Tricky cover of Black Steel by Public Enemy
This +1,000,000
Others I quite enjoy:
The Ukrainians - Venus in Furs
Ella Fitzgerald - Sunshine of your Love
Julie Driscoll / Brian Auger - Season of the Witch
Can't remember who it's by, but featuring Brian Molko out of Placebo - Summertime Rolls
The Third Degree - Can't Get You Out of My Head
The Third Degree - Mercy
Metallica - Stone Cold Crazy
As well as those covers that have sort of become so definitive in the mainstream consciousness that lots of peeps don't realise they're not the originals:
Hendrix - Hey Joe
The Clash - I Fought the Law
The Specials - Message to You, Rudy
Aretha Franklin - Respect
Does the Anthrax / Chuck D version of Bring the Noise count as a cover? If so, then that too.
This is brilliant:
Thought of some more:
ti_pin_man - Member
usually most covers ruin a good song...
Rubbish. As above, there are many, many great songs that few realise are covers.
Which is better, Shipbuilding, by Robert Wyatt, or Elvis Costello, and which is the original version?
That last one put me in mind of The Dynamics:
Okay, one more from The Dynamics. Can't not have a Herbie Hancock number somewhere:
This one is a bit marmite - if you saw my record collection, you'd expect me to hate it, but I think it's rather good:
No sound on the work 'puter so apologies if the sound on this is cack...
That Ukrainians one I mentioned earlier, the best version I've heard of an oft covered song:
The Ramones - What a wonderful world
Ataris - Boys of summer
Jeff Buckley-Hallelujah
I'm normally a Placebo fan, but I can't get on with their version of Running Up The Hill.
Also hating that Futureheads one so it must be a Kate Bush thing.
Hmm, I seem to be the loudmouth dominating the conversation in this thread a bit..
If you only click on one of the links I've posted, make it the Julie Driscoll one. I really can't overstate how wonderful her voice is on that song. The video is a wee bit dated, I grant you, so maybe just listen to the audio....
All Along The Watchtower - Hendrix version
DEVO doing Satisfaction
Another cover version of 'Motorhead'.
Nearly the whole of Nick Cave (&co)'s kicking against the pricks is splendid
(please, nobody mention Johnny Cash and the mercy seat 😐 )
A couple I've not heard in a while. The jury's out on both, I reckon:
or this:
quite often, a good cover will not sound like a cover - I know I was surprised to find several excellent songs I thought were originals were actually covers, e.g.
(originally be joe jackson?)
and
( [url= http://lyxus.net/jiob ]co-written by Christos Demetriou and performed by John Kongos in 1971[/url] )
How the hell have I only just remembered this beauty?
I recall when Step On was out (the Mondays version) Annie Nightingale played literally dozens of different versions of the song on her request show. Can't remember who a single one of them was by, unfortunately.
And I certainly never realised, until you posted it, that Got The Time wasn't an Anthrax original. Cheers
And on the subject of covers which people think are the originals, here's the (much better) original of a well known cover:
China Drum - Wuthering Heights
XTC did a great version of All Along THe Watchtower
[i]And on the subject of covers which people think are the originals...[/i]
I'm glad you posted that because I was beginning to think you liked cover versions [i]a little bit too much[/i]... 😉
Sorry, they just keep popping into my head:
I challenge anyone to make it all the way through this.
Final Countdown.
Dezb,
Yeah, a bit sad, but when I was a student I used to trawl charity shops specifically looking for obscure cover versions...
I also used to DJ a bit and have been known to play cover-only sets when the crowd were so pissed they wouldn't care what was played (rowing / rugby club sort of events).
I am, in fact, very, very sad........
mulletus,
BAD cover versions... now that's a road you really, really shouldn't have gone down.
Hmmm, where to start..... how about....
You know what, sometimes one appalling Limp Bizkit ruination of a Jane's Addiction song just isn't enough:
I'd better stop now....
Good shouts on Tori Amos [i]Smells Like Teen Spirit[/i] and Nirvana's [i]Man Who Sold The World[/i]. They're on my list too.
Annoyed/Embarrassed to say I really like David Gray's [i]Say Hello, Wave Goodbye[/i]. Nice couple of Van Morrison nods at the end of it, too.
Each to their own an all that!
I'll dig out the cassette of my old band doing "Careless Whisper" when I get home. It's much much better than the Gossip version, which is crap. Actually I don't think I've got that cassette anymore.
Maybe the "Moonage Daydream" cover my other band did. That's obscure, I'll rip that. Ah, that had no vocals. Oh well.
[i]BAD cover versions... now that's a road you really, really shouldn't have gone down.[/i]
No, cos it's 90% of this thread! 😉
I think this is one of the few covers to make me go "Wow!" when I first heard it..
You want bad cover versions?
Shall I link to the youtube video of my works xmas party where a few of us did "let me entertain you" amongst others?
for the sake of your ears (*and my job as I'm not supposed to spread the link) I shan't 😀
The essential Richard Berry covers (although given that the Kingsmen played it all wrong and Iggy's is based on that, his is more of a cover of a cover of Richard Berry I suppose):
As an aside, I much preferred the Black Keys back then when there was only drums, guitar and vox, and they could make a whole album in 30 hours.
grateful dead doing ‘she belongs to me‘ by dylan. the live version on the dvd backstage pass is awsome, garcia‘s playing is sublime
Oh yes. The Cramps [i]Fever[/i]. In my Top-5 all time best covers.
Off The Bone... awsum album 🙂
I'll see you kingsmen and raise you a motorhead
Not generally a big Foo Fighters fan, but I liked this:
how could I forget the bloody motorhead version?! Superb choice there..
If Bob Dylan could sing:
Richard Cheese puts me in mind of Mike Flowers Pops.
[i]Kevin Greening:[/i] "Do you think it's possible to reduce any song to a bosanova beat?"
*stony silence*
[i]Mike Flowers:[/i] "You mean elevate."
Bad Plus covering Nirvana. Trust me, it's awesome.
For those who said Teen Spirit [b]was[/b] a cover version, Kurt got the joke...
(Again, no sound at work so I can only guess that the link's a good 'un)
Heard this many years before I ever heard Dylan's original so still have a soft spot for it.
And this runs rings round the original IMO: