janie jones January 6, 2018 Share January 6, 2018 Okay something that has been bothering me for ages that I have to get off my chest: Someone (I don't remember who) made an AWFUL cover of Van Halen's "Jump," and I hate it so much that I sometimes think of it when another Van Halen song comes on the radio, and I have to change the station. That's how much I hate this cover. In other news, the Foo Fighter's version of "Band on the Run" is better. And also, I'm in love lately with this version of "Sexual Healing": 2 Link to comment
BookWoman56 January 15, 2018 Share January 15, 2018 For me, a cover is usually not that interesting if it’s just a different singer, using a similar arrangement and so forth. My preference is for a cover in which the new singer/group takes the song in a slightly different direction, such as the mood of the song, very different arrangement, etc. That said, if the mood is different, it has to be something that is supported by the lyrics. So, if the lyrics focus on someone having a broken heart because his/her lover left, the mood for that might be sorrowful or possibly angry, but it shouldn’t be upbeat or happy. Many people have mentioned Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, and it’s an excellent example of what I mean. When Trent Reznor sings the original, he is full of regret but he still sounds a bit tentative, as if there is still a remote chance he might turn his life around. When Johnny Cash sings it, he’s also full of regret but it’s the regret of a man who knows there is no time left in his life to make anything different. The very first cover I remember making an impression on me was one of a song that the Supremes had done, You Keep Me Hangin’ On. When I heard the Vanilla Fudge cover of it, I understood immediately that they had given the song their own interpretation, with vocals that conveyed the agony someone in that position would be experiencing. Then years later Kim Wilde did her own cover, and with that cover, the song had morphed from the sadness of the Supremes version to the agony of the Vanilla Fudge cover, to Wilde’s simultaneous sorrow and anger at being manipulated and used. My favorite cover is a cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. The original is moody and melancholy, with a tone of helplessness. The Finnish group HIM’s version (both the studio version they first did and then subsequent live versions) is instead more energetic, with hints of resentment and self-reproach at having been duped. It’s hard to explain, but when I listen to Chris Isaak sing the song, I feel like he’s going to spend the next 6 months moping about the object of his desire. When I listen to Ville Valo of HIM sing it, I feel like he’s reached the point of being angry about the emotional duplicity, but ready to move on with a sense of having learned a very hard lesson. That is, he may still be in love with the woman, but he no longer likes or respects her because of the way she has treated him, and he knows he’s been taken for a ride. Another cover that I love is Linda Ronstadt’s cover of Karla Bonoff’s Someone to Lay Down Beside Me. Ronstadt is a superior vocalist in a technical sense, but she also just invests that song with an incredible emotional range, from fatigue to sorrow, and in the last line “You just can’t ask for more,” to a passive despair. The arrangements are almost identical, but I prefer Rondstadt's because of the quality of her voice and expression. 4 Link to comment
WendyCR72 January 15, 2018 Share January 15, 2018 12 hours ago, BookWoman56 said: My favorite cover is a cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. The original is moody and melancholy, with a tone of helplessness. The Finnish group HIM’s version (both the studio version they first did and then subsequent live versions) is instead more energetic, with hints of resentment and self-reproach at having been duped. It’s hard to explain, but when I listen to Chris Isaak sing the song, I feel like he’s going to spend the next 6 months moping about the object of his desire. When I listen to Ville Valo of HIM sing it, I feel like he’s reached the point of being angry about the emotional duplicity, but ready to move on with a sense of having learned a very hard lesson. That is, he may still be in love with the woman, but he no longer likes or respects her because of the way she has treated him, and he knows he’s been taken for a ride. Corey Taylor, lead singer of both Slipknot and Stone Sour, also did an acoustic cover of "Wicked Game" that I really like: 1 Link to comment
Accidental Martyr April 21, 2018 Share April 21, 2018 (edited) Drive-By Truckers cover The Ramones. (“The KKK Took My Baby Away”) Edited April 21, 2018 by Accidental Martyr Link to comment
Accidental Martyr April 21, 2018 Share April 21, 2018 The Regrettes cover of “Fox on the Run” by Sweet. Link to comment
boochay8888 April 29, 2018 Share April 29, 2018 Two covers that I love: XO-John Mayer...it is a vastly superior version of Beyoncé’s song. This may be an unpopular opinion here but, I enjoy John Mayer’s version of Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty more than the original. Not to take anything away from Petty’s version, but, Mayer’s slower, more melancholy take hits me right in the feels. Link to comment
UYI May 14, 2018 Share May 14, 2018 From 1982: Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band cover Buck Owens. 1 Link to comment
AntiBeeSpray May 30, 2018 Share May 30, 2018 A trio of Toto covers (two by Weezer and one by Relient K): Link to comment
WendyCR72 May 30, 2018 Share May 30, 2018 On 12/2/2014 at 8:15 PM, Wiendish Fitch said: The Sundays cover of "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones is way better than the original to me. One of my favorite songs of all time. I like it, but I don't like that they chopped the last verse. Sing the whole song if you're going to sing it! So, regardless of Mick Jagger being kind of nasty, I must still give the edge to the original, even if I do like the cover. 1 Link to comment
Annber03 May 30, 2018 Share May 30, 2018 (edited) I'm going to need to take an afternoon soon here and pour through this entire thread of covers :D. Listen to the ones I know and love, and check out the ones I'm not familiar with :D. Will post a few picks from some of my favorite artists. Crowded House: She's Not There Franz Ferdinand: What You Waiting For? Oingo Boingo: California Girls (I love what they do with the lyrics in their version :D.) Elvis Costello: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood Muse: Feeling Good And another one by Muse, and this one I'm embedding, because it's just as awesome to watch as it is to listen to. Hearing/seeing one of my favorite bands cover a song by another one of my favorite bands, and with a member of that band joining in on the performance to boot? Well, it just doesn't get any better than that: Edited May 30, 2018 by Annber03 2 Link to comment
BuyMoreAndSave May 31, 2018 Share May 31, 2018 (edited) While the original of this song isn't really well-known, I think Mudhoney's cover is better than the original (warning: controversial lyrics as you may have guessed by the title): And now for something completely silly...a chorus of elderly men and women covering "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire (aka what my generation will be doing in 50 years): Edited May 31, 2018 by BuyMoreAndSave Link to comment
BuyMoreAndSave June 15, 2018 Share June 15, 2018 Another one of my favorite covers is Pantera's cover of "Proud to Be Loud," an unreleased song by the band Keel. Their version was later released about 10 years after Pantera's version came out, but I think Pantera's version is better. This was the last album of their "Glamtera" phase (therefore the hilarious in hindsight album cover) and the first with Phil as the singer. Even though the living members of Pantera have since tried to pretend like their glam phase didn't exist (I'm not sure why because they had some really good songs in the 80s), this song actually was in the movie Donnie Darko. Link to comment
NutMeg June 21, 2018 Share June 21, 2018 What do you all use when you embed videos? I'm not in the US, but on this page I was able to see AnnberO3's, but none of UYI, for instance. Link to comment
janie jones June 24, 2018 Share June 24, 2018 If you post a link to a YouTube video, it embeds automatically. Link to comment
BuyMoreAndSave July 5, 2018 Share July 5, 2018 If you never knew that Pop Goes the Weasel could be an epic "weasels marching into battle" song...well, now you know: Link to comment
Silver Raven July 21, 2018 Share July 21, 2018 Marcelito Pomoy covers Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's "The Wish" (impossible as it sounds, he covers both voices). 1 Link to comment
Frozendiva July 21, 2018 Share July 21, 2018 The Manics cover The Cure's In Between Days at Robert Smith's Meltdown Festival back in June. Link to comment
Silver Raven July 28, 2018 Share July 28, 2018 Weezer has a new cover of Toto's "Africa". Why make a cover if you're going to redo it note for note? Link to comment
Bastet July 29, 2018 Share July 29, 2018 I keep forgetting to look up who's singing that Africa cover, so thank you. It keeps faking me out - I get several lines into it before I realize it's not the "real" song. 1 Link to comment
janie jones August 7, 2018 Share August 7, 2018 On 7/28/2018 at 4:37 PM, Silver Raven said: Weezer has a new cover of Toto's "Africa". Why make a cover if you're going to redo it note for note? I agree, and what's more, it only exaggerates that one singer has a stronger voice than the other. (The other being Rivers Cuomo.) Link to comment
Silver Raven August 9, 2018 Share August 9, 2018 After appearing in Mama Mia Here We Go Again, Cher has announced she'll be releasing an album of all ABBA covers next month. Link to comment
proserpina65 August 24, 2018 Share August 24, 2018 On 07/30/2018 at 6:15 PM, cpcathy said: The bridge is what is wildly different. And terrible. I said this in another thread before I remembered this one but here goes: Bishop Briggs' cover of Never Tear Us Apart is a crime against humanity. She takes a gorgeous, slow-burn masterpiece of a song and renders it unrecognizable in the worst possible way. To say that it sounds like shit is the understatement of the year. 1 Link to comment
AimingforYoko August 25, 2018 Share August 25, 2018 For obvious reasons, I've been on an Aretha kick. Respect is her most famous cover, but these two may be my new favorites: The Long and Winding Road: and The Weight (with Duane Allman on slide guitar) 4 Link to comment
Silver Raven October 2, 2018 Share October 2, 2018 I am shook. Postmodern Jukebox and Morgan James, doing Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever", West Side Story style. 2 Link to comment
DeLurker October 14, 2018 Share October 14, 2018 Just heard a cover of Wicked Game by Theory of a Deadman. Haven’t been able to decide how I feel about it. I love the Goo Goo Dolls cover of Give a Little Bit. I loathed the Supertramp original. The cover seems very close to the original though so I assume the ptoblem is me? Link to comment
Accidental Martyr October 18, 2018 Share October 18, 2018 Blackberry Smoke and Amanda Shires perform Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky”. https://www.jambase.com/article/blackberry-smoke-amanda-shires-tom-petty-cover Link to comment
WendyCR72 October 19, 2018 Share October 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Accidental Martyr said: Blackberry Smoke and Amanda Shires perform Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky”. https://www.jambase.com/article/blackberry-smoke-amanda-shires-tom-petty-cover Listening now, and...it's not half bad! 1 Link to comment
UYI October 26, 2018 Share October 26, 2018 As much as I love Emmylou Harris, she was (and is) WAY too classy and dignified a performer to have ever brought the cheese factor needed, IMO, for this song to work. Dave & Sugar MORE than made up for that (and yes, that's a bit of a backhanded compliment here on the latter's part, lol): Link to comment
UYI October 27, 2018 Share October 27, 2018 Behold, the OTHER version of "Friends in Low Places", by Mark Chesnutt. Imagine how different country music history might have been if THIS had been the hit instead of Garth's. Link to comment
Accidental Martyr October 28, 2018 Share October 28, 2018 Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit cover Tom Petty’s “American Girl”. Link to comment
UYI November 27, 2018 Share November 27, 2018 I LOVE Lynn Anderson's version of "Sunday Morning Coming Down." I love her, but I NEVER would have expected a song like that to fit her, but it was better than I thought it would be (although the fact that it was on the same album as her signature song, "Rose Garden", is HILARIOUS to me). And here is Sammi Smith's version. She of course is best known for singing another song written by Kris Kristofferson, "Help Me Make It Through the Night". Link to comment
Bastet November 27, 2018 Share November 27, 2018 (edited) Anderson's version does not work at all for me, but Smith's - which I'd never heard - does, so thanks for posting that. Speaking of Help Me Make It Through The Night, thinking about how many covers of that song I like (Sammi Smith, of course, but also Tammy Wynette, Elvis Presley, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Joan Baez), many of them better than Kristofferson's original (that's not uncommon for me; I love his lyrics, but his voice I only really get into on certain songs) made me realize that is one frequently-covered song! I know Anne Murray recorded it, too, and Engelbert Humperdinck, plus several others, I'm sure. Edited November 27, 2018 by Bastet Link to comment
UYI November 27, 2018 Share November 27, 2018 Martina McBride recorded it for her classic country covers album Timeless in 2005, as well as "Rose Garden", actually. Here's the track list from that album via its Wikipedia page, for those who don't know about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeless_(Martina_McBride_album) Link to comment
Bastet November 27, 2018 Share November 27, 2018 (edited) Ha - I'm pretty sure I even have that album and still forgot about her cover; that just speaks to how many artists have recorded it. Edited November 27, 2018 by Bastet Link to comment
AntiBeeSpray January 1, 2019 Share January 1, 2019 Love this cover of A-ha's song, Take On Me... 3 Link to comment
Silver Raven January 6, 2019 Share January 6, 2019 On 1/1/2019 at 12:11 PM, AntiBeeSpray said: Love this cover of A-ha's song, Take On Me... I can't praise Caleb and his singing partner, Jonathan Young, highly enough. 1 Link to comment
Silver Raven January 7, 2019 Share January 7, 2019 (edited) Here are Caleb and Jonathan covering "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Edited January 7, 2019 by Silver Raven 2 Link to comment
Sandman87 January 8, 2019 Share January 8, 2019 One of my favorite covers; "Purple Haze" in a Devo-esque mode, with vocals that sound like Kingfish from Amos & Andy, as preformed live by Frank Zappa's band: Talk about taking a song and making it your own. Link to comment
AntiBeeSpray January 11, 2019 Share January 11, 2019 Really like this cover of Alphaville's song, Forever Young. Tiffany brings another layer of emotion to the song. Gives me chills every time I listen to it. 1 Link to comment
Jaded January 24, 2019 Share January 24, 2019 Weezer just came out with a whole album of covers with all of the songs available to listen to on their YouTube channel. They even covered No Scrubs by TLC and it really is awesome. Link to comment
Dandesun January 24, 2019 Share January 24, 2019 I've only just discovered this and I am obsessed. It doesn't hurt that I love the Beach Boys and Paul Simon. Also, I don't think Paul gets enough credit for his guitar work, which is beautiful. Anyway... I love it deeply. 3 Link to comment
DeLurker January 26, 2019 Share January 26, 2019 I'm not blown away by the vocals, but that is probably because that song is so tied to Brian Wilson. That being said, that is a beautiful acoustic version of the song - I had no idea Paul Simon was that good! 2 Link to comment
Accidental Martyr February 16, 2019 Share February 16, 2019 (edited) Rapper Denzel Curry covers Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls On Parade.” (Language warning.) Edited February 16, 2019 by Accidental Martyr Link to comment
Accidental Martyr February 21, 2019 Share February 21, 2019 Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom covers “Little Mascara” by The Replacements. Link to comment
UYI February 22, 2019 Share February 22, 2019 P!nk has always said that the 4 Non Blondes album Bigger, Better, Faster, More! was one of, if not THE most influential album of her life growing up, and when she began her solo career from a position of greater creative freedom, she wanted nothing more than to work with the band's lead singer, Linda Perry. Here are two versions of her covering their most famous song, "What's Up?", the second time right next to Linda Perry! 1 Link to comment
UYI February 27, 2019 Share February 27, 2019 A cover of Dwight Yoakam's "Fast As You" by country trio Runaway June. AWESOME. Link to comment
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