Lovely! Thanks for the link!

Posted June 29, 2008 11:59 PM by Jess A.

For your spelling references: "ukulele." I know because I, heh, got it wrong. "Uke" is a misleading abbrev.

But yeah, so far what I've seen of the uke orch is that they never do just one thing at a time.

Posted June 30, 2008 1:02 AM by Kip W

They've got a concert DVD titled Anarchy in the Ukulele.

Posted June 30, 2008 1:06 AM by Avram

Wow. They're amazing. I was even more engaged by this one: Fly Me of the Handel

Posted June 30, 2008 1:27 AM by Sylvia Li

This is just to say that the alien LOLcat in your sidebar has killed me ded. *happy sighz*

Posted June 30, 2008 1:43 AM by Nenya

If you want to hear spectacular ukulele from a soloist, look up Jake Shimabukuro on YouTube. He's a Hawai'i player (website) who's amazing with that instrument. Flashy, fast and jazzy or slow and soft, he's someone to hear.

Posted June 30, 2008 2:09 AM by Linkmeister

I agree about Jake Shimabukuro. I particularly recommend his cover of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". I don't know what it is (tighter stringing?), but he seems to extract a lot more precision from the instrument than I'm used to hearing.

Posted June 30, 2008 2:32 AM by Earl Cooley III

There was an excellent BBC Radio 4 documentary about them last week - it's probably still available on Listen Again. I can particularly recommend their version of Wuthering Heights.

Posted June 30, 2008 2:37 AM by AlyxL

I really, really, really needed just this kind of lift today. Thank you.

Posted June 30, 2008 4:55 AM by Bruce Baugh

Heh. I heard them play "Silver Dream Machine" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the Edinburgh Festival a few years back. By the way, there is an MP3 selection and a concert DVD at their site.

Posted June 30, 2008 7:01 AM by Nick Brooke

OH man. That...that was fantastic.
Thanks.

I love out of the blue arrangements of stuff ( a la the Gourds Bluegrass version of Gin and Juice--a high recommendation.) Beautiful.

Posted June 30, 2008 7:18 AM by JimR

Ukulele players rock.

(If you google, you can find me misspelling it, too.)

Posted June 30, 2008 8:16 AM by Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey

Nick Brooke at # 10 writes:

> Heh. I heard them play "Silver Dream Machine" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the Edinburgh Festival a few years back.

Nick - do you perhaps mean "Silver Machine", the old Hawkwind hippie space rock classic? Or is "Silver Dream Machine" a song I don't know.

I'd heard quite a while ago that they'd covered "Silver Machine", but I've never managed to get a listen to it, by fair means or foul. I'd kill to hear it.

btw - there's heaps of UkOGB on YouTube, and they're even better to watch than to listen to. It's hard to decide whether the live version of Wuthering Heights or the cover of The Good the Bad and the Ugly is the best thing ever recorded. Or maybe "Fly Me Off The Handel". Tricky...

Posted June 30, 2008 9:18 AM by Steve Taylor

> Or is "Silver Dream Machine" a song I don't know.

Silver Dream Machine

Posted June 30, 2008 10:01 AM by Alan Braggins

Spelling fixed--thank you, Kip.

Posted June 30, 2008 10:09 AM by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Steve@#13: Correct, my lyrical flub -- "Silver Machine" by Hawkwind it was.

Posted June 30, 2008 10:23 AM by Nick Brooke

Holy Schnikeys...
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, = Win.

I think I love these guys...

Posted June 30, 2008 10:32 AM by JimR

Then you would probably enjoy the Spaghetti Western Orchestra's appropriately reverential live peformances. (They were also at Edinburgh a few years back, at the same time as the Ukes -- what culture!)

Posted June 30, 2008 11:13 AM by Nick Brooke

Once again ahead of the zeitgeist (scroll down).

Posted June 30, 2008 11:16 AM by Martin Wisse

After watching the BBC series I can't hear the song without crying.

Posted June 30, 2008 12:14 PM by Carrie V.

I ♥ the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. And like earlier commenters, I am surprised that our hosts weren't listing already. Me? Ahead of the crowd?
And Jake Shimabukuro? I like him best without a band...

Posted June 30, 2008 12:15 PM by John Houghton

And, I'm pretty sure, at least in the Central Park version of My Guitar Gently Weeps, he has his uke strung with metal strings. His undoubtedly custom instrument is setup with a very precise action, too.

Posted June 30, 2008 12:21 PM by John Houghton

Jake's opening for and playing with Jimmy Buffet this summer (again), so if you're a Parrothead you might get a double treat.

Posted June 30, 2008 2:19 PM by Linkmeister

Here's a version of "Life on Mars" by the Flaming Lips— I particularly like how the vocals are sung into a guitar pickup, giving it this weird transmission quality.

Posted June 30, 2008 2:55 PM by B. Durbin

By far the best cover of "Life on Mars" is the Barbara Streisand one. Just kidding, it's the Peter Noone one.

OK, just kidding again, but they did both really sing it.

Posted June 30, 2008 5:19 PM by ethan

Anybody who covers the Rezillos ("My Baby Does Good Sculptures") is jake with me.

Posted July 1, 2008 9:04 AM by Rob Thornton

I hadn't known, prior to this week, any of the tangled historical links between "Life on Mars" and "My Way". It's such a weirdly complex world.

Posted July 2, 2008 8:44 AM by Kevin J. Maroney

My #25 is an embarrassing mistake. I meant "Oh! You Pretty Things", not "Life on Mars". I feel shame.

Posted July 2, 2008 12:05 PM by ethan

...and, as usual, correcting an embarrassing mistake has led to a new one. I meant to say that Barbara Streisand did cover "Life on Mars", but Peter Noone covered "Oh! You Pretty Things". I'm going back to bed.

Posted July 2, 2008 12:08 PM by ethan

Is there anyone else whose brain is irresistably compelled to mash up Bowie with the Doors? "Come on baby, life on Mars."

Posted July 3, 2008 5:31 AM by David Goldfarb