Once in awhile there comes a song that I can listen to on one song repeat for an hour straight. These songs are few and far between. One song I found years ago is Gary Jules’ cover of the Tears for Fears song Mad World. The cover was first recorded on Mr. Jules’ 2001 album Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets (amazon) (itunes) and has since been used in everything from the soundtrack to Donnie Darko (amazon) (itunes) to Grey’s Anatomy to a Gears of War advert {alongside copious amounts of trailers, previews, and other sundry commercials, sitcoms, and dramas}. No matter where you first heard this track there is always an emotion that returns each time you hear it again.
mp3 : Gary Jules - Mad World (Tears for Fears Cover)
This sets the bar pretty high for cover songs the world over. I still love it five years and a thousand playbacks since I heard it the first time. If you like the song I highly recommend watching the music video. It’s quite brilliant.
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We all know him from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. It was his cover of Mad World, a Tears for Fears classic, which first put Gary on the map whether or not it sounds like an R.E.M. original. For the record, at first listen to this track, I couldn’t tell his voice from Michael Stipe’s if my life depended on it.
All covers and famous Georgian voices aside Gary Jules has finally begun making an impact on his own. His career started off rough as he was bounced around, and largely lost, in the shuffle of merging labels. For the last few years, with the exception of his massive success in England, Gary has largely been flying under the radar here in the states. All this is set to change with his latest self titled LP.
He sounds a bit musically like Jack Johnson at times, if Jack was fused together with a southern folk singer’s voice. On his website, as well as his myspace account, Gary includes a quote from a fan’s critique of him. And with this quote I agree. “[Gary has] a soulful voice . . like whispery life-soundtrack music for grown-up indie kids.” What more could you want?
myspace.com/garyjules
garyjules.com
mp3 : Gary Jules - Whiskey for Everybody
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mp3 : Gary Jules - Mad World (Tears for Fears cover)
buy Gary Jules on CDbaby for 14.00
