The Walkmen – Driver 8 (R.E.M. Cover)


Mining the back catalogue of The A.V. Club's excellent Undercover series I came across this gem that I somehow missed. The final song remaining in the last round of covers was R.E.M's "Driver 8" and it fell by default to The Walkmen. For not actually choosing the song, Hamilton Leithauser and Co. crank out one hell of a cover. They inject just enough of The Walkmen sound to make it feel like it could easily be placed on any of their albums while staying very true to the original. Leithauser even lets the spirit of Stipe inhabit him with a little shoulder dancing action.