As a counterpoint to the ‘worst cover versions’ thread, how about celebrating good ones.
My personal criteria are:[ul][li]That this isn’t just a ‘standard’ that many people have already done (such as Mack the Knife)[/li][li]…Although if such a song has an overwhelmingly famous version by a single artist, and the cover artist is covering that, then this may be acceptable[/li][li]That the artist doesn’t just attempt to copy the original performer’s version, but reinterprets it, or makes it their own[*]Bonus if you can argue that the cover is better than the original[/ul]Original + cover would be nice, if you can find it.[/li]
My recommendations:
Cake, I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor’s original)
I’m definitely not saying this one’s better - just that I love their reinterpretation. They’ve re-rendered the song brilliantly, and had a lot of fun doing it.
Eva Cassidy, Fields of Gold (Sting’s original)
I think this has taken the song to a new level; the original was a passable but slick AOR pop track. Eva’s version is heart-rending, through her emotional rendering of the lyrics, the beauty of her voice, and her fluid phrasing.
Johnny Cash, Hurt (NiN’s original - best one I could find)
Not arguing that Mr Cash’s is better, because the version is so different - just a master at work, with knowledge of his impending mortality. So powerful.
The classic This Magic Moment, Covered by Lou Reed in David Lynch’s Lost Highway (where I first heard it.) I have to say I think his version of it is better than the original.
Yes’s cover of America - amazing. (Original by Simon and Garfunkel. They liked the Yes cover so much that they actually played that version at some of their shows.)
Hootie and the Blowfish covered the one-hit wonder Can’t Find The Time To Tell You by Orpheus, for the movie Me, Myself and Irene. Their version of it is incredible. Unfortunately, it’s not on Youtube or on iTunes or anywhere else for that matter. I don’t think it’s available anywhere except the MM&I soundtrack (which is not on iTunes.)
I’m very partial to The Zombies’ cover of “Summertime” (classic by George Gershwin.) The minor chords of the electric piano combined with the rolling drums and bass makes the song somehow eerie and upbeat at the same time.
And of course, the classic example of a cover that kicks the ass of the original: Jeff Buckley, Halleluja (Leonard Cohen’s original)
Not sure if it was his or John Cale’s cover that came first, as they’re in similar styles, but this one wins hands-down, IMO.
Yes, yes, yes. I came in here to post that, but with only a couple of replies, I’d assumed it would already have been mentioned. And there it was in the OP.
His cover of U2’s One is also good, and his cover of Nick Cave’s The Mercy Seat is also very powerful.
Oh yeah, and maybe now I’m getting into the territory where nobody here is going to know what I’m talking about, but Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy’s collaboration album (The Brave and the Bold) is a series of covers, totally taking all the songs in different and bizarre directions. But the best, by far, is their version of Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road.
Picture the original Thunder Road by Springsteen as a red Corvette Stingray, driven by a happy young couple in the excitement of teenage love and rebellion, triumphantly roaring down the highway.
The Tortoise version is that same Corvette crashing into the concrete buttress of an overpass at 90 miles an hour, filmed and then played back at 1/4-speed. The shards of glass and hunks of metal flying hundreds of feet through the air, but slowly, settling to rest over a desolate, dreary, burned-out wasteland.
If you haven’t listened to this, do it now. Seriously, buy it on iTunes. You won’t regret it.
Maybe the Aussie dopers can help me with this one: there was an early-90s Australian band that did a grungey version of Tears of a Clown that I absolutely loved, but I’m damned if I can remember their name. I think it was a one-hit wonder. They had a totally rocking guitar-based version of the classic bridge between the chorus and the verse.
Best cover of War by Edwin Starr was done by DOA. Argueably at the top of their game too. Joey Shithead, who is still touring and lacks the anger of youth these days, was at the top of his game in 1982 when the DOA version was released. Makes Bruce Springsteen sound like a geriatic fuck.
I would never say these are better than the originals, because the originals are classics, but even as biased as I am, I think these are all pretty freaking good. Seriously good.
These are all YouTube video links, audience recordings of live performances.
Kate Bush & Annie Lennox “When The Rain Came Down”*
*Someone, not me! misidentified this as a duet between Kate and Annie on the old Napster and it got spread far and wide. It’s still floating around out there with the wrong names attributed to it, so it’s kind of a running joke now.
I would argue that Joe Cocker’s absolutely immense interpretation of ‘A Little Help From My Friends’ is miles better than the Beatles original. So successful is it that most people don’t know that the Beatles did that song first.
The first time I heard **Southern Cross ** was on a Jimmy Buffett album. Because Buffett writes a lot of his own stuff and the song is, you know, just so *Buffett * I assumed he wrote it. Years later I discovered that it was originally Neil Young.
Devo doing “Satisfaction”–Brilliant! Since it’s so different, it’s hard to say which is better. If I had to pick one to listen to right now, it would be Devo, but probably because the Stones version has been so over-played.
I don’t know if I’d call it the best cover, but the Gary Jules version of “Mad World”, originally by Tears For Fears, might be the most improved version from the original.
And there are a LOT of songs where the cover version completely supersedes the original. One example: Quiet Riot’s cover of “Cum On Feel The Noize”, originally by Slade.
This is weird. This is the second time in a covers thread that this error has been stated. Neil Young had nothing to do with “Southern Cross.” It was Crosby, Stills & Nash, with Art Garfunkel on backup. (And I prefer the original, but oh well!)
