[QUOTE=Marley23]
I feel obliged to bring up Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower.” That’s kind of the standard case of the cover beating the original.
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hangs head I wasn’t aware that was a cover.
I absolutely adore Willy Nelson’s version of “Willow Weep for Me”. Or Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night”. (Hell, I even like Celine Dion’s version…)
[QUOTE=Queen of Town]
Reel Big Fish’s version of Hungry Like The Wolf. They give a sort of ska-punk-lounge singer vibe, and it just works. Plus the spoken intro is hilarious.
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I came in here to mention that very song!
Others I prefer the remakes over the originals:
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - * Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard*: It’s a punk cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s classic.
The Gourds - Gin and Juice: Rap done bluegrass style.
Less Than Jake - Surrender: A punk-lite remake. The original is real, real, real good shit. But this one’s a madman.
Cake’s Guitar Man
Apocalyptica’s In the Hall of the Mountain King
Rackets and Drapes’ Personal Jesus (which, I might add, is very similar to Marilyn Manson’s version, but predates it by several years.)
The version of All Along the Watchtower at the end of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica is the best one of all time, has been before and will be again.
Who did it?
[QUOTE=Guinastasia]
hangs head I wasn’t aware that was a cover.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t feel bad. Dylan’s version kinda sucks. Definitely sucks compared to Jimi’s.
[QUOTE=Qwertyasdfg]
The Clash’s version of “I Fought the Law”
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Continuing with the Clash, their cover of “Police on my Back” I prefer to the hard-to-find original.
[QUOTE=Mr. Duality]
The version of All Along the Watchtower at the end of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica is the best one of all time, has been before and will be again.
Who did it?
[/QUOTE]
Bear McCreary, apparently. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka_sHy9cVH0
I came in to mention Hendrix over Dylan.
Hurt. I love both versions, but I think Johnny Cash’s outstrips Trent Reznor by just a bit.
[QUOTE=FilmGeek]
Hurt. I love both versions, but I think Johnny Cash’s outstrips Trent Reznor by just a bit.
[/QUOTE]
I like Johnny Cash more than I like NIN, but his cover of Hurt was inferior IMO. Maybe it’s just because I loved the song before he did it. I usually like whichever version I hear first.
Joe Cocker’s version of “A Little Help From My Friends”.
Much of the 50s rock and R&B music was covers of old tunes, and infinitely better, IMO. For instance, The Platters’ version of the 1933 showtune “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” was a killer version, although not the first time it hit #1. The Beatles version of “Til There Was You” in the 60s was well done.
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive]
I came in to mention Hendrix over Dylan.
[/QUOTE]
Same here. Also:
Cake- I Will Survive. First time I heard it I was thinking how weird it was to hear a guy singing it. Then I started digging it. Great bass, guitar, and horns in this version…sans disco orchebation.
From the I Am Sam soundtrack, Sheryl Crows’ cover of The Beatles’ Mother Nature’s Son is infinitely better. The entire soundtrack, save one or two covers, is actually pretty good. Of course, Joe Cocker seriously upstaged The Beatles on With a Little Help from My Friends, as well.
Way back when – back in the days I was listening to The English Beat (Tears of a Clown) maybe not better, but totally different --I played The Bangles’ Hazy Shade of Winter excessively.
And I was raised on S&G.
ETA: I didn’t see Chefguy’s post while I was wracking my brain. :smack:
Oh yeah, the one I was really trying to remember was Gary Jules’ remake of Tears for Fears’ Mad World. It’s slow, the way it would have been if T4F wasn’t trying to sell records in the '80s.
Ah, hell. I forgot Cake’s War Pigs!! They really do have a lot of great covers.
[QUOTE=Hamadryad]
Bruce Hornsby: “Madman Across The Water”
Phil Collins: “Burn Down the Mission”
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Heard the Hornsby tune a few times on the radio this past year and was blown away. I like the original, but he does it so right. I’ve gotta find me this CD, though, as I imagine Phil Collins would do a smokin’ Burn Down the Mission (no pun intended).
Speaking of Elton John, Dream Theater does a great live version of Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. It’s very similar to the original, and I go back and forth about which version I like the most.
Pretty much anything by Otis Redding as sung by other performers (Respect, for example).
Nina Simone’s version of George Harrison’s Isn’t It A Pity is heavenly. One of the few times that I’ve called into a radio station to figure out who I just heard, after sitting in the driveway for the last three minutes of the song.
Devo’s “Satisfaction” is better than the Stones’.
When I was in college I liked Phil Collin’s version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” better than the original, but once I graduated and sobered up I realized how wrong I was.
Simply Red’s version of “Holding Back The Years” and “The Air That I Breathe” are stunningly better than anything anyone else has done.
[QUOTE=uncle squeegee]
Devo’s “Satisfaction” is better than the Stones’.
[/QUOTE]
Correct, which reminds me that Oingo Boingo’s ‘You Really Got Me’ is better than Van Halen’s.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is better than the Beatles’ version.
[/QUOTE]
Ditto.
Likewise, Aerosmith’s version of Come Together is better than the Beatles’ version.
Also, Nazareth’s version of Love Hurts is better than the earlier version by The Everly Brothers.
Roy Orbison’s version is quite good, and probably falls somewhere between the other two.
The first version of The Beatles’ - Tomorrow Never Knows that I heard was the last track on Phil Collins’ *Face Value * LP (scroll down for a track sample).
Phil Collins - Tomorrow Never Knows
I like both versions, but Collins’ version is easier to get into.
Please don’t ban me for preferring Phil Collins over the Beatles. It’s just this song! I was just a kid!