Magnetic fields - Heroes

[NewWorldRob]

disturbing album & song covers...

[dklustick]

might be the best cover ever made. honestly.

You can totally tell that MF idolizes Bowie but in their own way.

[Mentalfloss1968]

CAN a god redeam himself,.. ? yes,.. when he learns balalance,.. can a man redeam himslef alone,..NO he can do nothing alone, yet everything within the system of OSiris,.. play my game enjoy the laughs tears and love,.. enjoy the lonley pit of hell that makes all above worth it ,.. i gave you it all,..do you now love or hate the artist i wonder,.. let me play and ill say another day ,.. father indigo ,..father of both dark and light,.. and all indigo hue MANITY of averaged balanced love.

[bj70117]

Brian Eno approved along with Tindersticks.

[mattaki]

i miss when the magnetic fields sounded like this instead of some quasi-acoustic crap that npr could cream their jeans over.

[ftwelve12]

@mattaki This comment is awesome.

[thunderbird32]

@mattaki Well, Distortion was hardly acoustic, and remember that the last three albums were part of their "No Synth Trilogy". I'm guessing next year's album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, will be a return to the old school stuff.

[davestechnique2]

Wow! I like it  Musique techniqe2

[MrBlairblack]

life-long bowie fan, newcommer to the work of the magnetic fields (s. merritt). i rarely appreciate covers of original work that i am already a fan of. but oh man, the music here is ECSTATIC BLISS. bravo.

[ameboaboy]

I think this is for Merritt fans. The monotone is very deliberate. He's deconstructing a catchy pop song.

[joeisaflyingfish]

I like how he covers the full album version, rather than the more recognisable single version. Just seems like a nice touch.

[Reynardine13]

This the Medieval version...right? Oh so hot!

[Fooblestheclown]

Far out man......

[CatullusJ]

Never heard this version before. Thanks for posting it. I agree to a degree with "pimcnulty." I think that the monotone is deliberate.

[RevAndroid]

@zlurp what about Nick Cave?

[Bewlaymonteiro]

who?

[tpuppy78]

@Bewlaymonteiro Stephin f'ing Merritt, yo! :)

[BenDuvallIrwin]

6 people don't want to be heroes

[jerryrigging]

Nice cover.....not bad......not good enough to rave about

[baboon2525]

one of the only people who could cover the best song ever written and not fuck it up.

[faronthefiddler]

I like it. Fine music..

[martianshoes]

I did not connect with Bowie's original version...but then I saw him do the song at LiveAid with Thomas Dolby...and it got it....and me...a Fripp fanatic!! I really enjoyed the Wallflowers cover for the Godzilla soundtrack too. The song itself has a lot of soul...

[zlurp]

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

[violetichigo1999]

I love this album cover and the song. 

[andyasbury]

Can't beat the original of this particular song but Magnetic Fields do a brilliant version all the same. Cheers for putting this up as I might never have come across it otherwise... <3

[herrerameade]

It would be hard to ever come close to the original but as I love magnetic fields I will say that I like this version. (now I'm going to listen to the Bowie version )

[auntiesmedley]

I can't say I like it better than the original, which is EPIC, but it's certainly a fine rendition by the estimable Mr. Merritt.

[postpunkdaze]

Most excellent rendition. I very much like.

[RedTap108]

What an amazing version. Different from the original (although that was fantasic too) but it gets the undertones of the song accross perfectly.

[evenmorebetter]

Wow, two of my favorite flavors, together for the very first time!

[robotypist]

Love this version of this song! Thank you for posting!

Wow - trying to find their concert schedule - hoping they'll be in Los Angeles!

[lepaul2002]

for me its always been a sad song. glorious but sad, and as such epitomises the wistfulness and beauty of youth (plus its inevitable tradgedy - it ends). its pretty much the same territory as shakespear is covering in romeo and juliet, NB this is not a comparison. nice to hear Merritts' version, understated but beautiful.

[Caligula642]

Whoa. I never thought I'd find a Bowie cover I liked as much as the original...

[blazingbell]

depressed heroes....dying in all the excitement and adrenaline rush of being a hero? this is whack.

[CalemBendell]

Peter Gabriel did a similar thing by making it very mournful and I'd say it worked out great for both of these masters.

[te3data]

that's bowie for you...

[ztarrfect]

great rhythm :)

[syktsinn]

Completion:)

[WishesDontComeTrueXD]

wow, im in love- i only heard of them b/c of lemony snicket nd a series of unfortunate events

[6Jill9]

@WishesDontComeTrueXD Oh my god. I never connected those two things. I used to love those theme tunes, never realised it was MF. Thankyou!

[1991stacy]

I just love the Magnetic Fields sooooo much.

[MintMickeyDotCom]

If the Velvet Underground could have covered Bowie, it would have sounded like this.

[Timmybear]

On which point, Nico's version is good too. :)

[Firebrand1967]

WOW! One of your humble narrator's fab bands covering his fave Bowie song! X-Mas came early. I love a great cover and this one surpasses all of my expectations. Akin to The Sunday's 'Wild Horses' cover...very haunting and surreal.

[DJAlbertFreeman]

@Firebrand1967 I echo that, one of my fave Bowie songs too, covered by a band I'm just starting to get into the MF.

[drafu]

The Jesus & Mary Chain in gay. Wonderful!

[Rebel09Girl]

Wow.

[heymamawolf]

"and that is that."

[loiraso]

Even my dog covers "heroes" on full moons, and i don't even have a dog! This is lovely,who's next?1

[faronthefiddler]

They do a good version of the song.

[ziggyplayguitar]

really not feeling this cover very much..

and i love the magnetic fields.. but i dont know why this says nothing to me :(

[mtrickett1]

i like this so much

and the original is one of my fave songs ever. so yeah glad it's not shit. =p

[GratefulEll]

Great Cover of a great song...love the Mag Fields sound..

[faronthefiddler]

I like it. And, then again, I like Spooky Tooth.

[FishesAndPhones]

the beat bugs me!

[paulgabc]

NO. This is what passes for good music these days..

[Pollyannappollyon]

I agree that this cover is boring as hell, but Magnetic Fields are usually fantastic. Don't judge them by this song alone.

[plmcnulty]

Well, this cover is at least 13 years old (at least that's when I bought the cd, it may be older), so it's not exactly reflective of "these days." But, the drone and aimlessness and monotony are what make this an excellent cover. Bowie's version highlights on being a hero, but this version flips it on its head and focuses on "just for one day." What do you have before and after? The monotony and drone of your everyday life.

[shreeyakurien]

i think i just liked this song a little more because of your perspective.

[jimmymortis]

@plmcnulty Yes because artists who make music in their spare time for inordinate sums of cash or make lots just performing a few hours a night, drinking and going crazy, really know about the monotony and drone of everyday life like noone else.

[ivankaramasov]

@plmcnulty You are wrong. Bowie did not "highlights on being a hero", that is why it is called "Heroes" with explicit quotation marks. The song is really ironic in its original version, but _at the same time_ heroic. To make such an unlikely combination work, you must be a genius like Bowie.

[MrJivePirate]

@plmcnulty Hey 13 years ago isn't too old to reflect on these days. Art that's thousands of years old can reflect on these days, through similarities as well as contrasts.

This is a great cover and song and I like your comment. :D

[plmcnulty]

@MrJivePirate The original comment I was responding to is long gone, but essentially the poster was using this song to prove some point about how much "music these days" sucks. I wasn't going to get involved in an argument about the current state of music, but I certainly wasn't going to let an insult go against this awesome cover.

[MrJivePirate]

@plmcnulty ha, I think people who say music sucks now don't listen to much music beyond the radio.

[Blackmilk81]

@plmcnulty you missed Bowie's intent with the song, there's a reason the song is called "Heroes" and not Heroes, it's hard to explain in text format, but it's the quotation marks that make the difference.

This isn't a bad cover btw.

[MightyScenester]

monotonous

[carolynhilton]

I really do love this song but gad damn do I just wanna rip that damned drum machine out of this song so hard that it bleeds.

[AFamilyOfTrees]

"And we kissed as though nothing could fall; and the shame was on the other side,

oh we could beat them forever and ever."

Somehow those lyrics mean so much more coming from Merritt's deep voice.

God I love this song.

[knivgal]

Two of my favourites in one go. what a bargain:)

[kukuruznasice]

this is too beautiful, original and is probably one of the best covers i've ever heard. way to go merritt you cranky little faggot you... ;)

[carolynhilton]

seriously? we are already using that word affectionately? cause it kinda makes me cringe.

[MonMccool123]

Is this the original? If not which band?

[littlewonder]

david bowie (bowie, eno), 1977 "heroes"

[MonMccool123]

ah, cool. Thanks much.

[akasnowmaaan]

Oh god - no criticism of you, but i feel really really old right now. Good on you for asking, it's one of the canonical albums of the 70's go get it now

[Shakiethebiggun]

he sounds very bowie-ish anyway

[jackbox1971]

Beats the hell out of that Wallflower's abortion.

[polotottie]

i'm a newcomer to the magnetic fields (i only heard them the first time earlier this week) and i love everything i've heard so far, but not this one - as someone else said: it's too understated... it's kind of flat and boring - maybe because Bowie has got such a definite style that works perfectly for this song, and i'm glad the magnetic fields tried to make it their own by not trying to copy bowie, but it doesn't really work for me.

[SuckyBusker]

I love the Magnetic Fields with a passion demented, but I'm not convinced about this cover. Merritt's too understated for this song. He can't shriek and howl like Dave does on the original. Thanks for posting tho

[meowzer999]

You make a good point (and "with a passion demented" is great) but I like the relentless monochromatic groove...it soundz like Bowie heavily-sedated, jamming with Lush

[oleshatterbutt]

hee!nice one

[pierreerichexum]

I love this version as much as I like the Nico version

[Pajaspojken]

Pretty darn good. 4/5

[snowgod37]

these guys rock does bowie proud

[StephinMerritt]

This is better than Bowie's

[nataliamaia]

Says you, Stephin Merritt!

[TLGaspard]

I hope you are being sarcastic Stephin, since this period of Bowie's music continues to shape today's music.

[TheOneriveSpider]

Where do you get this CD??????????????????

[onewink]

I absolutely love this! Thanks :-)

[StephinMerritt]

David Bowie is the greatest

[Tazz77]

Best cover of Heroes I've ever heard.

[mariodp11]

listen this..is good too

[devoidi88]

Where did you get this song from?

[drbaker111]

look at the picture lol :)