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I'd call it different, but I like it better. I like the original too, but that 8-piece band sounds good. For the "how," I'd say instrumentally and vocally. They usually play it in F with another guitarist/singer (who isn't there) singing it. The gal on the bass drum is reading the lyrics. This version is in B flat and sounds so peppy and spirited.
A bunch of musicians in a studio in Memphis playing a Beatles song. A vastly superior version, I think.
Not better than the original. But very good. I saw them do this live a few months ago, was really blown away by it.
Agree to disagree, I guess. I can't go along with "vastly superior". It's a nice cover, for sure. But The Beatles original is one of my (many) favorites from their catalog. I think McCartney's vocal work is simply fantastic.
This one is tough because I like both versions a lot. I'm a huge Creedence fan, but also a huge Freddie King fan. But IMO, Freddie wins this battle hands down...
To each his own! I admit to a bias: As influential as the British Invasion was, excuse me for being blunt, it was mostly UK white guys covering US black guys. There was a time I was bent on reclaiming American r&b from them. A fool's errand, of course.
devnulljp
Supporting Member
Nah, Diamond Head were always a better band than Metallica. Better musicianship, better songwriting, never buried the bass player in the mix (Colin Kimberley was wonderful) just crappy management.
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I really like Afghan Whigs take on The Police “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
Placebo version of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” I like for the slowness and space
Placebo version of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” I like for the slowness and space
CGT is great! I have seen them a bunch of times over the past couple of decades; Paul Richards even gave me one of his magical picks that makes me sound like three guitarists playing at one.
Love Freddie King - it's not hard to hear how his playing influenced Clapton. He definitely did this song his own way, no cookie cutter copy there, nice reworking. It's almost a different song, in a way, with the melody and rhythm changes, and for me it works very well. Still, I prefer the original CC vibe on this one. They definitely had a style.
No, it wasn't mostly that - the biggest hits those guys were having (the songwriting savant Beatles in particular) were their own tunes. They definitely were very influenced by American rock and roll, r+b, and blues, and they were always the first to say so, repeatedly reminding people of that fact - Lennon commented that they felt they were trying to wake Americans up to their own heritage. So much of the original rock and roll was not quite so much at the forefront in the early 60's. Buddy Holly was gone, Elvis was in the army, Chuck Berry was encountering legal problems, Jerry Lee Lewis was having fallout from marrying his very young cousin ...To each his own! I admit to a bias: As influential as the British Invasion was, excuse me for being blunt, it was mostly UK white guys covering US black guys. There was a time I was bent on reclaiming American r&b from them. A fool's errand, of course.
. Blues guys like Muddy and Howling Wolf were virtually ignored here in their own country, those Brits caught the blues bug for sure, hearing them, and again, talked them up repeatedly, recorded with them, brought them more into the broader public eye. The Brit acts did cover American r+b and r+r, it all was part of their musical inspiration, a big part. But the Beatles in particular also were inspired by the skiffle craze (George once commented, "It's just posh skiffle, really,"
in talking about their music, and also were inspired by old pop standards and Broadway - "How High The Moon" was Lennon and McCartney's opening number when they first performed as a duo, and of course they included "Til There Was You", from The Music Man as one of their early recordings. It won't do to oversimplify their musical landscape.
I love the Temptations version but I like this better. Not a fan of the crazy stage attire though.
Sometimes covers do surpass original recordings, it does happen, though it strikes me as perhaps being an exception to the usual pattern when it happens. Looking at some "guilty pleasure" material, Adam Lambert's cover of "Believe", by Cher, might qualify for this topic. Possibly. I actually like her original version, with its creative use of auto-tune, putting that processing front and center at certain points in the song. Cheesy but catchy.
No auto-tune for Lambert, who really can sing, Idol route to fame notwithstanding. He does with "Believe" what he used to do on that Idol show, substantially reworking a tune while digging into its emotional core. The Wings of Pegasus channel has a good analysis of this one, tracing aspects of Adam's performance. Even Cher liked it (though she looks like a caricature, with her Botox lips ).
No auto-tune for Lambert, who really can sing, Idol route to fame notwithstanding. He does with "Believe" what he used to do on that Idol show, substantially reworking a tune while digging into its emotional core. The Wings of Pegasus channel has a good analysis of this one, tracing aspects of Adam's performance. Even Cher liked it (though she looks like a caricature, with her Botox lips
).
Hall and Oates?
The Righteous Brothers’ original is listed by BMI as the most played song of the 20th Century in America, a crowning achievement of Spector’s “wall of sound”. The H&O version was weak sauce in comparison, there was no way they were going top it.
