The White Stripes’ “I just don’t know what to do with myself” is fantastic. Most of the time that a punk/ alt band covers an old song, it is just a matter of speeding it up. Here, while Jack White adds a fuzzed out guitar, the vocal delivery adds a new level of pain. Their version of “Jolene” is also great.
A few others:
The Rolling Stones doing “Around and Around”, particularly on the TAMI show.
Otis Redding, returning the favor with “Satisfaction” and Otis again with “Day Tripper”
The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man”, of course they managed to fill an enitre album with Dylan covers.
The cover of Dear Prudence by Siouxsie and the Banshees comes close or exceeds the original, and is one of the few covers that do so when I hear them AFTER hearing the original. (I prefer the Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter, but heard it before the S+G original.)
I hope this album gets a US release some time. It appears to be cheap and plentiful over there, but it’s an expensive import here. I’ve heard Editors’ cover of Cure’s “Lullaby”, and liked it a lot.
Really, really, you must be joking. I never claimed that it was better than the original, in fact I went out of my way to say that none of them were as good as the classic originals, just that they were good covers. I’ve been a Peter Gabriel fan since 1973 (even saw him with Genesis twice) and I’d be the last person on earth to say ANY Peter Gabriel cover by ANYbody is better than the original, but that one there is a pretty good cover. How could you not, at the very least, be impressed by Bon Lozaga’s (Gong, Project Lo) musical layerings and Rhodes’s vocal range?
I heard what may be my all-time favorite cover when digitizing the LP last night - the Dickies’ frenetic, screaming guitar version of “Nights In White Satin”. A vast improvement on the original Moody Blues recording.
“Who Do You Love” (Bo Diddley) may be in the top ten for songs with most good alternate versions - George Thorogood recorded two different ones, and the Tom Rush version is great too.
