In a post lost to the sands of time thanks to our hacker on Friday I nominated The Power Station’s “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” and Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noize” as being huge improvements over the originals.
I also confessed to liking Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” better than Prince’s original version under certain conditions, despite the fact that I don’t normally care for female vocalists, Sinead O’Connor in particular.
I disagree that Stevie Ray’s “Voodoo Chile” is better than Hendrix’s … it’s merely a copy with no additional work put into it at all. I’d much rather nominate Stevie Ray’s “Little Wing,” which is more of a cover and less of a clone.
Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower,” it should be noted was his biggest hit. I love his live version where he says to the audience, “Yes, I know I missed a verse, don’t worry.”
I thought I already posted this, but maybe it got lost in the “hack attack.”
Wilson Pickett’s cover of “Hey Jude” is one of the best things he ever did. And it doesn’t hurt that there was a Mussel Shoals sessions guitar player named Duane Allman wailing away on the cut, either!
X- “Breathless” (Jerry Lee Lewis. And there aren’t many who can cover Jerry Lee Lewis without embarrassing themselves.)
The Revolting Cocks- “Let’s Get Physical” (Olivia Newton John. And the aren’t many who would bother covering an embarrassment like Olivia Newton John but if anybody should the Revolting Cocks should.)
Any of the covers done by Guster, especially “Like a Prayer.”
Irronically enough, the Dan Landberg Musical Community does a great cover of “Medicine,” by Guster. (of course, since the DLMC is right now a local band with no album per se, you probably don’t know who they are. (extra cool points of you do.))
Fiona Apple does a good job on her cover of The Beatles ‘Across the Universe’.
I’ve got a CD of covers of Cole Porter songs, many of them are very good. The highlights:
Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry sing “Did You Evah”
Sinead O’Connor sings “You Do Something to Me”
David Byrne sings “Don’t Fence Me In”
The Neville Brothers sing “In the Still of the Night”
Another CD with good covers is Sympathique by the group Pink Martini. Some of the songs include “Que Sera Sera”, “Brazil”, Ravel’s “Bolero”, and “The Children of Piraeus”, to mention some of the best.
I just got a CD that is called “Might as Well… The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead”. I like their covers a lot.
The one that sticks in my mind is Kevin Gilbert’s cover of Kashmir - I think it was only released as an EP and got minimal airplay on the radio, but it’s phenomenal. (Kevin Gilbert’s the guy that cowrote most of Sheryl Crow’s songs with the actual Tuesday Night Music Club).
YES! Definitely. Also love it when they do ‘train kept a’rollin’, I don’t remember who originally did that. I also enjoy Joe Perry covering Hendrix’s ‘Red House’ in concert, but that may be because I have a massive thing for Joe. And kind of a thing for Jimi too.
Also, TLC’s cover of Prince’s ‘If I was your girlfriend’ is great, so much better than Prince’s. Sorry, Prince, or whoever you are this week.
And, Will Smith’s cover of ‘Ring my bell’ by Anita Ward, I think she did it originally.
“Tainted Love” - The Living End (Soft Cell)
“Baker Street” - Foo Fighters (Gerry Rafferty)
“Fly Like An Eagle” - The Neville Brothers (Steve Miller Band)
“Elouise” - The Damned (don’t know the name of the guy who sang this originally)
“Tra La La (Banana Splits Theme)” - Liz Phair (?)
“Stairway To Heaven” - Rolf Harris (Led Zeppelin)
“Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” - Revolting Cocks (Rod Stewart)
“Blue Monday” - Orgy (New Order)
“Creep” - Chrissie Hynde (Radiohead)
“Are You Gonna Go My Way?” - Tom Jones (Lenny Kravitz) … actually, all of Tom Jones’ covers are pretty good, but that one deserves a special mention.
My all time FAVOURITE cover version of a popular song was performed as a one-off for an Australian TV show in 1993. I think that most of the antipodean Dopers here know which song/performer/TV Show i’m going to refer to. The Late Show, “I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan Kirner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with famous Australians, Joan Kirner was the Premier (highest ranking government official, kind of like a state governor in the US) of the state of Victoria.
Imagine a heavy-set, matronly, fiftysomething woman belting out a hard rock classic with a singing voice that only a woman of that age could possess and you wouldn’t even begin to comprehend just what an amazing performance this was. The fact she wore a leather jacket with a skull and crossbones emblazoned on the back was the aspect of this amazing performance that really took the biscuit, IMHO.
Back to the main thread … It helps when I like the original version of the song, and whoever is doing another version of the song interprets it in a manner that is sympathetic to the original, yet is not an attempt at a carbon copy.
On the same token, any twat that takes a classic riff and/or tune and either puts some crappy ‘gangsta rhymes’ to it or puts an appalling techno backing to it with a quintet of overwaxed pretty boys squawking to it should have their skull cavity filled with metal filings and subjected to unhealthy levels of electromagnetic rays. Bastards.
Cripes. It’s 1.12am and I have to be at work by 8.30am to attend an all day sales seminar. Arrrrgggghhhhh!
I don’t think they’re the best but a couple that make me smile and haven’t been mentioned are;
‘Sweet Jane’ – Cowboy Junkies (originally by The Velvets)
‘All the Love in the World’ – Iggy Pop (Louis Armstrong, maybe)
I also chuckle a little at one or two of those macho guitar / thrashy versions of ‘I Will Survive’ - kind of fun.
Sting also reworked the lyrics of ‘I’ll be watching You’ a long time ago as a closing credit track for a Brit teevee show (Spitting Image). The emphasis changed to a nuclear disarmament theme - just made an impression on me as a tender teen. Thought the context was much more poignant for the song.
Mr. Tambourine Man is an original by Bob Dylan, not The Byrds.
Any cover of a Bob Dylan song is far better than the original. Yes, even Shatner’s version is better because at least it’s hilarious. The best, of course, is Hendrix’s cover of Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower.
I am compelled also to mention Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s cover of Woodstock by Joni Mitchell. That’s a great cover.
I know the world is crazy for Bob Dylan and I love Hedrix but was AATW really all that great?
I think a better Hendrix cover is Johny B. Goode (from’ In The West’) (Berry)
And:
Lunatic (Pink Floyd) by The Austin Lounge lizards
Always on My Mind by Pet Shop Boys
Don’t Be Cruel (Blackwell/Presley) by Cheap Trick
Little wing (the spanish version - Mariposa Libre) (Hendrix) by Sting - very haunting…
And a friend of mine has the all-time kick-ass version of Bobby D’s Mac the Knife - live version - chills!
Anyone know any other obscure covers of songs made popular by Elvis…I’m always on the look-out.
