Cover Versions that are better than the Originals

[Beechwoods]

Apologetix - I Have To Die First (cover of Survivor's 'Eye Of The Tiger')

I promise that you'll feel pumped at the end of this one. If they'd played this at Sunday School I'd have paid more attention.

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Picasio vs Survivor - Rising Up Craig David

Ok, another 'Survivor' cover, but this is just an amazing bootleg mashup of Craig David's '7 Days' and Survivor's classic. Picasio did one other thing, a version of the Axel F theme, but since, nothing. He's extremely deft if you like this sort of thing.

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Faye Wong - Dream Person (cover of The Cranberries 'Dreams')

I love Faye Wong's stuff. Most is original, but she does the occasional cover and this one beats the socks of the original. She had a bit of mainstream western breakthrough with 'Eyes On Me' which was used for one of the Final Fantasy cartoons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8uXWMNriio.

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Laura Nyro - Up On The Roof

No YouTube link... I love this version of this song. One of my all time favourites, TBH.

http://www.last.fm/music/Laura+Nyro/_/Up+on+the+Roof

G-Form - From The Block (cover of Jennifer Lopez' 'Jenny From The Block')

You've gotta laugh, but at the same time, it's just a fantastic reworking. George Formby vs J-Lo... whatever :)

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Boyzone - Baby Can I Hold You

Ok I lied about this last one being better than the original, but I still like their version.

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[Joe]

'All Along the Watchtower' Jimi Hendrix

'Boogie Shoes' Alex Chilton

'I'll Keep It With Mine' Nico

'Oh, Lonesome Me' Neil Young

'Satisfaction' Devo

[Beechwoods]

'All Along the Watchtower' Jimi Hendrix

Definitely agree on that one.

And on the subject of Dylan, another major fave of mine. I should've remembered this one!

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[Rare Bird]

Any Bob Dylan songs are better than his, especially Affinity version of 'All along the watch tower' Superb..Linda Hoyle & Affinity are one of my all time Prog bands, Lynton Naiff keyboards are superb on this

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[Joe]

And I should have remembered

'Gloria' Patti Smith

'Suzanne' Fairport Convention

'There's A Ghost In My House' The Fall

'David Watts' The Jam

[Beechwoods]

I should have also mentioned XTC's cover of Dylan's 'Watchtower'. The bass on this version is amazing, and Andy Partridge makes it his own:

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[Stratmangler]

Best version of this song that I can think of

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Chris:)

[John]

Jeff Buckley always does great covers Lilac Wine is as good as the Orginal Nina Simone version In my opinion its not actaully better but is just as good
Hendrix version of All Along the Watchtower
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Santana Black Magic Woman
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[Themis]

Yes - America

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And the original to compare with :
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[DanJennings]

Joe Cocker - A Little Help From My Friends
Ministry - What A Wonderful World
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Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Delilah
Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Nouvelle Vague - Dancing With Myself
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - (any of their stuff really, but two of my favourites are: ) I Believe I Can Fly/Goodbye Earl
Reel Big Fish - Take On Me

I could go on, I'm rather fond of covers....

[aquapiranha]

Not many decent cover versions I can think of, but this is the best by far!


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[Beechwoods]

Now this one's not better than the original, but it sure is funky. They did an album of Pink Floyd covers, and they're all good.

Rosebud - Have A Cigar, 12" Mix

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[DSJR]

Tina Turner - I Can't Stand The Rain (12" version with Sax solo)
- Missing You

Jimmy Nail - Love Don't Live Here Anymore

Annie Lennox - Downtown Lights

... I love the originals too, but these re-makes add something to the originals IMO.

[Tom472]

Sorry to overdo the Dylan, but I think this really is good

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Regards

Tom

[DanJennings]

Sorry to overdo the Dylan, but I think this really is good

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Regards

Tom

bloody good album that.... might have to dig it out.

The original of that song is also cracking

[Beechwoods]

Sorry to overdo the Dylan, but I think this really is good

The thing is that all Dylan's songs sound better when played by other people. It's a fact! When God made Dylan he put all his effort into sorting out the song-writing, and forgot to sort out the vocals! Poor chap ;)

[twelvebears]

Guns n Roses - Live and let die

[DanJennings]

Guns n Roses - Live and let die

and lets not forget their awesome live cover of Mama Kin from the live like a suicide EP...
Axl introduces the song "This is a song about your f***ing mother!" Pure class
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not the best sound, but it does the job

[steve dixon]

guys,
personally i think elvis is shit, but the fine young cannibals version of suspicious minds is a cracker, imo of course.
cheers

steve

[Joe]

And there's 'Always On My Mind' by The Pet Shop Boys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDe60CbIagg

[Beechwoods]

I forgot about this, Trans-Europe Express by Senõr Coconut

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[Cotlake]

Although I like most of his stuff in small doses, Leonard Cohen can be pretty hard work. In contrast, Jennifer Warnes' cover of his songs on 'Famous Blue Raincoat' is fantastic. It remains one of my all time top ten albums and I play it regularly.

[alb]

Thelma Houstons Jumping jack Flash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewewL64hsNE

[Barry]

Has anyone mentioned Kirsty MacColl's 'Days' or Eric Clapton's 'I Shot The Sherriff'?

Regards

[The Grand Wazoo]

Has anyone mentioned Kirsty MacColl's 'Days' or Eric Clapton's 'I Shot The Sherriff'?

Also Kirsty MacColl's 'New England'

[Barry]

Also Kirsty MacColl's 'New England'

Yes- I'd forgotten that one Chris.

Regards

[Alex_UK]

Also Kirsty MacColl's 'New England'

As good as, different - but not sure I'd vote better in that case. I'll give you Days though! ;)

[Joe]

Has anyone mentioned Kirsty MacColl's 'Days' or Eric Clapton's 'I Shot The Sherriff'?

Regards

The originals were way better than the covers IMO.

[Marco]

I forgot about this, Trans-Europe Express by Senõr Coconut

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Very clever - I like that! :)

Marco.

[steveinspain]

Going out on a limb here, and risking whatever reputation here, but for me, Rod Stewart's version of 'I would rather go blind' is a cracking cover, and way better than any other version I have heard, including Etta James's !
Slightly helped by the fact that I grew up with the Rod Stewart version, as my father played violin on some of Rods early stuff !

[REM]

The ultimate version of that has to be Christine Perfect/Chicken Shack.

CLICKY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiwgzNKSj-E)

[Beechwoods]

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6461773/Tickets-to-see-George-Bush-on-sale-for-4.95.html

[Barry]

The ultimate version of that has to be Christine Perfect/Chicken Shack.



I'd agree with you there.

Regards

[steveinspain]

The ultimate version of that has to be Christine Perfect/Chicken Shack.


Never heard that one, and sadly, as my internet is so slow, I still cannot - just spent over an hour trying to get the page to open with no joy..!

[Prince of Darkness]

Stan Webb still does a good version with the current Chicken Shack line up.:gig:

[Jeremy Marchant]

Surely any song originally recorded by Bob Dylan will sound better in a cover, whoever makes it! (Same goes for Leonard Cohen.)

[Barry]

Surely any song originally recorded by Bob Dylan will sound better in a cover, whoever makes it! (Same goes for Leonard Cohen.)

I might agree with you on covers of Dylan's compositions, but not so sure about Cohen. Apart from the Jeff Buckley cover of 'Hallelujah', which is a better version, I can't think of any other covers. Can you give some examples?

Regards

[The Grand Wazoo]

There's a truly, truly great album of Laughin' Len covers called 'I'm Your Fan'

"Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" – Ian McCulloch
"I Can't Forget" – Pixies
"Stories of the Street" – That Petrol Emotion
"Bird on the Wire" – The Lilac Time
"Suzanne" – Geoffrey Oryema
"So Long, Marianne" – James
"Avalanche IV" – Jean-Louis Murat
"Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On" – David McComb & Adam Peters
"First We Take Manhattan" – R.E.M.
"Chelsea Hotel" – Lloyd Cole
"Tower of Song" – Robert Forster
"Take This Longing" – Peter Astor
"True Love Leaves No Traces" – Dead Famous People
"I'm Your Man" – Bill Pritchard
"A Singer Must Die" – Fatima Mansions
"Tower of Song" – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Hallelujah" – John Cale

Also, Jennifer Warnes did an album - 'Famous Blue Raincoat' (sometimes called 'Jenny Sings Lenny') which is pretty good (if you can get past her slightly nasal tone)

1. First We Take Manhattan
2. Bird On The Wire
3. Famous Blue Raincoat
4. Joan Of Arc
5. Ain't No Cure For Love
6. Coming Back To You
7. Song Of Bernadette
8. Singer Must Die
9. Came So Far For Beauty

Those are the big ones I know & like, but there are also a few tracks covered within albums etc.

There is in fact a database of Cohen covers which lists over 1500 of them(!!!!)

http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/coverlist.php

[The Grand Wazoo]

I love cover versions - they've led me in all sorts of new directions in music.
But I hate covers that add nothing to the original. They don't have to be better, that's not really the point to me, but a cloying clonal copy of the original is a waste of everyone's time and money. I'd rather hear a completely different but inferior version than a mindless excercise in painting by numbers.

If you're interested in covers, you really have to look at The Covers Project. It's a database of cover versions. Type in a band & it tells you what they covered & what songs of theirs were covered by others.
http://www.coversproject.com/

[Jeremy Marchant]

Apart from the Jeff Buckley cover of 'Hallelujah', which is a better version, I can't think of any other covers. Can you give some examples?


Not being a Cohen fan, my ability to respond is light but, even in my CD collection, there's kd lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel which includes both Jericho and Bird on a wire.

Doing some research I find www.cohencovers.com which is "a compilation of Leonard Cohen covers you can listen to on iTunes Store. It features 513 covers by 391 artists." Surely an embarrassment of riches.

Included are covers of Hey that's no way to say goodbye sung by the London Pro musica choir, and Suzanne by the Bonzo dog doodah band.

[Mike]

The thing is that all Dylan's songs sound better when played by other people. It's a fact! When God made Dylan he put all his effort into sorting out the song-writing, and forgot to sort out the vocals! Poor chap ;)

I can see I'm going to have to shoot you. You're kind of right, but I'm going to shoot you anyway! :laser:

[Barry]

From the Grave

[mr sneff]

The Residents - Mans World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvqNlFAZ3yY

The Residents Third Reich and Roll wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Reich_%26_Roll)
More covers than you can shake a stick at!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbTIhC79UJ4

Henry Cow - No More Songs (Phil Ochs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qBYex91yJ8

[mr sneff]

William Shatner - Rocket Man so bad it's good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lul-Y8vSr0I