A song murdered by someone.

A great song is open to a lot of different interpretations/versions.  I think "Unchained Melody" is a great song.  There are more than 1500 recorded versions of that song, and MANY are worthy of being played even if the Righteous Bros. version is generally regarded as the standard bearer.  I have a number of the Righteous Bros. albums, including original release vinyl, but, that does not mean I don't like other versions of their biggest hit.  For example, I frequently listen to this version from 1960:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV8XwoIGo5M

Anybody who tries to cover House of the Rising Sun.  Very hard to beat Eric Burden and the Animals version.  And, they were one of the first groups to have a top ten record, that played longer than 2 1/2 minutes on the radio format.

Dylan beats Eric Burdon’s version but they are both good. Joan Baez sang a good version, Andy Griffith not so much.

Great point, @Larryi, about the legitimacy and appropriateness of disparate interpretations of great songs. And the version of "Unchained Melody" by Sam Cooke is indeed very nice IMO.

FWIW, while I recognize and respect the fact that the version by the Righteous Brothers is to many people the standard bearer, the main reasons I prefer Al Hibbler’s version to it are two-fold:

1) To me, the Righteous Brothers’ recording comes across as excessively "mannered," defined in this context as "overelaborate in delivery." While many people may interpret that as contributing to soul, to me it just detracts from the beauty of the song. For that song, at least, I prefer a more straightforward and unembellished interpretation.

2) To me, Al Hibbler has a better and more appealing voice than Bobby Hatfield.

In any event, as N80 aptly said earlier, "... its music. People like what they like."

Best regards,
-- Al

Linda Ronstadt-Desperado