Mr. Blue Sky
One would be hard-pressed to find a more perfect song for the first days of springtime than the Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky”. Originally released in January of 1978, the song reached the #6 spot on the UK charts on the strength of it’s whimsical vocals, happy-go-lucky arrangement and addictive chorus. “Mr. Blue Sky” remains a springtime essential nearly thirty years after it’s original release, and it’s time to break it out again now that the fairer months are upon us again.
Another band that’s been a staple on all of my springtime mixes are The Decemberists, whose whimsical brand of indie-pop is perfectly evocative of the warmer seasons. Thus, it’s fitting that throughout their 2005 US tours they would occassionally perform a cover of the ELO classic in the encore of their performances, which sounded amazing when I caught them live at their DC show last October. After the show, I raved about how good “Mr. Blue Sky” sounded and posted a crappy live recording of the song that merely hints at the greatness of the cover. However, thanks to the wonder that is archive.org, I was able to find two more recordings of the song, both of which are much better than the live recording I originally posted. For a while I had no greater wish than to hear a studio recording of The Decemberist’s version of “Mr. Blue Sky”, but this near-flawless recording will have to do. You can download the mp3 of both the original version and The Decemberist’s cover below, or go here to download the entire performance, recorded at The Metro in Chicago on October 19th of last year, in flawless FLAC format.
MP3s:
“Mr. Blue Sky” - ELO [highly recommended]
“Mr. Blue Sky” - The Decemeberists [highly recommended]