Damn, did Manfred just cover the whole damn Greetings from Asbury Park album?
(Oddly enough, I was planning to do just that. I’m working on being able to do a solo acoustic version of the whole of Abbey Road, and when I’m done, I was planning to start in on Asbury Park. I promise no extraneous “Chopsticks” in my verson, though.)
Dr. J
I also graduated high school in 1983, and am of the firm opinion that this is hands down the worst song of all time. It shouldn’t have been remade, it should have been unmade.
Favorite Cover:
Janes Addicion - Sympathy for the Devil cover of the Rolling Stones classic.
Favorite Cover no one is going to recognize:
Seanchai - Fields of Athenrye cover of the trad song (not sure who wrote the original)
MeanJoe
Spirit in the sky by Dr. and the medics (orig. by Norman ?)
John Barleycorn by traffic (their version of the old folk song)
Carry On My Wayward Son - Yngwie Malmsteen and Ronnie James Dio
Dream On-Yngwie Malmsteen and Ronnie James Dio
High School Confidential- Rough Trade
White Riot-London Punkharmonic Orchestra (What happens when the London Symphony transcribes punk classics for a full orchestra…)
Spirit in the Sky is Norman Greenbaum.
Mannfred Mann : Bruce :: The Monkees : The Beatles
Covers I like better than the originals:
Lemonheads, Mrs. Robinson (Simon and Garfunkel) [Anyone seen that Evan Dando guy lately? Did he die or something?]
Led Zeppelin, Travellin’ Riverside Blues (Robert Johnson)
War, Bruce Springsteen (Edwin Starr)
L.A. Woman, Jane’s Addiction (The Doors)
Booker T and the MGs already covered Abbey Road accoustic.
Hmph. And I thought one of the written laws of the Universe was that you couldn’t improve on a VU song. You can do it justice (Cowboy Junkies, Nick Cave, Tori Amos), but you can’t improve on it.
I’ll echo the semtiment that any Dylan song is better than the original, but I’ll put in a special mention for P.J. Harvey’s “Highway 61 Revisited.” Love punk Dylan.
And if we can consider new artists doing traditional songs, I’d like to strongly endorse “Bonny Portmore,” by Loreena McKennit.
Ooo, ooo, ooo, I just thought of a new one, too! Has anyone else heard Cassandra Wilson do “Last Train to Clarksville,” from her New Moon Daughter album? She turns The Monkees’ fluff into a song that actually sounds like it means something…
Oh, and Gov’t Mule’s “John the Revelator” is at least as good as, if not better, than Son House’s.
Another one I just ran across (after watching Donnie Darko…interesting movie):
Mad World (Tears For Fears I believe) by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews.
Cowboy Junkies doing Springsteens "State Trooper", on Whites Off Earth Now!, which is still the best Cowboy Junkies album - they get feedback for the first, last and only time. Their cover of "Sweet Jane" was good. but for VU covers, you cant go past Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "All Tomorrows Parties". Ill also throw in the New York Dolls` “Stranded In The Jungle”.
[ul][]Black Sabbath’s version of “Warning” by Aynsley Dunbar[]George Thorogood’s version of “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” by Amos Milburn[]Paul Young’s version of “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” by Ann Peebles[]ELP’s versions of “Fanfare for the Common Man” and “The Peter Gunn Theme”[]Blue Oyster Cult’s own remake of “Astronomy” (with the Steven King intro)[]Howlin’ Wolf’s psychedelic (self-proclaimed dogshit) versions of “Back Door Man”, “Taildragger”, “Little Red Rooster” and “300 Pounds of Joy” et al[/ul]
Note to self: Read things very carefully before posting.
Hooked On A Feeling, Blue Swede’s version is better than the original.
I personally perfer Holly Cole’s version of I Can See Clearly Now, but it is a very close call…
I prefer the Ray Charles version of “Eleanor Rigby” to the Beatles original. His voice has just the right tone of sadness for the lyrics, and I always found the strings on the original distracting.
I’m not a Wallflowers fan, but I prefer their version of We Could Be Heroes.
And I also prefer the Bangles version of Hazy Shade of Winter, Arken; no need for secret shame!
Me First and the Gimmie Gimmie stuff gets old after a bit - but I did like their version of Wild World…
Such great timing. Last week Crooked Fingers put out an EP of nothing but cover songs. I love that version of “When You Were Mine” far better than Prince’s. If you’re not familiar with the Fingers, the music tends to be angst-ridden and depressing, which fits the lyrics of the song far more than Prince’s poppier version.
I second those who said NIN’s version of Numan’s Metal, U2’s take on Happiness is a Warm Gun (finally got a copy of that a week ago. Damn, that’s some good stuff), and the anything Stevie Ray Vaughan covers comment. I absolutely love what he did with Voodoo Chile.
I’d also like to add:
Dave Matthews Band: All Along the Watchtower. For all the people that submitted the Hendrix version, I gotta say, the DMB is my favorite.
Tori Amos - Strange Little Girl. I forget who did the original, although now that I think about it, the word “Stranglers” keeps appearing in my head. I heard this one first, though, and was disappointed when I heard the original.
Metallica - Am I evil (Live Version). An obscure Diamond Head cover. Metallica’s studio version sounds a little weak, but the live one outdoes even DH’s version in terms of heavy.
NIN - Suck. Yeah, I know Trent Reznor sang leads on the original Pigface version, but compared to the NIN version, that one sounds like they had some great lyrics they wanted to get down before they forgot them and so they quickly came up with a basic backing track that fit the mood.
I’d also like to point out that, while it wasn’t better than the original, hearing U2 perform “What’s Going On” in concert (University of Notre Dame, 8-10-01) was really damn cool, partially because it was the first time ever that they had played it at any concert (at least as far as I know).