Covers: The Good, The Bad, The Meh

[UYI]

Dwight Yoakam's version of Buck Owens' song "Streets of Bakersfield", which might not count because Buck sang on it, too.

 

[Bastet]

I agree, although that's not surprising because I never much cared for Buck Owens' music for reasons I can't really articulate (it's not his voice, it's not the Bakersfield sound, but something just generally doesn't work for me).  I like Emmylou Harris' cover of his Together Again better than the original, too.

[NutMeg]

BETTER than the original?  Probably not.  But Britney Spears covering Suzanne Vega--seemingly the most bizarre idea ever--actually kind of works (actually it's "Giorgio Moroder ft. Britney Spears" because it's one of those lame Euro things where a DJ claims main ownership of a song and the person actually singing is second fiddle).

 

That you so much for this - my sons and his friends also became fans after I made then listen to it :) and they love it! A friend was even wondering if it was ripped off of Fall Out Boy, until they realized that no, it was Fall Out Boy paying their homage :)

 

I love it too. And I loved the original. According to my son, that Italian guy who made the remix is "very old and very exclusive". Not completely sure what he means by that, he didn't elaborate and I was busy with work :)   

BETTER than the original?  Probably not.  But Britney Spears covering Suzanne Vega--seemingly the most bizarre idea ever--actually kind of works (actually it's "Giorgio Moroder ft. Britney Spears" because it's one of those lame Euro things where a DJ claims main ownership of a song and the person actually singing is second fiddle).

 

That you so much for this - my sons and his friends also became fans after I made then listen to it :) and they love it! A friend was even wondering if it was ripped off of Fall Out Boy, until they realized that no, it was Fall Out Boy paying their homage :)

 

I love it too. And I loved the original. According to my son, that Italian guy who made the remix is "very old and very exclusive". Not completely sure what he means by that, he didn't elaborate and I was busy with work :)   

[DeLurker]

Going into the WABAC Machine, Cheap Trick's cover of Ain't that a Shame.  Can't say it is better than the original, but they totally made it their's.

[MyAimIsTrue]

In discussing covers in general, last week in honor of St. Patrick's Day I was participating in a FB thread about favorite songs by Irish artists and I posted a video link to Thin Lizzy's version of the Irish folk standard "Whiskey in the Jar" to which someone replied "I thought that was a Metallica song."

 

Facepalm.  Get off my lawn.

[Joe]

They were my first introduction to the song, but I've come to prefer the Thin Lizzy version.

[UYI]

Willie Nelson's original version of "Are You Sure" is good, but the version he did with Kacey Musgraves is, IMO, even better. There's a very dream like quality to it.

 

[WendyCR72]

Ooh, that's really good -- I like it when the radio station plays the "Eruption" intro with it.

 

Ditto the "Intruder" intro with the "Pretty Woman" remake Van Halen did, too.

[Frozendiva]

Manic Street Preachers cover one hit wonder Fiction Factory's 1980s (Feels Like) Heaven for a BBC Radio 2 compilation album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwX91H2mbeU

[Dancingjaneway]

Peabo Brysons version of "Minute by Minute" is SO much better than The Doobie Brothers version(which is the original). 

[Ohwell]

I dunno, YMMV, but Peabo's version (at least the one I heard) has a big band sound to it.  I prefer the quieter, mellower version by the Doobie Brothers.

[UYI]

This might be too soon, seeing as he's just passed away, but while Guy Clark wrote the song "Desperados Waiting for a Train", I prefer the version by the Highwaymen more. There's a large, majestic quality to their version.

[Frozendiva]

No ability to edit my Fiction Factory remake post. The band members have gotten wind of their song's remake and have responded. Like Christmas for them.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/feeds/NewsApp/newsapp-english/newsapp-english-scotland/7156127/Christmas-day-moment-Singers-delight-as-Manic-Street-Preachers-cover-their-hit.html

or:

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/174250/manic-street-preachers-cover-breathes-new-life-perth-bands-hit/

Edited May 20, 2016 by Frozendiva
URL did not work

[Fukui San]

I'd like to invite everyone on this thread to fall down the AV Undercover rabbit hole of artists covering from a menu of pre-chosen songs that dwindles as the season goes on? They have now down six seasons of 25 songs each time, so there's quite a library. It ranges from awesome to bands seemingly there against their will covering songs they hate. 

Any time GWAR or They Might Be Giants cover something, it is awesome.

My favorite discovery was Hippo Campus covering ELO's Don't Bring Me Down. It's not one that takes the song in a startling new direction, it's just very well done. There are plenty that complete rework the material in interesting ways, of course.

Funniest trainwreck was Sebadoh covering Rush.  One out of the three people in the band was not a Rush fan. See if you can tell which.

Edit: This series has just started for 2016. Here's the announcement of the list: http://www.avclub.com/article/here-it-your-2016-v-undercover-song-list-236487

Edited May 24, 2016 by Fukui San

[Wiendish Fitch]

I find Big Mountain's rendition of "Baby I Love Your Way" infinitely superior to Peter Frampton's original. A reggae cover of anything tends to be hit or miss, but I think Big Mountain's version is a definite hit; it's romantic, catchy, lovely, and emotional. I find Frampton's version so colorless by comparison.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

So this happened:

 

I like it, even though Shirley Manson's take on the song is much closer (and truer) to Patti Smith's version than Natalie Merchant's. Dirtier, somehow. It makes me wish they'd cover Pissing In A River.

[Sandman87]

On Monday, May 23, 2016 at 9:39 AM, Fukui San said:

Any time GWAR ... cover something, it is awesome.

I can remember a show where they covered me with fake blood and urine (I hope), and that was pretty awesome.

[Lugal]

I like Samantha Fish, Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde's version of "Jet Airliner" which sounds more bluesier than Steve Miller's version, and closer to Paul Pena's original.

Paul Pena's original, which wasn't released until years after Steve Miller turned it into a hit.

[NutMeg]

I love this cover of Abba's Knowing me, knowing you by Belgian singer Arno - it has all the gravitas needed to reflect on a breakup :)

Come to think of it, I also love most of his covers it that album (including the Rolling Stones' Mother's little helper or The Beatles' Baby you can drive my car - shocking, I know!)

[roseha]

Just found this thread!  Like most people I'm still feeling very sad about the loss of Prince, and I would really like to purchase his cover of Crimson and Clover - I heard it one time on the radio (an oldies station on Long Island I'm pretty sure) but it doesn't seem to be on iTunes or anything like that.  Any place I can buy it?  I always liked the original but his version is amazing.

[magicdog]

How about when a band covers its own recorded single for the same album the first song appears on?

 

On The Monkees new album, "Good Times!", there is a soft wistful song called, "Me & Magdalena".  Mike Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz do a great job harmonizing and it reminds you of the kind of music Mike was writing during the group's heyday (even though it was written by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie).  However, on the deluxe version of the album there's a different version of the song which is a little more uptempo and still very contemporary and radio friendly.  I really hope this song becomes a hit!  

[Cobalt Stargazer]

12 hours ago, roseha said:

Just found this thread!  Like most people I'm still feeling very sad about the loss of Prince, and I would really like to purchase his cover of Crimson and Clover - I heard it one time on the radio (an oldies station on Long Island I'm pretty sure) but it doesn't seem to be on iTunes or anything like that.  Any place I can buy it?  I always liked the original but his version is amazing.

roesha, I don't know if it can be purchased as a single, but Prince's version of Crimson and Clover can be found on Lotusflow3r, which was released in 2009. I'd never heard his iteration of the song, and I'm not sure I really like it, but I do appreciate that he incorporated parts of Wild Thing, which The Troggs covered in 1966.

[Shannon L.]

Quote

I like Samantha Fish, Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde's version of "Jet Airliner" which sounds more bluesier than Steve Miller's version, and closer to Paul Pena's original.

This is the first time I've heard this version and I love it.  I hope I can find it for my cell phone!

[roseha]

12 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

roesha, I don't know if it can be purchased as a single, but Prince's version of Crimson and Clover can be found on Lotusflow3r, which was released in 2009. I'd never heard his iteration of the song, and I'm not sure I really like it, but I do appreciate that he incorporated parts of Wild Thing, which The Troggs covered in 1966.

Thanks very much, Cobalt Stargazer, I was hoping to find it as a "single" but I guess he didn't release it as such.  

[nobodyyoucare]

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 5:04 PM, Sandman87 said:

I can remember a show where they covered me with fake blood and urine (I hope), and that was pretty awesome.

yet no link to one of the av videos  where GWAR does one of the covers. So to correct that oversight here is one.

[amaranta]

Quote

Funniest trainwreck was Sebadoh covering Rush.  One out of the three people in the band was not a Rush fan. See if you can tell which.

Hee.  I love Lou Barlow.  Really.  And in all his musical guises - solo stuff, Folk Implosion and Sebadoh. 

[WendyCR72]

Speaking of "Wild Thing", one of the strangest covers/quasi parodies of the song was covered by none other than Sam Kinison. The actual video included a bunch of '80s rockers and - I'm not sure which female this was - but it was one of those in the '80s associated with scandals. Either Fawn Hall or Jessica Something. (I know there was a Jessica as I recall "Church Lady" on SNL berating a "Jessie". LOL.) Anyway... ETA: Jessica Hahn. Google comes through again. Not sure if this is her or Hall here...

[UYI]

On 7/1/2016 at 1:02 AM, WendyCR72 said:

Speaking of "Wild Thing", one of the strangest covers/quasi parodies of the song was covered by none other than Sam Kinison. The actual video included a bunch of '80s rockers and - I'm not sure which female this was - but it was one of those in the '80s associated with scandals. Either Fawn Hall or Jessica Something. (I know there was a Jessica as I recall "Church Lady" on SNL berating a "Jessie". LOL.) Anyway... ETA: Jessica Hahn. Google comes through again. Not sure if this is her or Hall here...

I'm pretty sure that's Jessica Hahn. She and Sam both appeared on episodes of Married...with Children back in the day; Jessica wound up in a relationship with one of the co-creators of the shows after her appearance--they were together until he died about a decade ago. 

[Kromm]

This is in no way BETTER than the original. But to even come CLOSE to the original is fairly impressive, and this did.

I'm not particularly a Demi fan. Her voice fails on certain songs.  But not here. And this was only the rehearsal.

[Kromm]

And to give credit where it's due, Sarah Bareilles is good enough that this definitely rivals Dionne Warwick. To me the problem with the Warwick version is that its got some vocal affectations to it that I think slightly hurt it. This version in contrast is very straightforward.

A bit less straightforward is this version, which apparently has been posted for weeks, but from the really low hit count almost nobody cares. It's really not a spectacular way to do this song, but it's heartfelt I guess, even if nobody's seen it.  The world, I think, is tired of Celebrity Sing Along Charity Music Videos, and Broadway is a tough sell on top of that.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Kromm

[UYI]

18 hours ago, Kromm said:

This is in no way BETTER than the original. But to even come CLOSE to the original is fairly impressive, and this did.

I'm not particularly a Demi fan. Her voice fails on certain songs.  But not here. And this was only the rehearsal.

Demi is a MUCH better singer than people realize. Have you heard her song "Stone Cold"? She's GREAT!

Yes, I have her most recent album, what of it? :) 

[Princess Sparkle]

It's not better than the original BUT Tori Amos's version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came up on my iPod recently and I forgot how much I like her cover.  She does covers of different songs at all her concerts (I also love her Total Eclipse of the Heart cover) but this one is, by far, my favorite.

[aradia22]

I've gotten pretty into Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox though the quality varies greatly depending on the singers and the arrangement.

[WendyCR72]

While Karen Carpenter did have a beautiful voice, I was never really a fan of The Carpenters. However, back in 1994 or so, a tribute album called "If I Were A Carpenter" was released with alternative artists doing their covers of Carpenters songs. And one of the most ironic (due to the amp noise with the lyric "your guitar sounds so sweet and clear") but haunting versions of "Superstar" I heard was by Sonic Youth on that album.

I know Luther Vandross did a cover, too, but I guess I like the gloominess to this one that seems to match the lonely lyrics. See what you think, if you've never heard it before.

[PatternRec]

I adore good covers of songs. I'm super tired now but as I think of more I'll probably be in this thread a lot. 

edit: Andy McKee's acoustic cover of Africa by Toto: 

Edited July 22, 2016 by PatternRec

[Accidental Martyr]

Edited July 22, 2016 by Accidental Martyr
This is the wrong link I was trying to post but now I can't figure out how to delete it.

[Accidental Martyr]

Ignore the previous post. I can't figure out how to delete it. (And don't click on it if you don't want to hear some NSFW words.)

This is what I was attempting to post:

I like the Springsteen original but The Band's cover of "Atlantic City" is really good. (Lots of people have covered this song.)

[PatternRec]

15 minutes ago, Accidental Martyr said:

 

I love her first album, but I'm pretty sure that's not a cover. 

[Accidental Martyr]

Just now, PatternRec said:

I love her first album, but I'm pretty sure that's not a cover. 

Yeah, see my other post. That's the wrong link but I can't figure out how to delete it after its embedded in the post or just delete that entire post.  Exile in Guyville is a fantastic album.

[PatternRec]

3 minutes ago, Accidental Martyr said:

Yeah, see my other post. That's the wrong link but I can't figure out how to delete it after its embedded in the post or just delete that entire post.  Exile in Guyville is a fantastic album.

Sweet. I love me some Bruce Springsteen covers! Also glad you couldn't delete the other - I get to squee over a young Liz Phair as if it was still the 90s :D

 

edit: Walk of the Earth do some great covers almost all of which I like better than the originals. The funniest is Payphone (warning - some swear words): 

Edited July 22, 2016 by PatternRec

[Accidental Martyr]

5 minutes ago, PatternRec said:

Sweet. I love me some Bruce Springsteen covers! Also glad you couldn't delete the other - I get to squee over a young Liz Phair as if it was still the 90s :D

Check out this series of articles on Exile in Guyville.

http://www.popmatters.com/post/174386-strange-loops-liz-phair-stratford-on-guy/

[PatternRec]

2 minutes ago, Accidental Martyr said:

Check out this series of articles on Exile in Guyville.

http://www.popmatters.com/post/174386-strange-loops-liz-phair-stratford-on-guy/

Awesome. Bookmarked! 

Another good cover - Frank Zappa does a live version of Allman Brothers' Whippin' Post: 

Zappa is an acquired taste for many, and because of his humor people sometimes mistook him for "making fun of" this song, but I don't think that's the case. He takes any song and just Zappa-fies it when he does a cover. 

[Rick Kitchen]

My first encounter with Walk Off the Earth was their "cover" of "Somebody that I Used to Know"

 

 

 

Well, actually, my first encounter with them was the parody of that cover:

 

[Frozendiva]

Platinum Blonde - Not in Love (original)

 

Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith (Cure)

[Luckylyn]

Top 10 Cover Songs That Sound Completely Different Than the Original

[magicdog]

Quote

Top 10 Cover Songs That Sound Completely Different Than the Original

Apparently watchmojo forgot about the song "Mary, Mary" by The Monkees (written by Mike Nesmith) and the 1988 remake by Run DMC.  In fact, Run DMC changed the lyrics completely, but it's the same melody line so it counts right?

For the record, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band recorded the song first, and for a while, it was believed Mike Nesmith didn't write the song because he wasn't credited on the original album!  

[Spaceman Spiff]

Had to de-lurk once I found this thread. I love a good cover.

Mrs Robinson  The Lemonheads

In Your Eyes  Jeffrey Gaines

Last Kiss   Pearl Jam

Every Breath You Take   Juliana Hatfield

I Fought the Law   Green Day

Can’t Help Falling in Love  Lick the Tins (Some Kind Of Wonderful Soundtrack)

I’m A Believer   Weezer

Big Yellow Taxi   Counting Crows w/Vanessa Carlton

American Girl   Goo Goo Dolls

Burning for You   Shiny Toy Guns

All You Zombies  Sandra

Ring of Fire   Social Distortion

Love Song    Jack off Jill

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood   Santa Esmeralda

Titanium   Madilyn Bailey

Llorando   Rebekah Del Rio     (Roy Orbison's ''Crying'' with this Spanish a cappella rendition)

[PatternRec]

11 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

In Your Eyes  Jeffrey Gaines

Thanks for this. Great version. 

This is hilarious: Jeff Tweedy doing an acoustic spoken word version of I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas :D

[PatternRec]

This is also really good. The Young Professionals cover Lana del Rey's Video Games

[BatmanBeatles]

I don't care for Disturbed's Sound Of Silence. I think it's too over the top.