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Best cover tunes

Eva Cassidy-"Fields of Gold"

I realise "Live at Blues Alley" is already an audigon staple...but for a relative newbie...it is a rare breed that can take a song and really make it their own...and even more rare in this case...take a rather disposable song by a pompous Brit...and turn it into something transcedental and magical...

Dinosaur JR-"Just like Heaven"

A suprise find that doesn't surpass the original...which is a good pop song(hey...I like fat Bob)...but like Eva'a...sound as if Dino jr. wrote it in the first place...

Pixies-"Head on"

Doing a cover of the Mary chain is playing with fire...but the Pixies actually up the noise factor and outdue the a great, agressive, inspired version of one of the most overlooked bands of all time...every JAMC record sounds like a greatest hits collection...what is it with these sibling groups(AC/DC,Kinks) that kickass...mom...dad...why didnt you bless me with a guitar god little brother?

Otis Redding-"Satisfaction"

Borrowing from the Stones plagaristic ways...Otis turns in a great, hi-octane soul version of the most famous guitar riffs of all time...

Hendrix-"Wild thing" (live)

Many saw this as a farce...but jimi openly admitted his love for the song...and turns this 3-chord classic into a psychedelic monster...

Love and ROckets-"ball of confusion"

Few even know this is a cover...but it is a good one...

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paulwp
585 posts
 
Craig, it was Dan Penn (with Chips Moman) and he is. To my everlasting chagrin, Irma Thomas did a cd recently in tribute to him ("My Hearts in Memphis, the Songs of Dan Penn") and didnt do Dark End of the Street. Don't know if she has ever recorded it, but would sure like to hear it. Eva Cassidy's version is also up there. It's on the Chuck Brown cd, where the song is attributed, correctly, to Pennington (his original name) and Moman. Listening to Terry and Bobby right now.

Eva's version of Fields of Gold is great too. And if you like All Along the Watchtower, Barbara Keith on her 1972 lp is really good.
4yanx
1,576 posts
 
I am not, by any means, a Van Halen fan, but I thought their cover of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" was pretty decent. Still like Roy's a bit better, but could make an argument for VH's rendition on occasion.

I also like Jennifer Warnes' covers of Burt Bacharach/Hal David's "Don't Make Me Over, and Dylan's "Sign on the Window".
spindrifter
105 posts
 
More I forgot to mention and really should have: "I'm A Man"by Chicago Transit Authority, "Little Wing"by Derek And The Dominos, "Tin Pan Alley"by Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Season Of The Witch"by Super Session,"Rock'N'Roll" by Detroit, "Serves You Right To Suffer"by J. Giles, "Summertime" by Janis Joplin,"The House Of The Rising Sun" by The Animals, many Dylan covers by The Byrds, I could recall some other really good ones but I will try to stop now.
bld63
109 posts
 
Dark End Of The Street. I beleive the original version of this tune was by James Carr, a Memphis soul singer on the Goldwax label. If you've have never heard it you gotta if you like soul music. His other 'hit' was Pouring Water on a Drowning Man. As far as covers of this song Clarence Carter had a hit with a reworked version in a kinda of 'Issac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul' rap style, and Gram Parsons did a great version with the Flying Burrito Brothers.
4yanx
1,576 posts
 
Linda Ronstadt did quite a number of good covers, the best of which that come to immediate mind - Blue Bayou, Tracks of My Tears, Love is a Rose, and Heat Wave
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