I rarely listen to R.E.M. these days. And if/when I do, it’s usually the early IRS albums. So I’d almost forgotten this “folk dirge” of a song.

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I was not aware The Dandy Warhols had put out a covers album til I chanced upon this. And to be honest, I didn’t know it was them when I heard it.

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I have to confess I was put off Slow Train Coming at the time of its release in 1979, largely on account of Dylan’s born-again Christian proselytising.

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Hearing even the first few notes of this slow Southern blues immediately takes me back to my youth listening to John Peel.

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The Chantels broke the mould of doo-wop when they became the first million-selling all-girl group, inspiring a wave of imitators.

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Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo team up again for the third time with a new album of duets called Psychedelia In White.

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Melanie Safka took a swipe at the music biz in this song, which originally came out as the B-side of her frist hit single, Ruby Tuesday.

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The Brian Jonestown Massacre could always have found a career as a Velvet Underground tribute band if things hadn’t worked out for them. Thankfully they did.

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Johnny Cash recorded this song three times, most famously at Folsom Prison. But there were three previous versions back in the 1940s.

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This deep cut from David Bowie is rather marvellous: a Velvets cover with parping sax and Bowie playing a wailing blues harmonica.

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