The Vegas Years
Encyclopedia
The Vegas Years is a compilation of cover songs by American rock band Everclear
. It was released on April 15, 2008, via Capitol Records
.
The album features tracks recorded throughout the band's career, including a few tracks that were previously released as B-sides. "American Girl" was recorded in 1994 and originally appeared on the "Heroin Girl
" UK single. "Southern Girls" and "Speed Racer" were recorded in 1996, and were eventually released in 2000 on the "Wonderful
" UK single. "Our Lips Are Sealed", "Bad Connection", and "Pocahontas" were recorded in 1997 and appeared on various singles in support of So Much for the Afterglow
. "The Boys Are Back in Town" was recorded for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Detroit Rock City
. "Night Train to Memphis" appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile
. "This Land Is Your Land" was recorded in 2004, and appeared on the Wake Up Everybody compilation.
Several of the tracks are new for this release, including "Rich Girl", "Kicks", and "Land of the Lost". While "Our Lips Are Sealed" and "Southern Girls" were previously released, the versions included on The Vegas Years are newly-remixed, featuring new guitar and keyboard parts supplied by current Everclear members Davey French and Josh Crawley. "This Land Is Your Land" also features new elements dubbed over the original mix of the song, as the band lost the original multitracks. The album also features two live performances: "Brown Eyed Girl", which the band recorded in studio form for Learning How to Smile, and "867-5309/Jenny", which became a regular show-closer for the band in 2004.
Everclear (band)
Everclear is a rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1992 best known for their radio hits spanning more than a decade. For most of its existence, Everclear has consisted of Art Alexakis , Craig Montoya , and Greg Eklund . Eklund replaced original drummer Scott Cuthbert in 1994...
. It was released on April 15, 2008, via Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
.
The album features tracks recorded throughout the band's career, including a few tracks that were previously released as B-sides. "American Girl" was recorded in 1994 and originally appeared on the "Heroin Girl
Heroin Girl
"Heroin Girl" is a rock song by the band Everclear from their 1995 album Sparkle and Fade. This song is generally agreed to be about lead singer, Art Alexakis's girlfriend and brother overdosing on heroin; he heard the policeman say "Just another overdose" about his brother's death, a lyric used in...
" UK single. "Southern Girls" and "Speed Racer" were recorded in 1996, and were eventually released in 2000 on the "Wonderful
Wonderful (Everclear song)
"Wonderful" is a song by the band Everclear, released as the first single from their 2000 album Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Meaning:...
" UK single. "Our Lips Are Sealed", "Bad Connection", and "Pocahontas" were recorded in 1997 and appeared on various singles in support of So Much for the Afterglow
So Much for the Afterglow
-Personnel:* Art Alexakis - Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Guitar , Keyboards, Vocals, Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Cover Art Concept, Cover Design, Toy Piano...
. "The Boys Are Back in Town" was recorded for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Detroit Rock City
Detroit Rock City (film)
Detroit Rock City is a 1999 film about four teenagers in a Kiss cover band who try to see their idols in Detroit in 1978. Comparable to Rock 'n' Roll High School, Dazed and Confused, The Stöned Age, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Detroit Rock City tells a coming of age story through a filter of 1970s...
. "Night Train to Memphis" appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile
Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile
Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile is an album by Everclear, released on July 11, 2000. The album is a loose concept album based around lead singer Art Alexakis' second divorce...
. "This Land Is Your Land" was recorded in 2004, and appeared on the Wake Up Everybody compilation.
Several of the tracks are new for this release, including "Rich Girl", "Kicks", and "Land of the Lost". While "Our Lips Are Sealed" and "Southern Girls" were previously released, the versions included on The Vegas Years are newly-remixed, featuring new guitar and keyboard parts supplied by current Everclear members Davey French and Josh Crawley. "This Land Is Your Land" also features new elements dubbed over the original mix of the song, as the band lost the original multitracks. The album also features two live performances: "Brown Eyed Girl", which the band recorded in studio form for Learning How to Smile, and "867-5309/Jenny", which became a regular show-closer for the band in 2004.
Track listing
- "Rich GirlRich Girl (Hall & Oates song)"Rich Girl" is a song by Daryl Hall and John Oates. On March 26, 1977, it became their first number one single on Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single originally appeared on the 1976 album Bigger Than Both of Us.-Content:...
" (HallDaryl HallDaryl Hall is an American rock, R&B and soul singer, keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter and producer, best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of Hall & Oates . Hall scored several Billboard chart hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, and is regarded as one of the best blue eyed soul singers...
)
Originally by Hall & OatesHall & OatesHall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."... - "Our Lips Are SealedOur Lips Are Sealed"Our Lips are Sealed" is a song written by Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin and Specials and Fun Boy Three singer Terry Hall. It was first recorded by The Go-Go's as the opening track on their 1981 album Beauty and the Beat and served as their debut American single...
" (WiedlinJane WiedlinJane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actress. She is best known as the rhythm guitarist of the all-female New Wave band The Go-Go's.-Early life:...
/ HallTerry Hall (singer)Terry Hall is the lead singer of The Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas. He has released two solo albums and has also collaborated with many artists including David A...
)
Originally by The Go-Go'sThe Go-Go'sThe Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
and Fun Boy ThreeFun Boy ThreeFun Boy Three were a short-lived but successful English New Wave Pop band which ran from 1981 to 1983 and was formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left The Specials.-History:... - "The Boys Are Back in TownThe Boys Are Back in Town"The Boys Are Back in Town" is a single from Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy. The song came out in 1976 on their album Jailbreak. It was honoured with the 499th position among the 2004 Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, though it was not included in the 2010 update...
" (LynottPhil LynottPhilip Parris "Phil" Lynott was an Irish musician who first came to prominence as a founding member, principal songwriter, and frontman of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy....
)
Originally by Thin LizzyThin LizzyThin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums... - "Bad ConnectionUpstairs at Eric'sUpstairs at Eric's is Yazoo's first album produced by the band and E.C. Radcliffe with assistance from Daniel Miller. It reached # 2 in UK and # 92 in US...
" (ClarkeVince ClarkeVince Clarke is an English synthpop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been involved with a number of successful groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure....
)
Originally by YazooYazoo (band)Yazoo are a British synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of Top 10 hits in the UK charts in the early 1980s... - "KicksKicks (song)"Kicks" is a song by American rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote the song for The Animals, but the band's lead singer Eric Burdon turned it down....
" (MannBarry MannBarry Mann is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.-Career:...
/ WeilCynthia WeilCynthia Weil is a prominent American songwriter. She is famous for having written many songs together with her husband Barry Mann....
)
Originally by Paul Revere & the RaidersPaul Revere & the RaidersPaul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No... - "Pocahontas" (YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
)
Originally by Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation... - "Night Train to Memphis" (Smith / Hughes / Bradley)
Originally by Roy AcuffRoy AcuffRoy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff... - "This Land Is Your LandThis Land Is Your Land"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent. Tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on...
" (GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
) - "American GirlAmerican Girl (song)"American Girl" is the second single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. The single did not chart in the U.S., but in the UK it peaked at #40 the week ending August 27, 1977...
" (PettyTom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
)
Originally by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - "Brown Eyed GirlBrown Eyed Girl"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. Written and recorded in 1967 by Van Morrison and produced by Bang Records chief Bert Berns, it was first released in May 1967 on the album Blowin' Your Mind!. When released as a single, it rose to number eight on the...
" [Live] (MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
)
Originally by Van MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely... - "Southern Girls" (NielsenRick Nielsen-External links:* * *...
/ PeterssonTom PeterssonTom Petersson is an American musician, best known as the bassist and sometime guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick.-Career:...
)
Originally by Cheap TrickCheap TrickCheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E... - "Land of the LostLand of the Lost (1974 TV series)Land of the Lost is a children's television series co-created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network....
" - "Speed RacerSpeed RacerSpeed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
" - Live Intro
- "867-5309 (Jenny)867-5309/Jenny"867-5309/Jenny" is a song written by Alex Call and Jim Keller and performed by Tommy Tutone that was released on the album Tommy Tutone 2, on the Columbia Records label. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Billboard Top Tracks chart in 1982...
" [Live] (Call / Keller)
Originally by Tommy TutoneTommy TutoneTommy Tutone is a New Wave band, best known for its 1982 hit "867-5309/Jenny", which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Although it is usually referred to as a San Francisco band, it was actually based in Willits, California, at the time that "Jenny" was released...