Aloe Blacc "Femme Fatale" (Stones Throw, 2010)
Aloe Blacc is the latest artist to cover the beautiful, timeless, Lou Reed-penned Velvet Underground & Nico track "Femme Fatale" from the VU's 1967 debut album (the one with the famous Andy Warhol banana cover art). As seen/heard in the above Alan Algee-directed video, Aloe Blacc's version appears on his recently released Stones Throw Records album Good Things, which also features "I Need A Dollar," his song that is the theme music to HBO's How To Make It in America drama series.
Over the years numerous artists have covered "Femme Fatale," including Big Star, R.E.M., Tom Tom Club, Propaganda, Dramarama, Duran Duran, Pansy Division, Elisa, and Yo La Tengo featuring the late, great (Big Star founder) Alex Chilton. That 2007 concert-only version appears below. To see a great live version of the song by the VU + Nico click here.
hip and happening hotspots of the past 2,500 years or so. First, I'd cruise down to Athens circa fourth-century B.C.E. where I'd walk along the agora to hear some great oration and maybe catch an Aristophanes play or two. The next stop would definitely be the salons of Central Europe in the 19th century to watch Franz Liszt play his own compositions, and maybe swing by Gustav Klimt's studio just a few decades later. I'm sure I could get in a visit to Kafka's Prague and some early New York vaudeville shows before I had to get the time machine back to the shop for a tune-up. After that, I suppose I'd have the ol' time machine drop me by Andy Warhol's Factory in early 60's New York and leave me there.
