Art collective Laibach covered all of the Beatles’ Let it Be with the exception of the title track. “Elevate” is a judgement call, but none of their covers are scared of transforming the original. It’s very, very far from a tribute band.
My Favorite is probably their cover of “One After 909”. They generally preserved the structure of the original as far as verse/chorus/solo structure goes, but that’s about it. They even sneak in a little of “Smoke on the Water” in one of the solos.
Their cover of “Get Back” is further off the rails. If nothing else,I love it just because it has a choir echo “ANOTHER MAN!”.
The one they altered the least is “Across the Universe”, but it’s pretty great, and totally creepy in that Laibach way.
They also did a whole album of covers of “Sympathy for the Devil.” They’re all strange as hell, and they’re still kind of a staple of your better Halloween rock radio shows.
I’d nominate Superstar, originally by Delaney and Bonnie, which was a far more up-tempo song than the sublime Carpenters version. The Carpenters song does justice to the lyrics and brings the poignancy to the fore. Plus its Karen Carpenter singing, so its beyond good.
Granted, it’s excessive to the max, but ELO’s version of Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven is just happening, man.
For some reason, I thought that Richard Thompson’s cover of “Oops! I Did It Again” had already been mentioned. The genre-switch break is especially good. In fact, I prefer his cover a great deal over Britney’s version.
Has Big Daddy been mentioned in this thread yet? They covered the entire Sgt. Pepper album in the styles of various 1950s performers and genres. The highlight is “A Day in the Life” à la Buddy Holly.
I liked Joe Cocker’s cover of “With A Little Help From My Friends”.
If you’re a Black Sabbath fan, you gotta hear The Cardigans’ cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. I love it.
Has this been answered yet (other than by enjoying many examples in this thread)?
I see your point, but (for example) converting a song from 4/4 to 6/8 isn’t so hard. It changes the feel a lot, but it’s still recognizably the same song.
For many, the iconic example of this is of course Joe Cocker’s cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from Me (sic) Friends.”
He basically does it by lengthening the first note (sung syllable) of each phrase (in both verses and refrains), thus “What (pause) would you do (pause) if I” uses up 6 beats rather than 4.
Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 took Fool on the Hill and put the verses in 6/8 while keeping the chorus in 4/4. Very different “feel” all around (of course).
Love that version of the song. They also do Iron Man.
Nouvelle Vague proves almost everything sounds better as a samba. Here’s their version of A Forest.
Agreed. The Shirrelles really nailed it.
Man, I really like that. I think I could make an argument for 3/4 versus 6/8, but it’s pretty close.. either way, I love how they blend it all together so well.
Actually, I think you’re right about it being 3/4; same tempo as the choruses, just missing a beat. Really evocative vocals.
There are many Herb Alpert and the TJB songs I prefer over the other versions. Example: “A Taste of Honey.”
I’m not a George Michael fan, so this was a no-brainer:
Alison Krauss’s version of “Now That I’ve Found You” was played over the end credits of the Bridget Fonda movie Delivering Milo. Until I stumbled onto The Foundations’ recording one day on You Tube, I didn’t realize they the same song.
As much as I appreciate the '60s sound, I must say I prefer the softer version, which got me all teared up.
I found Santana’s cover of Europa to take it up a notch
I quite like this take on Neal Hefti’s Batman theme. (Which is, BTW, one of the best TV themes ever!)
