It’s June — we are now almost officially half-way through the year. Thus far – and not surprisingly – Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest is, at present, ranking as my favorite release of 2009. The week of its release (May 26th) the album landed on the Billboard top 10, charting at number 8, with over 33k units sold. An impressive feat for a band described by the mainstream music media as ‘art-rock.’ If you have allowed the contrarian in you to ignore Grizzly Bear up to this point, perhaps in response to the massive hype, take a breath and do check them out both on record and in a live setting. They are presently touring the United States. As album experiences go, both Veckatimest and 2006’s Yellow House are nothing short of stunning — rewarding the patient with something unique upon every listen.
While working on my Sirius/XM show last week I dug out Grizzly Bear’s primitive cover of Yes’s “Owner of A Lonely Heart” from the 2006 Sorry For The Delay stop-gap collection (originally a vinyl only release). If nothing else the track highlights the contrast between Grizzly Bear 1.0 (read: Ed Droste) and the lush production/collaboration found as a full band with the release of Yellow House and beyond. In stark juxtaposition next to Veckatimest’s multi-layered “Cheerleader,” “Owner of A Lonely Heart” feels sketch-like — a precursor of what was to come.
Download:
MP3: Grizzly Bear :: Owner of A Lonely Heart (Yes cover)
MP3: Grizzly Bear :: Cheerleader
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Amazon: Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
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Grizzly Bear :: Two Weeks (Video)
+ Download Grizzly Bear via eMusic’s no risk 25 Free MP3 trial offer.
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Actually the beginning of july wold be half way through the year
So much better than the original version by Yes. I hope Grizzly Bear doesn’t sell out (the Billboard statistic has me worried).
Their version of Yes’ “Owner of A Lonely Heart” is one of my favorite covers ever! The only one that could top it would be Cryptacize’s version of “Peg”.
Here’s “Peg”: http://www.entertainingspaces.com/ocmd/Cryptacize%2520-%2520Peg.mp3
ha, good catch, zap. thx
‘two weeks’ is an amazing track. it’s been in heavy rotation on kcrw this past month.
OCMD, now you’re going to get me in a Steely Dan phase.
And Two Weeks is the best track from Veckatimest (which I am finally getting into, despite having it on iTunes and on my iPod for some time and overlooked it).
That yes-cover was cool!
Just saw Grizzly Bear last night in Milwaukee and they were AMAZING. I had no idea that they were THAT great live. Absolutely, do not miss…..