Cover songs versus the original track, which ones are better?

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After retirement from the Fantastic Four, Sue was able to develop her sensitive side.
 
Hopefully you get the thumbnail at least. If not it is the Stones, Beatles wrote it.

 
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Hornbein said:


After retirement from the Fantastic Four, Sue was able to develop her sensitive side.

That is absolutely beautiful. No idea of the instruments though, this could be in the obscure instruments thread too.
 
Hornbein said:

The bass changes at 5.53. She is good and sticking the E in was not enough. I upvoted though!
 
pinball1970 said:
I love the vibraphone!
Yes Martin Denny is something else
 
pinball1970 said:
That is absolutely beautiful. No idea of the instruments though, this could be in the obscure instruments thread too.

morrobay said:
Yes Martin Denny is something else

Starting at 1:35 they're refering to It Ain't Necessarily So.
 
pinball1970 said:
That is absolutely beautiful. No idea of the instruments though, this could be in the obscure instruments thread too.
Those are a big Napoleon mandolin and a Celtic harp, honored by the legendary Alan A'Dale and today's Harp lager.
 
Germany's answer to Tom Jones does Paint It Black.



When I was a teen we found a PJ Proby record in a bargain bin. We all thought it was great. It was over the top and funny but actually good at the same time. Here PJ covers Leonard Bernstein's Somewhere.



We liked that Proby used a different voice and style for every song so it didn't get boring, sort of like Captain Beefheart. Can't think of anyone else who's done that.



Before he was PJ he used the stage name Jett Powers. I said, if he don't want it I'll take it. So I did.
 
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Vibraphone was Frank Zappa's first instrument. Here's one of his compositions for that. This was one of the very first records I ever bought. I still think it's great, indeed I appreciate it even more now.



He later had Ruth Underwood tour with the band on vibraphone and marimba, back when women playing instruments in rock bands was very unusual. Christine McVie may have been the first with Ruth second.



In Japan the vibraphone is famous via the theme from Lupin the Third. He's a jewel thief who is more or less the James Bond of Japan. His appeal might be even more enduring, still going strong fifty years on.



John Cage said he liked all sound except radios and the vibraphone. Later he said he'd gotten used to radios but still couldn't abide vibraphones.
 
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Hornbein said:
Germany's answer to Tom Jones does Paint It Black.



When I was a teen we found a PJ Proby record in a bargain bin. We all thought it was great. It was over the top and funny but actually good at the same time. Here PJ covers Leonard Bernstein's Somewhere.



We liked that Proby used a different voice and style for every song so it didn't get boring, sort of like Captain Beefheart. Can't think of anyone else who's done that.



Before he was PJ he used the stage name Jett Powers. I said, if he don't want it I'll take it. So I did.

I was introduced to PJ Proby via Focus. When I first heard this I was gob smacked, what on earth are focus playing at!


Jan Akerman had moved by this point, so it was not Focus to me.

Anyway, his voice sounded out of place and had an unpleasant tone to me ear.

Nothing I have heard since has changed that.
 
This was part of my childhood. It is a version of a version and I love it.
 
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While My Guitar Gently Weeps



He's playing four voice harmony. My God. Not only that, he plays a quiet part and a louder part with the same hand, and does that with both hands. That seems like something you'd really have to go Zen to do.

And how does this man get such a good sound out of this thing? Tapping generally sounds out of tune and weak, which is why I don't do it. Rock guitarists cover up the natural tapping sound with distortion. Cheaters.

I suspect that this would be impossible to play on a piano, where each hand can only span an octave. You need the compactness of a two dimensional playing surface.
 
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Vibraphonist Gary Burton originally tried to make it in Nashville but country music wasn't yet ready for the instrument.
 
Tom Jones and The Cardigans cover the Talking Heads' Burning Down The House.
 
The little-known orig.



My fave cover

 
. Some covers of this that are ok ...
 
Hornbein said:
And how does this man get such a good sound out of this thing? Tapping generally sounds out of tune and weak, which is why I don't do it. Rock guitarists cover up the natural tapping sound with distortion. Cheaters.
The Chapman Stick (the instrument in the video) was designed specifically for tapping by Emmet Chapman, a jazz guitarist who invented the technique about 10 years before Eddie Van Halen added distortion and brought it to rock music.
 
pbuk said:
The Chapman Stick (the instrument in the video) was designed specifically for tapping by Emmet Chapman, a jazz guitarist who invented the technique about 10 years before Eddie Van Halen added distortion and brought it to rock music.
I meant that most Chapman Stick players get a tone which is to me displeasing. What is that man doing that's different? A very delicate touch? Better damping?

Beginning musicians often focus too much on equipment, something lampooned with such relish in Spinal Tap. This really sank in when I went to jam sessions where two trap drummers would take turns playing the same set. Totally different tone. How?
 
Orianthi Panagaris covers Stevie Ray Vaughn. She even dresses like him. Sort of. You know what I mean, dammit. Sheesh. I don't get no respect.



That's the Queen of the blues right there. I expect she isn't living a joyous life.
 
Queen of Blues ? ^ Not Quite . Here is Etta James covering Jimmy Reed
 
morrobay said:
Queen of Blues ? ^ Not Quite . Here is Etta James covering Jimmy Reed

Haven't you heard? Etta passed away in 2012.

Music is a performing art. You've gotta deliver. That can only be done in the present. November 2022 is close enough.
 
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And titles are timeless. Michael Jackson is called the King of Pop. Elvis ,King of Rock and Roll. And what's her name in your post maybe your queen of the blues.
 
With the aid of AI I took the best parts of three covers of Highway Star and pasted them together. This modern age is wonderful.



AFAIK it's the only song to have had a popular model of automobile named after it : the Nissan Highway Star van. I saw many in Tokyo.

1687491517347.jpeg


Love it or hate it, Highway Star is one of the most influential rock recordings ever. It popularized the classical music style at the expense of the blues, an influence that continues to this day. The other reason was that it was the lead tune on Made In Japan. This was the first live album with recording quality equal to studio efforts. It was the first sign of the wave of J engineering excellence that was to hit the United States. (You young 'uns may not remember the days when Made In Japan was a synonym for shoddy goods. Such a label was legally required to be attached to their cheapo exports. Especially those little parasols that adorned a mai-tai.)

In Japan everyone knows Highway Star. I went to a concert where a neat young woman in a gray business suit, high heels, and a charming smile -- she could have been on her way to work as a secretary at Sony -- burned through Highway Star on an electric keyboard in a rock band beneath a big skull logo. This sort of thing is not unusual.