Rhino’s Got You Covered: Thunder, Babes in Toyland, Joe Cocker, and Yum-Yum
It’s Wednesday, so it must be time to take another dip into the Rhino catalog and trot out a new quartet of cover songs that you may or may not have heard before. Let’s get started, shall we?
• Thunder, “With a Little Help from My Friends” (1992): One could arguably call this a cover of a cover, since it’s clear that the UK hard rockers are influenced less by the Beatles’ original version than Joe Cocker’s famous rendition, but however you want to spin it, Thunder debuted their take on the tune as a B-side for their “Low Life in High Places” single, and it has since become part of the expanded edition of their album LAUGHING ON JUDGEMENT DAY.
• Babes in Toyland, “We Are Family” (1995): This Sister Sledge selection can be found as the closing track on the Babes’ second Reprise Records album, NEMESISTERS, but it’s worth mentioning that ’95 was a good year for this band and ‘70s covers, as they also contributed a version of “More, More, More” to the compilation SPIRIT OF ’73: ROCK FOR CHOICE.
• Joe Cocker, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (1991): This Elton John tune appears on Cocker’s NIGHT CALLS album, which came out the same year as TWO ROOMS, the Elton John & Bernie Taupin tribute album and featured a contribution from Cocker. Thing is, it wasn’t the same contribution: for that LP, Cocker covered “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.”
• Yum•Yum, “Rainbow Connection” (1996): His name is Chris Holmes, but he released his lone album for Tag Records under the name Yum•Yum...although not originally, apparently, since there’s a promotional version of the CD shown on Discogs that’s actually credited to Holmes. Either way, it’s a great lost album that was rediscovered by many folks when Omnivore reissued it a few years ago, and at that time, Holmes explained that the album grew out of an effort to process the depression and heartbreak he’d been going through at the time. “It’s songs about the beauty of those scars from heartbreak and opening up your heart to love again,” Holmes told Blurt Online. “It’s a record about the rush of letting down your defenses and opening up your heart to with fall in love again even though you know it will probably end in heartbreak as well.” So you can see why “Rainbow Connection” fits in so well.
