| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| starmekitten |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 12:18:01
Sometimes the original song is good, but it takes another artist to come in, tweak it a little and make it better than it was to start with.
I'd argue with anyone that Jarvis Cockers cover of Whisky in the Jar is fabulous. Same as Johnny Cash covering U2's One, Jeff Buckley covering Hallelujah and Jimi Hendrix All Along the Watchtower.
I think all these artists have taken a song and made the best possible versions of them.
Any others examples where the cover has probably become the definitive version of the song? I'm not asking for a good cover song, there's many good cover songs, but are there many cover songs which are far superior to the original?
Idiot. |
| 23 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Homers_pet_monkey |
Posted - 01/08/2007 : 04:55:54
quote:
Originally posted by speedy_m
quote:
Originally posted by Homers_pet_monkey
quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
Lately he's been telling me how much McCartney's Live & Let Die sucks in comparison to GnR.
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea.
And he'd be right.
 I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
Macca gets bashed way too much. Live and Let Die is great, and Axl Rose should stick to what he does best. Whatever the hell that is. Though Ween does a ripping version of Band on the Run.
maybe I'll kick it
I've nothing against Macca, and I do like his version, I just think the G&R version is better. I also think G&R are hugely overrated.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
|
| starmekitten |
Posted - 01/06/2007 : 05:20:27
Jarvis did it for a childline album way back in the day. He always sounds a little bit flippant when he sings so he just throws off the lyrics casually and it really works. I think. I'll see if I can find it somewhere, I forgot to thieve the CD from my dad over christmas.
Idiot. |
| mcil |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 12:58:49
Pixies version of Head on is far better than the Mary Chain.
My band does a pretty mean Books About UFOs by Hüsker Dü :P
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http://www.myspace.com/mcil13 |
| coastline |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 12:11:42
Rufus Wainright did the Shrek version. Here's a link that includes an article about that by a colleague of mine at The Denver Post:
http://www.webheights.net/speakingcohen/denver.htm
 Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho? |
| Carolynanna |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 11:15:46
quote:
Originally posted by coastline
I've been collecting "Hallelujah" for several years now. I have about 20 versions of it. k.d. Lang's is outstanding. So is the original. Jeff Buckley's live version is better than his studio version. The worst one I've come across is Dylan doing it live. You can hardly even find the melody in Dylan's butchering of it. I think my favorite might be John Cale's version from the "I'm Your Fan" tribute album. Rufus Wainwright virtually copied Cale's version for the Shrek soundtrack.
Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
Who did the Shrek version?
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea. |
| Carolynanna |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 11:12:18
quote:
Originally posted by coastline
Diego? From "Dora the Explorer"?
Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
Heh, he's pretty sick of people saying "Go Diego Go!".
I must say I do like GnR's Knockin on Heaven's door.
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea. |
| Carl |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 10:33:31
quote:
Originally posted by starmekitten
I'd argue with anyone that Jarvis Cockers cover of Whisky in the Jar is fabulous. Same as Johnny Cash covering U2's One, Jeff Buckley covering Hallelujah and Jimi Hendrix All Along the Watchtower.
I think all these artists have taken a song and made the best possible versions of them.
I didn't know Jarvis covered that. Metallica's cover of the Thin Lizzy-version is woeful. I never liked One in the first place...Cash did some wonderful covers suggested by Rock Rubin, though. Watched some of Shrek over Christmas, I forgot that John Cale's decent version of Hallelujah was in that. The Buckley version is of course terrific, he played with such passion. Apparently, Dylan wrote All Along The Watchtower with Hendrix in mind.
Oh yeah, Crispy, apparently original Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto left the band because of songs like that, which, as you say, were really meant to be tongue in cheek and taking the piss out of cock rock bands! Chris Cornell said in one interview something like that he was sick of all these disco bands that wouldn't come straight out and say what they were suggesting!!
 |
| Crispy Water |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 10:29:51
quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
Diego informs me that any cover that GnR did is better than the original.
Lately he's been telling me how much McCartney's Live & Let Die sucks in comparison to GnR.
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea.
I'm far from familiar with their work, but I would definitely disagree with regard to their version of Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex." Soundgarden wrote that song to make fun of bands like GnR; they covered it just because they thought it was cool to say fuck 30 times in a song.
Nothing is ever something. |
| speedy_m |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 09:46:28
quote:
Originally posted by Homers_pet_monkey
quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
Lately he's been telling me how much McCartney's Live & Let Die sucks in comparison to GnR.
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea.
And he'd be right.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
Macca gets bashed way too much. Live and Let Die is great, and Axl Rose should stick to what he does best. Whatever the hell that is. Though Ween does a ripping version of Band on the Run.
maybe I'll kick it
|
| Homers_pet_monkey |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 09:19:18
quote:
Originally posted by Carolynanna
Lately he's been telling me how much McCartney's Live & Let Die sucks in comparison to GnR.
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea.
And he'd be right.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
|
| coastline |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 09:10:00
Diego? From "Dora the Explorer"?
Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho? |
| Carolynanna |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 08:56:13
Diego informs me that any cover that GnR did is better than the original.
Lately he's been telling me how much McCartney's Live & Let Die sucks in comparison to GnR.
__________
For Chrissakes have a cup of tea. |
| NimrodsSon |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 07:07:23
The Roger Nichols Trio doing Bacharach's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
¡Viva los Católicos! http://www.myspace.com/shadoplay |
| coastline |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 06:12:58
I agree with whoreatthedoor and Crispy Water that Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" isn't the best version of that song. I don't think the definitive version has come along yet. Maybe Johnny Cash did it for his "American" series, and it's still sitting on tapes somewhere, waiting to be released. THAT would be the one, I'm sure. He did such a good job on "Bird on the Wire."
I've been collecting "Hallelujah" for several years now. I have about 20 versions of it. k.d. Lang's is outstanding. So is the original. Jeff Buckley's live version is better than his studio version. The worst one I've come across is Dylan doing it live. You can hardly even find the melody in Dylan's butchering of it. I think my favorite might be John Cale's version from the "I'm Your Fan" tribute album. Rufus Wainwright virtually copied Cale's version for the Shrek soundtrack.
Oh, and there ARE some Leonard Cohen songs he does better than his followers, but not many. Off hand, I can think of "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" (the only song in history where the singer talks about Janis Joplin giving him head), "Famous Blue Raincoat" (though Tori Amos' is pretty damn good), and "Suzanne."
Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho? |
| Homers_pet_monkey |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 05:10:54
UB40, Many Rivers To Cross.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
|
| Cheeseman1000 |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 01:33:51
Good point on the Dylan...
My favourite song (maybe) of this last year was a cover of Shelter In The Storm by a chap called Steve Adey, and I think it's far superior to the original. Dylan's a wonderful songwriter, but his performance generally doesn't do the pieces justice.
 Numberwang? |
| Crispy Water |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 01:26:42
I am a Jeff Buckley listener, but have to agree that while his Hallelujah is pretty damn good, I've heard others do it much better. My favourite would have to be the job k.d. lang did with it to close the tribute party for Cohen's birthday last year. There's a video of her performing it in '05 on Youtube, but it's not even close to the one I'm talking about - whomever ups that to Youtube gets a really sloppy kiss. I'm not even a fan of hers, but seeing her belt out this song that night made my eyes water.
Nothing is ever something. |
| prozacrat |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 23:56:13
Song Of The Shrimp.
http://www.prozacrat.com
www.myspace.com/prozacrat |
| whoreatthedoor |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 23:48:44
In my opinion Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" gets too much praise just because he died in a very literary way. There's a hundred better versions of this one.
Like Cheeseman said, Cohen doesn't do the definitive versions of his own songs. Same can be said of Dylan.
This time we ride roller coasters into the ocean
We feel no emotion as we spiral down to the world |
| coastline |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 21:50:32
Springsteen -- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho? |
| rockmusic84 |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 15:55:02
"Love Hurts", by Nazareth. Several people did this before them (The Everly Brothers were first, then Roy Orbison, Then Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris).
Join The Cult of U-MASS - IT'S EDUCATIONAL!!! |
| Cheeseman1000 |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 14:58:26
Any Leonard Cohen cover...
Numberwang? |
| fbc |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 13:06:24
I don't know about if being the definitive, but the Pixies' 'Wild Honey Pie' is far superior to the original. |
