Regarding the Nazz: I meant no disrespect to the band, but they never had a song in the Billboard Top 40, never had a gold album, and never sold many records outside of Philadelphia.
That doesn’t make them a bad band- just an unlucky one. Perhaps it’s an injustice they never became very popular, but the fact remains, they DIDN’T.
P.S. I’m kicking myself for not remembering “Shapes of Things.” Perhaps that’s because I didn’t really think of Beck as a “solo” artist. Even though “Truth” was released under the name Jeff Beck, I always thought of that album as a group effort.
Another relatively obscure one, but Mark Gardner of Ride semi-fame rerecorded a version of Ride’s “Dreams Burn Down” on a solo ep within the last few years.
Brian has re-recorded bona fide, released Beach Boys songs on his own studio albums, including “Let Him Run Wild.”
The Beatles knew a great deal more about Smile than that. Paul McCartney visited Brian in LA while the Smile sessions were going on, heard some acetates, and contributed some chomping to “Vega-Tables.” Supposedly, he also sat at the studio piano and played “She’s Leaving Home,” teasing Brian by saying, “You’d better hurry up!”. Brian kept at through April of '67, and possibly into May as well before giving up.
Brian Setzer rerecorded the Stray Cats’ rockabilly anthem “Rock This Town” with his big swing band backing him up, the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
I’m reasonably sure Bryan Ferry has since rerecorded a few Roxy Music songs, and while Morrissey hasn’t redone any Smiths songs for his albums, he performed several of them when I saw him in concert last fall.