercially successful. 

In 2001 and 2002 she made two excellent albums as lead singer with a new group, called Inner, the  group also included Erica Quitzow, Samuel Omeechevaria and Fabien Waltmann. These two records  were released on her own independent record label, Caboose Music.

Inner's first release was  an EP called Dog Demos in 2001.The demos  were supposedly all recorded in one take.  They released a full length album,  Lovetheonlyway in 2002. This may be her best work up to now-vocally she sounds like Jane Siberry here. The songs here   are  very introspective, raw, confessional and original sounding. What struck me is how the  lyrics kept going in unexpected places. 

Jen Turner  appears to have kept  a lower profile for a few years in the middle 2000’s. Since 2007 she has mostly worked in bands where she is not the front person. Perhaps, an understandable approach since she is a better instrumentalist than vocalist, but a little more frustrating for those trying to pick her "musical voice" out of the competing voices of the band she is working in. She  worked on two albums playing guitar  with Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts.  Those albums are called Let’s Just Be (2007) and Temporary People (2008).

 

In 2009 she was  documented doing  some live work in the style of Inner at a gig at the Living Room in New York City.

Around 2009 or 2010  she joined Here We Go Magic and was with them for their second and third albums. This was her blond period.  With this group she played bass and keyboards. She   produced their 2010 album, Pigeons (released June 2010) and was also with for them for  their album,   Different Ship in 2012.   She left that band abruptly in a airport in a misunderstanding over sausages.

In 2012  she engineered (and played drums on!) the album,  In Limbo, by the group Teen. I can't think of too many people who went from guitar to bass/keyboards to engineer/drums over the space of a few albums. Yes, multi-instumentalists have done all these at once on albums, but to go from specific role to another role-that's unusual.

For a time  in  the 2010's  she  worked in a side project  called Thrillionaire which features another female singer, Henrietta Tiefenthaler, they sang lush psychedelic melodies over German Krautrock beats. She also did  some concerts recently as part of a group called Alamar. 

 

Thrillionaire 

In 2013/she was  in a duo  called  Exclamation Pony with  Brit Ryan Jarman (who’s regular band is the Cribs) in  late 2013,they released a single   called "Pseudo Individual".

In 2015, she joined up with the group High Desert Fires. Bun-headed Chris Traynor fronts the band, sings and plays guitar. Jen  plays  guitar and sings. Gabriella Da Silva  sings, Taylor McLam plays drums and  sings, Drew Broadrick plays piano and sings,   Sibyl Buck plays the bass and sings and  Naren Rauch is a multi instrumentalist.  Jen worked with Sibyl Buck before in the Lonely Astronauts. Chris Traynor is similar to Jen in that he has a long experience in various bands (most notably Bush), and plays more than one instrument.

 Jen makes a short appearance in a new documentary about the Tigerlily album that was released as part of a new Natalie Merchant release called, Paradise Is There. See link below...

http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/nonesuch-natalie-merchant-paradise-is-there-new-tigerlily-recordings-dvd-2015-08-13

Recently, she  produced a new album by NYC trio, American Anyman.

What little I have read about  Jen Turner as a person suggests that she is a humble and kind person with a free spirit.  Her  music career has been a unique mix of  continuing reinvention and great mystery.

 There are rumors that Jen  is working on solo material-here's hoping!

 Chest Rockwell's video upload of "Carnival"-
 https://vimeo.com/218876480

Also at Felpin's Pond: Fanny-the first all women rock band to hit the Top 40

Natalie Merchant - Carnival (1995) E. Rutherford, NJ

Romina Power -A short bio in English!

I first saw Romina Power  in the  movie Justine, and was enchanted with her
youthful good looks.  It turns out she is daughter of  the late American
actor, Tyrone Power.  Her mother was an Mexico actress. Although Romina
has lived throughout the world, most of her singing and acting career
has been conducted in Italian. Usually she sings with Al Bano,who was for
long time was her husband.  He was also  father to her children. He's
the better singer, but she looks more dazzling.   I was  intrigued that I
have never heard of her. (Her singing career was not successful outside of Europe).  In her spare time she writes novels.

This  is is her in the movie, Justine

Rolling Stones Aftermath sessions

Brian Jones on sitar

The first British Rolling Stones  album   that   the songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote every single track for was the April 1966 album, Aftermath.  

This  album came at time when other artists such the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys were making landmark albums such as Blonde on Blonde, Revolver and Pet Sounds. 


 Aftermath was a album that could compete on that level-it featured musical eclecticism,  the usual trademark Keith Richard guitar riffs and Mick Jagger's  increasingly misogynistic dark lyrics.   The musical variety on the tracks recorded for this album is amazing for such a short recording period. This was largely due to Brian Jones,  and his remarkable ability to play a large variety of  colorful instruments.  Jones played Koto on "Take it or Leave It" and "Ride On Baby," Dulcimer on "Lady Jane", Sitar on "Paint it, Black" and "Mother's Little Helper" , Marimbas on "Under My Thumb", and "Out of Time" harmonica on "High and Dry", and harpsicord and bells on "Take It Or Leave It " as well as some  as second guitarist.   Truly a epic performance from Brian.  The Aftermath sessions  is the Stones best body of work outside their classic period of 1968-1972.

To make this album the Stones recorded 21 tracks  at two marathon sessions at RCA studios  in Hollywood in December 1965 and March 1966. Jagger and Richards   had somehow managed to write 21  songs for album despite the fact that sessions for this album came only a few months after the last  sessions for their previous  album.   Their prior albums  had always featured a large a number of  covers of songs  written by other writers.   They had grown quickly as songwriters.  The original title for the album was to be Walk On Water If You Will, a reference to Jesus Christ  that even the Rolling Stones could not get away with in early 1966.  This projected album would have used material from the December 1965 session.   More about aborted project can found here ... http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-rolling-stones-could-you-walk-on.html

The British version of  Aftermath was 53 minutes long, making it their lengthiest single album to date.   The American album was shorter and had a different track listing. To be frank, the US version  was  a butchered- version , a common practice at the time-but it  remained a good album partly because the US  featured the strongest Stones track from the sessions, "Paint It, Black" whereas that song was left off the British version.   Probably the best thing to have done artistically would  to make one double album with all or most of the songs-but this had never been done before. The first major  double album in the rock genre was Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde which was released only a month after the British version of Aftermath. Another alternative would have been to just pick the best 14 songs instead of saving them for singles.  Neither happened and thus album did not make  quite make the same impact as this album could of. 


Why did the Stones record two albums worth of songs for one album?  British groups of the mid-1960's   typically released many of their singles as non-album tracks. British acts of the time also sometimes released albums with no singles material on them, so that record buyers wouldn't have duplicate copies of the same song.  Usually  British albums had more tracks than the average American album- thus British groups like the Stones and the Beatles would often record 16 or more songs to be considered for a album .  American albums would often include singles that were not released on albums in Great Britain thus totally messing with the original British track listing.

 American labels took advantage of this productivity  by using those extra tracks to create more albums.  So thus the Beatles American label, Capitol was able to create 12  Beatles albums  from 1964-to 1966 out of the same body of work that created only 7 British albums. The tally for the Rolling Stones for the same period was 8 American albums drawn from  5 British albums. 

Songs recorded  during the Aftermath sessions and what albums they first appeared on.

1.  19th Nervous Breakdown (US UK single A-SIDE) (US UK Big Hits -High Tide and Green Grass)
2.  Sad Day (Single B-SIDE)  Compiled much later
3.  Mother's Little Helper  (UK Aftermath) (US Single A-Side) (Flowers)
4.  Doncha Bother Me (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
5.  Goin' Home  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
6. Long Long While (single B-SIDE) (US UK More Hot Rocks)
7.  Take It Or Leave It (UK Aftermath) (US Flowers)
8.  Think  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
9.  Ride On Baby (US FLOWERS) (US UK More Hot Rocks)
10. Sittin' On A Fence (US FLOWERS) (US UK More Hot Rocks)
11. Paint It Black  (US Aftermath) (US UK Single A-Side)
12. Lady Jane  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath) ( US Flowers) 
13.  Stupid Girl  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
14.  Flight 505 (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
15.  High And Dry  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
16.  I Am Waiting  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
17.  If You Let Me  (US UK METMORPHOSIS)
18. It's Not Easy (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
19. Out Of Time  (UK Aftermath) (US Flowers)
20. Under My Thumb (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
21. What To Do (UK Aftermath) (US, UK More Hot Rocks

22. Looking Tired  (unreleased)

 - Tracks of My Tears-this Miracles cover is only rumored to have occurred.



Recordings sessions list (sourced from The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones 1962-2019) by Nico Zentgraf http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/works1.htm
List includes additional musicians who played  on each track.
 

December 3rd - 10^th, Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood. Producer:
 Andrew Oldham. Sound engineer: Dave Hassinger.
Doncha Bother Me  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath-version
Goin' Home I  -Ian Stewart on piano; version II with chatter and
                        re-start
Goin' Home II  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath version
Mother's Little Helper I  -backing track
Mother's Little Helper II  -with guide vocals (KR singing the intro)
Mother's Little Helper III  -Aftermath-version

Looking Tired- unreleased track  with Ian Stewart on piano
19th Nervous Breakdown I  -with early vocals and and more guitar
19th Nervous Breakdown II  -same backing track as version III, still
                        with early vocals
19th Nervous Breakdown III  -7“-version
Ride On Baby  -Ian Stewart on piano, Jack Nitzsche on piano; Flowers-version
Sad Day  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano, 7“-version
Sittin’ On A Fence  -Flowers-version
Take It Or Leave It  -Jack Nitzsche on organ; Aftermath-version
Think I  -Necrophilia-version; with  additional overdubs in the
                         last third of the song
Think II  -Aftermath-version

6th - 9th March 1966 Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood. Producer: Andrew
Oldham. Sound engineer: Dave Hassinger.
Flight 505  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath-version
High And Dry  -Aftermath-version
I Am Waiting  -Aftermath-version
If You Let Me  -Metamorphosis-version
It’s Not Easy  -Ian Stewart on organ; Aftermath version
Lady Jane I  -Jack Nitzsche on harpsichord; instrumental (a fake?)
Lady Jane II  -Jack Nitzsche on harpsichord; Aftermath-version
Long Long While  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano and
                         tambourine; 7“ version
Out Of Time I  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano; instrumental
Out Of Time II  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano; Aftermath-version
Paint It Black I  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; edited instrumental backing
                         track of version III
Paint It Black II  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; slightly longer version with
                          definite ending of III; Guitar Hero-version
Paint It Black III  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; 7“-version
Paint It Black IV  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; edit
Stupid Girl  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on harpsichord;
                         Aftermath-version
Tracks Of My Tears (Smokey Robinson) -unverified
Under My Thumb  -Aftermath-version
What To Do  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath-version 

ALBUM RELEASES

AFTERMATH (UK VERSION) Released April 15, 1966 The British version of Aftermath  used  fourteen of the  twenty one tracks . 
 Side one .
1.     "Mother's Little Helper"   2:45
2.     "Stupid Girl"       2:56
3.     "Lady Jane"       3:08
4.     "Under My Thumb"       3:41
5.     "Doncha Bother Me"       2:41
6.     "Goin' Home"       11:13
Side two
7.     "Flight 505"       3:27
8.     "High and Dry"   3:08
9.     "Out of Time"   5:37
10.     "It's Not Easy"   2:56
11.     "I Am Waiting"   3:11
12.     "Take It or Leave It"   2:47
13.     "Think"       3:09
14.     "What to Do"       2:32

Aftermath (US VERSION)  released June 20, 1966
The American version had only  eleven of the tracks. It featured ten of the songs found on the British version of Aftermath as well as "Paint It (Black), the Rolling Stones current single which had not been included on the British album.  Thus 15 songs of the original 21 appeared on one of two Aftermath albums-leaving six remaining tracks.
Side One
1.     "Paint It Black"  3:22
2.     "Stupid Girl"   2:56
3.     "Lady Jane"       3:08
4.     "Under My Thumb"   3:41
5.     "Doncha Bother Me" 2:41
6.     "Think"       3:09
Side two
7.     "Flight 505[1]"  3:27
8.     "High and Dry"   3:08
9.     "It's Not Easy" 2:56
10.     "I Am Waiting"  3:11

11.     "Goin' Home"       11:13

The seven remaining tracks were dispersed in the following manner:   "19th Nervous Breakdown' was released first as single but  was also found in both the US and UK on the Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass album . Two songs  "Sad Day", and "Long Long While)'  appeared originally in Britain as B-sides on  singles,  and only showed up   later  on compilations . Two  songs ("Ride on Baby" and 'Sitting on the Fence") were relegated to the 1967  compilation album, Flowers (released in the US)and in the 1972 compilation, More Hot Rocks (released in both UK and the US, and one song "If You Let Me"was left in the vault till it's appearance on the  1975  rarities compilation Metamorphosis. 
"Looking Tired" was never released .It is really very confusing.

It is surprising to me that nobody has ever tried to compile all 22 songs onto one album collection.  The Rolling Stones do not own  their material from this era.

This article by J.C.Bernhardt was originally published 12/29/2016 Revised February 2019

Emilio Estevez -The Way

..

 I spent a lot of time traveling in Europe, but like Hoyt Axton I have , "Never Been to Spain".  Perhaps that is why I have  never heard of the legendary El Camino de Santiago (The way of St. James) till a few days ago. The road is  a thousand year old Christian pilgrimage   route, that hikers of all faiths take in the North of Spain. The 2010 fictional  movie  The Way depicts the journey of a man on this path. 

It's a simple but inspiring film, that reminded me a little of recent  road trip films The Trip, and Sideways.. All three films feature people traveling through beautiful countrysides. I enjoyed this film. Martin Sheen, of course, radiates faith and goodness, even when he is playing a grouchy lapsed Catholic.  The director/writer, Emilio Estevez, kept the story as simple as possible. The film could very well be the journey of many a  traveler on the Camino de Santiago, because nothing spectacular happens other than an event not shown in the film, the death of the main character's son.  One scene that struck me was early in the film, when Sheen's character, encounters a make shift cross, I wasn't sure if it was the spot his son died, but that's what felt like.

The film was directed by former brat-packer, Emilio Estevez, who  happens to be Martin Sheen's son, Martin Sheen's real name is Ramón Estevez, but you knew that..

Maybe they need to send Charlie Sheen on this journey... 

Fleetwood Mac - Silver Springs (early take)