Worthy Song Covers

[Wolfboy]

Although I'm not a big fan of covers (anyone can cover a song, writing it is something else), in the history of Music (and present time) there are some really great covers made by bands who by covering a song not only give credit and their respect to the original band/performer(s)/writer(s) but also add something "new" to it

Some examples:

● Crying In The Rain - cover by A-Ha (1990)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sUz8-Uwh4

  Crying In The Rain - original by The Everly Brothers (1961)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPDx9HPOGwA

● The Wanderer - cover by Status Quo (1984)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wTBw664FAQ

  The Wanderer - original by Dion (1961)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6lymJy57E

How many worthy covers do you know? Any favorites?

[Stuart]

Best cover version ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BwOyVIlupg

[Wolfboy]

Best cover version ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BwOyVIlupg

From all the "The House Of The Rising Sun" covers I've heard so far this is definitely one of the best ones



One of my favorite covers, the Simple Minds showing their respect and love for the Godfathers of Electo: Kraftwerk

Simple Minds - Neon Lights (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZwjPIBOtcg

Kraftwerk - Neon Lights (original 1978)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YCZVeIJ8xk

[Daft]

Fiona Apple - Across the Universe (cover):

Fiona Apple - "Across The Universe"

Beatles - Across the Universe (original):

The Beatles - Across The Universe

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Korn - Word Up (cover):

KoRn - Word Up

Cameo - Word Up (original):

Cameo - Word Up

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Alanis Morrisette - King of Pain (cover):

Alanis Morissette - King Of Pain

The Police - King of Pain (original):
The Police - King Of Pain (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

[Ed]

https://www.youtube.com/user/PomplamooseMusic

All you need to know :P

[Wolfboy]

For the fans of Madonna, in 1999 and 2000 two tribute albums were released called "Virgin Voices"
They are available separately or in a 2CD box and contain very worthy Madonna covers by some really great bands

• Virgin Voices / A Tribute To Madonna - Volume One (1999):

Heaven 17 – Holiday   
Loleatta Holloway – Like A Prayer   
Annabella Lwin – Like A Virgin   
Dead Or Alive – Why's It So Hard   
Berlin –   Live To Tell   
Astralasia – Vogue   
Front Line Assembly  – Justify My Love   
James Hardway With Amanda Ghost –   Bad Girl   
KMFDM –   Material Girl   
Silverbeam – Bedtime Story
Information Society – Express Yourself   
Spahn Ranch – Swim   
Gene Loves Jezebel – Frozen   
The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black – Burning Up

• Virgin Voices / A Tribute To Madonna - Volume Two (2000):

Ofra Haza – Open Your Heart
Switchblade Symphony – Lucky Star
Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Ray Of Light
Ogre – Borderline
Dale Bozzio – Into The Groove
A Flock Of Seagulls – This Used To Be My Playground
Michelle Crispin – Love Don't Live Here Anymore
Adeva – Rescue Me
Razed In Black vs. Transmutator – Erotica
Mephisto Walz – Skin
Loop Guru – Cherish
Rosetta Stone – Rain
Mark Pistel – Deeper And Deeper   
Bigod 20 – Like A Prayer

[chrisw91]

I like a lot of punk covers especially the Me First and The Gimme Gimme cover songs. Here are my favorites.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - "I Believe I Can Fly" Fat Wreck Chords (Embedding disabled, limit reached)


Me First And The Gimme Gimmes ~ Somewhere over the rainbow (Embedding disabled, limit reached)


Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Uptown Girl (Embedding disabled, limit reached)


And my favorite punk cover of all time is Red Balloons by Goldfinger

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

[Five9]

The Beatles - Twist and Shout
                   You Really got a Hold on Me
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
John Lennon - Stand by Me
Lauryn Hill - Cant Take My Eyes Off of You
Mana - Fool in the Rain (Tonto en la Lluvia)
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World
              Lake of Fire
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground

I cant think of any more off the top of my head

[RD]

I like a few musicians on YouTube who do a lot of really really good covers: Tyler Ward, Boyce Avenue, Alex Goot

http://www.youtube.com/user/TylerWardMusic

Jessie J - Price Tag ft. BoB (Tyler Ward ft. Eppic) - Cover - Music Video (Embedding disabled, limit reached)


http://www.youtube.com/user/boyceavenue

Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna (Boyce Avenue cover ft. Alex Goot on piano) on iTunes (Embedding disabled, limit reached)


http://www.youtube.com/user/gootmusic

"Rolling in the Deep / Someone Like You / Turning Tables" - Adele (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

[chrisw91]

Another awesome punk cover that I forgot to mention. New Found Glory - My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)

New Found Glory - My Heart Will Go On (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

[linxred]

Real Estate's cover  of Barely Legal by The Strokes, enjoy

http://youtu.be/nxO2zzOKnP0 (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

[Ed]

A Swedish funk band covers Britney - Circus.

DIRTY LOOPS Circus (Britney Spears cover) (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

UNBELIEVABLE

[brandon]

I'm not a big fan of covers, which I usually consider bastardizations. I don't mind so much with pre-1960s songs which were usually written by someone other than the original performers. I especially detest "elevator music" versions of rock songs.

One of my favorite covers is Mad World done by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules for the Donnie Darko soundtrack. I love the original Tears for Fears (Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith) version too.

[linxred]

I'm not a big fan of covers, which I usually consider bastardizations. 

I think I know what you mean brandon. Covers can be a great and fun new interpretation of a song. most of the time though, artists get lazy and just do a straight cover without changing anything and that's when it becomes a bastardization. I don't understand why you'd want to record the same version of  a song when the original artist did it, and in most cases better. I think artists think they can record/play a cover that's better than the original and that's where they go wrong in my opinion. A cover should never be replicated but instead reinterpreted. case in point...

Here's Guns N' Roses with Sweet Child O' Mine
http://youtu.be/1w7OgIMMRc4 (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

and here's a great cover by Taken by Trees of Sweet Child O' Mine
http://youtu.be/6dqVDQ-lF4Q (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

[Delta]

There are a few covers that I prefer over the original, because it included some new symphonic arrangement contrasting the "harder" or "purer" original. Two examples that come to my mind are
I'm Alive (originally by Helloween, covered by Luca Turilli):
Michael Kiske - I'm Alive (Live '87) (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
Luca Turilli - I´m Alive (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
Crystal Mountain (originally by Death, covered by Epica):
death crystal mountain (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
Epica - Crystal Mountain (Death cover) (Embedding disabled, limit reached)