DCC Archive Cool cover versions

Today I spun Train Kept a Rollin' by the Rock n' Roll Trio and the Yardbirds take on that fine tune - Aerosmith's version isn't handy for me but it's great, too. Any other tunes that have great cover versions come to yer collective noggins???

 

I just had The Byrds' My Back Pages in. A damn fine cover. One of (if not) their best Dylan covers.

 

I mentioned this before, but here it is anyway. It's a compilation CD called Common Thread: Songs Of The Eagles. What it is is a bunch of Eagles songs performed by some C/W stars.

Now I'm a hardcore Eagles listener ever since Take It Easy came out, but I'll tell ya, this is good. I actually prefer a few of the covers over the originals.

 

Cool cover versions... Hmmmm let's see...

Faces
"Wicked Messenger"

Rod Stewart
"Tomorrow Is A Long Time"
Definitive

Otis Redding
"Satisfaction"
Devo's version runs a close second

The Who
"I Don't Mind"
"Leaving Here"

Motorhead
"Leaving Here"
Motown for the mosh pit

Brian Ferry
"Eight Miles High"

Nico
"The End"
Stormtooper chantuese

Hawkwind
"Cymbaline"

MC5
"Livin' In The USA"

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Ian ]

 

The Byrds and the Band do great versions of Dylan songs (though many of the songs the Band did were really collaborations).

I first heard "Take Me To The River" when it was done by the Talking Heads; a great cover.

"Don't Do It" by the Band and "Money" by the Beatles are great, more impressive because they're Motown songs and Motown can be done so poorly (not a big Phil Collins fan, or Mariah Carey).

Maria McKee used to sing a great version of "Sweet Jane" in the early days of Lone Justice.

 

Ever heard of Buddy Miles? He did a great version of that song. I'm sure I still have that 8-track lying in a dusty corner somewhere...

 

They're not?!? (just kidding)

 

Indeed. The Beatles made Twist & Shout their own, and as good as Little Richard is, I'll take Paul singing Long Tall Sally any day of the week...

Time Is On My Side. It's All Over Now. I Can't Be Satisfied. Little Red Rooster. You've Really Got A Hold On Me. Money (Beatles *and* Stones). Fortune Teller.

Still haven't heard the Benny Spellman original to Fortune Teller, though...

 

The Beatles got me listening into "oldies" in the first place. Before they came along, the oldest music I had was "Murmur" by R.E.M.

For awhile, I was unsure if they did the original versions of "Money" or "Please Mr. Postman" or if they were actually covers (ridiculous, eh?).

I just wish they did more Buddy Holly. "Words of Love" was a good cover. Thank god for the BBC sessions, too. "Hippy Hippy Shake," "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby"...was there anything this band couldn't do?

 

"I Hear You Knockin'," Dave Edmunds

"Both Sides Now," Jason Falkner

"This is Where I Belong," Bill Lloyd

"Crackin' Up," Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love," The Beach Boys (always liked it, especially that a cappella break ... sounds super on DCC's "Spirit of America" CD ... actually ditto for "I Can Hear Music")

"Chimes of Freedom" (from live EP), Bruce Springsteen

"I Shall Be Released," The Band (I really miss ya, Richard Manuel)

I also concur with: "Money" and "Long Tall Sally," The Beatles, and "Time is on My Side" and "It's All Over Now," The Rolling Stones, plus "My Back Pages" by the Byrds ...

 

Well, I'd hardly call that a cover. Yeah, it was written by Dylan, but it was written while playing with The Band, and they recorded it first, so...

Kind of like (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman and Delta Lady...

 

All true. You could argue that actually Dylan recorded it first (with the Band backing, yes) during the "Basement Tapes" sessions, but I guess for all intents and purposes that was just a demo. I guess I was just going by a strict definition of cover, as in recording something you didn't write yourself ...

 

Hmm. Looking back at what I just wrote here, it doesn't look right ... I guess I too think of a "cover" mostly as something that's been recorded AND RELEASED before ... so Luke's point is well taken ...

 

Of course most Beatles & Stones covers, although I prefer Howlin' Wolf's Little Red Rooster and am not a big fan of John Lennon's versions of Chuck Berry's songs. I much prefer his Larry Williams covers! For some reason I hate most of the Kinks covers (ie. Louie, Louie, Naggin' Woman, Dancing in the Street, etc). They really stand out as "sore thumbs" among Ray's songs.
As much as I love Bo Diddley, I prefer The Zombies version of Road Runner.

 

Soundgarden doing "Come Together".

 

Soundgarden's versions of "Into The Void" and "Stray Cat Blues" are pretty good as well.

 

Toots & the Maytals do a great cover of Louie, Louie. Man, never expected to hear that from a reggae band.

Speaking of Lennon's Chuck Berry covers, Jerry Lee Lewis is almost the only artist who's made Chuck Berry covers that I really liked. People seem to make great recordings that are clearly influenced by Berry's guitar ("Fun, Fun, Fun"), his lyrics ("Subterranean Homesick Blues"), or anything else, but bands seem to have less success covering his tunes. Never liked the Beach Boys doing Rock N' Roll Music, the Beatles version of that was almost a sign that the pressures of Beatlemania was getting to them (John's vocals sound stressed out to me)...the Stones performed good versions of "Around and Around" and "Bye Bye Johnny," but I'm not a big fan of Mick's vocals on those. Just my two cents...

Oh, and of course there's Elvis, who did tons of great covers. A lot of garbage, too, but a lot of gems as well.

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Camarillo ]

 

I must say I really like most of the Stones' Berry covers:

You Can't Catch Me
Down The Road Apiece (not written by Chuck, but...)
Around And Around
Carol
Little Queenie
Confessin' The Blues (again, not written by Chuck)

Yep, there are a few I didn't list, because I don't really care for them. Come On is kinda lame.

Down The Road Apiece, on the other hand, really rocks. Amazing cover...

 

Beatles. The vast majority of their BBC canon were covers...and in many, if not most, blew away the originals.

 

I prefer James Taylor's versions of "Up On The Roof" "You've Got A Friend" "How Sweet It Is" and "Every Day" to the originals. And I like the Blues Brothers doing "Soul Man" more for the dancin' and visuals than the singing...and then there is always "RESPECT" from Aretha Franklin rather than Otis Redding.

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Dough ]

 

How about:

Pantera - Planet Caravan
WASP - The Real Me
Megadeth - Anarchy in the U.K.
Metallica - Blitzkreig
Anthrax - Parasite
Tori Amos - Raining Blood

 

I also like the Stones covers of Berry tunes. I do, however, hate their cover of My Girl.
Toots and the Maytals also do a cool cover of We Shall Overcome.
Speaking of Toots, the Clash did a pretty nice job with Pressure Drop. I also love their cover of I Fought The Law.

 

The Beatles' recording of RNRM was done in _one_ take (on Sunday 18 Oct 1964, exactly 37 years ago last week).

Sure, I wish the vocal was a bit richer, and I wish the whole track had a more solid balance... but I don't dare complain about such an impressive live performance from the 5 of them (JPGR + Sir George on piano, obvious once you know it).

Just stickin' up for the boys!

 

Getting back to Buddy Miles:
He re-did "Down By The River(Neil Young) as opposed to "Take me to the River".
His re-make of the Neil song is great.
Especially the live version that's on the Mercury "Best of Buddy Miles" cd.