Good Morning Stackers!
Last week gave us a lot of great tracks to fill our ear holes with and scratch that musical itch.
Let's stay in the same vein with covers for now. Let's look at songs you didn't know were covers! (You might have known but the cover has had more success than the original).
My submission for this is, American Woman wasn't a Lenny Kravitz original it was originally done by a band called The Guess Who in 1970.
What have you got?
Rammstein - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8ljRgcJNM (I guess not a cover, but a great song nevertheless :))
You're right. Not a cover but I'm not opposed to stepping outside the bounds of the intended theme and recommending excellent music. And Rammsteins stage show... What a spectacle, truly epic.
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"i got to say its fun revisiting some of these music videos I pickup on a lot of detail unlike when I was a young pleb, lol :)"
This is why I do this. Going through everyone's suggestions is always either a trip down memory lane or completely new and I love it. I'm definitely going to try to keep doing a weekly Monday music thing.
Same it's mad how much we missed when we were young. Like RATM - Bulls on Parade. I had no idea that was about military spending in the US. But I was a ... Not American teen ... In .... Not America... Clearly I did not listen hard enough to what de la Rocha was actually saying.
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I think that may have been a "know your audience moment" COVID was a divisive topic. I think it was almost smart PR by the band to not get involved and potentially piss off half of their fan base.
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Was that the least controversial part?? 🤣 In some places (cough UK) they still haven't repealed the laws that allow curfews to be enforced. Nor the ability to enforce a lockdown for whatever reason they wish. Somehow that's flown under the radar. It's technically legal to arrest someone for being out beyond a curfew that no longer exists. I think they'd have a really hard time enforcing and or prosecuting for it now. But the fact it's still there raises eyebrows for sure.
But yes the musicians who tend to represent the voice of the public (at least far better than politicians) seemed to prefer to stay suspiciously quiet. Like you mentioned... Some might call that selling out.
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I'll tell you how old I am. I never heard Lenny Kravitz do it. I only know the Guess Who version. It was all over the radio in 1970. Huge hit.
The Guess Who is great but Lenny did it better.
I think I'll catch more shit for this reply than if I came out touting Solana. I listened to Lenny's version. Now it could be that I come from a different era, but I like The Guess Who's version much better. First of all, where is the amazing bass line? Lenny's is spare musically but overproduced at the same time. His guitar solo hit about every 70s rock cliche on the planet, and the overdub on the vocals just sounds phony. Other than that, I loved it.
Uh oh. Lenny is on Siggy's grudge list now. Haha
I like him much better than the Leafs, Yankees and Cowboys.
Does anybody like the cowboys? I'm fairly sure cowboys fans are just self-loathing.
There are a lot of people I met in Fort Worth Texas when I was there for 2 months last year that are cowboys fans.
Oddly enough, I met a real estate agent who showed my wife and I a house that was a Bills fan. I didn't expect that in Texas. Nice kid.
We didn't end up buying the house and haven't zeroed in on the location for our US home yet so I am still stuck in the communist republic of Canada. At least there is good music up here.
Communist republic of Canada 🤣🤣🤣 that got me good. Hope you land a nice property!
That's not saying much.
Wow... That's a glowing review 🤣🤣 should fwd it on for Lenny to cite for his induction into the rock and roll hall of fame 😜 I get ya. There's a particular sound that's quite, marmite, either you're down with it or your not. As for guitar solo clichés, you gotta hit those what's a guitar solo without unnecessary cliche bits. I'd almost be disappointed if a solo didn't have those components these days. Unnecessary note bending, break notes and offbeat re-entrys. Gotta love them 🤣
I will have to give it a listen. I saw Lenny Kravitz warm up Bob Dylan after he released his first album. It was at CW Post College on Long Island. https://www.thethings.com/lenny-kravitz-remenisces-about-touring-with-bob-dylan-and-david-bowie-on-jimmy-fallon/
Back then he had the reputation of being a Hendrix imitator, not that there's anything wrong with that. I recall really enjoying the set.
Bet that would have been a fantastic gig to see. Although I've never really cared for Bob Dylan much. I can't not appreciate and understand his contribution to the music industry.
It wasn't really an industry when he started. His voice is an "acquired taste", and his harmonica playing is pretty bad, but man could he write a song. Listen to the studio version of A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall in the context of the cold war and the possibility of nuclear Armageddon. Listen to Masters of War and think about what's going on in Ukraine. It's not about an industry.
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Haha! Cheers for being honest. I checked the guess who version and honestly it sounds so different in not sure I actually liked it. Being so used to the Kravitz version it kinda sounded wrong to me. That's programming for you though.
Music: TiP_NZ Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8A6wvTI9etOFXtxStK3BLw
Nice. Cheers for this. Looks like I got homework to do.
All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix and originally Bob Dylan - I had no idea.
Jimi made it so his that you wouldn't notice it was someone else's.
I have just read that Dylan preferred Hendrix’s version.
Good of him to acknowledge it. I love it when artists do that. Like Simon and Garfunkel praising Disturbed for their version of Sound of silence. I'm pretty sure Paul Simon said (and I'm paraphrasing) "I wish we'd made the song sound like that". Which is an incredible compliment to receive.
I liked their Shout and Land of Confusion covers more but think I may be alone in that
Their LoC was brilliant. Played that on repeat over and over. Their shout was good aswell.
Not the biggest Dave Matthews Band fan but I enjoyed their cover of the cover
Nice! Have just looked it up.
epic
Motorhead - Enter Sandman
Speaking of motorhead. Depends where you want to draw the line between cover and tribute. Lemmy wrote Hellraiser for Ozzy. Both released versions, personally I preferred Lemmy's over Ozzy's.
The Guess Who is a great Canadian band of course.
Randy Bachman, who was the lead guitarist, songwriter and backing vocalist for the Guess Who eventually went solo and formed Bachman-Turner Overdrive whose biggest hit was Taking Care of Business.
Just a little Canadian music factoid for you all on Meta Music Monday.
Yes! Love a factoid! Didn't realise it was that bachman for bachman-turner overdrive.
I have found my people.
I know quite a few interesting factoids about Canadian music. I was highly immersed in the Toronto music scene in the mid 2000s. I played in a band and I used to have a music promotions company and we promoted show for indie bands.
At some point I am planning to upload my band's music to wavlake but my ex wife has the orginal recordings. She was a sound engineer at the time and owned the music promotions company with me. Maybe I will just rip it from a CD, convert it to mp3 and hope for the best sound wise.
Anyways, if you want a great Canadian band you have never heard of, look up the band Vacuity on Spotify and listen to their album 'At the Command of the Blanket Sky'. Those guys were my buddies when I was promoting shows. They did ok, a couple tours across Canada and had a opening spot on Pilate's tour (formerly Pilot Speed).
Canada has produced great musicians: Robbie Robertson Neil Young Jonie Mitchell, to name a few. I'm sure there are many more.
Yes, Robbie passed away a couple weeks ago.
Speaking of covers, I didn't know were covers. When I was a kid (teen), I didn't realize Broken Arrow by Rod Steward was actually a Robbie Roberston song until I heard my dad playing the Robbie version one day. Nothing against Rod but Robbie's version was better.
Light Years Better.
Homework! I'll give that a go in the car on the way back from work. Thanks for the suggestion 👍
"Crazy" sung by Patsy Cline was written by Willie Nelson.
Even if you're not into Julio Iglesias, if you like saxophone and haven't come across his cover of Crazy, you ought to. Unfortunately only towards the end, but worth the wait:
view on youtu.beIconic. Strange that both versions were released in 1961. I've 100% heard the Patsie version, but didn't know who Willie Nelson was! Perfect example. Thank you.
Finger Eleven / Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes
Another Canadian music factoid. Finger Eleven was once known as the Rainbow Butt Monkeys.
Always thought that was funny considering they don't sound like a band that would call themselves that
Not one I've come across but now I hear it. I can absolutely hear Depeche mode but with more meat on the bone that finger eleven bring to it. Good call on that one.
The Beat "The tears of a clown" Cover of Smokey Robinson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1OVYFNUZT8
Was that song not about Robin Williams? If I remember right? There's some connection to Robin Williams but I can't remember what.
Iron Maiden did a song called Tears Of A Clown by Adrian Smith and Steve Harris - it was written about Robin Williams.
Smokey Robinson’s version was referring to a clown in the opera Pagliacci.
Ahhh that'll be it. I remember that track. Off the 2015 book of souls album if I remember rightly?
Correct. It’s a good song.
I'm going with Killing Me Softly by The Fugees. Back in 1996 I had no idea it was a cover. It's better than the original by miles.
view on m.youtube.comI was today years old when I found out it was a cover! Thanks for that suggestion, absolute banger of the 90s era. Who was the original? (I could Google sure but that's not how discussions go, if I knew all the answers I wouldn't need to engage.)
Well, I couldn't remember the girls name, so I went and googled her, then learned I was wrong and it was released a year earlier in 1972 by someone called Lori Lieberman - although I couldn't remember the name, the person I was thinking of was Roberta Flack, but I now see it's also been covered multiple times...I didn't rate Flacks voice, I found it to whiny so always rated the Fugees version more highly
Yeah I went and took a Google. Looks like that track has some a checkered past. Some disgruntled people involved for sure.
The Beatles Twist and Shout was originally recorded by the Top Notes, whoever they were.
See I know you don't mean Lulu. Yet everytime someone mentions twist and shout I think Lulu (hers was just called shout). A completely wrong association but sometimes that's how brain works 🤣. Never heard of the top notes either.
Not sure if it's a cover or just written by Prince, but certainly made famous by Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U:
view on youtu.beWhat an absolute banger. RIP to both of these fantastic musicians.
Jonathan Young's OP cover of Unravel Tokyo Ghoul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpJGGQHSqc
I got a lot of time for Jonathan Young. He's a very talented musician. His cover of "see you again" hits me like a tonne of lead.
Motörhead - Heroes - David Bowie Cover This one is really nice
The Wallflowers also did a good version of this song. Great tune.
Bowie's hero's is so iconic I'm not sure the Motorhead version fits as a cover you didn't know was a cover but nonetheless I'll take it and I'll enjoy listening to it. (I'd not come across it before).
Diamonds and rust - Judas Priest Original song by Joan Baez https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMHSbcd_qI
I had no idea this was a cover! Wicked recommendation!
Popped up on my Spotify today...Karnivool - Sleeping Satellite
That's a nice version. Tasmins was great but I also like this version.
Tasmin archer cover? Nice find. I'll add that to my growing list 😉
Close to the Edge, by Yes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ktk8PtkXO8GdshsmXb6w0fhaCMMTsyFio
It's an old album (1972), but it holds up well today, especially the first song.
I wanted to respond to this sooner. But I felt it was only necessary to wait about as long as a rick wakeman keyboard solo. Wicked album. My personal favourite of theirs was fragile, I really loved roundabout. Something about it (mighta been the baseline) just had a really cool funky sound to it.
Fragile is an excellent album as well. I particularly like South Side of the Sky and Heart of the Sunrise.
Yes has released a lot of great albums over the decades, but most of their newer albums get little attention. For instance, Fly from Here was released in 2011 and is very good. I listen to it when I start a road trip. There's a certain point in the song that hits me every time:
Imagine hearing that after ~10 minutes into a road trip.
Haha! I didn't know they were still releasing music as recently as this century 🤣 lyrics like that on a road trip, doubt you'd get very far if you took their advice. End up back home really fast and the road trip would be very short 🤣