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Cover better than the original?


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Blinded By The Light. Manfred Mann version better than Springsteen version.

There. I've said it. :saber:

 

dB

 

I Came for You, as well.

 

Mighty Quinn done first by Manfred Mann, then reimagined and released again by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. That is the version I like best.

 

[video:youtube]

This post edited for speling.

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The first one comes to mind for me is Love Hurts. I've heard older versions of it but I don't even recall who originally did it and don't have time to look it up now. The Nazareth version is amazing to my ears.

 

 

The Everly Brothers 1960 released in 1961.

 

Yea, I looked it up.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Wow yeah, goes back to when I was born. No doubt I'd heard the Nazareth version before I even knew it was a cover, the Hair of the Dog album was one of the great ones from my high school years. The gravely voice and delivery along with the eerie ebow lead section just really seem to give the song an authenticity I don't feel listening to the original or any other cover of it.

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I like Aretha Franklin's version of "Respect" better than the original Otis Redding, but I still like Otis' version a lot

 

Aretha's version of "The Weight" is IMHO better than The Band's

 

I Like Mark Murphy's version of Michael Franks' "Satisfaction Guaranteed" a lot better

 

Jimi Hendrix's cover of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower"

 

Elvis Presley's version of "Blue Suede Shoes" originally by Carl Perkins

 

I think Janis Joplin did a better job than Roger Miller's first recording of Kris Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby McGee"

 

I like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" better

 

Johnny Rivers' version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" IMHO is way better

 

I like Santana's version of "Black Magic Woman" even better than the very fine Peter Green/Fleetwood Mack take

 

Vanilla Fudge: "You Keep Me Hanging On", "Season Of The Witch", "Ticket To Ride", and "People Get Ready" (I like the over-the top re-arrangements, but I still like the originals just fine)

 

 

 

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

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Erma Franklin did a nice job of "Piece Of My Heart", but I like Janis Joplin's version better.

 

IMHO Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd did the definitive version of A.C. Jobim's "One Note Samba"

 

"You Go To My Head" was first recorded by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra and two very different versions are my favorite, Frank Sinatra's smoky and moody and Mark Murphy's fusion jazz take on it.

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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Erma Franklin did a nice job of "Piece Of My Heart", but I like Janis Joplin's version better.

Erma's version was the original. So you got it right for the subject of this thread!

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Paul Shaffer's arrangements (transcriptions?) for the Blues Brothers were generally more pleasing to my ears than the originals, perhaps in part due to better sound reproduction. Specific examples would be Gimme Some Lovin' and Soul Man.

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[video:youtube]

 

Mainly because of Marissa's over the top lead guitar

Patti Smith vibe with nasty guitars. I like the way Natalie Merchant did it more - she made it a bit more her own.

 

Why does no one who covers this song play the piano part correctly? It starts on the C#, not the root B.

 

....and WAY too much buss compression on this version. :wall:

 

dB

 

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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[video:youtube]

 

Mainly because of Marissa's over the top lead guitar

Patti Smith vibe with nasty guitars. I like the way Natalie Merchant did it more - she made it a bit more her own.

 

Why does no one who covers this song play the piano part correctly? It starts on the C#, not the root B.

 

....and WAY too much buss compression on this version. :wall:

 

dB

 

That's interesting, my wife and I have been wanting to add this to our duo list. She's a good sight reader and downloaded the sheet music. I'm curious to look at that when I get home now!

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Why does no one who covers this song play the piano part correctly? It starts on the C#, not the root B.

 

....and WAY too much buss compression on this version. :wall:

 

dB

 

Interesting! Will have another listen to the Patti Smith original.

 

This piano problem reminds me of the "extra guitar note" problem in covers of "Cissy Strut" by The Meters. Almost everybody, including well-known pros, plays the 2nd section of the guitar melody wrong, by adding at least one extra note. I learned this while listening to an interview with Meters bassist George Porter Jr.

 

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[interesting! Will have another listen to the Patti Smith original.

 

Patti version. Form takes it's time evolving...takes a while to get to the F#, and double as long to get to the octaved B at the end of the form.

C#, D, B, D, C#, D, E, D, C#, D, B, D, C#, D, F#, D, C#, D, B, D, C#, D, E, D, C#, D, B, D, C#, D, B (8va), D

[video:youtube]

 

 

Natalie version. Much more intricate form, but shorter. F# shows up right away, and the octaved B shortly after. E turn omitted entirely.

B, D, C#, D, F#, D, C#, D, B, D, C#, D, B (8va), D, C#, D

[video:youtube]

 

The Garbage one is doing it a third way! More like Patti's version, but shorte like Natalie, so no E turn...and no octaved B.

B, D, C#, D, B, D, C#, D,B, D, C#, D, F#, D, C#, D.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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Sting was reportedly "Driven To Tears" by this one. The stripped down arrangement lends itself to the more emotionally raw performance.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Her cover of the Pete Seeger classic replaces the usual folksy vibe with more of a "take you to church" gospel feel.

 

[video:youtube]

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Wow. No one's mentioned Ray Charles' version of "I Can't Stop Loving You", over Don Gibson.

An obscure personal fav is Dorothy Moore's "He Thinks I Still Care" over George Jones

 

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Financially, the greatest remake may be Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You", later done by Whitney Houston. One of my favorite entertainer interviews was Dolly Parton talking about the song. Elvis Presley wanted to record the song but his manager insisted that Dolly sign over half of the song writer royalties. She refused. When Whitney Houston recorded the song, according to the Dolly interview, "When Whitney recorded it I made enough in royalties on that song to BUY the Elvis catalog."

This post edited for speling.

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With the 50th anniversary of Woodstock just around the corner, it seems fitting to add The Who's performance there of "Summertime Blues."

 

[video:youtube]

 

Best,

 

Geoff

I like the Eddie Cochran version better because The Who's version, although musically superior, left out the punch lines at the end of each verse (Example; you can't use the care 'cause you didn't work a lick)

 

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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Word has it by people who saw a Leon Russel concert in the late 1970s (I didn't go, I was gigging) that Leon introduced "This Masquerade" by saying something like "With apologies to George Benson."

 

Yep, Mr. Benson did a better cover than the original.

 

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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Alanis Morissette's original studio version of "You Oughta Know" had an almost spastic quality to it, and as a result I can't feel what she is describing :

 

Her remake from "Jagged Little Pill Acoustic" has a more centered delivery that realizes the full potential of this composition, and lets me really feel it. When she cries out "It's not fair!" it just reaches right into me:

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