Last Friday, The Anchoress aka Catherine Anne Davies released a cover of Sweetness Follows by R.E.M. I missed the first Bandcamp Friday of 2022 but my inbox as usual was chock full of emails informing me of the slew of releases and reissues to coincide.
I gave it a miss this month as I have recently resumed digitising my CD collection. I have boxes and boxes and boxes of CD albums, singles and compilations, many of which haven't been played for years. In the hope of another house move in the near future, I can't face the prospect of moving lots of stuff from one attic to another, only to promise that I'll sort it out "soon".
The Anchoress has been issuing a new cover version every Bandcamp Friday for a while now, having previously released Reprise: The Covers Collection in 2012. I've become a big fan of Catherine Anne Davies' music since jumping in slightly belatedly with In Memory Of My Feelings, her collaboration with Bernard Butler in 2020, then buying the two albums as The Anchoress. However, I've tended to skip the recent covers, partly because of the higher price tag (£2.40 including VAT for a single song) and partly because I'm waiting in the hope that a dozen or so will be collected as a follow up to the Reprise album.
However, I couldn't ignore this one. R.E.M. debuted the song on 1992's Automatic For The People and it's a beautifully delivered song ending Side 1, Michael Stipe's vocal underpinned by Knox Chandler's cello. Davies opts for an even more pared back version, with shimmering organ notes and multi-tracked vocals. It's a moving take ond worth every penny.
Hurry up, though: these cover versions tend to only be up for a week before disappearing.
Catherine Anne Davies is (hopefully) back on stage in the UK as The Anchoress from next month and it would be great to hear this performed live. By way of contrast, I've added a typically great live rendition by R.E.M., this one performed in Montreux, Switzerland on 6th July 1999.
No comments:
Post a Comment