I thought it was about time we dived back into the murky waters of the cover version!
As we all know, covers can sometimes cause controversy. Some are truly awful. Some sound exactly the same as the original (yes, I'm looking at you Emma Bunton). Some we never realise are actually covers, because the originals are either obscure and/or lost way in the past (we have at least one of those for you here).
But on occasion, there are cover versions that hold up as well as, or perhaps (dare we say it) even better than the originals. So, here are ten more re-worked songs, that are good, for your enjoyment - as ever, the only rules - it's got to be a bit different and at least as good as the original version.
1. Dead Kennedys: Viva Las Vegas
We'll start off with one of the slightly more ludicrous covers you will hear. The 1964 Presley classic is given the 'punk with a dash of helium' treatment by San Francisco punk legends, the Dead Kennedys. They were known for their frenetic and often socio-political songs, which makes this song so at odds with all around it on their classic debut Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. An interesting (odd) choice of song to cover, but they go at it with gusto and perhaps even a touch of slapstick.
2. The Black Crowes: Hard To Handle
Taking an absolute classic RnB song, by Otis Redding no less, is quite a ballsy move on your debut album. But of course, the Black Crowes were never short of self-confidence and swagger and give the tune a blast of blues rock sassiness - in fact, just like the rest of Shake Your Money Maker.
3. Pixies: Head On
Bostonian indie legends take on a song by Scottish indie legends. How's that going to go? Rather well, actually. Instead of dusting down something from several decades earlier, when Pixies chose to do their take on this Jesus & Mary Chain classic for their Trompe Le Monde album (their last before they split for the first time), the song was only two years old. Like the original, this also has just a hint of surf-punk to it.
4. The Fall: Victoria
What can you say about Mark E. Smith and The Fall? Smith essentially was The Fall - it was very much his band and he seems to have run it like a bit of a dictator, with an incredible 66 musicians coming and going (often very quickly) in the bands forty year existence. Nominally post-punk, the band had a fairly abrasive sound, punctuated by Smith's slightly slurred, ranty singing. Their apparent disdain for playing anything vaguely conventional was eased slightly when Smith's then girlfriend, and later wife, Brix, joined on guitar in 1984. She brought some more straightforward pop hooks to the bands repertoire. They even put out this great Kinks cover, in a fairly classic style (the satirical content, about the Victorian era and colonialism, seemed to suit Smith's sardonic vocals), and it also gave them a rare outing into the lower reaches of the Top40 in 1988.
5. Kirsty MacColl: A New England
A fierce, brave and very talented individual, Kirsty MacColl is still a great loss from the musical landscape, more than twenty years after her tragic death. She wrote some great tunes in her twenty year career, moving from new wave pop to a more Latin flavour as the years progressed - so perhaps it's a bit of a shame that she is possibly best remembered for two cover versions; her lilting version of Days by The Kinks, and this, A New England, by Billy Bragg. Bragg was inspired by Simon & Garfunkel, and in fact the opening lines - "I was 21 years when I wrote this sing; I'm 22 now, but I won't be for long" - were lifted from their Leaves That Are Green track on the Sounds Of Silence album (1966). He also apparently admitted later, that the melody was taken from Thin Lizzy's Cowboy Song. MacColl thought the song too short, so Bragg wrote an additional verse for her version - which he still sings live now, in tribute to her. So, this is a cover of a song that was already a bit of a mash up - but it is delightful - very close to pop perfection to me!
6. The Lemonheads: Luka
Auspicious by the fact that they appear on both of our Covers lists so far! Evan Dando has never been afraid of sticking a cover version out - in fact the last Lemonheads albums, Varshons I and II are only cover songs. But this take on the Suzanne Vega song came on third album Lick, in 1989, the last to feature band co-founder Ben Deily. The guitars might be a bit louder and fuzzier than the original, but Dando's laid back vocal style suit the song perfectly.
7. Soft Cell: Tainted Love
Another song that was part of the soundtrack of our youth (if you are my age anyway). This song was just about everywhere for much of 1981. The industrial sound of the backing track under Marc Almond's always slightly seedy vocals made it a classic of the synth pop era. It was not until much, much later that I (and many others) found out that it was, in fact, a cover version. Tainted Love's original life was as a Northern Soul banger, a B-Side in 1965 for American soul singer, Gloria Jones. The original really is an awfully good record - so I've included that version here too, because if you've never heard it before, you are in for a treat.
Soft Cell: https://youtu.be/XZVpR3Pk-r8
Gloria Jones: https://youtu.be/OJKe2j9Wjh4
8. Stiff Little Fingers: Love Of The Common People
We head back into punk territory now. There was a great crossover of punk and the world of reggae - many punk bands loved to borrow some of those rhythmic elements and stylings. As Jake Burns would announce when they played this live (it was a staple of their set), "This is a song Paul Young stole, and we're stealing it back." Originally from 1967 and the Four Preps, it was also covered by the Everly Brother and Elvis Presley, before Paul Young's number two UK hit with it in 1983. SLF's version was actually from the year before, featuring on their Now Then... album.
9. Cream: Crossroads
Written (probably in 1932) and recorded in San Antonio in 1936 as Cross Road Blues, by Robert Johnson - the man who sold his soul to the devil at these very same crossroads, in return for his legendary musical talent. Revived by Elmore James in the 1950s, it was the arrangement by Eric Clapton for Cream's last album, Wheels Of Fire, in 1968, that it came to the attention of a wider audience. Clapton simplified Johnson's arrangement (losing the slide work on the original), turning it into a hard driving rock song - exemplified in this live version from the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1968.
10. Johnny Cash: Hurt
I'm not sure what to say about this. Hearing this song, and Cash's haunting take on it (and then seeing the video - recorded seven months before his death in 2003), cannot fail to make an impact on you. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who wrote the song, was initially sceptical when he heard that Cash was covering it. It was a personal song, written at his former home (that had coincidentally been where Sharon Tate was murdered) when he was at one of his lowest points. Then he saw the video and heard Cash's performance in a new light and knew "that song isn't mine anymore". This may just be the best cover version of them all.....
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