Three years after filming his first The Influences session, Irish songwriter Adrian Crowley returned for another, during TakeRoot festival in late 2021. Yesterday we reached the 20.000 subscribers mark on the YouTube channel, but to be honest, there’s no greater compliment than a musician willing to record for The Influences a second (or a third) time. So thanks for that Adrian, and for the wonderful takes of The Colours Of The Night, David Bowie’s Cat People (Putting Out Fire) and Robert Wyatt’s Sea Song.
Asked about his choice for David Bowie’s Cat People (Putting Out Fire), Adrian Crowley says: “David accompanied me all the way through school. I would listen to him constantly. I think the first time I heard this song was when I watched the film. It was a long time ago and all I remember is Nastassia Kinski and some 1980’s werecat weirdness. I always particularly loved the first couple of verses of the original , before the first chorus…when its slow and dark and Bowie sings impossibly deeply and growly. I always wished the song would continue like that.. purring all the way to the end. So in a way this is a response to my teenage self.”
“A psychedelic metamorphic magic.”
“I first heard this song in the 1990s on a mixtape, an actual mixtape, yes. I think it’s probably my favourite song ever. I usually just sing it when I’m alone. And I think this is the first time I’ve performed it in front of a microphone. It’s from his album Rock Bottom first released in 1974. It’s such a sublime song, in my opinion. It has a psychedelic metamorphic magic….lunar strangeness …and also a kind of simple sweetness. I just love it. I’ve never met Robert but feel I know him.”
“Some might call it a witchy song”
“This is a version of the The Colours Of The Night from my last album The Watchful Eye Of The Stars produced by the great John Parish. Some might call it a witchy song. I won’t over explain it. I had fun re imagining it for solo mellotron.”
Photos
Originals
Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (David Bowie)
Tidal | Apple Music
Sea Song (Robert Wyatt)
Tidal | Apple Music
Adrian Crowley
Credits
Filmed & edited by Matthijs van der Ven.
Audio recorded & mixed by Matthijs van der Ven.
Location
Take Root Festival
Groningen, The Netherlands
Thanks
Joey Ruchtie
Take Root
Bas Flesseman
There is no better way to discover music than watching great musicians cover the songs they love. The Influences has been producing these videos ever since 2008.
Read more.
..
Keep watching
Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like this earlier one by Adrian Crowley!
