She had an horror of rooms she was tired...
Thanks to the generosity of BowieNetter Leah Kardos (girlstardust), I've had the privilege to see this wonderful project blossom from humble beginnings over the last year or so.
If you want to get straight to it and see and hear what You Can't Hide Beat by My Lithium & Me is all about, click on the splendid Rex Ray-designed cover above to reach the dedicated website.
While you're there you can also check out photographic Valentine's Day messages for David among all the other things to savour on the site.
If you want to read a bit (quite a bit actually) regarding the genesis of the project and how it developed, keep reading, as BowieNetter Liz Tray (LizT) has kindly told the story from start to finish from the viewpoint of her own close involvement.
Over to you Liz...
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This cast of characters, and the miraculous tale that follows, starts with a gent called Phil (aka Bnetter iforgot). Last February he asked Leah (girlstardust) to play a set of Bowie covers at his 40th birthday party. Being a singer, composer (not to mention full-time Music Technology lecturer and PhD student), and all-round good sport, she said yes. A year later she has, inexplicably, delivered what is, I think, the best collection of Bowie covers ever created, with an accompanyingwebsite, Facebook, Twitter, and video, having enlisted the expertise of half a dozen people, including former Bnetters (Izzy Foster aka f0ld), and current ones (Rexer). Let me explain.
Covers are, as the football saying goes, on a hiding to nothing. If the originals, as in this case, are perfection, what?s the point in redoing them? They could end up as faintly embarrassing fan karaoke or slavish note-for-note recreations of the original that end up on a compilation album. Covers are, most often, at best, expressions of devotion or, at worst, painful on the ear; and the compilation album culprits offer nothing more than shameless self-promotion. Then there are the covers that ditch the music, or change the lyrics, and are so desperate to be different from the original they come off as pretentious and lose the magic that the song put out there in the first place. Are they trying to make you remember how you felt when you first heard them? Or are they trying to challenge your memories?
It?s rare that the outcome provides a new experience that reaches out to you, catching your attention, and even making you smile. Even more rare is witnessing an outcome that makes the performer feel an increased appreciation of the original material, test how far creative boundaries can be pushed, learn about the working process and bend the perceptions of these much-loved songs. And, finally, even if its original purpose was just to have a laugh, it?s remarkable that the finished product is also able to genuinely illuminate the gifts that the performer/creator has and wants to convey to the listener. Well, she?s achieved all of it. These songs are passionate, cheeky, heartfelt, original, dark, light and filled with inspiration.
When Phil asked Leah to perform at his birthday she put together a package of songs to try and please a roomful of Bnetters who, at playing time, would be slightly, well, merry from the drink. It would have been easy to initiate some kind of singalong, play it safe. But that?s not her. If you?re a true artist you follow your heart, you do something that excites you and, if other people like it, great. If they're horrified, at least that?s a reaction. Indifference is the enemy and, believe me, you will not be indifferent when you hear these songs.
On the day of the party she stood in my flat, plugged her Mac into my speakers, with the rudimentary backings already created in her home studio, plugged her keytar into the Mac and sang. We laughed. Most people, we predicted, would love it, and some might well hate it: it was a risk worth taking. The gig went great, and, to her surprise, some people came (by then, staggered) up to her and said they?d love to own MP3s of the tracks. So, a little plan formed. During her well-deserved and coveted school holidays, last July, I went up to Bedford and helped record her vocals in the home studio. I had no clue what I was doing, of course, but it was a pleasure to be present, and we got the job done.
I remember sitting at the desk, in the dimly lit room, pictures of icons (musical, not religious) all around, with her in the booth next door, thinking, my god, this sounds fantastic, as the Logic patterns unfolded in front of me. Three songs were done on the first night, three on the second, all with whisky as an accompaniment. Good for the voice you know. After the second set was done, as it was getting light outside, we went downstairs and watched the Glass Spider DVD. It was, at that point, supposed to be a little project that would produce a few tunes, just for fans. The week after the recording, her artist friend, Kristian Purcell made her up like Screaming Lord Byron and took the cover photograph. It was, at that stage, what we have come to call a bedroom DIY project.
Then, at the end of August, I had a bit of a crazy idea. The songs, even in demo form, were turning out so well I wanted to bump it all up a bit. The project deserved it, she deserved it: so I popped off an email to my mate Rex Ray (you know, that guy who?s keeping the MBs alive), a shot in the dark, asking him to do the artwork: cover, booklet and all. He?s a busy boy so I made it cheeky and crossed my fingers. I didn't tell Leah I was doing this, by the way. If he said yes, I wanted it to be a surprise. To my extreme shock, he emailed back saying he was game! Good lad. Having almost fallen off my chair, I called her immediately and we squealed like the fangirls we are. Now this was getting serious.
It had to retain the bedroom DIY feel but become polished and perfect at the same time, quite the feat. Once Rex said yes, it pushed the project up to a completely different level. Lovely Blam would put it in the news and, though it was too exciting even to contemplate, HE would hear it. It was time to rethink and take as much time as needed. In her meagre spare time she started to build the songs up. I started getting new versions, each better than the last. A couple in September, then a gap while real life intruded, since the school holidays were over, then a new set of mixes at Xmas.
Finally, a month ago, she decided on the Valentine?s Day deadline, as the songs became honed into a project to be proud of. Two vocals were re-recorded, which needed doing (oops, lyric flub etc), and she kept on adding and subtracting and rethinking and refining. Now we were getting to the sharp end: the frequency of mixes increased, she built the website, the magnificent Rex artwork arrived (cue more fangirl squealing), the accompanying videos were submitted, the credits were compiled, the running order was decided, and so on.
That brings us to today, where You Can?t Hide Beat stands as the most ambitious and audacious set of Bowie covers you?ll ever hear. Go. Download. Play at maximum volume.
Liz Tray - February 2011
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I have to agree with Liz, this is definitely one of the very best Bowie covers projects I've ever heard too and I'm sure you will also agree once you've heard it. Well done to Leah and all involved.
