Probably the best cover of Abba’s “Take a Chance On Me” is the much, much healthier-sounding Sockeye version.
I’ll take Gladys’s or Marvin’s version of “…Grapevine”.
Yes, Tom’s version of “Kiss” kicks total power balls/ass over Prince’s.
By boatloads.
Also: Joe Cocker’s The Letter kicks total power balls/ass over The Box Tops version.
For “Money”, I’ll take The Flying Lizards over The Beatles any day.
Never was a fan of Kiss’s “Beth”, so yeah the Ed Hall* version is better.
I saw a concert by Postmodern Jukebox a few weeks ago. They do covers of modern songs in old swing and jazz styles. They do a great show; if there was any drawback it’s that I didn’t recognize enough of the original songs to know how much they had changed them.
But I did start checking out their online work. They’re all good, but if I had to pick one it’s Timber. The original is by Pitbull and Kesha, but it works as '50s doo-wop.
Just guessing here:
the Banshees one would be a given
Bad Seeds seems a cert.
Japan? Rasputina? Apoptygma Berzerk? Bryan Ferry? Simple Minds? Enquiring minds want to know…
I think that Seu Jorge’s Bowie covers recorded for The Life Aquatic soundtrack are stunningly beautiful. Here is a video of him on KEXP (one of my favorite Youtube channels for live music):
He plays three Bowie songs and I believe they are all amazing. Amazing guitar playing and his voice is fantastic.
Yes.
(And on another note: I’ll give Jimi “Watchtower”, even Dylan played it that way post-Jimi’s version, but no one can take “Like A Rolling Stone” away from Bob!)
The Fireball’s Bottle of Wine is a hard rocking version of Tom Paxton’s folk song. As Paxton himself put it: If I tried to sing like that, my throat would jump out of my mouth.
And let’s not forget Arlo Guthrie’s City of New Orleans.
You’ve already been taken to task for the Kravitz cover but how could everyone miss the second?
Club Nouveau turned a soulful masterpiece into a teeny bop, bubble gum dance remix. Not to mention the faux-reggae “We be Jammin” that makes music fans vomit when they hear it.
Same.
Of course, Ace’s version of “New York Groove” is also much better than Hello’s version.
Nazareth’s version of “This Flight Tonight” is also much better than Joni’s.
Let’s not forget “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)”
A couple of people have already posted counterexamples, but in general I believe the one you hear first is hard to beat. For example, I happened to first hear Marilyn Manson’s version of Tainted Love before the original by Soft Cell, and while I like both, I tend to prefer the former, even though the latter is more my preferred style of music. There are other examples.
It struck me this thread provides several opportunities for me to test this theory on myself. I had never before heard Springsteen’s Blinded By The Light - not sure if it’s better than Manfred Mann’s, I think I just don’t like the song in general. The Sockeye “Take a Chance on Me” - maybe if it were actually sung in tune. The Shatner Common People - no, just no.
Conclusion: people have different tastes in music. In other news, Pope still shits in woods, etc. Fun discussion though!
Errr… “Tainted Love” is not a Soft Cell original song, it was originally released by Gloria Jones in 1964 and re-recorded and produced by her boyfriend Marc Bolan in 1976. The song was a flop but a british DJ picked it up gave a new popularity in the dance club in the 70s.
I just recently discovered Lou Rawls’s cover of Hall and Oates’s “She’s Gone.” I do like the original, but Rawls’s vocals over essentially the same backing track really knocked me on my buttocks. Lou Rawls She's Gone - YouTube
