Undercover

Ah yes, I remember their version of "Ziggy Stardust" too. Must admit, I actually heard their version first, before ever hearing Bowie's. I like both equally as much.

 

There's probably loads more but another interesting cover version of Eight Miles High" is the one on the first live Golden Earring album.

Wonder which track is the most covered on other bands studio albums? I suspect there are more live covers than studio versions.

A cover which works really well in the context of the album is "Redemption Song" on Manfred Manns Earthband album "Somewhere in Afrika". Saw them do it live on that tour and it was a really moving number.

Jeff

 

Here's a good one or two:

Aztec Camera 'Jump' – a splendidly introspective acoustic version of Van Halen's cock-rocking number.

'Eight Miles High' is also the standout track on Roxy Music's otherwise insipid Flesh+Blood longplayer.

 

I really like covers that manage to totally subvert the original, yet retain some very slight semblance of respect:

Devo and The Flying Lizards both managed to clinically remove almost all sense of emotion from songs they covered. The Flying Lizards Money & Summertime Blues and Devo's Satisfaction are all deadpan masterpieces.

The Residents could always be relied on to remove more than just the emotion and seriously assault a song, their versions of Daydream Believer and Jailhouse Rock are both things of remarkable strangeness. They did a fantastic deconstruction of a James Brown song too, but I can't remember which one.

Grace Jones' versions of Private Life and She's lost control are both excellent as they place the songs in totally different genre – I'm amazed how good these still sound, they just don't sound dated compared to other dance music of the time.

Big Black's full tilt grunge attack on Kraftwerk's The Model is superb, as is The Dead Kennedy's Viva Las Vegas. Still on grunge, the Killdozer covers album For ladies only is wonderful, it features covers of all the songs that bored them to death on pub jukeboxes; their version of American Pie is just amazing – there is a large amount of pure hate involved!

Tony.

 

A Tribe Called Quest, "Can I Kick It?"

...not really a cover (well, not at all) but it does make extensive use of a sample from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side". It's one of my all time favourite hip-hop tracks.

Another cool sample is Moby's "Go" sampling Angelo Badalamenti's theme for Twin Peaks.

Based on the above, I think we should extend this thread to include signifcant use of samples where the original track (the one sampled from) is immediately obvious

Michael.

 

Some excellent suggestions there, Tony. Particularly Devo's Satisfaction. Mmm, such memories.

Re samples. How about De La Soul nicking Steely Dan's Peg for Eye Know. Also, more recently, was it Armand Van Helder or whatever(?) who took Gary Numan's Cars and turned into something all the more insistent and worrying? And of course, Run DMC pilfered Aerosmith for Walk This Way and even got them to play along.

 

No mention of sampling can be complete without serious respect to the ever irreverent JAMMS / KLF. I've got a copy of '1987 What the f*** is going on' and 'Shag times'.

1987 just cracks me up; 'Hey hey were not the Monkees', 'All you need is love' (samples MC5 / The Beatles / Sex Pistols / Sam Fox and loads more!), and 'The queen and I' which got the LP withdrawn as it uses just about the whole of Abba's Dancing Queen in the most aurally offensive way possible (apparently the JAMMS went over to Sweden to give Abba a gold disk for no record sales!).

The one they got away with was 'Whitney joins the JAMMS' which abuses a huge amount of Whitney Houston's god-awful I want to dance with someone, in fact most of it, plus the Mission Impossible theme and Isaac Hayes Shaft.

Anyone who hasn't heard any of this stuff needs to, it is just so bloody funny – really cak-handed cut and shut sampling and Drummond ranting / rapping / relentlessly taking the piss in his strong Scottish accent over the top. Superb stuff.

Tony.

 

That'll be Echo and the Bunnymen from ThE LoSt BoYS soundtrack I like both the Doors' and Echos' versions equally - and coming from the Cornish Lizzard King (he he - I was brought up near the Lizzard Lighthouse, and I can do a mean Morrisson when I'm pissed!) that's saying something!

Billy Bragg's live version of "A new England" last Glasters was one of the standout bits for me...

Eddie Izzard's (or was it Lee Evans? - saw it when totally :MILD: in 1998) Kate Bush medley was fantastic:
"Rooooooolllllling the ball
Rooooooolling the ball" etc etc

Other tracks I think are better than the original (seriously):
Whole Lotta Love - Goldbug (original is hard to dance to for me!)
Stairway to heaven - Rolf Harris (really - I'm SICK TO DEATH of the Zep version, even though I know it's really better!)

In fact, Rolf's "Rolf rules OK" CD is BRILLIANT - a work of pure genius. His version of the Stones' Satisfaction is a real hoot!

Oh - one more cover that I've not heard, but it HAS to be at least as good as the original, is Lawnmower Def's "Kids in America" - from any band who's debut release is a drummer playing drums and kicking a guitar, while manically screaming out the lyrics, a cover of a classic 80s tune has to be pure genius.

 

how can any cover discussion be complete without mention of 'the shat's' rendition of lucy in the sky with diamonds.
cheers


julian

 

No - Shockabilly's version... Eugene Chadbourne and his mates out-Residentsing The Residents.
Off the album "Earth vs. Shockabilly", with a bizzare lo-fo rockabilly chorus with semi thrash verse.
Supreme piss-taking!
Most entertaining - that whole LP sits at the very top of my "Bad Records Collection"; other stand outs from this means of getting folks to leave my house are:
You've got Foetus on your Breath - "Wash it off"
Deutsche Americanische Freundschaft - "Gewalt"
Door and The Window ep
Residents - "Satisfaction" (on orange vinyl!)
Throbbing Gristle - "Hamburger Lady"

Proper easy listening

 

Quality stuff! I was a bit of a fan in the 80s and have most of the Foetus stuff.

Tony.

 

Hi,

The Bacharach & David song 'I just don't know what to do with myself.'

This was first done by Tommy Hunt in 1962. It has been done by;

Chuck Jackson,
Cissy Houston
Isaac Hayes,
Dionne Warwick,
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Elvis Costello & the Attractions
White Stripes
& Dusty Springfield.


The best versions for IMO is the Chuck Jackson & Cissy Houston but all the ones listed are top notch & been much enjoyed.

SCIDB

 

Orbital - Doctor? (the Doctor Who theme)

Orbital - The Saint

Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World

 

Thankyou! I've been racking my brain to try to remember that one. It's hard to explain but I knew there was this great cover by a 90s grunge band but for the life of me I just couldn't remember who it was by or even what the song was

IMO this one's better than the original.

Michael.