Back in the 90′s, the reputation of soft pop superstars The Carpenters underwent something of a rehabilitation.
This was largely due to the release of a tribute album called If I Were a Carpenter, featuring Carpenters songs given the full gamut of alt rock treatments. You’ll have heard this great cover from that album, in a video featuring the rare sight of Sonic Youth wearing tuxedos.
American Music Club, Grant Lee Buffalo and The Cranberries also featured, but my own favourite from the album was by a Japanese girl band, Shonen Knife, tearing through a monstrous version of ‘Top of the World’. I say monstrous, but it also has a wonderful naivety and tenderness to it. You get a gist of those qualities in this live footage from Amoeba Records in San Francisco from a couple of years back.
Anyway, the good news is that the ‘Knife are playing Cork and Dublin in October, the Crane Lane (for free) on Sat 12th and the following night in Whelan’s, Dublin.
Put those dates in your diaries, all I’m saying…
