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

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That is crazy technique!
 
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Dreams - Van Halen by Alyona​



What a genius was Eddie. But he could not quit the booze.
 
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I just happened to listen to an amazing cover of a song, and of course I had to post it in this thread :smile:.

The song is U2:s "Red Hill Mining Town" from their fabulous album The Joshua Tree.

Note this: this song is so difficult to sing that U2 never performed it live on their Joshua Tree tour in 1987, because the singer couldn't do it.

But here is a singer that manages it brilliantly live:
(what a performance! :kiss:, and at 4:20- he just blows the roof of the building :smile: )

U2 - Red Hill Mining Town LIVE by Lemon Chile


The original song is here.

The song is about this:

Wikipedia said:
The focus of the song is on the National Union of Mineworkers' 1984 strike in Great Britain that occurred in response to the National Coal Board's campaign to close unprofitable mines.
 
Man of Constant Sorrow
apparently some traditional folk song
I first heard in the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?:



I just recently heard this acapella version which I really like.
They use no instruments, only mouth sounds.

 
robphy said:
from #786

#167 (Van Halen - Eruption)
YT Eruption (2015 Remaster) - audio only
YT (1994) Eddie Van Halen - Eruption (Live) High Quality
(1978) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_(instrumental)

(2010) eddie van halen eruption in his backyard live

These are mostly tributes done shortly after Eddie Van Halen passed away on Oct 6, 2020.

(2020) Deraps - Eruption - Eddie Van Halen Tribute


(2020) Marc Giovanetti - "Eruption" One Handed- Tribute to Eddie Van Halen


(2020) CharlesBerthoud -Van Halen ERUPTION Performed By PRO Bassist
&t=1m51s


(2020) "Stevie-T" Steve Terreberry - Van Halen - Eruption (In 20 Different Styles)


(2020) Regina Rothe -"Eruption" (Van Halen) auf der Querflöte: "Flute Eruption"


(2020) Eruption Van Halen on Accordion! CPez - Cory Pesaturo


Honorable mention:
(2021) Unlucky Morpheus - violin【Live Cover】Eruption(Van Halen) ～ The Dance of Eternity(Dream Theater) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2A1hbuLmI
 
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A cover of "To sir with love," by Foxes and Fossils

 
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This doesn't really belong here but I thought it would be the place to be appreciated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_Lover#45_rpm_playback_incident said:
In 1978, an FM radio station accidentally played the song at the wrong speed of 45 rpm. The radio station received favorable calls and opted to let the song play at the incorrect speed. Sonically, the vocals resembled the voice of Stevie Nicks, who later heard of the incident and purchased the record. Upon playing the record at 45 rpm, she said that it gave her the chills and that it sounded "exactly like something I’d sing, the way I’d sing it". While Nicks was presenting demos for the Tusk album, she mixed in the sped up version of "Imaginary Lover" with her other material. One of her bandmates, Christine McVie, assumed that it was an original composition from Nicks and complimented her. Fleetwood Mac engineer Hernán Rojas later heard that the Atlanta Rhythm Section learned of the incident and "didn't find it as funny as we did".

45RPM version:

​


33RPM version:

​
 
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jack action said:
This doesn't really belong here but I thought it would be the place to be appreciated:
..snip..
45RPM version:
..snip..
33RPM version:

Along these lines is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Spring_Harbor_(album)
by Billy Joel

emphasis mine
Through an error in the album's mastering, the songs played slightly too fast, causing Joel's voice to sound unnaturally high (one-half of a semitone higher—Joel joked that he sounded more like the Bee Gees or one of Alvin and the Chipmunks than himself). According to a long-standing rumor, when Joel first heard the finished product, he "ripped it off the turntable, ran out of the house, and threw [the record] down the street."[1] Artie Ripp, owner of Family Productions and hence the owner of the original master tapes, was responsible for the production error, and the mistake cost him his friendship with Joel.

(30m49s)
Billy Joel Cold Spring Harbor Family Productions (Original 1971 Incorrect Speed Pressing) FULL ALBUM


(32m33s)
Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor [Vinyl Remastered]
 
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Imaginary Lover -- 35% percent is an awful lot of speedup. I thought the sound was poor so sped up the original by 16% myself.

 
And from City Radio Pattaya, FM 90.25 . On my new retro radio: 3"x6"x8" Up tempo.
 
robphy said:
Nice techniques.
Here's another one by Tory Slusher:
Flight of the Bumblebee (IMPOSSIBLE DIFFICULTY LEVEL)

That's amazing.
 
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First time I've heard this cover:
 
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morrobay said:
First time I've heard this cover:

It's good but I knew what kind of approach he would take to it. Soul and blues it up and the song doesn't need that.
I think the Mamas and the Papas harmony is too ingrained in my mind on this one.
 
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The Original, "Sunny" Bobby Hebb.

 
What about this, two of the greatest voices of the 1960s/70s possibly all time for their genre? It's great BUT less is more when the tune and words are this good.
Bobby Hebb just starts with voice and bass. I am not 100% sure about the claim regarding why he wrote it. He allegedly started writing an album after his brother was killed, the day after JFK was assassinated as he was devastated by both events.

EDIT: correct video this time, Ella Fitzgerald and Tom Jones

 
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I found a live version, just him on guitar and bass accompanying just amazing.
It deserves to go in the "music to lift my soul" thread.
 
pinball1970 said:
The Original, "Sunny" Bobby Hebb.


Wow! Never heard of this guy. A lot more authenticity/sincerity than the hit version.
 
Hornbein said:
Wow! Never heard of this guy. A lot more authenticity/sincerity than the hit version.
Check out the live version on "Music to lift your soul," amazing.
 
pinball1970 said:
Check out the live version on "Music to lift your soul," amazing.
To me that's more mannered. Soul singers tend toward that.

I once went to an expensive concert where I said to myself, "if this guy goes yeah yeah yeah or baby baby baby or oohoohoohooh one more time I'm going to walk out of here."
 
Hornbein said:
To me that's more mannered. Soul singers tend toward that.

I once went to an expensive concert where I said to myself, "if this guy goes yeah yeah yeah or baby baby baby or oohoohoohooh one more time I'm going to walk out of here."
Yeah I get that and that is why I don't like the Tom Jones/Ella Fitzgerald version. It is good music, I like the singing ability BUT it's too much for the track which is much more impactful the way he recorded it. He reproduces that perfectly live and I am very impressed with the guitar playing too, what he does with his left hand in particular.
He has such a great voice but if I had not have looked up the song, I would not have been able to name him.
 
morrobay said:

Nice heavy beat.
 
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Yes this local station: Top Radio 93.5 FM, Bangkok. Plays a lot of covers with 80s,90s, Very clear sound 100 km South of Bangkok
 

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