Songs like George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness”, Thin Lizzy’s “It’s Only Money” and Tommy James’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion”…Listening to any one of their covers and it is obvious that the band has given the same amount of time and crafting to these tunes that they’ve given to their own songs!
Of all these cover tunes that the band has produced, (and there have been many, many…!) the song that stands out in MY mind as one of their very best is their take of Roxy Music’s THE END OF THE LINE, featured on their incredible 1993 album MEXICAN MOON.
There are lots of reasons why this cover works so well, but a large part of is that by the time Mexican Moon came out, vocalist/bassist Johnette Napolitano and Guitarist Jim Mackey were seasoned pros; after travelling across the world a zillion times in as many tours, their experience shows through in their sound-No one croons like Napolitano with her low, growling whispers and powerful wailing, and when you add in the lush, layered guitars of Jim Mackey, you are left with pure perfection!
The End of the line was originally off Roxy Music’s 1975 SIREN album, and though I liked the song, I always thought of it as the opening to the avante-grade third track “Sentimental Fool” (since they were essentially connected) and never thought of its potential as a “single” type of song. WOW, how the Concrete Blonde version has changed my mind!
Over the years, I have made quite a few Concrete Blonde cassette mixes for people, and almost ALL of them have concluded with “End of the Line”… Just listening to Jim’s echoing reverb as he picks out the resounding notes on his guitar- with double-tracking and a guitar synthesizer, he’s created this beautiful guitar harmony , and then laid over this is the incomparable Johnette’s heartfelt singing- She sings with such passion, you really feel like the lyrics are hers, and when she hits those notes…MAN! Just awesome!
The End Of The Line
(Bryan Ferry)
Take a walk out in the rain
Called you time and time again
Everything is wrong-
You´ve gone
Reached the point of no return
The more I see the more I stand alone
I see the end of the line
Were you ever lonely?
Mystified and blue?
Realising only
Your number´s up
You´re through
Had my share of winning
Now´s my turn to lose
After a fair beginning
The game´s up
You’re through
Think I´ll walk out in the storm
Got no love to keep me warm inside
I see the end of the line
Now´s the time to take a dive
Try a magic carpet ride
Everything is wrong
You´ve gone
If you ever miss me
If I should cross your mind
You know where to find me
I´ll be waiting at the end of the line
