Covers that are better than/you like better than the originals. - by SubJeff
SubJeff on 3/8/2011 at 22:56
I'm not taking your bait. I was being honest, you ass.
Syndy/3 on 3/8/2011 at 23:11
There's no bait. Stripping down a song is the only viable way to a good cover of an already good song. If you can add stuff (Man, I'll do guitar overdubs here! It'll be awesome!) then the original just wasn't that good to begin with (Stones' Dead Flowers) or the cover sucks (Manson's Sweet Dreams).
Admittedly I also think less of Manson because ... Sweet Dreams! Of all!!
The Eurythmics left a plethora of great tunes and Sweet Dreams is just the one that even your average Joe kinda knows. And that's Manson for you. Always pretending to be so avantgarde but ultimately mainstream poprock. Maybe if he'd covered (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGhDURrfgu0) King and Queen of America I'd think more of him.
Nicker on 3/8/2011 at 23:53
One of my faves would be John Cale's version of Heartbreak Hotel, off his
Slow Dazzle album (1975).
I haven't found a link to that version, which is dark and slowly driving and features amazingly acidic backing harmonies, but here's a (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDe-HcHJsX0) slower and more lyrical live version from the show Night Music. Shawn Colvin and Richard Thompson each take a verse.
Jason Moyer on 4/8/2011 at 00:24
Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Vernon on 4/8/2011 at 00:38
cash hurt
demagogue on 4/8/2011 at 00:39
Another obvious one is Soft Cell's Tainted Love.
And Sinnead O'Conner's Nothing Compares to You.
nbohr1more on 4/8/2011 at 01:18
Speaking of Kate Bush...
I wanna hear her cover a Cyndi Lauper tune.
Not necessarily for the improvement...
She was born in 1958 so was Cyndi.
Same downcast eye shape...
Has anyone seen them both in the same photo? :confused:
Shoshin on 4/8/2011 at 01:40
Joe Cocker's "A Little Help From My Friends". Vastly superior to the Beatles version. And I say that as a massive Beatles fan. In fact, that is the only cover of a Beatles tune that's better than the original.
nbohr1more on 4/8/2011 at 02:06
We had a local band by the name of "Eleven Foot Seven" who sounded like Vanilla Fudge meets The Allman Brothers meets Barenaked Ladies meets Ben Folds Five meets Phish. The lead guitar player, Ben, occasionally did lead vocals and had a gravelly voice that perfectly captured that Joe Cocker vibe when they covered that tune.
As you can imagine, having "A Little Help From My Friends" with swelling HEAVY B3 Organ in the style of Vanilla Fudge paired with amped-up Grunge era drum-work and 3-part harmonies, and Phish level guitar athletics was quite an aural assault.
Ben was pretty sick of doing that cover by the time I was following them so they only played the song on rare occasion. :(
Fun fact: Joe Auch, the keyboard player, wrote the 2009 "Gimme that Filet 'o Fish" jingle...
