A relic from a duo lauded for their musical dimension has seen a long-awaited release. English songstress Beth Orton recently uncovered the The Chemical Brothers‘ Tim Buckley cover on which she was featured and put it out via her artist label, Lost Leaves.
The original version of “I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain” arrived courtesy of Buckley in 1967. The Chemical Brothers – A.K.A.Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons – had reimagined it as a still largely acoustic rock song roughly 20 years ago, enlisting Orton for the vocals.
“I imagine the track got put to one side, slotted into that book that I told myself I’d read someday & never did and the track got forgotten,” Orton tweeted. She went on to speculate that it must have been made shortly after Rowlands and Simons released their second studio album, Dig Your Own Hole.
Staying Power
The Chemical Brothers’ career arc ran parallel to the big beat movement of the ’90s, which saw producers fuse breakbeat with pop music to bring electronic music into the mainstream spotlight. Whereas acts like Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy have faced more difficulty in their efforts to remain relevant, Rowlands and Simons have arguably managed to keep putting out records that remain true to their original avant-garde sound while still exploring uncharted territory.
The Chemical Brothers’ Tim Buckley cover was not their only Beth Orton collaboration. Her vocals appeared on tracks that appeared on albums like Exit Planet Dust and Come with Us as well as the aforementioned Dig Your Own Hole. Their rendition of “I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain” marks the inaugural release on Lost Leaves, which is Orton’s newly launched record label.
“I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain” by The Chemical Brothers featuring Beth Orton came out on Lost Leaves June 1st. Download or stream it via Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, TIDAL and other platforms here.
Source: Mixmag
