I really like Seether’s version of Careless Whisper.
Actually, I suppose I’m just a big fan of a good cover in general.
A good little chunk of my music collection is actually sort of the opposite of what you guys are talking about. I enjoy the original versions of songs where the cover has perhaps become the more familiar version over time or people (usually younger people who ever only knew the cover version) think the cover artist is the original artist. Or I seek out the original song where some really prominent, famous hooks or samples come from.
So, I’ve got Ann Peebles “I Can’t Stand the Rain”, which is the basis of Milssy Elliot’s "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).
I’ve got I Want Candy by the Strangeloves.
I’ve got Tom Scott’s “Today”, which has a horn bit Pete Rock and CL Smooth used pretty prominently in They Reminisce Over You.
I’ve got Think About It by Lynn Collins, which has this bit people might have heard a few times.
I’ve got the Gloria Jones version of Tainted Love and the Erma Franklin version of Piece of My Heart
I’ve also got a few just weird things like Deep In The Dark by Laura Branigan, where the original composer of Der Kommisar just kept trying to sell the music to someone.
One thing I like is finding out how a lot of little production bits, little sounds and things I think of as modern where actually in the old versions, often from the 50s or 60s.
+1 for this and the Lacuna Coil cover.
I’ll toss in Barenaked Ladies ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ cover as overly awesome.
or when APC did Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes.
/choke …uh, did this ever get released in any form?
I agree with Robert, covers should somehow be interesting or unique. Type O Negative’s cover of Seals & Croft’s “Summer Breeze” comes to mind.
Of course, that begs the question as to how cool or not it is if someone does a bunch of covers and they all sound the same (I’m looking at your Mr. Manson – Sweet Dreams was neat, but then Personal Jesus and then Tainted Love?)
Smashing Pumpkins covers of Landslide and Dreaming are both really cool.
Semi-related and didn’t really warrant a new thread:
http://www.don-mclean.com/articles/journal/journal_comments.asp?JournalID=407
Back in the days of black radio stations and white radio stations (i.e. segregation), if a black act had a hot record the white kids would find out and want to hear it on “their” radio station. This would prompt the record company to bring a white act into the recording studio and cut an exact, but white, version of the song to give to the white radio stations to play and thus keep the black act where it belonged, on black radio. A “cover” version of a song is a racist tool. Many examples can be found from “Sha Boom” to “Good Lovin’” It is NOT a term intended to be used to describe a valid interpretation of an old song. In that case every pop singer is nothing more than a cover artist (a derogatory description if ever there was one). I am not a “cover” artist and I do not do “covers”. The Crewcuts were cover artists.
I really like the cover of Sweet Child O’ Mine by Taken By Trees. Never heard of the band before, it’s on an advert here at the moment but it was an interesting enough cover to go seek it out.
Ah, but do you have Fred Neil’s recording of “Everybody’s Talkin’”?
No, though I just listened to the two versions and like Neil’s version better.
Also, Don Mclean needs to accept that the definition of words can shift over time. People aren’t misusing the word “cover”, the meaning of “cover” just changed.
Nostalgia 77 (vocals by Alice Russell) - Seven Nation Army:
Surprised I never posted it to this thread but I must have posted it one of the many other iterations of it, but I’d say Huskur Du’s cover of Eight Miles High is one of the all time greats.
This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions. :(
You could try searching youtube for it. It’s posted about 15 times.
But here is the even better Grant Phabao remix of the same song.
Here’s Alice doing Gnarles Barklay’s Crazy in Toronto. I was there and she is awesome.
And Mark Ronson on Toxic (don’t play that one at work) and Just.
Lastly El Michels affair for doing a full album of jazz covers of the Wu-Tang clan.
An excellent illustrative choice. I love the Frente cover, and I especially like how it shows just how good a song Bizarre Love Triangle is as you’ve pointed out, and I enjoy the original for what it is.
Another cover that I enjoy is Mike Ness’ take on Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right. I think it mostly is the sound and attitude of Ness’ voice on that song.
I’m a big fan of Elliott Smith’s cover of the Big Star song “Thirteen”. Not that he reinvents it that much, but I think his voice is pitch perfect for the song.
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Thirteen/14032924
Side note: It’s frustrating that the name “New Moon” is now most readily associated with the goddamn Twilight series, rather than one of the best posthumous compilation albums ever.
Hey, thanks Gabe - I’ve never really listened to Elliott Smith, and that is indeed a gorgeous cover.
As an aside, I think if I had to pick my all-time favourite rock lyrics, you can’t get much better than “Thirteen”. “Won’t you tell your Dad get off my back? / Tell him what we said about ‘Paint It Black’.”
Well, if you liked that, I suggest you pick up the album Either/Or post-haste. Also, yeah, that lyric hits me every single time. Just perfect.
“And I’ll shake you.” I don’t even know what it means, it’s just beautiful.
Was going to post in the awesome songs thread, probably fits better here.
It’s an example of a cover that is as good as the original without changing it too much.
Velvet Crush - Why Not Your Baby:
Original version by Dillard and Clark:
The world would be a better place with more Ric Menck and Paul Chastain (says this Choo Choo Train/Springfields fanboi)
This. A perfect example is Goldfinger’s cover of “99 Red Balloons”. Song structure and even the hook remains the same, and yet by making some slight timing changes and putting a metal spin on it they create a whole new (and totally awesome) way to enjoy the original song.
I’d throw in the two albums from Northern Kings, especially their versions of “We Don’t Need Another Hero” and “Brothers In Arms”.
Also Van Canto’s covers of “Fear Of The Dark” and “Kings of Metal”.