Cover Versions - What are your thoughts?
Love them or hate them? What is your take on artists doing cover versions of other artists songs? I know this happens all the time but I have always been anti-covers and did not realize, as a child, that the songs I listened to and loved were frequently cover versions. A perfect example is The House of the Rising Sun performed by Frijid Pink .... I did not know that this was an Animals song from the mid-1960's.
In my defense we did not have TV, YouTube or internet at the time. Valve radios were our only source of information and entertainment
So this morning, as is my wont when I prepare for work I popped a vinyl on the turntable and cranked up the volume. This morning it was Simon&Garfunkel's concert in the park. And this got me thinking about cover versions ....
Animals - House of the Rising Sun 1964
House of the rising sun - Frijid Pink 1969
But wait!!! It goes back further than that.. how about 1941 ...
House of the Rising Sun - Woody Guthrie 1941
Sounds of Silence
Now my lady and her two sons favorite song at the moment is this particular song...... but performed by Disturbed
Sounds of Silence
I love the use of the piano in the opening stanza. A very good cover I must confess... grudgingly {smile}
I would love to hear from you which cover versions you believe improve on the original....
Credits: Wikipedia
Ha! When I featured House of the Rising Sun some months ago, @everittdmickey said someone else had done it before the Animals and I couldn't find it. But there you go - Woody Guthrie. It had its charms, but yep, I think The Animals' version is better. I'd never heard of Frijid Pink, but I liked their version too. Interesting to see the difference in style and how much it changed in just 5 years.
I agree Disturbed have done a superb cover of Sounds of Silence, full of power and passion. Which is better? Who can say? I love them both, but the subtlety of the original I think will always have a special place in my heart.
Another nomination for best cover is Gary Jules' version of the Tears for Fears song Mad World, from the movie Donnie Darko
There are awesome covers, which are in my opinion often better then the original. Those are two of my favorite covers:
Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World
Now that is a new wrinkle on Summertime Blues ...definitely to be cranked up LOUD!! Thanks for sharing that one {meanders off to find the original 'The Man Who Sold the World'} .... I love the Nirvana version.
This version of "Jolene" is definaltly a lot better that the original by Dolly Parton:
I also prefere the Nirvana cover of "Seasons in the sun" to the original:
Oh I dunno. I quite like Dolly's version. I always think Jack White is a good musician but sometimes just shouldn't sing. If I had to go for a cover of Jolene, it would be this one by Miley Cyrus. Not that I;m a fan of hers usually, but I quite like this.
Well, taste is different. For me Jack White is the only one of them who is able to feel the lyrics for real :)
Yes, good point about him feeling the lyrics. And thank goodness taste is different or we wouldn't have the wide diversity of music that we do have. With Jack White, I like some of what he does, but sometimes I just can't get past him being off key.
meep
I like the Nirvana, but I still would go for the Bowie version myself.
Anybody who covered a Bob Dylan song did it better than him ( except Johnny Cash) Dream Theater were amazing Musicians , but the only good stuff they did was when they covered , Journey , Elton John, Zeppelin etc.
Hey hey hey go easy on Johnny {grin} ... I enjoy him now and again. I agree as regards Bob Dylan although I do listen to an awful lot of his vinyl still. Joan Baez (who Icovered here) did amazing covers of his songs. I will explore Dream Theaters as I am not familiar with them
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Theater
I am not slagging Bob , he is a Great Songwriter, even he himself said the Byrds did his songs better than him, I have all his albums. Dream Theatre , (put the link above.) All my Musician Friends raved about them , but musicians don't pay to get into venues( usually ) so their opinions don't count.
"...but musicians don't pay to get into venues( usually ) so their opinions don't count."..LOL. Only singer worse than ole Bob is Jimi Hendrix imo.
I prefer originals but sometimes the cover versions are even better or as great as the original.
Here is one
Who did the original? I am unfamiliar with this song... or this version is so different I cannot identify the original artist...
She sings rather well..
When I saw Time after Time, I immediately thought ' Ahhh, Cindi Lauper' .. but those lyrics did not ring a bell.
Mikes Davis did also a great job on this magical song :)
Miles Davis :) :)
Lovely!
I really love good cover-versions. You can see (and listen to) some of my favorites in one of my recent #danceweekend posts here.
Thanks for the response... will pop over and give them a listen...
Tool a new band for me to explore, altho I not enamoured with their version of No Quarter.. a LED ZEP classic. I listening to Dopethrones version of Ain't no sunshine (Bill Withers)... the vocals are hilarious..lead guitar could well be mistaken for Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi. Will check them out
I just recently felt in love with tool again. They really touch me. But I guess, I also rather appreciate covers of them over covers by them.
Kids Cover 46 and 2 by Tool
I have nothing against covers, and I prefer when the artist puts his strong signature on the cover song.
One of my favorite album is 'Undisputed Attitude' by Slayer, there are only classic punk songs covered by the metal band, I prefer them to the originals, sound is really sharp, guitars are evil and drumming is godlike.
I really enjoy Slayer ..... I am not knowledgeable about Punk music so would not recognize whether it is a cover or not. I do understand your point ... a prime example is Disturbed's version of Sounds of Silence. Thanks for taking the time to comment
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