SPARKS

[Buckeye Randy]

A place to discuss cover songs. Anything from what makes a great cover to posting links to cover songs or even the originals. New or old, doesn't matter.

The Midnight Callers are a band that certainly must take their name from the song by Badfinger. They have released (August 15) a cover that changes the original enough that it's not a cookie cutter but leaves the basics in place.

Changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNCKE_p3ps
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Billy, Don't Be A Porter

[Crabby]

Oooh, l may have to give this some thought.
Usually l find the originals the best version, but there are some whopping exceptions....
And some songs covered by artists who should have had more sense.
Art Garfunkel.....a man with a sublime voice and who l have loved for many years should NEVER be allowed anywhere near a Randy Newman song.....

[Alex Robertson]

Bryan Ferry’s version of Dylan’s A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall is sublime…total 70s camp with extra sound effects raise it above the ordinary.
Both Lulu and Midge Ure’s covers of The Man Who Sold The World are great, however a group called Piston Picnique did a cover ( which I have somewhere in my collection)is a rather wonderful cover.[/b]

[Crabby]

It's probably a difficult balance when doing a cover to try and respect the original version but put your own stamp on it.....

I love the Roberta Flack rendition of "The first time ever l saw your face" .....when l heard the original version written and sung by Ewan McColl l didn't recognise the song! I think Roberta's is certainly the definitive version.....
I like The Last Dinner Partys version of This Town but unless l'm missing something there's nothing really radical in it.
Mind you, l'd love a better recording of Russell singing Mandalay because l think it sounds great and if ever there was a match yet to be fulfilled it's Russell Maels voice and Kurt Weill.

(I liked Lulu's version of Man who sold the World as well Alex....wasn't David Bowie involved with production or something?)

[Alex Robertson]

Production and backing vocals and some instruments. I recall he had written Wild Is The Wind for her but some inter-wrangling with studio contracts meant she couldn’t record it.
I don’t know how long their intimate relationship lasted but they maintained a close friendship!

[miss sparks]

Tainted love, Gloria Jones. Soft Cell cover version much better.

[Crabby]

Coincidentally... I see Chrissie Hynde is bringing out an album in October which consists of duets with her famous "friends" and what l assume are covers of well known songs..... It may well be brilliant but l can't help wonder why? .....

It makes me wonder what is the motivation for any artist to cover other songs..
I definitely need a while to think about that one! 😂🤔

[Alex Robertson]

[Crabby]

I actually almost believed that until l got to the 3rd line Alex!!!

[J. Prufrock]

Back in the '00s at least one blog was dedicated entirely to discussions of frequently covered songs; I remember being amazed by how many versions of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" the author had found (this was before YouTube, or at least before YouTube had much musical content.) I like TLDP's version of "This Town..." but my favorite covers tend to rework the original into a different genre and/or use different instrumentation - Steve'n'Seagulls comes to mind as one band that does many such covers.

[Spyke]

You got me believing the Chrissie Hynde story too, Alex!

I tend to prefer cover versions which are very different to the original, and I can't really see the point of ones which are carbon copies, when the new artist doesn't put their own mark on the song.
Bryan Ferry's smashing rendition of A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall was mentioned by Alex earlier, and most of Ferry's other cover versions are worth listening to as well. I'd recommend his better-than-the-original version of The 'In' Crowd and his album Taxi, which has slowed-down, electronic versions of (mostly) 50s and 60s songs.
Other decent cover versions which spring to mind:
Poor Little Rich Girl - Suede
Rattlesnakes - Tori Amos
SOS - Portishead
Nobody's Fault - Marianne Faithfull
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"but we can hear what others can't hear..."

[Alex Robertson]

I like a lot of cover versions but tend to put them on an equal footing with the original ( or in some cases the first singer to popularise the song) sometimes the cover is seen as the definitive version though
eg… The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan I favour Marianne Faithfull’s version to Doctor Hook’s and their version is no slouch!
The Tide Is High I’d say the Blondie version is the one I prefer over The Paragons, which has its own merits but I can totally live without the Atomic Kitten version!

[J. Prufrock]

Puddles Pity Party and Postmodern Jukebox are also amazing cover specialists (who've worked together at least twice.) I'm happy to read that Puddles is the opening act on Weird Al's current tour, as I've seen and enjoyed his live show.

As for covers that become the definitive version, Johnny Cash recorded albums full of covers towards the end of his career and Trent Reznor himself declared "Hurt" to be Cash's song now.

[Buckeye Randy]

[Alex Robertson]

After The Gold Rush by Neil Young (just mentioned it on Song Association) one of the better known covers ( in the UK at least) is by Prelude and they do it justice, I’d say it is one of those songs whose simplicity disguises its depth and it’d be hard to do a bad cover…I’m off to listen to the Linda Ronstadt version which I’m informed is also a good cover!

[Spyke]

I only found out today that The Bluebell's hit Young At Heart was originally a Bananarama song! The Bluebells certainly made it their own.
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"but we can hear what others can't hear..."

[Crabby]

I wonder what song has been covered the most?
My Way....possibly?

[Buckeye Randy]

Wiki says over 2000 versions of Yesterday. I can't think of one!
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Billy, Don't Be A Porter

[Alex Robertson]

[Crabby]

Shout out to Buckeye Randy!
How could you not know that Puddles Pity Party did a cover in 2017?😂