Back in December, viewers of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman let out a terse but piercing cry as perennial man-child Adam Sandler performed a pedestrian cover of Neil Young's winding guitar epic "Like a Hurricane." It was a chilling performance, if not so much for its mere terribleness then for the spooky revelation that Adam Sandler's annoying baby voice actually sounds a lot like Neil Young.
Well, those of you who saw the performance and still didn't develop a tremor in your remote-flipping hand will be thrilled to know that Warner Bros. is releasing Sandler's cover alongside 11 more contemporary covers of classic WB-owned songs. Covered: A Revolution in Sound, which will be released exclusively on Amazon.com March 10 and in stores everywhere on March 24, begs fan to consider questions such as "What could a band so bereft of melody as Taking Back Sunday possibly do with a Tom Petty song?" and "Is there any way I could dislike The Used more than hearing their what-is-sure-to-be-awful cover of The Talking Heads' ‘Burning Down the House’?" Oh, and, "Are the Flaming Lips really so bored that they need to take part in this?"
Okay, sure, there's a few eye-catching tracks on the list: it'd be near-impossible for Against Me! to screw up The Replacements' classic "Here Comes a Regular"; Mastodon are pretty solid for a ZZ Top cover; and The Black Keys get class points for covering a non-Trout Mask Replica Captain Beefheart tune (though minus points for the fact that it's the only other Beefheart tune most people know because it's on the Big Lebowski soundtrack). But let's be honest: in a year's time, it's a safe bet that, like all covers compilations, the only place Covered will be making any sort of "revolutions" is in the dollar bin.
And now, Adam Sandler's Dec. 15, 2008 performance of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" on the CBS Late Show:
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Covered: A Revolution in Sound tracklist:
1. Mastodon: "Just Got Paid" (by ZZ Top)
2. The Black Keys: "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" (by Captain Beefheart)
3. Michelle Branch: "A Case Of You" (by Joni Mitchell)
4. Against Me!: "Here Comes A Regular" (by The Replacements)
5. Missy Higgins: "More Than This" (by Roxy Music)
6. James Otto: "Into The Mystic" (by Van Morrison)
7. Adam Sandler: "Like A Hurricane" (by Neil Young)
8. Taking Back Sunday: "You Wreck Me" (by Tom Petty)
9. The Used: "Burning Down The House" (by Talking Heads)
10. Disturbed: "Midlife Crisis" (by Faith No More)
11. Avenged Sevenfold: "Paranoid" (by Black Sabbath)
12. The Flaming Lips With Stardeath And White Dwarfs: "Borderline" (by Madonna)