Cover songs versus the original track, which ones are better?

[Hornbein]

Kate Bush saved me from musical despair in the 1980s an unparalleled genius.

Kate Bush -- Under Ice cover by symphony orchestra.

 

[Hornbein]

Kate Bush Dream of Sheep covered on ebass.

 

[jack action]

I always felt the 1980s were mostly style over substance and I never really understood the point of the music video. If the music is good enough, what is the need for a video? The best videos, for me, are just the band playing the music. I saw an interview with Keith Richards where he said something like this - that the eyes eventually dominate the ears.

I'm not a musician at all. When I tried to play music, I was trying to reproduce what I saw; where should I put my fingers, that sort of thing. It's nearly impossible for me to reproduce a sound by ear. Musicians tend to say "Don't you hear the note?" and I just don't, not like them anyway. Visual cues make me appreciate the music on another level.

The best example I encountered is "Shadow Moses" by Bring Me the Horizon. Warning: it's metalcore with some crude language, so not to the taste of everyone.

Just listening to that song, it's loud and chaotic with lots of shouting. Not necessarily my cup of tea. Watching the official video (which was my first introduction to the song), I liked it. Still, the video does not focus on the musicians, just the singer, a heavily tattooed guy who looks like a troubled teen; not my usual cup of tea either. All I can hear are the vocals, some guitar riffs, a little rhythm from the drums, and a lot of background noises.

I love drums. After watching the video, I didn't really notice it that much in that song. This is the official video:

​

But looking for the song on YouTube, I found some drum covers. Great for me! The following one is from a very popular girl on YouTube for her metal song covers. Looking at it makes me appreciate the pedal work which I didn't really notice in the official video. Now I hear the drum better and appreciate the song more.

​

Then I watched the next video. A drum cover from another popular guy on YouTube. He sets the song to a whole other level for me. I realized the cymbals were just background noise in the two previous versions. He uses 3 different cymbals - which make 3 distinct sounds - and uses them a lot more to make his rhythmic beats. I could only realize this by watching him. I hear the cymbals now and the melody they're supposed to bring to the song. It sounds a lot more like music made with percussion than someone hitting a pot with a spoon repeatedly.

The way he plays the drum is like he's dancing, with every movement carefully thought and placed. I can see the flow in the music and it makes it much much less chaotic than my first impression of the song. Even listening to the video without looking at it, I cannot distinguish and appreciate the different sounds as much; chaos comes back. Now it is one of my favorite songs, just because I was "shown" the music. It really is the images of this drummer I see in my head and appreciate while listening to the song.

This is how you sell music to a visual person.

​

 

[strangerep]

I remember overhearing my mum talking to my aunt about the music that my brother and I were listening to. Her verdict on Child in Time was "and there's one where this fool just stands there and screams"! My aunt's response that she "wouldn't allow it"!

They don't realize that he's not screaming, but actually singing -- usually hitting the high notes perfectly. A couple of the reaction videos are by vocal coaches and they're invariably wide-eyed, open-mouthed as soon as they see what Ian Gillan could do.

 

[pinball1970]

They don't realize that he's not screaming, but actually singing -- usually hitting the high notes perfectly. A couple of the reaction videos are by vocal coaches and they're invariably wide-eyed, open-mouthed as soon as they see what Ian Gillan could do.

Man, I could post all day on Gillan.

From my listening experience it is very rare to get a singer with such unbelievable power and range to also have the beautiful tone he had.

This is why I always mention Paul McCartney in the same breath as Gillan.

“I only want to say” Is a great example of what Gillan could do



“You never give me your money”



Around 3.06 he hits an A5 (same as child in time) but listen to the quality, there is some gravel but not a lot and it sounds like there is another note in there!

An A4? I have heard it 100 times and I still cannot tell. Take 36 (also on YT) he hits the same note but it is a clean A5 no gravel, less power and no spooky other note.

A man of 1000 voices, beauty of Yesterday, almost talking on she’s leaving home/paper back writer, metal rock Helter-skelter, soft folk Black bird.

Could Gillan do all that? I think so but once Purple hit big he was rock and nothing else, just the odd bits and pieces where he able to show the other side.

Jesus Christ Superstar, Hallelujah, Concerto for group (What shall I do?) Child in time (verses) Woman From Tokyo (middle section) When I blind Man cries, Anyone’s daughter.

Pretty much everything else 1969-1973 was blood and guts.

 

[pinball1970]

They don't realize that he's not screaming, but actually singing -- usually hitting the high notes perfectly. A couple of the reaction videos are by vocal coaches and they're invariably wide-eyed, open-mouthed as soon as they see what Ian Gillan could do.

They both had wide vibrato too, Gillan is oscillating on that Child in time A5 between A and C according to one YT analysis.

My ear cannot pick it out but it has to be at least a B, a Bb would stand out, discordant as would a Db, so C makes sense being the minor third (its in Am)

 

[pinball1970]

Since I listened to a few covers, YouTube has been serving me up a steady diet. It seems I could spend the rest of my life listening to covers of King Crimson tracks alone. The number of covers of Starless is extraordinary. One group of what looked like college kids had even roped in the late John Wetton to sing the lyrics. There is everything from full-on prog-rock versions (although perhaps Starless is so prog it's not rock anymore), a zany avant garde version, a folk version played in the woods and a solo acoustic guitar version played in a cathedral.

It's extraordinary that young people are playing this music. How do they even know about this material? By the early 1990's I was ridiculed for still listening to 1970's prog rock. Perhaps it's ultimately the quality and originality of the music that has helped it survive. It shows that that with music perhaps you can't tell what will endure the test of time. I must admit I feel somewhat vindicated.

I always felt the 1980s were mostly style over substance and I never really understood the point of the music video. If the music is good enough, what is the need for a video? The best videos, for me, are just the band playing the music. I saw an interview with Keith Richards where he said something like this - that the eyes eventually dominate the ears.

Anyway, here's the latest cover of Starless. @pinball1970 I particularly like the percussion on this one (and the two guitars):

I really like that track. I am not that familiar with King Crimson but looking at the players I am going to YouTube a few. Gaps in my music are folk, folk rock and bands like KC, the Nice, the Strawbs.
Also the Rolling Stones (you are now thinking, "totally just lost any musical respect I had for this loser")
Thing is I never had any of the Albums, I know all of the singles pretty much but never got round to listening to the album stuff.
We all have gaps!

 

[difalcojr]

Do we all have gaps?! I'm hearing things I never heard back when, lots of them! Here's a couple early Stones songs, one at least I am sure you will know. One from the Between the Buttons album. Like how it speeds up.



The Aftermath album has lots of early hits too
One from album High Tide and Green Grass, an early greatest hits album. Lot of covers of this.

 

[pinball1970]

Do we all have gaps?! I'm hearing things I never heard back when, lots of them! Here's a couple early Stones songs, one at least I am sure you will know. One from the Between the Buttons album. Like how it speeds up.



The Aftermath album has lots of early hits too
One from album High Tide and Green Grass, an early greatest hits album. Lot of covers of this.

I will try it.

 

[Hornbein]

요요미 - One night in Bangkok (Murray Head) Cover by YOYOMI

 

[pinball1970]

요요미 - One night in Bangkok (Murray Head) Cover by YOYOMI

Brilliant singer. @strangerep will recognize the Ian Gillan connection!

 

[difalcojr]

요요미 - One night in Bangkok (Murray Head) Cover by YOYOMI

She sings beautifully. Is she singing this to her contemporaries? Young Japanese men? Her eyes and facial expressions at the end suggest this, possibly?

 

[Hornbein]

요요미(YOYOMI) - La Isla Bonita (Madonna) 가로버전 Cover by YOYOMI​

Great bass line.



Of which viewers said "Поклон Вашему таланту с острова Сахалин!"

[Bow to your talent from Sakhalin Island!]

 

[pinball1970]

Pet Peeve whilst we are on Webber musicals. Conversations on the net regarding Jesus Christ Superstar, end up discussing Nealy and his successors without mentioning Gillan.
Also Murray Head who was the original Judas. Both those Album performances recorded in hours were phenomenal.

 

[pinball1970]

Yvonne Elliman on this one although she was in the film too. Doubt there is a good cover of it.

 

[Hornbein]

She sings beautifully. Is she singing this to her contemporaries? Young Japanese men? Her eyes and facial expressions at the end suggest this, possibly?

Singing to men in general. She's from South Korea and is also popular in Russia.

 

[Hornbein]

1956 Johnny Burnette Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin’​

 

[Hornbein]

Tina Turner's hit songs don't do anything for me, but she sure could rock.
Covering Robert Palmer's Addicted To Love.

 

[Hornbein]

Tiny Bradshaw - "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" [King #9068] 1951

 

[Hornbein]

Dywayne “Mononeon” Thomas Jr. gets my vote as King of the Ebass.

Covering Steely Dan’s Josie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgpTgotVleg

 

[OCR]

Well. . . I like this. .





.

 

[Hornbein]

Foxes and Fossils cover Wynonna Judd.

 

[JT Smith]

"Respect" - I think and pretty much everybody else agrees/agreed (including Otis) that Aretha's cover was better.

 

[Hornbein]

Rage Against The Machine covers
Renegades of Funk

The orig is by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force
.but I don't much like it.

 

[rcgldr]

1956 Johnny Burnette Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin’​

A clip of Stompy Jones cover of The Train Kept-A-Rollin at Carnation Plaza from around 2015. Disneyland had big | swing bands on Saturday nights for over 60 years (that stopped with Covid). You'll probably need to turn up the brightness.

Stompy Jones - The Train Kept A Rolling

 

[Arjan82]

So, for me the two songs that spring out as better than their original are Jeff Buckly, Hallelujah. And then specifically this live version:


And Nirvana, "The man who sold the world", also specifically this version:


Honorable mention:
From the same MTV Unplugged session: Nirvana, "Where did you sleep last night", again, specifically this version (although this is a bit cheating, since this is a folk song, original unknown ;):

 

[Arjan82]

Some more honorable mentions, it is a bit hard to call these better than their original, but they are pretty much on par as far as I'm concerned:











Ok, I'll stop now. I think I can fill this entire thread :)

 

[Hornbein]

The Locomotion

LIttle Eva was Carol King's babysitter. I used to think Carol was the baby, but realized later this was unrealistic. Further reducing the glamor, Carol contacted her as a singer first. The babysitting was just a side gig.

Little Eva

Kylie Minogue

 

[fresh_42]

I always wonder where they got all the hair from for that hairstyle from the fifties and the sixties.

 

[BillTre]

I always wonder where they got all the hair from for that hairstyle from the fifties and the sixties.

Grows out of their heads, or gets added in some way.

 

[morrobay]

Grows out of their heads, or gets added in some way.

The bee hive is added. The Ronettes ethnicity: African American, Cherokee, Irish American, and Puerto Rican

 

[Hornbein]

Jingle Bell Rock - Gabriella Quevedo

 

[pinball1970]

I always wonder where they got all the hair from for that hairstyle from the fifties and the sixties.

Wigs! EDIT: Really big ones

 

[DennisN]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_Black_(song) (1980)

Another cover of the song by Muse (UK), live with Brian Johnson on vocals:

Muse & Brian Johnson of AC/DC - Back In Black [Reading Festival 2017]

 

[DennisN]

Ok, I just came to think about a cover that I like...

Original: Iggy & The Stooges - Search & Destroy (actually mixed by David Bowie)
Cover: EMF - Search & Destroy (I like it because of the energy and the guitars )