Songs that you should not cover

[tombboy]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='66940' date='Sep 28 2007, 02:54 PM']I always thought that Arthur Brown's Fire would always go down a storm at a funeral.[/quote]
How about Bag It Up - Gerri Halliwel?

[Cantdosleepy]

For those interested, Stereoguim got a bunch of newish bands to cover each of the tracks from OK Computer to celebrate ten years of that album:

[url="http://www.stereogum.com/okx/"]http://www.stereogum.com/okx/[/url]

Some are better than others. Personally I really like David Bazan's Let Down and Slaraffenland's Paranoid android. And the versio of Fitter, Happer is a corker!

[teen t-shirt]

just never try and cover any queen! or Chilli Peppers one because yopu can't beat the originals, but don't try and do any Nirvana no one can possibly do it. all these 80's 90's songs there just so original.

but what do i know i only started 4 months ago and i only know 3 songs. only time will tell!

[OldGit]

[quote name='skywalker' post='66815' date='Sep 28 2007, 11:47 AM']Purple Haze[/quote]

oh I dunno ..
[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfR_HTGYJeo"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfR_HTGYJeo[/url]
(2 mins in )
I suspect they'd heard the Zappa version too

They do Voodoo Chile' too
[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eRg3yO94L6o"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eRg3yO94L6o[/url]

[OldGit]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='66822' date='Sep 28 2007, 11:54 AM']The old cliche is "Alright Now" - bollox I say, play and be damned. [/quote]

I've just got the Queen + Paul Rogers live CD and the Queen numbers are pretty good but the Free/Bad Co ones are missing crucial figures in the drumming, particularly the bass drum work.
It's a shame as in Alright Now for example, some of the vocal rhythms lock into the bass drum patterns and when they are missing it sounds odd.

The bass player and extra guitarist in the band are obviously used to doing karaoke versions of Can't get enough and Wishing Well etc but Roger Taylor seems to either unable to do it or - it feels like - to be saying "sod the way it was recorded, I'm doing it my way".

It's odd but it spoils a pretty good album for me (that and Paul Rogers' crass cabaret introductions "It was all right when I wrote the lyrics to this next tune and its All Right Now" (oh pu-leeeese!)

[OldGit]

[quote name='dood' post='66838' date='Sep 28 2007, 12:22 PM']"No Stairway!!! Denied!!!"[/quote]

Try the Zappa version from "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life" CD . Excellent. Big horn section playing the solo
Actually there's loads of good covers on that CD including Purple Haze, Sunshine of your love oh and Ring of Fire reggae stylee ...

Somewhat turgid Cellphone vid of Stairway live here
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vEmQnExY0c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vEmQnExY0c[/url]

[OldGit]

[quote name='theosd' post='67226' date='Sep 29 2007, 02:05 AM']Don't be silly, it's just that there's something of a 'clogging' of venues where I live (Kent) with the same old regurgitated tripe again and again; it's driving people away.[/quote]

Oh back to that ol' thing again ..

In what way are venues clogged with covers bands driving people away?

If you were entertaining enough to fill your local venue on a weekend with your originals band the venues would book you over the same ol' covers bands any day.

Covers sell tickets and beer, originals (on the whole) do not.

There's no rules for covers. If you can play a good version and make it entertaining then give it a go.

Hey Joe by Hendrix is a cover, Green Onions by Booker T is a cover, half of the lemon Song by Led Zep is a cover, The Who did Summertime Blues (The definitive version in my book), Tom Waits songs are covered all the time and, arguably, are more accessible once someone like Rod Stuart has chipped the fantastic melodies out of Tom's somewhat idiosyncratic versions, and Tom Waits does cover versions too ....
I'm sure some of the contemporary beat combos play covers ...

People do like familiar things (hence the huge rise of the tribute market) and, let's face it, how many people on here have ever written anything nearly as good as Johnnie B Good, Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed girl, Stairway to Heaven, Bohemian Rhapsody, Love will tear us apart, Teen Spirit etc etc etc.. not me, that's for sure.

[Rich]

[quote name='The_D' post='67109' date='Sep 28 2007, 08:35 PM']Well I meant none of the above that I had mentioned I agree with Bohemian Rhapsodie being pretty dang un-coverable![/quote]Not so... many years back I saw a band in an hotel in Jakarta play an absolutely blinding version of this... they had all the vocal harmony parts spot-on, everything. It was brilliant, I mean goose-bumpingly good.

[Bass_In_Yer_Face]

[quote name='OldGit' post='68085' date='Oct 1 2007, 12:40 PM']Oh back to that ol' thing again ..

In what way are venues clogged with covers bands driving people away?

If you were entertaining enough to fill your local venue on a weekend with your originals band the venues would book you over the same ol' covers bands any day.

Covers sell tickets and beer, originals (on the whole) do not.

There's no rules for covers. If you can play a good version and make it entertaining then give it a go.

Hey Joe by Hendrix is a cover, Green Onions by Booker T is a cover, half of the lemon Song by Led Zep is a cover, The Who did Summertime Blues (The definitive version in my book), Tom Waits songs are covered all the time and, arguably, are more accessible once someone like Rod Stuart has chipped the fantastic melodies out of Tom's somewhat idiosyncratic versions, and Tom Waits does cover versions too ....
I'm sure some of the contemporary beat combos play covers ...

People do like familiar things (hence the huge rise of the tribute market) and, let's face it, how many people on here have ever written anything nearly as good as Johnnie B Good, Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed girl, Stairway to Heaven, Bohemian Rhapsody, Love will tear us apart, Teen Spirit etc etc etc.. not me, that's for sure.[/quote]

I agree, the amount of bands I have seen that do originals are 99% of time, dull as dishwater. Listen to the legions of 'no tune' wonders on myspace working under the illusion they are the next big thing. I'm afraid i'd much rather listen to some one doing a balls out led zep or lizzy song then some dirge.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Rich' post='68091' date='Oct 1 2007, 12:45 PM']Not so... many years back I saw a band in an hotel in Jakarta play an absolutely blinding version of this... they had all the vocal harmony parts spot-on, everything. It was brilliant, I mean goose-bumpingly good.[/quote]

Ah don't they have "special people" to sing that high in Indonesia?

[jacko]

[quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='68112' date='Oct 1 2007, 01:16 PM']I agree, the amount of bands I have seen that do originals are 99% of time, dull as dishwater. Listen to the legions of 'no tune' wonders on myspace working under the illusion they are the next big thing. I'm afraid i'd much rather listen to some one doing a balls out led zep or lizzy song then some dirge.[/quote]

I'm having more fun and getting far more gigs doing covers than I ever did in originals bands. (apart from the original wessex chucklecopters which was just a laugh a minute anyway)

[richardrickenbacker]

I'd say that the Proclaimers 500 miles is a bad area of the covers set.

Plus most bands cannot do a Beatles cover to save their life!
For example: People always play hi hats on certain tracks like Get Back and Revolution, which clearly don't have any. (Ringo couldn't manage them with the other things going on!)
As a result they don't sound quite right.

[Mog]

[quote name='anti-barbie' post='67167' date='Sep 28 2007, 09:39 PM']As it Tori Amos's


[/quote]

Jaysus! Tori could open a packet of Walkers and make it sound musical I reckon!

Never came across a pub band that could do a cover of No one knows by QOTSA. Then again most of the pub bands I see are really bad.

[foal30]

Tori Amos covering Kate Bush covering Nirvana covering Boston

Simple Minds covering Prince was not my ideal interpretation of another's music.
the aforementioned Paul Young version of JD

I'd probably view any cover of anything by the Blue Nile skeptically.

Edited January 19, 2010 by foal30

[Lylodile]

[quote name='dood' post='66838' date='Sep 28 2007, 11:22 AM']"No Stairway!!! Denied!!!"[/quote]

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='richardrickenbacker' post='718405' date='Jan 19 2010, 09:04 PM']I'd say that the Proclaimers 500 miles is a bad area of the covers set.[/quote]


The folk-rock band I used to be in spent hours working on arrangements of trad songs, none of which went down as well as this song that we did for an encore! Bloody typical!

[simon1964]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='66834' date='Sep 28 2007, 11:18 AM']You should check out the versions by [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nouvelle-Vague-Vol-1/dp/B00018D3JQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-8975719-4339045?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1190978183&sr=8-2"]Nouvelle Vague[/url] and [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Melody-Mountain-Susanna/dp/B000GUJYVU/ref=pd_bxgy_m_h__text_b/202-8975719-4339045?ie=UTF8&qid=1190978249&sr=1-1"]Susanna and the Magical Orchestra[/url][/quote]

and Oysterband -

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCgWqoyG6qc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCgWqoyG6qc[/url]

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='simon1964' post='718526' date='Jan 19 2010, 10:51 PM']and Oysterband -

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCgWqoyG6qc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCgWqoyG6qc[/url][/quote]
And Yat-Kha:


or not :ph34r:

[bigjohn]

99.9999999% of covers are sh!t compared with the original. (fact)

just remember that when someone says "do you wanna play 'the chicken song'"?

At least when you play an original song there's no one played it any better... yet... :snob: :brow:

Edited January 20, 2010 by bigjohn

[steve]

Paranoid Android by Radiohead, and we should know

[Paul S]

I don't see why any particular tracks should be considered so sacrosanct that they shouldn't ever be covered. By a top artist or a covers band - if you can capture the vibe of the original (rather than an exact facsimile) or add a slant on it then that's fine by my book. Whether or not I'd consider something too cheesy to play is another matter - it depends upon who is signing the cheque.

Covers vs originals thing - I would personally rather play someone else's good tune than my own sh*te one. Perspective is something that most originals bands seem to lack - the music scene is not littered, ankle deep, in talented singer/songwriters so far as I can see. Even taking my own limited experiences into account - over the last month I have either approached or been approached by three originals bands recently in an attempt to do a bit more and, when listening to their myspace tracks, retreated - the stuff was utterly dire. But they all reckon they have big gigs booked, just a sneeze away from a deal etc etc. There is sooooo much good music out there, why settle for mediocrity just because no-one else has done it?

[hillbilly deluxe]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='66894' date='Sep 28 2007, 12:33 PM']Anything by Demis Roussos.[/quote]
Have you heard his old band ? Aphrodities Child.Demis played bass,and did the vocals.

Edited January 20, 2010 by hillbilly deluxe

[cocco]

Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the sky
Not because no one can do it justice, but because it is cursed. It ends the careers of everyone who touches it.

[51m0n]

Nothing should be so out of reach that it must never even be attempted, thats daft.

However the chances of a really good version of something like Bohemian Rhapsody being produced are pretty small.

And to whoever reckoned that no cover is as good as the original Snuff's version of I Think We're Alone Now blows the original Tiffany version away....

Lastly I just dont get the whole Smiths thing, why are they considered SO good? The lyrics are reasonably entertaining, but thats about it, whilst the vocal delivery is at least an aquired taste, the guitar is fine, but not exceptional (it fits nicely with the song and all, but thats what guitar is supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less), and the bass and drums are reasonable but in no way exceptional, any more or less than the guitar. Can anyone explain to me why they are put on this unbelievable pedestal? I'm not just bashing, I honestly cant understand what makes people think they are so good, needless to say they really have never done it for me, and I am just the right age to be one of these odd blokes swooning over Morrisey as if he were the second coming....

[OldGit]

[quote name='richardrickenbacker' post='718405' date='Jan 19 2010, 09:04 PM']I'd say that the Proclaimers 500 miles is a bad area of the covers set.[/quote]


Storming number when we play it. Crowd goes wild.
Sure we don't sound like the Proclaimers but no one seems to mind, even the ones in kilts (or anoraks )