I’ve actually noticed this in one song in particular: Afternoon Delight. I always thought it would sound better 5-10% faster. Maybe they recorded it 5-10% too slow so that it would be played in the proper speed!
Come to think of it, I did think the recording I heard the other day of “Country Roads” sounded a bit too slow…
I’m not a big fan of Pearl Jam, but I really like that remake they did a while back. The original, about a car wreck and the singer’s love dying in his arms, just sounded waaaay to upbeat. The PJ version was much darker. It’s about the only song of theirs I like.
funny, that’s just about the only song of their that I dislike
One of the best examples of one artist covering another and defining the song forever is Aretha Franklin’s cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect.” It wasn’t that Otis did a bad job on his original version (#5 on the R&B charts), it’s just that Aretha killed when she did it (#1 R&B for eight weeks, #1 pop for two weeks!). As Otis himself said, “That girl stole that song from me!” (Of course, that “theft” put a bazillion dollars into Otis’s pocket!)
Dead teenager songs (Last Kiss, Teen Angel, Tell Laura I Love Her, Leader of the Pack, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseum), are all stupid and insipid. They should never be covered by anyone. In fact, they should never have been recorded in the first place.
Just my opinion, of course, but in this case, my opinion is entirely coincident with 100% established fact.
Last Kiss, that’s right. For some reason all I could think of was Last Caress, and while a cover, not exactly in the same vein. 
I wonder if Brownsville Station is bummed because everyone thinks Smokin’ in the Boys Room is a Motley Crue song or if they’re happy for all the money the Crue made for them.
Not that he got much time to enjoy it, since he died the same year Aretha had her hit with the song. (How long does it take a check for a bazillion dollars to clear, anyway?)
I love the version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” that Prince does on his Greatest Hits Set. He wrote it, but Sinead O’Connor released a version first. Prince’s is done as a duet with a fantastic singer, and it is bluesy and heartfelt and kicks the first version’s ass.
I absolutely positively hate the (is it the cranberries?) version of that New Order song that starts with “Everytime I think of you…” It is bland and boring and awful!
That wasn’t my point. I am judging the original as bad, compared to the cover. Not the other way round. All the versions of mad world I’ve heard are ‘better’ than the original.
Unless Limp Bizkit covered it more recently, there is a 4/4 version of the Mission: Impossible theme recorded by Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., U2’s rhythm section. They released the more techno-ey version for the soundtrack of the first M:I movie during the '90s.
Nina Simone did a version of George Harrison’s Isn’t it a Pity that is absolutely stunning (as is the original).
And I’ve gotta second (or third) the trash-talking about Limp Bizkit’s Who cover.
They added nothing original to the song at all, and they took out the hard angry part. LAME!!!
Don’t forget “Run Joey Run”! :eek:
I much prefer the TFF version of this song. Maybe because it’s the first version I knew, so I’m used to it and the fact that it is faster than the cover doesn’t seem at all odd to me. In fact, that whole album is great. ::sigh:: Oh, to be 13 again…
I love Fountains of Wayne’s cover of Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time”. It’s the same thing as the “Mad World” cover. They did it as a much slower song. Just for the record, I hate the original.
The other cover is more recent. And more sucky.
Ludovic, you should definitely hear the Jason and the Scorchers version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” on their “A Blazing Grace” CD. It’s faster and it rocks!
And since you brought up “Afternoon Delight;” along with John Denver, “Country Roads” was cowritten by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert of The Starland Vocal Band.
(I just love it when a post comes full circle.)
There is a remake of “Take Five” that keeps popping up on lite-jazz stations, with a theoretically funky rhythm section added.
In 4/4 time.
Someone needs to be tarred and feathered and strung up with piano wire for that blasphemy.
Just sayin’.