What are the Covers You Like Better than the Original?

[hopkins]

Erykah Badu covering Chaka Khan:

And Diana Ross:

What a voice!

 

[Atmasphere]

Steve Tibbetts covered Black Mountain Side, originally by Led Zeppelin.

Melissa Ferlaak, with Aesma Daeva, covered Mozart's Queen of the Night but I think the video on YT got pulled down. There is one of her and Aesma Daeva covering Electra's aria. At the time, it was a bit unusual for a metal band to cover Mozart, but Aesma Daeva showed the metal scene that Mozart was totally metal.

 

[jazdoc]

Original by the Bee Gees

 

[jazdoc]

Original by Sonny & Cher

 

[cjf]

I like the Pentatonix version

Hadn't heard of that one. Not too shabby

 

[jazdoc]

Original David Bowie

 

[jazdoc]

Original Bobby Fuller

 

[jazdoc]

Original Brinsley Schwartz/Nick Lowe

 

[jazdoc]

Original Otis Redding

 

[jazdoc]

Original Simon & Garfunkel

 

[jazdoc]

Original Hall & Oates

 

[jazdoc]

Original John Fogerty

 

[jazdoc]

Sinatra was so great at making covers his own. Original Fred Astaire

 

[Another Johnson]

A reviewer once wrote that Tom Rush should be the only male performer allowed to cover Joni Mitchell songs. Urge for Going was one of his best Joni covers. He also covered Jackson Brown and James Taylor with great performances.
Urge for Going was exceptionally good.

 

[XV-1]

Disturbed - covering Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

LOL. imo, one of the worst cover versions ever. So much false angst

 

[MikeHorns]

Harry Nilsson's great cover version of Fred Neil's - Everybody's Talkin'.

 

[Rumpole]

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - "White Rabbit" cover

 

[Al M.]

When you think about it, aren’t all classical recordings covers of the original?

No, the "original" is just a score on paper. Classical concerts and recordings are not covers, but realizations of the score in sound. There does not exist a sounding original without musicians playing it.

 

[Bobvin]

No, the "original" is just a score on paper. Classical concerts and recordings are not covers, but realizations of the score in sound. There does not exist a sounding original without musicians playing it.

So just some dude (usually male, conductor) directing a bunch of musicians, interpreting what he (and they) thinks the “score” sounds like. One conductor’s interpretation and direction can result in a very different presentation than anothers’ — seems like a cover to me. (But I understand your point.)

Isn’t the score just a much too long and boring song on paper?

 

[PeterA]

So just some dude (usually male, conductor) directing a bunch of musicians, interpreting what he (and they) thinks the “score” sounds like. One conductor’s interpretation and direction can result in a very different presentation than anothers’ — seems like a cover to me. (But I understand your point.)

Isn’t the score just a much too long and boring song on paper?

The original exists only in the mind of the genius who conceived of the music. He corrupted that pure idea the moment he wrote it down on paper. From that point on, it gets interpreted by the conductor and expressed by the musicians up on stage. The closest to the original thought we can get I suppose is having the composer conduct his own score instructing the musicians how to perform. I think Al has witnessed or experienced some of this with his avant garde classical music. With other genres, it differs. Those who were lucky to hear Jimi Hendrix perform his original music live were able to do the same but there it went from brain directly to fingers and amps. Same with jazz. It is a fascinating topic.