Yes, Valentine’s Day is commercial schlock that’s taken the pagan love of screwing and the already co-opted Catholic hackery subsequent to it and adding capitalist greed for a final punch of awfulness to create a day that not only isn’t about love so much as making one feel inadequate, lonely and obligated to spend money. As holidays go, it’s pretty high on the bullshit scale. From the price of roses to the gendered performance of obligation, I have a hard time imagining a worse incarnation of a holiday that’s supposed to be about love or one that’s easier to hate in itself. And I lead a life that’s full of love. Every day. So no, I’m not just lonely.

Enter Thunderbird Divine, who stand in persistent and ready contrast to that-which-is-generally-terrible. The Philadelphia heavy psych rockers started off 2023 by unveiling the surprise cover of The Osmonds‘ “Crazy Horses” (premiered here), and in a similarly playful spirit, they offer the below take on Barry White‘s “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe” as a Valentine’s special. The track first appeared on the soul legend’s 1973 debut album, I’ve Got So Much to Give — the cover art above is a port from the album’s less walrusized original — and across its six-plus minutes as interpreted by Thunderbird Divine, the hook and characteristically sultry vibes become fodder for weirdo psych duggery, drifting guitar over a solid underlying rhythm, spoken word obscured by effects, and so on. Thunderbird Divine‘s cover is actually shorter than the original at 6:40, but it is still plenty of time for it to put you in the mood, either for love or maybe a snack, depending on your disposition.

It’s not Thunderbird Divine‘s first engagement either with the ’70s or with a particularly funky psychedelia — if only there was a handy portmanteau for that — but it’s good fun, and anything that injects actual enjoyment into Valentine’s Day is more than welcome as far as I’m concerned. You’ll hear White sampled, and other oddball additions to the foundation of the track, and sure enough, it flows with easy swagger. You’ll recall Thunderbird Divine‘s last studio release — before “Crazy Horses” — was 2020’s The Hand of Man EP (review here). They had been working on new originals as of 2020, but if they’ve shifted their attention toward building a backlog of cover tunes, well, I’m not hearing anything thus far in these two — or their prior jab at The Yardbirds, for that matter — to make me want to argue.

Send it to someone you love. If the response is positive, you know it’s meant to be. However it works out, I wish you more actual love and fewer manufactured celebrations.

Enjoy:

Thunderbird Divine, “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe” (Barry White cover) track premiere

Philly’s Psych Rock Collective, Thunderbird Divine, Releases Barry White Cover for Valentine’s Day

Thunderbird Divine serenades you for Valentine’s Day with a fresh recording of Barry White’s first classic solo tune, “I’m Gonna Love You a Little More, Babe.” The six-plus-minute psych-funk cover might seem an odd choice for any rock band other than Thunderbird Divine.

“Honestly, we all just dig the song,” says Erik Caplan, the band’s vocalist/guitarist/player-player-of-odd instruments. “(Drummer) Mike Stuart fell in love with that funked-up groove, and that opening riff is just too much fun to play.”

Naturally, the biggest challenge in tackling an R&B opus of this stature was the vocal line, which originally featured White’s signature baritone, not to mention his famous narration.

“Not gonna lie, that frankly scared me,” Caplan explains. “I’m not The Love Walrus, and, really, nobody is. Barry White had this ability to deliver a song with sincerity and frank smoothness. Not everyone can do that. My bandmates were encouraging, (Keys player) Jack Falkenbach told me ‘Don’t worry about doing it like Barry. Do it like you.’ And of course he was right. Jack usually is.”

As for the meat of the song itself, there are some notable deviations from the original to match Thunderbird Divine’s sonic sensibilities.

“We had to do our own thing with it,” says Caplan. “That certainly meant honoring the original, but it had to have our stamp on it. So we added some drones, mellotron, electric sitar, backwards stuff, Barry himself, ranting about cutting a spot for Paul Quinn college, a bass VI solo… but the root of the song is anchored by (bassist) Josh Solomon and Mike. Once we had that foundation, we were free to explore and build.”

The tune is available at the price of “Pay what you want” at Thunderbird Divine’s bandcamp page.

Thunderbird Divine is:
Erik Caplan – guitar/lead vocals/theremin/etc.
Jack Falkenback – keyboard/vocals
Josh Solomon – bass/vocals
Mike Stuart – drums/vocals

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