DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... The Art of the Cover

I had a conversation with a muso colleague a few weeks ago. We were talking about cover bands. I said:

"There are 2 types of cover bands. Bands who are uninspired jukeboxes... and bands who make someone else's tune their own."

I'm sure you guys can guess which type has Clemmy as a fan.

Check this out, hounds.
Then, post up your fave covers in this presently nascent thread.

Jimmy Scott's cover of Bryan Ferry's "Slave to Love" was always one of my favorites.

I have a ton that I absolutely love. I'll start with Joe Sample & Lalah Hathaway's cover of "Fever."

This is another favorite of mine. It's sung by the angelic Roberta Flack.

Try this

Post Modern JukeBox.. They do a lot of stuff I like... this is one example but not the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLnZ1NQm2uk

Amy Winehouse's Girl from Ipanema is a classic.

Please tell which side you are a fan of.

I'd think, the best way to redo a song is as close to exactly as the song has already been made, anything else would be to butcher it, and be a detrement to the purity of the original song version.


I'd think that someone who makes the song their own is showing artistic abilities to express their individual version of the original song.

Personally I think the 2nd one is selfish and often, (but not always), disrespectful.

Totally with Clem on this one. To re-do the song exactly the same shows a total lack of artistic expression and creativity and becomes nothing more than karaoke. To change it, alter it and make it your own is exactly what an artist should do. No different than being a painter and working with inspiration from other artists. One doesn't simply copy they learn from them yet, they take it into their own direction and make it their own.

Aaron Lewis has made a career after Staind of doing acoustic covers. His voice can take any song and make it his own. He has many good ones to choose from . His cover of Black by Pearl Jam, Sober by Tool, Nothing Else Matters by Metallica are all great but I chose hos cover of Crawling by Linkin Park because it was done as a tribute right after Chester Benningtons death

From the Queen of Covers, Linda Ronstadt. This was a song by JD Souther from his solo album "You're Only Lonely".

I don't know if anyone was smoother than Luther. Here is what NPR said about him: "The voice of Luther Vandross has been called "flawless" and "as smooth as silk." It's been known to create an atmosphere of pure romance: For many years, Vandross was the go-to singer for when you wanted to get in the mood.

More about the bedroom in a moment. First: that voice. Vandross' vocal instrument was supremely fine-tuned, controlled and yet effortless."

Here are a couple of examples: Check out Dionne's face in the first video.




This might be my all-time favorite:



Now, that's music, y'all.

I think the situation makes it a fluid thing.

Now if you've gained some popularity and fame, I feel it gives you a lot more leeway in adding your own style to popular songs of the past. If you're a club band playing to 4 or 5 hundred people, I think that changes the entire situation. I mean nobody drinking at the club wanted to hear "PitDAWG's version" of Alive by Pearl Jam or Round Here the Counting Crows. lol

It's not like we didn't take a few liberties with songs people had heard a million times like Johnnie B. Good. People loved that one chunked up with a gravely sound, or a song that very few were familiar with like I'm Tore Down by Freddie King.

But for the most part the audience in that situation expects to hear a song in a certain way. In those situations taking too many such liberties offends more of your listeners than anything else.

And I do think it says something about talent who can play and sing music of entirely different stylings and octaves. On a personal level I get tired of bands and vocals that sound alike. Geddy Lee of Rush is one of those voices. AC/DC is one of those bands. Pretty soon it all sounds the same and I find it grating.

Covers I really like?

Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails.

Molly Hatchet's cover of Dreams I'll Never See by The Allman Brothers.

From Wiki ...

"Whiskey in the Jar" is a well-known Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, often with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in County Kerry. The song is about a rapparee (highwayman), who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed traditional Irish songs. It has been recorded by numerous professional artists since the 1950s.

The song's origins come from the traditional folk song "The Highwayman and the Captain" sung in the outskirts of the town of Edinburgh. In 1967, the Irish folk band The Beasley Brothers rewrote the song as Whiskey in a Jar and incorporated their own twist to the lyrics and melody.

The song first gained wide exposure when the Irish folk band The Dubliners performed it internationally as a signature song, and recorded it on three albums in the 1960s. Building on their success, the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy hit the Irish and British pop charts with the song in 1973. In 1990 The Dubliners re-recorded the song with The Pogues with a faster rocky version charting at No.4 in Ireland and No.63 in the UK. The American metal band Metallica brought it to a wider rock audience in 1998 by playing a version very similar to that of Thin Lizzy's, though with a heavier sound, winning a Grammy for the song in 2000 for Best Hard Rock Performance.

The Dubliners




Thin Lizzy




Metallica

Ain’t That A Shame - Cheap Trick

Bang a Gong - Power Station (Robert Palmer)

I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston

With a Little Help From My Friends-Joe Cocker

Van Halen did their share of covers:
You Really Got Me
Oh Pretty Woman
Dancin' in the Streets
Ice Cream Man
Where Have All the Good Times Gone?

Hurt - Johnny Cash
One - Johnny Cash

Summertime Blues - The Who

On Broadway-George Benson

Twist and Shout - Beatles

Joan Jett (with or without the Blackhearts) did some great covers.

I Love Rock and Roll
I Hate Myself for Loving You
Crimson and Clover

I think that has to be the greatest cover. She made that song hers so much that I forgot it was even a cover .

I wasn’t a huge Elton John fan, but I always liked musicals.

Elton John’s cover of Pinball Wizard in the movie version of Tommy is my favorite Elton John song.

I'll jump on my phone when I can't sleep and search for The Voice, America's Got Talent, etc... (including non US versions of all these shows) because I like to hear how these "nobody" singers cover more famous songs. Some are great, some not so great.

There are too many to link to, but some of my favorites (if you want to look them up) are below. Too bad Youtube ruined youtube by shoving commercials and ads in the middle of videos.

Callum Scott - Dancing on my own (I needed to look up the original)
Alice Fredenham - My funny valentine
Calysta Bevier - Fight Song (this one is powerful because of her history)
Paula Jiven - Billy Jean (huge risk singing Michael Jackson, and bigger risk in a completely new way)
Johnny Manuel - I have nothing (dude nailed whitney houston)
Amira Willighagen (9 year old) - O Mio Babbino Caro (the best of all of these)

Wow Clem. The RAGE cover is amazing.


My all time favorite cover - Originally by Smokey Robinson...



Honorable mention - Yngwie Malmsteen shredding the Kansas classic.

I'm a fan of those who put their own spin on the tune.

Matter of fact, most artists seem to appreciate others' treatments of their tunes, and see them as tributes, instead of a sign of 'disrespect.' Musicians are just built differently.

In my book, there is a difference between an artist covering another's tune and the work being done by 'cover bands' in a night club. In that case, the idea is to keep pretty close to the original for those on the dance floor.

In the other instance, the idea is to find new treatments for well-known tunes.



This attitude, though understandable, ignores the entire history of Jazz, in which almost every standard is a cover of some sort. Even 'new classics' get treatments from other artists, which is super cool, because the original composer gets royalties from any published version of their work by any other artists. There are probably 40 or more versions of John Coltrane's 'Blue Trane' or Thelonius Monk's 'Straight, No Chaser.'

A tune like 'Birdland' by Josef Zawinul (Weather Report) has been covered by hundreds of artists now, including a vocal version (with newly made-up lyrics) by Manhattan Transfer.

Bottom line: doing a cover exactly like the original kind of defeats the purpose. Instead, folks could just see the original or listed to a DJ.

.02

Beautiful.
Recorded just a few months before his death, you could hear a lifetime of pain in that voice... in a way that couldn't be duplicated by Trent (until he reached his 60's/70's, and was singing through his lifetime of experiences)

Trent's chording is definitely more sophisticated than Johnny's but damn... that voice more than compensates.

Just wonderful.
Great call, Pit.

Check out David Cook from AMerican Idol doing Hello by Lionel Ritchie and he did a Michael Jackson cover that was really good too ,

He has a pretty cool voice, and that is certainly a significant difference from the original

I love both versions. Same words sang by two different people with completely different messages that come across.

That's actually a cover of Chris Cornell's cover of that song... but still good

above by Clem:



I really wish you hadn't said that.



When this video came out, I honestly think it was one of the funniest things to ever appear on TV.

Wow.

35 years ago.

Heaven on Earth.

The video I posted is definitely David Cook

Yes, its David Cook doing a cover, of Chris Cornell's cover, of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean.

I'm w/Clem and PDX on taking creative liberties when covering songs. Jazz and the Blues are great examples of how musicians interpret how a song should be played.

I think this song is a great example of what we are talking about. Leon Russell, who was one of the best songwriters to ever grace the earth wrote and performed the song. George Benson put his own creative twist on it and the combination of the two musical geniuses created almost sheer perfection.

Have a listen:

I think another example of two geniuses coming up w/something great is when Bob Dylan [arguably the greatest song writer of all-time] and Jimi Hendrix [arguably the best guitar player of all-time] combined on this classic.

I was thinking about covers .... and it seemed to me that I had heard the song "I'm not in love", by a 70s band called 10cc, done a few times.It was one of my favorite songs from the days of my misspent youth .... when I was like 12, or so.

Great Scott Batman!

This sucker has been covered or sampled 78 times!

Here's the original.



This has been covered by Queen Latifah, Rick Springfield, Donnie Osmond, Will to Power, The Pretenders, Tori Amos, and a cast of thousands I never heard of. lol

Cover versions of I'm Not in Love by 10cc | SecondHandSongs
https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/1143

I think this is one of the coolest covers by one of the coolest cats of all-time:

I can't say I was a huge Whitney fan, but damn man, what a voice. What passion.

The thing that amazes me is that many creative geniuses are so troubled. It's like creativity brings a heightened sense of awareness of one's environment and w/that comes issues in dealing w/such a complex world.

My heart breaks for people like Whitney. It's tragic. It's a shame. It makes me question the majority.

Here is the rendition of the song that you and YTown talked about. It truly is incredible:

I'm glad I started this thread.


OK, here's a semi-obscure one that maybe 10 folks will know/remember. It's bizarre and beautiful at the same time. (Sorry about the lack of chordal resolution at the end. What dummy lops off the last note?)

I must be one of those ten. lol

Sweet choice. Love me some Marley, mon.

Just better summer with his stuff playing.

In 50+ years of Super Bowls, Miss Houston's version of the National Anthem is still unmatched.

I guess that counts as a cover, as well.

Ahhhh..........very nice. Although I'm a bit miffed I didn't post it before you.