Rhino’s Got You Covered: The “All Lou, All the Time” Edition

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... But Are we really offering up a double-stuffed edition of Rhino’s Got You Covered this week? except this week we’re actually offering up a double-stuffed edition of covers, and all of them are songs that were either written or co-written by Lou Reed and originally recorded either by the Velvet Underground or Reed himself.

Why all the Lou love? Because this Friday is the release date for the new deluxe expanded edition of Reed’s NEW YORK album and we thought we’d get everyone in the mood for this awesome new reissue!

Let’s get started, shall we?

•    The Jimmy Castor Bunch, “Walk on the Wild Side” (1974): Before Castor and his Bunch dived headlong into conquering the world with the power of funk, they took a musical path that found them doing R&B-laced covers, including this tune, which is – in case you’ve forgotten – the biggest chart hit of Reed’s career.

•    Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, “Rock and Roll” (1971): Although often credited to Ryder, sometime with the Detroit Wheels and sometimes without, this Velvet Underground cover was actually recorded by Ryder simply under the name Detroit...although even then, it's generally referred to as Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder. Either way, you can still find it on REV UP – THE BEST OF MITCH RYDER & THE DETROIT WHEELS.

•    Big Star, “Femme Fatale” (1975): If there’s any moment in the Big Star story that cements the theory that they really weren’t after mainstream success, it’s probably their decision to cover a Velvet Underground song on their 3RD album. You don’t break out of cult status by covering another cult band. Them’s just the facts.

•    The Beat Farmers, “There She Goes Again” (1985): Fronted by the legendary Country Dick Montana, this San Diego band was a live force to be reckoned with, and this V.U. tune comes from their album TALES OF THE NEW WEST, otherwise known as the LP that gave us the wonderful single “Happy Boy.”

•    Echo and the Bunnymen, “Run Run Run” (Live) (1988): Finding this Velvet Underground cover used to depend on your country of residence, since it could be found on a “Bedbugs & Ballyhoo” single as well as a Japanese EP entitled NEW LIVE & RARE. Now, however, the easiest way to hunt it down is to secure the compilation IT’S ALL LIVE NOW, which includes a plethora of covers by the Bunnymen, including songs by Jonathan Richman, Bob Dylan, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones.

•    Luna, “Ride into the Sun” (1993): After releasing their 1992 debut album, LUNAPARK, Luna released an EP which spotlighted the song that led off the album, and this was one of the tunes that served as an additional track on the EP.  For the record, it’s actually bookended by two other covers: Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer” and the Dream Syndicate’s “That’s What You Always Say.”

•    David Bowie, “White Light / White Heat” (1971): The Thin White Duke was tackling this song in his set as far back as 1971, and it was a tune that regularly remained in the mix for the next few decades. This particular version is the one that appears on the CHANGESNOWBOWIE compilation, and we don’t mind saying that it absolutely ROCKS.

•    The Georgia Satellites, “I’m Waiting for the Man” (Live) (1986): Many folks didn’t know the Satellites covered this track until it appeared on their best-of collection, but it made its debut on a British 12” single for “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” a few years earlier.

And even after eight – count ‘em! – eight covers, we’ve still got a bonus cover for you, but since it’s not part of the Rhino catalog, it’s not in the playlist. That said, since the whole reason for this expanded edition is to honor the reissue of NEW YORK, we thought we’d honor that album by sharing Bob Seger’s 2017 version of “Busload of Faith.” No, he’s no Lou Reed, but you can’t say the man doesn’t know a good song when he hears one!