Haven't I Heard That Before #7: Mike Doughty & The Fifth Dimension

As happens nearly every time with these posts , these discoveries just sort of happen while casually listening to my stereo on shuffle..."Fort Hood" is the first song on Mike Doughty's new album Golden Delicious and like many of his newer songs it has an anti-war sentiment to it. About half way through though, the song takes a turn and starts into the chorus of the great Fifth Dimension song "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In."

An interesting choice I must say. The 5th Dimension are one of my all time favorites and I think they are possibly the most underrated group from the 60's. Except for that dang "Wedding Bell Blues" song about Bill the Jerk...I can't stand that one.

Mike Doughty -- Fort Hood
From the new album Golden Delicious.

The 5th Dimension -- Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In
From the Very Best of the 5th Dimension collection.

Here are the other posts in the "Haven't I Heard That Before" sub-section.

Haven't I Heard That Before? #6: Nine Inch Nails & George Lucas's THX 1138

This entry in my "Haven't I Heard That Before?" series is a little different than usual...this time we have a movie clip that was included in a song.

George Lucas' THX 1138 is a must see for any Star Wars fan. Think of it as the what the world would look like if the Empire had won. One of the more disturbing scenes has Robert Duvall [a.k.a. THX 1138] watching the TV shows of the future...which is essentially robot cops beating a human at first slowly and then faster and faster:



This must have got the creative juices flowing in Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor as he took this clip and tacked it onto the beginning of "Mr. Self Destruct", the first song on The Downward Spiral.

Nine Inch Nails -- Mr. Self Destruct
From The Downward Spiral album.

Haven't I Heard That Before #5: The Beach Boys & Okkervil River

This is the first Okkervil River song that I really fell in love with...probably for the reason that they burst into "Sloop John B" at the 3:00 minute mark...

I think we can all relate to "This is the worst trip I've ever been on"...for me it was my 2nd summer trip to Kansas in which we visited Oklahoma and the car's air conditioning broke. My family vacations on the whole were always fun but that was the worst single day of traveling ever.

The Beach Boys -- Sloop John B
From the Pet Sounds album.

Okkervil River -- John Allyn Smith Sails
From The Stage Names album.

Haven't I Heard That Before #4: Tommy James & The Shondells & Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World pays tribute to TJ & The Shondells at the 2:22 mark of possibly the best song off JEW's best album.

Tommy James & The Shondells -- Crimson & Clover
From The Essentials collection.

Jimmy Eat World -- Praise Chorus
Originally when it was released in July 2001, this album was called Bleed American but after September 11th they changed the title to just Jimmy Eat World.

Haven't I Heard That Before #3: The Troggs and Beck

In all accuracy "I Can Only Give You Everything" has been recored by a bunch of groups including the MC5, Them, The Modernettes, and Richard Hell. I prefer The Trogg's version [maybe their third best song after "Love Is All Around" and "Wild Thing"]...but I'm not sure which version Beck became so enamored with that he incorporated the lead guitar part into "Devil's Haircut" from Odelay.

The Troggs -- I Can Only Give You Everything
From the Archeology (1967-1977) box set.

Beck -- Devil's Haircut
From Odelay.

Haven't I Heard That Before #2: Jens Lekman and The Left Banke

Again, like my first post in this category, the newer one ("Black Cab") seems to pay homage to the older one by swiping the introduction from "I've Got Something On My Mind."

While best known for one of the greatest songs ever "Walk Away Renee" The Left Banke have a ton of great songs that almost no one really knows about. "I've Got Something On My Mind" is a prime example of this and the a great example of what became known as "baroque pop." Mr. Lekman seems like a natural successor to the "baroque pop" title.

The Left Banke -- I've Got Something On My Mind
I was going to write a long plea that you should go out and buy the complete Left Banke recordings called There's Gonna Be A Storm but it appears that it is out of print...what a travesty.

Jens Lekman -- Black Cab
From the Oh You're So Silent Jens collection.

Haven't I Heard That Before? #1: The Ronettes & Bat for Lashes

This is the first in a series that I hope I will be able to keep adding to over time...two songs that are related to each other in some way...oftentimes one is older and the other one is giving a "tip-of-the-hat" to the older song...This is certainly the case with Bat for Lashes song about a love that is ending "What's A Girl To Do?" to one of the best love songs ever...the similarities last only for a few seconds but they speak volumes I believe...

The Ronettes -- Be My Baby
This can be found on the Back to Mono collection.

Bat for Lashes -- What's A Girl To Do?
This can be found on Fur & Gold.