Everyone knows WFMU, or should: the pride of New York-area independent radio, based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and broadcasting at 91.1 on your FM dial, as well as at wfmu.org. WFMU is a rare jewel of the airwaves for many reasons, not the least of which is how it’s supported entirely by listeners—not by a university, not by advertisers, not by sponsors. As a result, the station has to stage several fund-raising stunts, and luckily, they do so with the same dedication to fun and music that drives the rest of their programming. This year’s fund-raising marathon starts February 20th, and as an enticement, the station’s d.j. Michael Shelley has created a special tribute album in which contemporary rock and pop artists cover their favorite Top 40 hits from the seventies. All songs were recorded for the compilation only. It’s not available in stores, physical or digital. The only way to get it is to make a pledge to the station.
The compilation is a wide net, ranging from soul (“Come and Get Your Love”) to proto-disco (“Can’t Get Enough of Your Love”) to power-pop (“It’s Different for Girls”) to wimp-pop (“The Guitar Man”). Some of the selections are icons of the decade: the Bo-Keys take a shot at Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You,” and Splitsville covers the Bee Gees’s “How Deep Is Your Love?” But others are more obscure. The Minus 5, for example, try “Arms Of Mary,” the 1975 ballad by Sutherland Brothers and Quiver that was an international success but not a huge hit in the United States. The full list of songs is below. But first, here are four exclusive previews:
Yo La Tengo covers Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light,” though their dreamy, Brazilian-tinged version sounds like a version from Rundgren’s bossa nova remake record “With a Twist” rather than the original.
Another husband-and-wife team, Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby, put a buzzy spin on Bread’s “The Guitar Man,” with Eric handling (or, some would say, gloriously mishandling) David Gates’s lead vocal part and Rigby furnishing a tightly molded backup vocal.
Shibboleth’s cover of Mike Post’s “Rockford Files” theme is a near-perfect copy, which raises the issue of why it needs to exist, but that raises a second question: why wouldn’t you want a near-perfect copy of the “Rockford Files” theme? (In fairness, this one loosens up the keyboard sound a bit as it goes, venturing into synth-flute territory, and there’s a nice little processed guitar solo as well.)
And then there’s the ultimate postmodern Beatles moment: Bambi Kino, a band that was formed to celebrate the Beatles’ Hamburg sound, covers Ringo Starr’s “You’re Sixteen,” itself a cover of a pre-Beatles Johnny Burnette hit that was written by the Sherman brothers, of Disney fame.
Full Song List:
- The Dahlmanns—Ring Ring (originally by ABBA)
- The Ray Mason Band—Come and Get Your Love (originally by Syreeta)
- Frank Lee Sprague—Can’t Get Enough of Your Love (originally by Barry White)
- Bambi Kino—You’re 16 (originally by Ringo Starr)
- Stevie Jackson, of Belle & Sebastian—Rock Your Baby (originally by George McCrae)
- The Bo-Keys featuring Percy Wiggins—Stuck In The Middle With You (originally by Stealers Wheel)
- Joe Pernice—Different For Girls (originally by Joe Jackson)
- Yo La Tengo—I Saw The Light (originally by Todd Rundgren)
- Dennis Diken with Bell Sound—Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) (originally by Edison Lighthouse)
- Paul Collins—Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling (originally by The Fortunes)
- Shibboleth—Rockford Files (originally by Mike Post)
- Splitsville—How Deep Is Your Love? (originally by the Bee Gees)
- Mike Viola—Lonely Boy (originally by Andrew Gold)
- The Explorers Club—Don’t Pull Your Love (originally by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds)
- Jay Sherman-Godfrey—Couldn’t Get It Right (originally by Climax Blues Band)
- The Minus 5—Arms Of Mary (originally by Sutherland Brothers and Quiver)
- Mike Doughty—Take Me Home, Country Roads (originally by John Denver)
- Bucky—Band Of Gold (originally by Freda Payne)
- Eugene Edwards—I Hear You Knocking (originally by Dave Edmunds)
- Frank Bango—You Wear It Well (originally by Rod Stewart)
- Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby—Guitar Man (originally by Bread)
- The Chandler Travis Philharmonic—Right Back Where We Started From (originally by Maxine Nightingale)
Photograph by Barney Britton/Redferns.
