Rhino’s Got You Covered: Bustin’ Out Some Becker & Fagen Covers

It’s Wednesday, so it must be time to take another dip into the Rhino catalog and trot out a new quartet of cover songs that you may or may not have heard before. Let’s get started, shall we?

•    Fourplay, “Snowbound” (1999): Released as the title track of Fourplay’s holiday album, this track is the reason we didn’t just call this week’s installment “Rhino’s Got You Covered: The All-Steely-Dan Edition,” as it’s not a Steely Dan song. It made its debut on Donald Fagen’s 1993 solo LP, KAMAKIRIAD, and it’s Fagen’s only co-write with Becker on the album.

•    Terry Callier, “Do It Again” (1979): Although he started out singing doo-wop, Callier – whose childhood friends included Jerry Butler, Major Lance, and Curtis Mayfield – was an artist who spent his career refusing to be pigeonholed into any one genre, veering between folk, jazz, and R& B without blinking an eye. This song hails from his 1978 Elektra album TURN YOU TO LOVE, an LP with also provided him with his only real hit single in the U.S., “Sign of the Times.”

•    Wilco, “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” (2000): Originally appearing on the soundtrack for Me, Myself & Irene, which – in case you weren’t aware – is filled with Steely Dan covers, you can now find this track on the awesome compilation ALPHA MIKE FOXTROT: RARE TRACKS 1994—2014.

•    Ian Matthews, “Dirty Work” (1974): Matthews  only had a brief run as part of the Elektra Records family, with this tune hailing from his second and final album for the label, SOME DAYS YOU EAT THE BEAR AND SOME DAYS THE BEAR EATS YOU. Among the other tunes tackled by Matthews on the LP are Tom Waits’ “Ol’ ’55,” Gene Clark’s “Tried So Hard,” and Jesse Winchester’s “ Biloxi.”