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Cover is as good as/better than Original

#41
You Really Got Me - Kinks/Van Halen
I Am The Walrus - Beatles/recently covered by Styx. They did an awesome job and it makes me realize what great musicians they are. Don't know if I can say it's better than the Beatle version cuz, well, they are the Beatles and I'm not sure you can improve upon the way anything they did was presented.
You can make it harder, or softer or different and you may like it better but, is it really better? This holds true for any cover. The original is as it was initially intended. Changes that suit one's tastes do not neccessarily make it better. Even though, I like many covers better than the original.
 
#42
dhadleyray said:
Summer breeze - Seals and Crofft/ Covered by Isley bros.
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Love both versions...if you like the Isleys' take on that, try their "Listen To The Music" cover (same album as "Summer Breeze" or pick it up off iTunes).

"Work To Do"-Isleys covered by AWB
"If I Ever Lose This Heaven"-Quincy Jones covered by AWB
"Whatcha Gonna Do For Me"-AWB covered by Chaka Khan
"We Can Work It Out"-The Beatles covered by Chaka Khan
 
#43
personal jesus -depeche mode/johnny cash
same for break my rusty cage by chris cornell, i like johnnys better.

not better but as good as category:
voodoo chile(slight return) jimi/srv
some time ago/la fiesta return to forever/airto
 
#46
Original poster here. My apologies to all, I forgot to list my very most favorite example:
Johnny B. Goode! Chuck Berry gave it to us, and of course it's been covered by Hendrix, Johnny Winter, the Grateful Dead, and 500 other folks, but the version that blew my doors off is by the late Peter Tosh! If you haven't heard this, find it, it's killer! I've got a live version on an album called Complete Captured Live - an excellent collection. Also a stompin' version of Get Up Stand Up on there.
One more from the reggae category:
Country Roads John Denver/Toots and the Maytals

Lot of great responses on this thread. I thank you all, my (completely selfish) motivation was to get myself reminded of some great covers so I could maybe go pick them up. You've all performed admirably. Let's keep it rollin'! :bassist:
 
#47
Bottom Feeder said:
You Really Got Me - Kinks/Van Halen
I Am The Walrus - Beatles/recently covered by Styx. They did an awesome job and it makes me realize what great musicians they are. Don't know if I can say it's better than the Beatle version cuz, well, they are the Beatles and I'm not sure you can improve upon the way anything they did was presented.
You can make it harder, or softer or different and you may like it better but, is it really better? This holds true for any cover. The original is as it was initially intended. Changes that suit one's tastes do not neccessarily make it better. Even though, I like many covers better than the original.
Click to expand...
+1 about the Beatles, and your general point. A topic like this is always IMHO and YMMV, by it's very nature.
I used to live in Huntington Beach, back in 1979. How's everything in Surf City? :cool:
 
#48
This thread reminds me of a long-standing, controversial, completely un-scientific and still in development theory I have formed about what makes a cover song great. There seem to be exceptions to these rules, but I've noticed that covers that really do it for me tend to meet most of the following requirements:

1.) The original song needs to be significant in some way. Maybe the song itself had a certain social significance, maybe the artist did, but re-interpreting something completely obscure seems sort of pointless.

2.) The cover version needs to elaborate on the original version. There needs to be an expansion of some element, like maybe a signature riff that gets turned up to 11, or a slight tweak of the groove that pays homage to the original but adds a new twist.

3.) If the original song was meaningful to you, it is difficult to embrace ANY new version of it. I have an uncle who hates Lenny Kravitz for ruining "American Woman." How many of us could get into somebody like Fall Out Boy trying to cover something like "Give it Away?" (I hope they never do that!)

4.) I think the overall point is the cover has to bring something unexpected but somehow appropriate to the table. Just nailing something note for note doesn't cut it.

For an unnecessary analogy, I think the newest Mustangs are a perfect cover of the originals.

So, some of my personal favorites:

Alien Ant Farm doing Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson) - One of my all-time faves
Winger doing Purple Haze :hiding:
Save Ferris doing Come on Eileen

I've probably lost enough credibility to continue with this list. I'm really not this much of a weenie.
 
#49
VEGANBASS said:
Any song Springsteen has covered is always better IMVHO. Ever hear his cover of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Medley?
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ummmmmmmmmmm.....yup.:hyper:

pound for pound and round for round there aint no finer band around, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND!!!!

LETS GET READY TO ROADHOUSE!!!!!
 
#53
Lazylion said:
+1 about the Beatles, and your general point. A topic like this is always IMHO and YMMV, by it's very nature.
I used to live in Huntington Beach, back in 1979. How's everything in Surf City? :cool:
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Lazylion,
Well, it's better and worse. I grew up in OC so I have seen the changes.
The Golden Bear has long since gone. Main street has been completely renovated and built up. It is a weekend hangout for 20-somethings complete with trendy multi-level bars and clubs. But, they do have some nice restaurants now. Perqs is still there and our band has done some small gigs there. The pier area has undergone major renovation as well.
PCH is undergoing a build-up phase with large hotels (Hyatt, Hilton) and they are developing both north and south of PCH/Main St. The city is anticipating H.B. as a major destination resort.

All in all, it is much cleaner and nicer than years past. But, I am now out of the loop, so to speak, as it draws a very young crowd.
 
#55
SlavaF said:
Megadeth has an awesome cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," which is the same arrangement, with Megadeth's signature sound, ie trademark Mustaine vocals. I love it
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Yeah, That's from the Black Sabbath tribute album. Very cool cover and I like at the end the drummer Nick Menza continuing on and Dave Mustaine hollering "Nick, NICK, NICK!!!!"
I limited my cover responses to bands that only cover one other band's song and didn't include them only because they were hired solely to cover another band as a tribute. Otherwise I could make the case for several artists covering everyone from Rush (Working Man tribute CD) to Genesis (Supper's Ready tribute CD) to Tull, ELP, etc... Magna Carta records has produced this group of tribute CD's and they have big names covering these bands. They are also a big Prog label.

Check it out www.magnacarta.net
 
#57
My favorite cover is the Stones' version of he Temptations' Imagination on the Some Girls album. As much as I like the orchestral original, the Stones funk it up with some killer guitar interplay and a crisp drum sound, which IMHO surpasses the original.
 
#59
Bottom Feeder said:
Yeah, That's from the Black Sabbath tribute album. Very cool cover and I like at the end the drummer Nick Menza continuing on and Dave Mustaine hollering "Nick, NICK, NICK!!!!"
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:D haha I laughed so hard I put it on repeat for about half an hour

Those Magna Carta tributes sound interesting, are they any good? The Black Sabbath tribute has some absolutely terrible covers - Sweet Leaf is atrocious (that singer...:mad: way to ruin it) and Cannibal Corpse should never be allowed to cover anything except other death metal (so I know not to listen to it:p )

That Rush tribute sounds pretty interesting though...
 

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