I've been hearing this guy on the radio who's doing a cover of "In your eyes" by peter gabriel with just himself and an acoustic guitar. Frankly, it rubs me the wrong way. Some songs are just untouchable IMO. What are some of your favorite, or most hated covers recorded by other bands?

We'll just get anything done by puff daddy out of the way now.

Tina Turners version of John Waites 'Missing you' definately rates as one of the most awful barf inducing covers I have ever heard. Talk about wreck a great tune...... aaaaaarrrrrrgh

Simon

Dread Zepplin's "feel like making love" cover is awesome. Also the Derailers version of "Rasberry Beret" is sublime. I like the eclectic and would rather see something really alternative......instead of what corporate america tells us what is alternative.

I don't mind the Gabriel cover too much...it's almost like a different song. Except they play it every f'ing five minutes! I like hearing a complex tune stripped down to bare bones now and then.

IMHO the absolute worst covers ever done were the "Ooga-shaka" cover of "Hooked on a Feeling"...that was so stupid, maybe they were trying to be funny, but they weren't...I didn't much care for UB40's reggae Elvis either. Reggae=cool. Elvis=okay. Reggae Elvis=dial turner.

Best covers? The Neville Brothers Band's cover of "Come Together". They tore it up on that one. Way better than Aerosmith IMHO. I liked the Foo Fighters' stripped down rockin' Baker Street too...just because it's a good song but Rafferty was way overproduced.

Oh, there are probably a bunch of others. Those come to mind right now, though...

Eric Clapton - Layla Unplugged - - yuck!!!

Edgar Winter - Frankenstein '84 - - Sounded like Herbie Hancock's "Rocket"

Any classic song covered by Kenny G. and Tommy Bolton - Watered down big time.

I know there's more.........

You know WAAAAAAAY to much about that song, dude.

OK, I have the William Shatner/Leanord Nemoy compolation "Spaced Out", when Bill remakes "Tamborine Man", well, after that Ms. Spears looks like a musical genious

Madonna doing "American Pie" - WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!?!?!?!



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KJ
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bari man low

I tend to agree with Archer... worst is arguably Shatner's "Mr. Tambourine Man," but Nimoy's "Where Is Love?" (the song from the musical Oliver!) is very close... but it's just normal terrible rather than insanely over-the-top awful. Glad to see the afore-mentioned "ooga-chucka" version of "Hooked On a Feeling" and the Michael Bolton and Kenny G atrocities.

Best... hmmm... I like Jeff Beck's version of Lennon/McCartney's "A Day In the Life..." there's others but my brain is dead...

For worst: How about Britney's attempt at "Satisfaction"...

- She's thinking what... that she's a rocker?

For best: SRV's version of "Little Wing"... mmmm...

Special "enough already" award for "Yesterday". Something like 1500+ artists have given it a whack... STOP IT!

guitplayer

Best: Jimi - Watchtower

Worst: Those little mini-medley songs sung over a looping pop beat. I've heard a number of them. One had the melody of Juice Newton's 'Angel Of The Morning' but different words. Another one had parts of 'Freebird' and Frampton's 'Baby, I Love Your Way' in it, both watered down 93% so as to be playable in supermarkets and in the waiting rooms of tone deaf dentists. This is about as low as it can go: how to rip off AND mutilate someone else's hit in one easy lesson.

On ben harpers live album i think he goes into a cover of "whole lotta love". Now, this is a borderline untouchable to me, but i think he does a pretty rocking version of it (although it was rocking to begin with).

One i never understood was lenny kravitz doing "american woman". I thought the original rocked SO much harder. Kravitz's feels like the air was let out.

I also have a b-side to the single of porno for pyro's "pets" that has a cover of "tonight" from west side story. Pretty cool. Very ambient and spacy.

I'm with Dan, Jimi doing "watchtower" - I think even Dylan has said it was better than his own version...


For worst... look to any of the more makeup-laden hair bands in the 80's, they all did smaltzy pointless covers that I don't dare even think about; I think Poison did one, but like I said - *I don't want to think about it*.

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New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald

I think that the 2 best covers are Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower"
and Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good".
Buddy

god there's so many..
best by far is aretha franklin's version of otis redding's "respect". she owns that tune. "watchtower" and elvis's "that's alright mama" are not far behind. some others:

-raymond burr doing "boogie oogie oogie" was a very bad trip indeed
-devo's version of "satisfaction" is great
-dweezil zappa with ozzy (not donny osmond) doing the beegees "stayin alive" has to be heard to be believed
-redd cross doing the partridge family's "i'll meet you halfway" is great as is their take on jonathan richman's "summer feeling"
-splittsville's rockin' version of burt bacharach's "i never fall in love again" also rocks
-phish doing snoop doggy dogg's "gin & juice" is amazing
-prince doing the temps "just my imagination" is very cool
-dash rip rock's versions of tlc's "waterfalls" and vanilla ice's "ice ice baby" are a hoot and their take on "jambalaya" is my fave
-neville brothers "fly like an eagle" was cool too
-clarence gatemouth brown doing zep's "rock & roll" with horns is very rockin'
-zappa's version of "stairway to heaven" with the horn section doing the guitar solo note for note is scary
-presidents of the usa's versions of "video killed the radio star" and "feel like making love" both rock
-dave edmunds' version of lady madonna is great
-los lobos doing "papa was a rolling stone" aw jeez them doing anything is amazing
-the replacements on any given night, best and worst covers!
-ramones version of "do ya wanna dance" is classic as is the clash's "i fought the law"
-captain beefheart's version of "diddy wah diddy" and the woolies version of "who do you love" are both solid bo diddley takes
-david lindley's version of "mercury blues" smokes with the added chord change is boppin'
-van halen's "dancing in the street" and bowie/jagger version both suck
-brian setzer's big band take on SRV's "house is rockin'" is fun
-danny gatton's version of "the simpsons" speaks for itself

i better stop before i get carried away....

-d. gauss

D. Guass, sounds like you've been raiding my CD and vinyl collection!!!!! I'm really happy you mentioned Gatemouth, Los Lobos, and David Lindley......a few of my favorites. Tells me alot about you actually.
I'd have to say if I go out to a pub to see a band, and I hear either a top 40 cover or the dreaded Zep/Floyd/etc etc covers, it's really tough to sit through. But having said that, I've see some cool bands take a song like WHole Lotta Love and turn it inside out and make a cool groove out of it. Some folks may not like that, but to me it's way more satisfying. I truly hate to hear someone massacre "Brown Sugar", and I almost want to show them after the break how to make it sound a little more authentic.....OPEN G MAN!!!!!!!!! Every once in a while we play "COnfuse the singer" and do a song with a Polka beat, or reggae beat. We don't take ourselves too seriously.

Worst, How about:
The "Five Man Acustic Jam's"(Tesla) Cover of "Signs"? You know, when I hear someone rework a song I want to hear something DIFFERENT.

I Hate UB40's remake of dat Elvis tune. (Not being a big Elvis fan myself)

Tia Carrars Cover of Ballroom Blitz! UG!

Great White redoing "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"

Barry Manalo's cover of "Ships" (OK, there's a good trivia question,
anybody know who actually wrote that tune? He, he!)

Crue's version of "Smokin' in the Boys room"


Great cover's:


BOTH the Stevie Ray and Jeff Beck version's of Superstition.

Jimi doing any cover.

Clapton's "Little Wing"

Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff"

Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams" (And I'm REALLY pissed that he got to it first, I really wanted to redo that song.)

Faith No More's remake of "War Pigs" It's funny as hell as well as Rockin'

Willie Nelson's "Georgia on My Mind"


ok, I'll stop there.

To quote Inspector Gadget, "Wowsers!"

Every one of you have hit pay dirt, on the positive and negative side.

First of all, I knew Manilow didn't write "Ships," but I had no idea it was a cover.

I'll leave you with the best, so here's my worst list.

Some noname redid American Pie in club form long before Madonna. His sucked too! (We had it on a muzak videotape at Mars.)

Sara Evans just redid Edwin McCain's "I Could Not Ask For More." The original was schmalzy, but a good song. Sounds like she lifted the music track, addes steel guitar and some other touches to sound, "country" and sung it with absolutely NO conviction.

Hate to say it, but Brooks & Dunn's remake of "Missing You" was barely a step up from Tina's. And I LIKE both of these artists. Sheesh.

Have to agree with "Signs." We're cool 'cause we can play Real music on acoustic guitars. Yeah, try doing it with some style, maybe.

More to be sure, but that's enough Negativity.

Watchtower - Hendrix's version AND Michael Hedges solo version ROCK. I always get a huge response to the Hedges arrangement.

Any song James Taylor's redone. It's funny how we like/hate remakes based on whether they sound similar or different from the orignals. Some I like one way, some the other. James' versions are always very different in vibe, to the original. His style, mostly overlayed on real R&B songs and roots rock. "Up On The Roof" is wonderful in both his and the original versions.

Who said Los Lobos? You have to check out their kids album. It's really corny, but it has some great covers on it. "La Bamba" (nothing like the original or their movie soundtrack version. both great.) and "Wooly Bully" are up first, followed by many others that fit in a storyline with Lalo Guerrero narrating.

I'm a sap... Kenny Loggins redoing "House at Pooh Corner" with a new verse, to be "Back to Pooh Corner". Wonderful. And Whoa! I almost forgot, I like his version of Paul Simon's "St. Judy's Comet" much more than the original. Love Paul Simon, too.

Speaking of which..

I definately agree with the James Taylor, I love almost all of his stuff. Yeah, I like Sabbath too. I'm so eclectic. But then again, I think most in this forum are.


BTW, a hint to the "Ships" Trivia question ... This person also wrote one of the other cover tunes I mentioned ...

<>

sucks indeed, but for what its worth, ian hunter (the guy who wrote the original) was able to buy a very nice house in CT and move out of his NYC apt from the royalties from that one. he had no idea they did it until he got the check!

-d. gauss

I LOVE the hedges version of that song. Actually, the first time I heard hedges, and that song for that matter (i'm kind of a youngin') was on a "Windam Hill, Live from Wolftrap" video. He was introduced as "the guitar player from another planet" and he came out in his beaded hair and pink pants and proceded to ROCK on that song with just his acoustic. It's amazing how dynamic he could get with such a simple setup.

Man what a great Post!

Heres A few I like
Cake-I will survive ( very Fresh)
1000 Mona Lisas - You outta Know
The offspring - Feelings
Jeff Beck and Seal Manic Deppression
Red Hot Chili peppers Higher Ground
Lakeside ( 70s soul group) - I wanna hold your hand
Keb Mo - Come in my Kitchen (Robert Johnson)
Soul Asylum - Like a Rhinestone Cowboy

a few I don`t like
Sheryl Crow sweet child o mine
Phil Collins True Colors
anything and everything Dione Warrick ever did on SOLID GOLD

Yes, that's insane. KennyG should take a tip from Beck: if you're going to do a cover of a classic song - (much less put your graffiti on the original recording!) you had better deliver the goods.

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New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald

I can't even begin to tell you how much this alleged piece of music irritates me...I believe that its "by" Shaggy...geez, man - if you're gonna cover the friggin' song, at least learn some of the words...

Great thread, BTW...

dB

Oh, and actually, the original was done by Merrilee Rush. I liked that version.

File this one under the "get a life" category...

I always believed that Satisfaction shouldn't be covered. This point was illustrated when my daughter came home with Britney's breathy phone sex version. The intro sounds very much like the Phyllis Diller version that I have on a Rhino "Golden Throats" compilation.

This got me to thinking - how many covers are there of Satisfaction, and are any of them any good? So I did some digging.

By the time I was done, I uncovered about 25 different versions including covers by:

Tom Jones
Justine Bateman
Rolf Harris
Bjork & PJ Harvey
Jerry Lee Lewis
Aretha Franklin
Samantha Fox
Grateful Dead
David McCallum (the Man from Uncle guy)
The Ventures
Otis Redding
Television
Jonathon King
Fatboy Slim
Blue Cheer
and a bunch more that I can't think of.

Most were dreadful, some were merely mediocre. But there were a couple of good ones:

Devo - this one's pretty well known.
The Residents - must be heard to be believed.
Rolf Harris - a scream. Imagine Satisfaction being done the same style as "Tie me Kangaroo Down". Even Rolf couldn't get through it without cracking up.

The best versions were very different takes on the song, totally discarding the arrangement and starting from scratch.

I did find one more or less faithful cover done by Tom Petty that managed to capture the brattiness of the original.

Best: Dave Grohl doing "Stairway to Heaven" on Later w/Craig Kilborne. Absolutely hilarious.

Worst: EVERY Puff Daddy song.

Man! A ton of great covers above that I knew of but just didnt come to mind! The Zappa version of "Stairway" with the horn....Brilliant!

But if you really wanna hear some truely ingenius covers, check out what I found on Craig Anderton's forum early: http://www.hitme.net/prozak/aqualung.mp3
http://www.hitme.net/prozak/reaper.mp3


This message has been edited by Duhduh on 05-28-2001 at 03:25 AM

Those guys are hilarious! Do they do weddings?

That's Bruce Lash...a great guy from Chicago. He put out a CD called "Prozac for Lovers"...doing bossa covers of classic rock tunes. His more traditional, less tongue-in-cheek stuff is worth checking out, too.

Here's another absolutely shit cover ( pardon my language, but I heard it yesterday and it's total crap!!) Every Littlee thing she does is magic by Spook!! What a total anihilation of a Police track... Man I wish those bloody rappers would leave these tunes alone.... If ya can't write anything of your own you don't deserve a deal and to murder someone elses track like this is just criminal imo!!

Simon

There was a cd of genuine Muzak remakes of Classic Seattle/grunge songs at one time....

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New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald

Where was it Chip?

Gotta put in my vote for Hendrix' Watchtower. Another great one that comes to mind in Joe Cockers version of "With a Little Help from my Friends". Changing it from 4/4 to 3/4 time was brillient.

Tom


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http://www.digitalaudiorock.com
The Protools Plugin Preset Co-op

Best: Lemonheads "Mrs. Robinson" or RHCP "Higher Ground"

Worst: Lenny Kravitz "American Woman"

I think someone already named Madonna's "American Pie" as the worst. It's right up there.

Another thing I LOATHE...is when the stupidass remixers take a hit that's not bad on the radio, usually a slower song, and remix it with that barfbag stomach churning fast "boom chigga boom chigga" "dance" beat. And if a song kinda churns your stomach to begin with, you DEFINITELY need airsick bags.

They did that with Celine Dion's nauseating "My Heart Will Throw Up...er Go On"...and, a Madonna song that actually wasn't bad initially. That weird one with the bluish video where she turned into a doberman or something. I could almost stand that song 'til I heard the "dance" mix.

Shake shake shake...shake shake shake...shake your...ULP...ULP...ULP...

They should compile all of those into a "Bulimic's Greatest Hits" CD.

Awww, Ted... guess you won't want to hear my dance-remix of the Canadian National Anthem.

Boom-chigga-chigga-Boom-chigga-chigga!

Yep... I forgot that Madonna beat the hell out of "American Pie." What the fürk was she thinking?!?!?!

Hahahaha...it'd be a sure hit at hockey games, eh?

Then we could get Steven Tyler to do a duet with Britney on the US anthem and put it to a disco beat...

While I'm thinking of it, on Dream Of The Blue Turtles, Sting redid an early Police tune, very well I will add. Shadows In The Rain. The original was VERY weird. The remake was a faster tempo with more feeling than the original.

Neil



This message has been edited by fantasticsound on 05-30-2001 at 12:12 AM

Uh... in a word, no! What did the Beatles ever do to Joe Cocker? I've heard Beatles covers I could appreciate. This is NOT one of them.

Have to agree others about Phil Collins. True Colors sucked. (His version, not Cyndi Lauper's.) As did Groovy Kind Of Love. Now, You Can't Hurry Love was pretty cool, though!

Neil

Can't remember what compilation CD is on, but Matthew Sweet did a live version of "She Said, She Said" that was great!

I always liked both of these versions. I thought the first one was weird, but the song is basically about being neurotic, so it works. Besides, the Police were heading toward their dark "Ghost in the Machine" days. That's just where they were. When Sting redid it, he was into his jazz jam band thing and the remake reflects that. Same song, two different worlds. It is pretty cool when you cover your own song though..

<>

For what it's worth, I've heard that Paul Mcartney liked that version enough that he actually suggested that Cocker cover 'She Came in through the Bathroom Window'.

I do really like the original version...just thought his was an interesting take on it.

Tom


This message has been edited by tld on 05-30-2001 at 09:40 AM

Check out the Sex Pistols version of "Roadrunner", the song originally done by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. It is probably the best and worst cover of a song I've ever heard. I love it. The song is on "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" along with another great/awful cover, "My Way".

My Way
Now your talking!! As you rightly say the best and worst cover all in one.... But irresistable imho

Simon

The Tories do a really cool take on "Round and Round" by Ratt!