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An Under Cover Investigation – 10 extra cover songs worth findingJan 15 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line In recognition of everyone who's ever though, "I can do that better..."
The music world has always been driven forward by those who've said to themselves, "I can do that better..." Les Paul listened to the old acoustic guitars and told himself, "I can do that better." The Beatles heard the early R&B pioneers and thought, "we can do that better." Marilyn Manson played his Alice Cooper records and decided "I can do that better." Patty Smith looked around at the male-dominated world of punk rock and remarked, "I can do that better." Just about everyone who's ever found success in music started out with such thoughts. Hell, even Salieri showed up at Mozart's performances and lamented, "I wish I could do that better." But perhaps the most direct example of musicians deciding to do it better comes with cover songs. Sure, sometimes a musician will try to emulate an original recording as closely as possible, creating a near carbon copy. Those aren't the songs I'm talking about. They hardly merit any attention. I'm talking about the cover songs that break down every aspect of the original, building it back up brick by brick into something almost unrecognizable when stacked up next to the original. Those are the songs with the chutzpah to try to do it better than the original. If all the stars align, they might just manage to succeed. More often than not they end up falling short of the mark in one way or another. Whether they find spectacular success of not, though, artists determined to do it better than the original always end up creating something interesting and intriguing. That being said, here are a few such songs that give it their all to do it better, each worth tracking down for a listen. In Between Days by Ben Folds (originally by The Cure) I'll be honest. I've never liked The Cure. Something about Robert Smith's pretentious vocal affectations with the new wave and goth clichés mixed together. Their music has always felt so labored to me. Take the Cure image out of the equation, though, and what remains is some truly fantastic pop songwriting, as Folds' cover demonstrates. The whole song is a showcase for Folds' impeccable piano chops, from the deep, resonant opening chords that duel with the songs thumping tom tom drums to the pounding rhythm lines that give the song a warm, rich fullness to the upper register solo lines that feel so much more authentic on a piano than on a guitar. The whole song is tied together by Lindsay Jamieson's flashy, frenetic pop drumming that ups the ante on the tempo of the original. Vocally, Folds gives the song a soft, restrained sensitivity that never sounds whiney or forces, proving that underneath everything that bugs me about The Cure, there is indeed some fine craftsmanship. (Found on the EP Speed Graphic) Stormy Weather by Royal Crown Review (originally by Harold Arlen) Stormy Weather has always been a perfect song to drown your sorrows after a painful breakup. Nothing spells self-pity better than the song's slowly plodding tempo and the gloomy, dour vocal performance utilized by anyone who's ever performed the song. Anyone, that is, except for Royal Crown Review. With a bouncy shuffle snare drum beat, an upbeat walking bass line that bound along with a wink and a smile, cheery augmented jazz chords on the guitar, and trumpets and saxes that blare out pure sunshine in their tight, snappy fills and flourishes, all traces of the song's trademark gloom and doom and washed away in this interpretation of the song. Eddie Nichols' vocals may still lead us through the memories of sorrow and loss, but they're sung with the high spirits and verve of someone who knows that there's something new and great waiting just around the corner. (Found on the album The Contender) Fever by Precious Bryant (originally by Peggy Lee) Peggy Lee may have played the sultry sex kitten role with her original recording of the song all those years ago, but nothing can compare to the sense of character that Precious Bryant brings to the song. Sixty year old Bryant steeps herself in the backwoods blues tradition of her native Georgia, accompanying herself with a lone acoustic guitar and picking out sharp polyrhythms full of bends and slides to rival the streetcorner blues masters. Her vocals are delivered with just a hint of raspy wheeze blended into her old-lady-with-a-mischievously-secret-past crooning. Even though it was made in 2002, the whole recording ends up sounding like some old, forgotten LP from back in the thirties that you found at an estate sale, full of all the pain and strife that fertilized so many great depression era blues artists. (Found on the album Fool Me Good) Holiday Road by Matt Pond PA (originally by Lindsay Buckingham) Lindsay Buckingham's theme song to the original National Lampoon's Vacation movie is probably the purest, most perfect summer vacation anthem. In the hands of Matt Pond PA, though, the brazen electric guitar are stripped away and replaced with their gentler acoustic cousins gliding through a soft lullaby rhythm. Resonant chimes and haunting steel guitar lines round out the background, and subtle sleigh bells provide the song's only percussion accompaniment. The vocals float through the song with a far off, dreamy sense of wistful nostalgia, giving everything the simple charm of a Norman Rockwell painting. If the original is the perfect summer vacation song, Matt Pond PA's version is surely is Christmas vacation counterpart. (Found on the EP Winter Songs) Don't Fear the Reaper by The Beautiful South (originally by Blue Öyster Cult) Leave it to a British band to take this seventies hard rock anthem and turn it into a slowly simmering latin samba number. Between the muted hand drums that open the song, the syncopated tropical piano riffs, the tight hi-hat cymbal rhythms, and the nylon string guitar solo lines, the song sounds like it comes straight out of Rio de Jainero dance club. It's not one of the high energy, quick tempo tunes there, but rather one of those more deliberate songs that smolder and simmer softly. The original may have been all aggression and defiant energy, but here it's much more brooding, much more introspective, much more apprehensive and remorseful and the end results offer us something so much more subtle and nuanced. (Found on the album Golddiggas, Headnodders, and Pholk Songs) Pure Imagination by Maroon 5 (originally by Gene Wilder) No one who's seen the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Facotry movie can deny that there's something dark and sinister hiding close beneath the surface of the film. Gene Wilder's Pure Imagination song was one of the few entirely wholesome moments. Maroon 5's take on the song though, takes that sinister undercurrent from the film and slides it right under the surface of the music. The song may start out all fluffy clouds and sunshine, sticking close to the original arrangement with its chimes and strings, but as the song develops, loud, dissonant electric guitars rise up through the mix along with rough, grating industrial type noises. Imagine a lullaby as envisioned by Trent Rezner. That's what we're dealing with towards the end of the song. And Just to keep things interesting, Adam Levine never lets go of the childlike sense of wonder in his vocals, even when all sense of musical security and stability falls out from beneath him. (Found on the album Mary Had a Little Amp) Give Peace a Chance by Elton John (originally by John Lennon) John Lennon had a hand in crafting some pretty goofy songs with The Beatles - Yellow Submarine, You Know My Name (Look up the Number), Maxwell's Silver Hammer, to name a few. Almost everything in his solo career, though, was sent being straightforward and direct. Even Give Peace a Chance, simplistic as it may be, was direct and honest without a hint of a smirk. Elton John's take on the song, though, turns it into pure silliness, and manages to do so without losing the song's social message. Over a simplistic guitar riff and a lazy drum tempo, almost like something you'd head from an old Casio keyboard, John leaps back and forth between a handful of silly accents, turning each verse into it's own little musical caricature. Pompous upper class twit, jolly Russian immigrant, eighty year old crone (a la the old ladies in Monty Python), mush-mouthed simpleton, frenetic speed talker, and more - John slips into each of the personas and more throughout the song, inviting the listeners to abandon all decorum and surrender to his silly fun. (Found on the box set To Be Continued...) Crazy Little Thing Called Love by The Brian Setzer Orchestra (originally by Queen) Crazy Little Thing Called Love would have seemed a natural song for Brian Setzer to cover back when he was leading The Stray Cats. After all, Queen's lone rockabilly foray could have passed as an original composition from the eighties retro-rockers. But with his big band orchestra, Setzer takes the song off in a different direction. Sure, there are a few rockabilly elements that have survived into this version like the slap bass line, the snare drum rim clicks that ride through the song, and the back beat guitar rhythms, but these elements are overshadowed by what Setzer adds into the mix. Fans of Setzer's orchestra won't be surprised by the powerful wall of horns that make the song much more of a big band swing number with a classy 1940's dance hall feel to it, but Setzer also adds in a brand new level of vocal harmony to the song, including a vocal line that takes over for the bass riff at a few spots, making the song at least as much of a doo wop number as it is a swing tune. (Found on the bonus disk to the album Vavoom) Don't Get Around Much Anymore by Paul McCartney (originally by Duke Ellington) Much like Royal Crown Review did with Stormy Weather, McCartney has taken a classic tune of woeful self-pity and turned it into something raucous and exhuberant. Gone is the tune's traditionally downbeat, jazzy swing tempo, and in its place is a straightforward rock tempo. McCartney's thumping bass and reverb-heavy guitar arrangement hearkens back to the American R&B bands from the fifties that originally inspired The Beatles, lending an energy and a buoyancy to the song that few artists would be brave enough to attempt. With guitar riffs reminiscent of Chuck Berry and piano solos that sound like they've been lifted from a Fats Domino record, McCartney's Don't Get Around Much Anymore is not so much a break-up dirge, as so many others have played it, but rather a rockin' celebration of freedom. (Found on the album Choba B CCCP) I Want You to Want Me by The Balls (Originally by Cheap Trick) There's something undeniably sexy when female singers cover I Want You to Want Me. Artists from Letters to Cleo to Jani Lane to Miley & BB, and even to Lindsay Lohan have taken a crack at putting a fiery female rock spin on the overly aggressive seduction that drips all over the song. Storm Large, lead singer of The Balls, certainly gives it her all when it comes to the seductive angle, but her approach ends up much more unique. Instead of blaring out with a full on rock arrangement, The Balls arrange the song with nothing but a soft, slow piano beneath Large's voice, the music arrangement full of diminished chords and soulful swells. Vocally, Large turns the song into a soft, seductive torch song, full of desperation and longing, in place of the usual aggression. Imagine one of the more melancholy ballads from an artist like Laura Branigan, Bonnie Tyler, or Annie Lennox, and that'll point you in the right direction. It's easily the most subtle, restrained version of the Cheap Trick hit that I've ever heard, but it's also the most emotionally direct and heart wrenching. (Found on the album Hanging with The Balls) Each of these covers are worth seeking out and hearing for anyone with a passion for music, but they're by no means an exhaustive list, as you can see by the previous cover mixes I've put together. If you have a favorite that you don't see listed in one of them, feel free to suggest it for future lists. Close Cover Before Striking - the original Cover Me, I'm Goin' In - part II Quit Hogging the Covers - part III Don't Worry, We've Got You Covered - part IV Curled Up Under the Covers - part V Cover Up Before You Head Out - Part VI  |
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