My mind is definitely made up.

If a tad embarrassing at times, my love for covers often creates a love for new artists. Many is the time that a cover I've hunted out introduces me to talents with which I'd been theretofore unaware. Such was the case with Glen Hansard and the Frames. Had it not been for the tracks below (the second of which I posted about 3 years back and I would rank somewhere in my personal Top 20 of favorite covers), I wouldn't have been lucky enough to become familiar with his work before the Academy Award nomination. What a well-deserved accolade! His and Marketa Irglova's performances there and at the Independent Spirit Awards were two of the best, most heartfelt and passionate award-show performances I've ever seen.

I'm keeping it old school here with the first covers I'd heard him do, but you can still hear a couple of more recent Bob Dylan and Van Morrison covers he's performed with Marketa Irglova via Hype Machine.

Glen Hansard "Cry Me a River" (Justin Timberlake cover)

Glen Hansard & Colm MacConlomaire of The Frames "Every Time" (Britney Spears cover)
 

Better, better, better, BETTER!

If you've seen this elsewhere, my apologies, but frankly? It's far better than a lot of "Hey, Jude" covers.

Nearing the 15th minute.

Many thanks to Clinton from WFMU's Beware of the Blog for including my opinions in the latest MP3 Truffles installment. Feel free to check it out to see my recommendations, as well as those of the other featured bloggers.

Love's an excuse to get hurt and to hurt.

The Maine "I Wanna Love You" (Akon cover)
Ahhhh, true love! Be sure to serenade anyone windin' and grindin' up on the pole with this modern love song for the ages.

The Bordellos "My Love" (Wings cover)

Society Burning "Lovefool" (Cardigans cover)
This makes me want to tease my hair, put on combat boots and go to Neo tonight.

Del Davis "A World Without Love" (Peter & Gordon cover, comp. Paul McCartney)

SoKo "No Love" (The Teenagers cover)
I've seen Showgirls far too many times myself. Perhaps not for the T&A;, but for the awful, awful, awful "plot" and "acting." Aaaahh, Nomi. How I miss you.

Jose Gonzalez "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division cover)

Bettie Serveert "Lover I Don't Have to Love" (Bright Eyes cover)
I've posted this before, but it's my favorite "love song that's not quite a love song" cover.

Noise Ratchet "Crush" (Mandy Moore cover)

Tinyfolk "Love You" (Syd Barrett cover)
You know I loves the bands from Bloomington, Indiana. They are my Valentines.

The Pigeon Detectives "The Power of Love" (Huey Lewis & the News cover)

The Waltons "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (Neil Young cover)

Yo La Tengo "I Wanna Be Your Lover" (Bob Dylan cover)

Minotaur Shock "The Best of My Love" (Eagles cover)
There are many things that amuse me about my father's immense record collection (which, for the most part, now belongs to me), not the least of which is the fact that it includes no fewer than two copies of every Eagles LP. I know the '70s were heady days, especially in a college town full of hippies who might put motorcycle helmets on your kid:



Still, it cracks me up that my dad and his friends wore out multiple Eagles albums. Hilarious.
 

Didn't even know I needed it.

If all goes according to plan, in a few hours there will appear here a love-themed post, despite the fact that I'm one of those bitter spinsters with a cat who whines about Hallmark holidays. (Clarification on ambiguous sentence structure: I whine, the cat doesn't.) Until said post surfaces, please enjoy this animated video (as featured on today's episode of Yo Gabba Gabba), which is set to a cover of Free Design's "I Found Love" as performed by the Trembling Blue Stars.
 

They both went down to Berlin, joined the Ice Capades.

Apparently my blogging fingers have been frozen by the never-ending Chicago winter! Still, before I forget, I wanted to let you know that there is a great little downloadable cover of The Ramones' "Judy is a Punk" over at the MySpace page of The Pawners' Society, a band featuring members of The Grackles and Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (among others). And, if you're in Chicago, you can check them out this Friday the 15th at Subterranean.

Oh, and you can download and/or listen to the most recent Drunk Covers show by the Waiting Room here.