Six Reasons To Be Thankful

Be Thankful For What You've Got was released as a single in July 1984 by Glasgow soulsters Sunset Gun. 

Featuring the immensely talented Deirdre 'Dee' Rutkowski and Louise Rutkowski and multi-instrumentalist Ross Campbell, and produced by Alan Rankine, it's a bit of a head scratcher why this wasn't a hit.

Fast forward to February 1992 and Massive Attack managed to take the song to #27 in the UK as the lead of their self-titled EP. The week before their chart peak, Massive Attack performed the song on Tonight With Jonathan Ross... well, a version of Massive Attack, at least. 

Whilst vocalist Tony Bryan is up front at the mike, and those in the know will spot guests Luis Jardim and Steve Nieve in the ensemble, there's no sign of 3D, Mushroom or Daddy G.

A couple of 21st Century covers that are new to me, firstly from Sade, performed at the Nakano Sunplaza in Tokyo in May 1986, bootlegged at the time and officially released thirty years later.

In March 2024, Daryl Hall's long running series Live From Daryl’s House welcomed Rumer and the pair duetted on Be Thankful For What You've Got. There are some nice moments of harmony, but personally I would have been happy for Daryl to stick to guitar on this one and let Rumer carry the vocal.

I've never heard of Orgōne before and I only discovered whilst looking for a clip of Massive Attack performing Be Thankful for What You Got. An unintended slight as they've released at least fifteen albums in the last quarter of a century.

Their nine-minute live in the studio take was recorded in Los Angeles a few weeks before the USA went into lockdown due to the COVID pandemic. 

To finish, what else but the original version, written and recorded by William DeVaughn?

The single got to #31 in July 1974, with a new, more uptempo version peaking at #44 in October 1980. Proof that even William himself couldn't top his first go and to emphasise that point, I've gone for the full seven-minute album version from 1974, for which we should all be thankful.

 

Wanted Too Much To Say No, No, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

One of the greatest pair of songs ever committed to 7" vinyl? Chris Bell's single, I Am The Cosmos b/w You And Your Sister, was released in 1978 and proved to be the only post-Big Star recordings issued in his lifetime. Tragically, by the end of the year, Chris lost his life in a car accident. A posthumous album called I Am The Cosmos, compiling these and other unreleased songs, came out in 1992. 

 

As a teenager in the 1980s, I didn't have a clue about any of this. My brother one day brought home a cassette called It'll End In Tears by This Mortal Coil. I was struck by the cover image and even more so by the music within, which in turn was my introduction to the music of Tim Buckley, Roy Harper and Big Star. 

 

I bought This Mortal Coil's second album, Filigree & Shadow, and pretty much thought that was it for 4AD founder Ivo-Watts Russell's collective. In 1991, I was walking past a record shop in Perth, Western Australia and was surprised to see This Mortal Coil's logo atop a striking image of cover star Pallas Citroen's face, eyes following me as I walked past. Of course, I had to go in and have a look.

 

I didn't buy the album until I was back home in England later that year but it included covers of both sides of Chris' single. I Am The Cosmos is recreated as a duet between Deirdre Rutkowski and Dominic Appleton.

 

It's good but, discovering the original I Am The Cosmos via a freebie CD with Uncut magazine the following year (to promote the posthumous album of the same name), Chris Bell's version is unbeatable.

I didn't hear Chris' version of You And Your Sister until a few years later. It's a beautifully simple yet nuanced performance, even more so with Alex Chilton's backing vocals. But...

 

Not just because I heard it first - and repeatedly over a relatively short period of time - but This Mortal Coil's version absolutely, unequivocally nails it. And it's all down to Kim Deal's heart-wrenching lead vocal, wonderfully supported by Tanya Donnelly's harmonies. It gets me every time. 

Others have tried - and failed - to capture the magic of You And Your Sister. Whale did a frankly awful version of the song in 1995, made even worse with a misplaced (and missed-the-point) rap from Leafnuts. Thankfully, this was relegated to a B-side. Not recommended but if you really must...

 

However, whilst it again doesn't match the sheer beauty of This Mortal Coil or Chris Bell's version, there is another cover that I like, which I'm sharing here in a live version from last December because... well, just because.