Episode one of Tiger and Bunny is now streaming online over at Anime News Network, a superhero Anime series including some giant mecha drivers.
One of the things I love watching (and listening to) online is music, from amazing artists from all over the world. Back when I was a DJ for a living I had a fun thing I used to announce with a quote like the third of one in a row, where I would play multiple versions of a single song. This is one of those kind of things, using the classic song “Summer Wine”.
The original, from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, was an instant classic, along with several other songs that couple recorded. To this day I still believe she never would have gotten into the studio without daddy’s influence, but I find I currently appreciate her limited talents a lot more, because I really do enjoy all her songs.
Noticeably better than the original is this rendition recorded live by the Corrs and Bono;
From France (but still sung in English) comes this version by Emilie Simon and Alain Bashung, recorded live at La Music. Emilie Simon is one of my four favorite French vocalists, a truly amazing talent you would do well to pay attention to.
My vote for best version of this song goes to the Euro-Couple Ville Valo & Natalia Avelon, who had an entire production company promoting their movie behind them. The movie was titled Das Wilde Leben which translated into English is The Wild Love, telling the tale of the “It Girl” from 1968 Germany, Uschi Obermaier. Born Ursula Obermaier in 1946 Munich, she found her way to Commune 1 in Berlin, where she was much more interested in Free Love and partying than supporting The Party. She was one of the forces which eventually brought the Berlin Wall down, through her influence on popular opinion over the next few decades and her refusal to be anyone but who she was. I believe Natalia Avelon was a brilliant choice to play her, and a perfect vocal balance for Ville on this song.