Songs that you should not cover

[bnt]

Just about anything by Peter Gabriel, I think. Or King Crimson - hard to imagine that...

[lowhand_mike]

we do mustang sally too, though be be honest i don't enjoy playing that one but it always seems to go down well

[Shaggy]

Any tune is coverable, so long as a completely new take is done on it, like that “Mad World” thingy a while back or the aforementioned “Love will tear us apart” (one of the very greatest songs in the universe). Driving in this morning Bob Harris played the British Ukelele Orchestra’s version of the Shadows “Wonderful Land” and it was truly fab!
But if a cover is a mere re-hash, then any band with a truly distinctive sound and high level of musicianship should be considered untouchable; this would include Zeppelin, Queen, Hendrix, the Jam, and Cream among many others.
(We do "Mustang Sally" too by the way, but I recntly refused to do "Brown eyed girl" any more!)

[Telebass]

Anything is coverable if the crowd want it...

[richy316]

Ride The Lightning - Metallica............ for anyone going to the electric chair?

[richy316]

Oh covers! right.

well Mcsh*te have murdered a couple of classics! boys are back in town - thin lizzy and a track by Queen which i cant remember.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='The_D' post='66933' date='Sep 28 2007, 02:45 PM']None of the above are difficult to reproduce.[/quote]

Perhaps we are thinking of different [i]Bohemian Rhapsodies[/i]?

[Bidd]

Muse - Citizen Erased, especially when the singer cannot sing in falsetto, or has a 7 string guitar. It was a decent cover until the vocals kicked in (anyone that knows this song will understand) especially the line 'For one moment, I'd wish you'll hold your stage, with no feelings at all'

That was a car crash performance

Also any Arctic Monkeys song. If you can't cover them well, then you should give up now

[Tait]

[quote name='theosd' post='66873' date='Sep 28 2007, 12:59 PM']Mustang Sally
Teenage Kicks
Smells Like Teen Spirit.

This list is endless.[/quote]

+1 for smells like teen spirit, unless you have an [size=3]excellent[/size] singer who can sing it well. i've heard a few bands play it, including my own, and none of the singers can reach some of the higher notes. the only band ive ever heard do it successfully (except nirvana) are my dad's band before their origional singer left.

[The_D]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='67006' date='Sep 28 2007, 04:51 PM']Perhaps we are thinking of different [i]Bohemian Rhapsodies[/i]?

[/quote]

Well I meant none of the above that I had mentioned I agree with Bohemian Rhapsodie being pretty dang un-coverable!

[mr pablo]

[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]

I think you lot should give that a bash 2moro night Bob can just picture it the now

[The_D]

[quote name='mr pablo' post='67113' date='Sep 28 2007, 08:40 PM']I think you lot should give that a bash 2moro night Bob can just picture it the now [/quote]

The Newbridge is full of jakeys anyway they wouldnae care!

Not gonna happen though

[ARGH]

Seriously,No one can do a Smiths song justice,except Mozz and the gang.

MUSE stuff goes down well,but you have to a sh1t hot band to get away with it,and you have to get the tones right(Bass distortion etc).

[bassmandan]

[quote name='bass_in_ya_face' post='66812' date='Sep 28 2007, 11:44 AM']"Love will tear us apart" by Joy Division.

The two versions i've heard (Paul Young, The Cure) make me want to rip my ears off[/quote]

er, the [i]original[/i] makes me want to rip my ears off I'm afraid!... sorry BIYF and Shaggy.....

.... there's an interesting song [i]about[/i] Joy Division and LWTUA currently kicking around the Radio 1 playlists that I heard the other day though.

[anti-barbie]

[quote name='lwtait' post='67105' date='Sep 28 2007, 08:31 PM']+1 for smells like teen spirit, unless you have an [size=3]excellent[/size] singer who can sing it well. i've heard a few bands play it, including my own, and none of the singers can reach some of the higher notes. the only band ive ever heard do it successfully (except nirvana) are my dad's band before their origional singer left.[/quote]


I dunno, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's version is pretty darn good!!!!

Edited September 28, 2007 by anti-barbie

[anti-barbie]

As it Tori Amos's

[elom]

[quote name='lwtait' post='67105' date='Sep 28 2007, 08:31 PM']+1 for smells like teen spirit, unless you have an [size=3]excellent[/size] singer who can sing it well. i've heard a few bands play it, including my own, and none of the singers can reach some of the higher notes. the only band ive ever heard do it successfully (except nirvana) are my dad's band before their origional singer left.[/quote]

We cover this. To be fair though our singer can hit the notes, though it still lacks something. We manage to segway Boston's 'More than a Feeling' into Teen Spirit. The Boston song doesn't really fit with the rest of our set (and I don't personally like it) but it's worth it when you see the smiles creep across peoples faces as Teen Spirit kicks in over the top of it!

As regards covers generally, if you're an originals band don't bother with any cover unless you're going to do something original with it. If you're a covers band, [i]it's your job[/i]. People want to hear popular songs in your genre - it seems churlish not to perform one because it's a classic!

[Jase]

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

Teen Spirit by The Bad Plus

[theosd]

[quote name='elom' post='67191' date='Sep 29 2007, 12:01 AM']We manage to segway Boston's 'More than a Feeling' into Teen Spirit.[/quote]

Oh DEAR!

[theosd]

Play something [url="http://www.myspace.com/aliquotflow"]original.[/url]

[elom]

[quote name='theosd' post='67220' date='Sep 29 2007, 01:32 AM']Play something [url="http://www.myspace.com/aliquotflow"]original.[/url][/quote]

Please accept my humble apologies. I am truly sorry that I have not "evolved and experimented" in the way that you have. Thank you for sharing.

[theosd]

[quote name='elom' post='67223' date='Sep 29 2007, 01:44 AM']Please accept my humble apologies. I am truly sorry that I have not "evolved and experimented" in the way that you have. Thank you for sharing.[/quote]

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. My band played our best gig so far on Wednesday (number 4) and our mates loved it and so did a bunch of old sea-sailor-type folk who started singing sea shanties after we'd packed away and been locked in I'm gonna upload a few live tracks (dodgily recorded) at some point so you can get an idea of what it's like.. if anyone's interested? Then I'll be able to post some tracks up of the gig on Wednesday (when I get the CD), it being the first time I used my Stingray 5 For comparison between what I paid £80 for and my new £700 acquisition....

Bear with me (and purevolume)

(There's a live track on our Myspace (from our first ever gig no less!)... you'll have to turn it up twice as much as normal (no mastering or nuffink, just raw, that's my secondhand £80 harley benton 5er; nice growl....)

Edited cos I'm a spacka.

Edited September 29, 2007 by theosd

[LukeFRC]

i used to be in a electropop band, we chucked the odd cover in. the one that starts 'round round spin around' by the vaselines was good, as was nelly futrados maneater.
no nos would be anything in the same genera as you i think. as in if you play mid tempo indie rock that sounds a wee bit like ocean colour scene/oasis/shed seven then the cover of wonderwall may be a bit dull.
ryan adam's got an ace version of that track though

[Tait]

[quote name='anti-barbie' post='67163' date='Sep 28 2007, 10:34 PM']I dunno, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's version is pretty darn good!!!!
[/quote]

well, yes I'll give you that, they do a decent cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

[quote name='elom' post='67191' date='Sep 29 2007, 12:01 AM']We cover this. To be fair though our singer can hit the notes, though it still lacks something. We manage to segway Boston's 'More than a Feeling' into Teen Spirit. The Boston song doesn't really fit with the rest of our set (and I don't personally like it) but it's worth it when you see the smiles creep across peoples faces as Teen Spirit kicks in over the top of it!

As regards covers generally, if you're an originals band don't bother with any cover unless you're going to do something original with it. If you're a covers band, [i]it's your job[/i]. People want to hear popular songs in your genre - it seems churlish not to perform one because it's a classic![/quote]

as I said, I've never [i]heard[/i] a band that can do this successfully. I'm in no doubt that there are bands out there that can do it well, I'm just saying its hard.

[Soulfinger]

[quote name='bnt' post='66953' date='Sep 28 2007, 04:18 PM']Just about anything by Peter Gabriel, I think.[/quote]

[size=7]+1![/size]

The girl singers in the band I was in wanted to cover "In Your Eyes". I refused. Playing covers is one thing, desecrating masterpieces is another.

I´d have to add Blur´s "Song 2".