Crap Covers and Re-mixes

[Provost Harrison]

Inner City's 'Good Life' is a gay song now? Sheesh, you keep nicking songs don't you

The question is, do you boogie on down to Donna Summer

[alva]

most if not all rap covers

The cover from Are friends electric - numan by ? awhile ago

[Zero]

all remixes and covers suck unless done by the original artist.

Let me just calrify by saying not all remixes and covers should be hated. It's good to know people like to emphasize that innovative and creation credit should belong to rightful owners, but you have to give performance credit to where they rightfully belong as well. (along with tinsy tiny bits of innovative credit for shifting few notes around)

Remix that I found to be most absurd? Whoop there it is series

Whoop there it went, there it was, adams family version... etc etc etc

[Dauphin]

I'm surprised no else has yet mentioned Under the Bridge.

There are times when a cover is better than the original, such as Fun Lovin Criminals' version of Microphone Fiend, Red Hot Chili Peppers' version of Love Rollercoaster and the Wurzels' version of Don't Look Back in Anger.

Its all a matter of taste though.

[molly bloom]

'Good Life', 'Big Fun'- we get some of the best tunes.

Inner City ahd their first break in Chicago's gay garage scene, if I recall correctly.

On our trip to the solar eclipse we listened to a c.d. e.p. of Ms. Summer- the original version of 'I Feel Love', 'On My Radio', 'Bad Girls', 'Love to Love You Baby'- dammm fine they were too. So she said some questionable things- so did Yazz, and I still groove to Coldcut and Yazz's 'Doctorin' The House'.

The difference is, Donna and Yazz (unlike some Jamaican dance hall 'artistes') don't actively promote the murder of gay men and lesbians on their records.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
I'm surprised no else has yet mentioned Under the Bridge.

There are times when a cover is better than the original, such as Fun Lovin Criminals' version of Microphone Fiend, Red Hot Chili Peppers' version of Love Rollercoaster and the Wurzels' version of Don't Look Back in Anger.

Its all a matter of taste though.

Chili Peppers' Higher ground also.

ACK!

[Buck Birdseed]

Bollocks, MRT. There are loads of covers that are better than the originals- more creative, more daring, more nervy, radically repositioned. But that's not the topic of this thread, so I won't recommend any.

As for "I'll be Missing You"/"I'll be Watching you", I thought the song by The Police was a sigularly poor reworking of Gene Vincent's 1961 classic "Every Breath I Take" (note: original wording closer to Puff Daddy cover), from which the chorus and key riff is summarily stolen.

Skipping over the obvious Atomic Kitten/All Saints/Tiffany/Louise/whatever covers, I also really hate the Blondie cover of "The Tide is High", where the original may well be the finest-produced Jamaican song ever, with a gorgeous Spectoresque violin line and really subtle melancholic Rocksteady vocal harmonies, subverted into kitch-caribbean boisterousness in the Blondie cover.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
and Its Raining Men?
(unless they play the awful Geri Halliwell version)

As opposed to what non-awful version?

[Sava]

Homophobes like Bodd's usually turn out to be gay themselves.

[Inverse Icarus]

see linkin parks reanimation album.

what a load of crap

[Tolls]

BB:
Couldn't agree more about Tide Is High...it made me wince seeing people refer to the Atomic Kitten version as a cover of a Blondie song...um...nope...they may THINK it's a cover of a Blondie song, but it's actually a cover of a Paragons (?) song, thank you very much!

As for covers in general, it all depends...after all, the Rolling Stones started off doing mostly covers (first 3 or 4 singles maybe?).

For instance, I prefer Costello's version of Shipbuilding over the original (Wyatt?)...admittedly only just.

[Tolls]

This thread just got me to stick on Young, Gifted and Black (a good compilation, though I'm torn as to whether they should have done at least some work cleaning up the recordings....).

Listening to some of these old tracks got me to thinking...covers done by groups/people who are doing them because they are big musical influences on them are in my mind generally good...I have no problem with those ones, as it's more a case of the group giving the nod to their musical heritage...it's the ones (like Tide is High) where it isn't done with any great love for the material.

As an example, Madness doing a cover of Madness is not a Bad Thing, since Prince Buster was such a big influence on them (hence The Prince). Or the Specials with Rudy, as 60s Ska was similarly their main source. The Stones using 50s Blues covers as their starting point...

...but that Pop Idol arse doing Light My Fire! Ooh...makes me cringe, that does. The Guardian (UK newspaper) reviewed his album and had the following to say about that version:

"
You need no degree in the semiotics of classic rock lyrics to know that the Doors' Light My Fire is not literally about lighting a fire. Yet on Young's version, the erotic throb has vanished. The song dangles, short and unappealing. He sings as if issuing instructions to a slow-witted housekeeper. Come on, baby, light my fire. And once you've done that, can you clean the bathroom mirror and give the living room a once-over with a duster?
"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/critic/review/0,1169,804063,00.html

Which I think sums up what is bad about covers done for the hell of it...

[Dauphin]

Why do people buy pop trash?

[Tolls]

Why did anyone buy the Cheeky Girls???

Except possibly for someone you really, REALY dislike...

[Buck Birdseed]

You have to remember that the tape record archive is rather paltry for sixties Jamaican recordings and that a lot of songs are taken off vinyl. Compared to some record companies I could name, I think Trojan are doing a decent mastering job...