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Thread: You like a cover more than the original

  1. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by gryphs also View Post
    The obvious winner is Johnny Cash----Hurt.
    I thought the obvious winner was “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes. No offense to Jackie DeShannon (who I otherwise love), but her original version sucks.

    I also like what Kim did with Smokey Robinson’s “More Love” (complete with ABBA-esque synth intro and comedic music video). There’s also first-rate versions of “Do You Wanna Dance” and “To Love Somebody” in her discography. Though the bulk of her material is self-penned (or co-written with her husband Dave Ellingson), she is a superb interpreter of others’ material as well.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  2. #27
    I like Camper Van Beethoven's version of Pictures Of Matchstick Men more than Status Quo.

  3. #28
    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

  4. #29
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  5. #30
    NEARfest Officer Emeritus Nearfest2's Avatar
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    "Funkytown" - Pseudo Echo (over Lipps, Inc.)
    "River" - Sarah McLachlan (over Joni Mitchell)
    "Love is Alright Tonight" - Rick Springfield (over Sammy Hagar)
    "Action" - Def Leppard (over Sweet)
    Chad

  6. #31
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Big Big Train - Master of Time (with all due respect to Ant Phillips' original)
    The Watch - In The Wilderness (original - Genesis)
    Tom Northcott or Judy Collins - Sunny Goodge Street (both I prefer over Donovan's original)
    Glass Hammer - Longer (original - Dan Fogelberg)

  7. #32
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    I like Joni Mitchell's original of this tune, but Tom Rush's. cover just has that certain......something.

    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  8. #33
    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
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    Actually, I really enjoyed Unitopia's version of "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" MUCH better than the Klaatu original.
    "Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)

  9. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nearfest2 View Post
    "Funkytown" - Pseudo Echo (over Lipps, Inc.)
    I can never tell the difference. This kind of cover especially annoys me.

  10. #35
    All along the watchtower - Manderley and Straigh Shooter

  11. #36
    Ramones: Baby I Love You

    While Phil Spector had as much a hand in it as the original, it does contain, to my mind at least, the single greatest pop vocal performance captured on record.

    Joey's heartbreaking sincerity is absolutely devastating.

  12. #37
    Also, Laibach's Across The Universe is really something.
    I love the original but this version seems to be supercharged with otherworldly magic.

  13. #38
    And while we're at it, I always preferred Devo's Satisfaction to the original too.

  14. #39
    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    Robert Wyatt ~ "I'm A Believer"
    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

  15. #40
    Pretty much any cover (Dylan/Springsteen etc) that Manfred Mann's Earth Band did I've preferred over the original.

  16. #41
    Stairway to heaven (Led Zeppelin) by Frank Zappa
    Help (The Beatles) and Kentucky Woman (Neil Diamond) by Deep Purple
    Every Little Thing & I'm Down (The Beatles) by Yes

  17. #42
    Pendulumswingingdoomsday Rune Blackwings's Avatar
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    Remembered one:

    Laibach-Sympathy for the Devil
    Last edited by Rune Blackwings; 08-11-2015 at 08:51 AM. Reason: Hanging with Norwegians
    "Alienated-so alien I go!"

  18. #43
    Member Jay G's Avatar
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    I have an odd situation. Dreams is my all time favorite Allman Brothers song yet I like their version the least.

    My favorites:
    California Transit Authority
    Boys Club
    Buddy Miles
    Molly Hatchet

  19. #44
    Member PotatoSolution's Avatar
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    Perhaps this is heresy, but I've always liked Kevin Gilbert's version of "Kashmir" more than the Zeppelin original.


  20. #45
    Re: Funky Town

    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    I can never tell the difference. This kind of cover especially annoys me.
    You're kidding, right? OK, here are the differences:

    Lipps Inc version has a female lead vocalist, Pseudo Echo's version is sun by a guy
    Synth riff on Pseudo Echo version has more of a "brass ensemble" timbre to it
    Lips Inc version is very disco sounding, while the Pseudo Echo version has a rock rhythm section
    Pseudo Echo has prominent hard rock style guitar playing, with whammy bar dive bombs and such

    But talking of covers that sound too much like the original, I always felt that way about Tom Petty's version of I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better was like that. Even Mike Campbell's guitar solo sounds like a nearly note-for-note recreation of Roger McGuinn's on the original. There's a change up in the last chorus, but otherwise, you'd probably have to be one of the musicians who played on either to know which version you'd be listening to if you were to be given the "blindfold test", as it were.

  21. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Frankk View Post
    Stairway to heaven (Led Zeppelin) by Frank Zappa
    Help (The Beatles) and Kentucky Woman (Neil Diamond) by Deep Purple
    Every Little Thing & I'm Down (The Beatles) by Yes
    The best version of Frank's take on Stairway To Heaven was the brilliant idea of having the horn section play Page's original solo note for note, in unison. I think Mike Keneally told a funny story once of how that came to be.

    The Deep Purple version of Help I think is the one weak track on Shades Of Deep Purple. They turn it into this tacky ballad which totally reveals Rod Evans' Tom Jones/Englebert Humperdinck tendencies as a singer. It'd be interesting to find out who's idea that arrangement was.

    As for The Beatles covers from Yes, I might give you Every Little Thing (particularly they brilliant way Squire or Banks, not sure which it is, works that Day Tripper quote into the intro, just before the vocal), but I'm Down sounds like a "super serious avant garde progressive rock band" trying to prove they hadn't lost touch with their roots, as it were. It's like, "See, we can still rock out when we want to". Not that they do a bad job at it, but seriously, "rocking out" isn't what I go to Yes for. If I want to listen to a band that "rocks", there's lots of bands who do it much better than circa 1976 Yes.

    And that's the bottom line because Silver Shoes said so! (insert snarky emoticon to indicate the blatant and obvious facetiousness of that last sentence)

  22. #47
    Quote Originally Posted by Progtastic View Post
    Pretty much any cover (Dylan/Springsteen etc) that Manfred Mann's Earth Band did I've preferred over the original.
    Ya know, now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever heard Dylan sing The Mighty Quinn, which was almost certainly the very first Bob Zimmerman song I ever heard (though it would be years before I'd find out who the author was, or how "important" his other songs were/are). Come to think of it, I've never heard Springsteen's version of Blinded By The Light, either (which is stupid, because I actually like the early Springsteen stuff, but I've never owned any of the albums).

  23. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by Kavus Torabi View Post
    Ramones: Baby I Love You

    While Phil Spector had as much a hand in it as the original, it does contain, to my mind at least, the single greatest pop vocal performance captured on record.

    Joey's heartbreaking sincerity is absolutely devastating.
    I wonder what Phillip (as Cher likes to call him) thought of The Ramones rendition of that song. I always heard it said that Joey was a big fan of that early 60's sort of rock n roll stuff, so I wonder if he ever talked about what it was like to work with Phillip on End Of The Century (though given the stories I have heard, like making Johnny do 40 takes of just that first power chord on the Rock N Roll High School intro, I'm guessing reality was considerably more nightmarish than whatever fanboy fantasy he or anyone else might have envisaged).

  24. #49
    I thought I had contributed to this thread before, but apparently that must have been the old one that's alluded to on page one. So here's a few of my favorite covers:

    Richie Havens: Here Comes The Sun (almost unrecognizable the first time I heard it)
    Mama's Boys: Mamma Weer All Crazee Now (probably only happened because of a certain American band's success recording a certain other Slade track, but I love the guitar solo and the keyboard riff, which to me always sounded like someone said "Let's make it sound like Won't Get Fooled Again" to my ears)
    Mama's Boys: If The Kids Are United (far superior to the comparatively limp Sham 69 version)
    Thin Lizzy: Rosalie (again, the Bob Seger sounds like a lounge act compared to the wallop Lynott and company pack on Live And Dangerous)
    Uriah Heep: Come Away Melinda (the earliest version I can find is by The Weavers, I don't know if that's the original rendition, but it surely isn't as good the way Heep did it on Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble)
    Uriah Heep: That's The Way That It Is (I've only ever heard the original a couple times, but I definitely prefer the Heep version)
    Head East, Rainbow and Cherie & Marie Currie: Since You've Been Gone (three different rendition of this song that all knock the Russ Ballard recording into the dirt)
    Heaven: Knockin' On Heaven's Door (the first version of this song I ever heard, and still the one I prefer over all other versions...yeah, that's right, I said I prefer a glam metal band's version over Zimmerman's)
    Judas Priest: Diamonds And Rust (never has a Joan Baez song sounded this bad ass, and it's her "open frell you letter" to Zimmerman, too!)
    Grateful Dead: Morning Dew (not so much the version on their first album, but the way they played it onstage, once they got a handle on how to play the song correctly, my favorite version still being the one from 10/18/74, as heard/seen in The Grateful Dead Movie)
    31st Of February: Morning Dew (another rendition of this song, recorded by Gregg and Duane Allman a couple years before they formed The Allman Brothers Band, this was interesting because they give an uptempo arrangement, and I always liked the intro and guitar riff)
    Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hey Joe (better than anyone else's version, period, except maybe The Bevis Frond)
    Kiss: Kissin' Time (far superior to the original Bobby Rydell rendition)
    Ace Frehley: 2000 Man (yeah, it's on a Kiss record, but it's now known that, at best, the other members of band do back up vocals only, effectively making this an Ace solo track, and he and Anton Fig give the song a drive and power that the rather directionless Stones rendition never had)
    Shockabilly: Born On The Bayou (a rather bizarre mutant rendition)
    Koko Taylor: Hey Baby (just because I think the whole idea of a blues legend like Koko doing any composition that was originally done by someone like Ted Nugent to be insane)
    The Runaways: Rock And Roll (Lou always sounded like he didn't have a clue what "Her life was saved by rock n roll" meant, whereas when Cherie Currie belts out that line, you know she knows what she's talking about, and more precisely, she makes it sound autobiographical too)
    Jimi Hendrix Experience: Wild Thing (just because he had the mivonks to insert a little Sinatra into the Monterey Pop version)
    Brian May & Friends: Star Fleet (the English language theme song to a Japanese kiddie show that was a favorite of Dr. May's son at the time, he recorded a hot rendition with an all star band that recorded one EP's worth material in 1983, with this track given an extended rendition, apparently when the take was supposed to end, Eddie Van Halen kept playing, leading the other musicians into an impromptu jam that goes on for several more minutes).


    I'm sure there's others that I put into this category, they're just not coming to me right now.

  25. #50
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Come to think of it, I've never heard Springsteen's version of Blinded By The Light, either (which is stupid, because I actually like the early Springsteen stuff, but I've never owned any of the albums).
    It's horrific.

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