Version originale : 1987 (Surprise, Surprise, Surprise, Miracle Legion)
Reprise : 2009 (Thom Yorke)

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] 08 septembre 1987 [/button]

Miracle Legion sort l’album “Surprise Surprise Surprise” avec la chanson “All for the Best”.

En 1997, Time Out citera l’album comme une influence possible pour OK COMPUTER :

[quote cite=”Time Out, 5 novembre 1997″]MIRACLE LEGION SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE
Jangly Boston four-piece who emerged in the shadows of REM. Released five albums of lachrymose pop brilliance, but never got the credit they deserved. You can hear a lot of Thom in the tearful, plangent tones of ML singer Mark Mulcahy, especially on the later ‘Me And Mr Ray’ album. ‘They were a huge influence,’ he admits, ‘There’s a song off “Surprise Surprise Surprise” called “All for the Best”, which is just one of the purest things I’ve ever heard – that was my introduction really. For me, the only voice that’s come close to Mark Mulcahy’s is Tim Buckley’s. I was so excited when Mark came to our Boston date. He’s recorded a solo album, but he can’t get a deal for it. Which is a fucking tragedy, because he’s a genius.’[/quote]
et Colin confirme, Thom et son frère adoraient ce groupe :

[quote cite=”Colin Greenwood / Baktabak Interview CD, 13 juin 1997″]Colin : Do you know a band called Miracle Legion?

Interviewer: “No

Colin: “They’re really good first two albums on Rough Trade, really good. People like that. I didn’t meet him though. Thom and Thom’s brother are really big fans of his, so… Oasis. It’s just courtesy, really, you know’[/quote]
En 2001, dans Q Thom descend Miracle Legion : oui il a aimé l’album, l’a même écouté frénétiquement, mais bon… ça ne lui plait plus à présent :

[quote cite=”Thom Yorke / Q #179, août 2001”]Name a really worn-out record in your collection.
There’s an album by a band called Miracle Legion, called Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. They were on Rough Trade. The singer’s a man called Mark Mulcahy, who has an album out now. I bought the Miracle Legion record in London, because we couldn’t get it in Oxford. And me and my brother wore it out. I hadn’t played it in 10 years, but I’ve got a tape of it in my car now, and I’ve been playing it compulsively, because it has a very particular mood that you get sucked into. And now I think, No more, I can’t bear it anymore.[/quote]
En août 2006, Thom rend un nouvel hommage à la voix de Mark Mulcahy :

[quote cite=”Thom Yorke / Mojo, août 2006″]Yorke was also enraptured by the similarly tremulous Mark Mulcahy, vocalist of R.E.M. contemporaries Miracle Legion. Thom: “It was a voice of someone who was only truly happy when he was singing. It changed the way I thought about songs and singing.”[/quote]
[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] 2009 [/button]

En 2008, Mark Mulcahy, le chanteur de Miracle Legion perd sa femme Melissa, et doit élever seul ses jumeaux de 2 ans. La nouvelle émeut pas mal de monde dans le showbizz et en 2009, une idée est lancée : enregistrer un album de reprises : Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy . De grands noms s’associent au projet, dont Thom Yorke. Tous les bénéfices seront reversés à la famille.

Le 25 juin 2009, on apprend la tracklist complète, et que la reprise de ‘All for the Best” par Thom Yorke inaugurera l’album :

1. “All for The Best” (Thom Yorke)
2. “Ashamed of the Story I Told” (The National)
3. “Everything’s Coming Undone” (Michael Stipe)
4. “Loves the Only Thing That Shuts Me Up” (David Berkeley)
5. “The Backyard” (Dinosaur Jr.)
6. “Micon the Icon” (Chris Harford & Mr Ray Neal)
7. “Bill Jocko” (Frank Black)
8. “Little Man” (Vic Chesnutt)
9. “Ciao My Shining Star” (Unbelievable Truth)
10. “I Have Patience” (The Butterflies of Love)
11. “Cookie Jar” (Chris Collingwood)
12. “The Quiet One” (Frank Turner)
13. “In Pursuit of Your Happiness” (Rocket from the Tombs)
14. “Wake Up Whispering” (Ben Kweller)
15. “I Woke Up in the Mayflower” (Josh Rouse)
16. “Paradise” (Autumn Defense)
17. “Happy Birthday Yesterday” (Hayden)
18. “We’re Not in Charleston Anymore” (Juliana Hatfield)
19. “Sailors and Animals” (Mercury Rev)
20. “She Watches Over Me” (Elvis Perkins)
21. “A World Away from This One” (Sean Watkins)

Le 15 juillet, la reprise de Thom Yorke est dévoilée.

[quote cite=”Pitchfork, 10 août 2009″]”All For the Best,” which Yorke covers on the Mulcahy tribute/benefit compilation, Ciao My Shining Star, is hardly a jingle, though. It’s actually more of a tearjerker. “Waking up and the bed was made/ No one looked me in the eye/ The more I try the more I cry/ And it’s all for the best,” he sings. The lyrics may be entirely un-Yorke-like, but he has no trouble striking the song’s lonely sentiment. The original version– recorded by Mulcahy’s band Miracle Legion during the late 80s– was driven by warm and jangling alt-rock guitars. Yorke, however, opts for an arrangement more in line with Arthur Russell’s World of Echo, or the better moments of his solo debut, Eraser. He whittles “All For the Best” down to the skeletal drum-machine and keyboard pulse. Fuzzy guitars explode for a moment and then give way to the distant clatter of a drum set. It’s a trade off; the song forces Yorke to sing simpler words and Yorke strips down the song. In the end, all involved come out looking pretty smart.[/quote]