Cover versions

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

Query for Poptimists!

Sometimes - quite often, in fact, I think - cover versions are miles better than the original. I put forth PSB's 'Where the Streets Have No Name'. I like this MUCH better than the U2 version!

Which cover versions do you think surpass the original flavour?

Comments

[ex-al-ewing.livejournal.com]

PSB - Always On My Mind / In My House.
Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb.
Scooter - Logical Song.
Neil Diamond - Both Sides Now.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Tiga's cover of "Hot In Herre", but that's not hard as the original is dreadful. The video's brilliant too.

Good question btw - there are so many! I was actually thinking about cover versions for the iPod meme too.

Hm. Off the top of my head,

The Raincoats - 'Lola'
Rachid Taha - 'Douce France' AND 'Rock The Casbah'
David Bowie - 'Let's Spend The Night Together' & 'Wild Is The Wind' (but nothing else!!)
Laibach - 'One Vision' (also not difficult)
Feeder - 'Can't Stand Losing You' (ditto)

I'm tempted to mention the Soft Cell version of Tainted Love and a *lot* of Marc Almond's covers, but they were all pretty good songs to begin with. I do prefer their version of 'What', though.

Both Katzenjammer Kabarett & Turisaz have done vastly superior versions of 'Rasputin'.

Great question! I shall keep thinking.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The original 'Hot In Herre' is one of the best songs of the decade! I like Tiga a lot but his cover sucks all the life from it, that song was not made for anyone to do deadpan.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I hatehatehate the original. Not just because the lyrics are sooo wanky, but because there's something kind of strange to me about the tempo, can't say what (I guess I haven't listened to it enough!), but it feels as if it's about half a beat too slow? Always bugged me.

I like Tiga in other regards, but I thought he did a very good job improving on the source material, from gently (?) taking the piss out of the overblown lyrics to actually making it a better song to dance to. And I did almost cry with laughter when I saw the puppet video. Ego-puncturing FTW.

I guess we're not going to agree on this one :-)

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Jenny Owen Youngs version of HiH rocks. Seek it out.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Ooh ta.

[oddnumbereven.livejournal.com]

Do we count Marc & Gene covering Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart? Because, as awesome as the original is, that just knocks my socks off. And i wasn't even wearing socks.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Yes, very much so. That's one of his best covers ever, although 'The Days Of Pearly Spencer' is also amazing. His version of 'Strangers In The Night'? Not so much.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Also remembered!

Controversially, I think Monumentum's cover of "Fade To Grey" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ups--V18eEg) (which I acquired from a compilation for Italian record label Palace of Worms) does actually beat the original.

I also think Rosetta Stone's version of "When The Levee Breaks" is better than the original, though I was never that big a Rosetta fan. Good call though, the overblown musical elements really worked better when turned up to 11.

[corianderstem.livejournal.com]

As I'm a huge U2 fan and that's my all-time favorite U2 song, I have to go with U2's version.

However! I think I'm one of the very few U2 fans who not only likes the PSB cover, but thinks it's really freaking genius.

Currently, I really love Girls Aloud's cover of "Teenage Dirtbag."

(wow there is a lot of J-spam don't delete me)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I tend to like Smiths covers better than the originals (Low's "There is a Light...", Stars' "This Charming Man", tATu's "How Soon is Now"), for some reason Morrissey's voice and/or singing style makes it hard for me to grok the tunes. Even more weirdly, I don't have this problem with most of his solo stuff.

Neil Young covers: Pixies' "Winterlong", Saint Etienne's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart".

Laura Cantrell's folk version of "Love Vigilantes" is definitive IMO.

Re: (wow there is a lot of J-spam don't delete me)

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

tATu's version is great! Shockingly underrated.

[koganbot]

Taylor Swift "Take A Bow"
Brooke White "Love Is A Battlefield"
Willie Nelson "The Bob Song"
Guns N' Roses "Down On The Farm"
Pajama Party "Over and Over"
Gloria Gaynor "I Never Can Say Goodbye"
Isaac Hayes "Walk On By"
James Brown "Prisoner Of Love" (versions from The T.A.M.I. Show or Live At The Apollo Volume Two)
The Rolling Stones "It's All Over Now"
The Kingsmen "Louie Louie"
Elvis Presley "Mystery Train"
Charlie Parker "Embraceable You"

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I could list at least a thousand! I was going to try to think what the last great example I heard was, but since the last thing I played was a PSB live bootleg, that example would also be yours. I was listening to Otis the other day, and I think Aretha's version of 'Respect' not only beats Otis's, but changes the gender of the song almost irreversibly (this is partly the tone of the times, too), and I can't think of any other case of this happening.

[oddnumbereven.livejournal.com]

'Respect' by Aretha?

But for serious, I am increasingly leaning towards thinking Robyn's Since U Been Gone is the superior version, by a notch. And Nina Persson's The Bluest Eyes In Texas, ftom the Boys Don't Cry s/t, is pretty phenomenal.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Even though I love both bands, I think Rammstein's version of Depeche Mode's 'Stripped' is possibly better than anything else either of them has ever done.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

TRUFAX! Tis v good anyway.

[damnspynovels.livejournal.com]

Renegade Soundwave's 'Can't Get Used To Losing You' and 'Biting My Nails'

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

+ Bryan Ferry, "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall" and "Let's Stick Together" (and about a dozen others by him)
+ Cyndi Lauper, "Money Changes Everything" (the Brains' original is good and Lauper's isn't that different, but it's HER and that makes all the difference)
+ Flying Lizards, "Money (That's What I Want)" - Better than Barrett Strong AND the Beatles.
+ DJ Sammy, "Heaven"
+ Judy Collins, "Both Sides Now" (Neil Diamond's version was mentioned above... haven't heard it, but I love how Collins turns Joni Mitchell into baroque bubblegum)
+ The verdict is out on Erasure's "Take a Chance on Me" vs. Abba's, but to my ears it's close

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

OMG I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT FLYING LIZARDS!!

I think their version of "Sex Machine" is way superior. Love it.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

Miley Cyrus - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

not really.

G'N'R - Knocking on Heaven's Door

[fugitivemotel.livejournal.com]

Grass Show's "All That She Wants" is better than the Ace Of Bass version.
Also, Death Cab For Cutie's version of "All Is Full Of Love" by Bjork.
And John Mayer's version of "Kid A" by Radiohead. Cause you can actually hear the lyrics.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't happen to have a link for the Death Cab track, would you? Am curious...

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

Turisas - Rasputin!

[(Anonymous)]

EWF - Got To Get You Into My Life
Anne Murray - You Won't See Me
Elvis Presley - Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Talking Heads - Take Me To The River

[seeno99.livejournal.com]

The above 4 by me.