Covers as Windows into Musicians' Psyches...

Oct 02, 2008 13:47

Bob Lefsetz, that erstwhile critic of the music scene (whose musical talent is, by his own admission, mastery of playing - the radio, cd player, iPod, etc.) has recently savaged James Taylor for releasing a new album of cover songs. While Lefsetz makes a salient point (as usual) in accusing Taylor of doing the "covers" album for the money (which ( Read more... )

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Comments 9

nodressrehersal October 2 2008, 18:03:20 UTC
After a while, doesn't a musician earn the right to just play whatever the heck it is he wants to play? Except Rod Stewart. He shoulda never done those songbook songs; that was just sad. Sad and wrong.

I like Joe Cocker's "With A Little Help From My Friends" better than the original.

Cowboy Junkies "Sweet Jane" always had a dreamy, underwater feel to it that I liked.

"Lovers in a Dangerous Time" by Barenaked Ladies is one of my favorites, and nearly any blues song that I love is a remake, so there's a whole genre of 'em.

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BNL, Rod, etc. sirpaulsbuddy October 2 2008, 18:12:14 UTC
Rod did "Reason to Believe" so I can forgive him a lot. But the American Songbook stuff is shit for money - as is, I fear JT's new album. But both Rod and James have earned the right to play any frickin' song they want. So that's that....

Gotta find that BNL cover of "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." I love me some Bruce Cockburn....

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Re: BNL, Rod, etc. nodressrehersal October 2 2008, 18:31:33 UTC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v911j9IGv6Y

Please note, it was their first video ever, so... don't expect much on that front.

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Re: BNL, Rod, etc. nokomisjeff October 2 2008, 21:37:35 UTC
I love when Zappa did Beatles covers. Have you heard any of those?

Jeff

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carless_sam October 2 2008, 21:58:23 UTC
Can't argue with Cash's American Recordings. Or the Ramones catalog. I love when they would redo a song at half the length.

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The Man in Black meets Trent Reznor.... sirpaulsbuddy October 3 2008, 00:26:47 UTC
Cash's cover of "Hurt" is fantastic - and the video is so powerful, it's almost eerie. You can see the lives of Johhny and June played out in five minutes.

Great call...

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Vanilla Fudge sirpaulsbuddy October 5 2008, 19:22:42 UTC
Interesting choice of the Vanilla Fudge tune, Mike - love that psychedelic treatment.

There's a killer cover of "The Letter" (the Box Tops tune) by - The Yardbirds. Very psychedelic and groovy. I like it better than even Joe Cocker's cover - which I think is terrific (although I agree with you that Joe's version of "A Little Help..." is his best.

But I do recommend you check out that Yardbirds version of "The Letter." Amazing...

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