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

[morrobay]

 

[Hornbein]

Way better than the orig. That's excellence in harmony singing.



The Fossils just keep getting grayer. That's how it goes. Doesn't hurt their play though. That's a big advantage musicians have over athletes.

 

[robphy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Rest_You_Merry,_Gentlemen

Annie Lennox - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Annie Lennox God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Live)

Pentatonix - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Official Video)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Pentatonix live SiriusXM 2023 Christmas interview

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/O Holy Night Meets Metal (w/ PelleK)


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen · Ronnie James Dio · Tony Iommi · Rudy Sarzo · Simon Wright

 

[pinball1970]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Rest_You_Merry,_Gentlemen

Annie Lennox - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Annie Lennox God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Live)

Pentatonix - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Official Video)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Pentatonix live SiriusXM 2023 Christmas interview

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/O Holy Night Meets Metal (w/ PelleK)


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen · Ronnie James Dio · Tony Iommi · Rudy Sarzo · Simon Wright

My favourite Xmas song. Not listened yet but I have put a wow. Dio and Iommi!?

 

[Frabjous]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Rest_You_Merry,_Gentlemen

Annie Lennox - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Pentatonix - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Officia


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/O Holy Night Meets Metal
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen · Ronnie James Dio · Tony Iommi · Rudy Sarzo ·

The Lennox is amazing.

 

[jack action]

I'm posting this because this is what I'm getting on my Facebook feed due to all the videos you make me watch:

https://fb.watch/wFS9V-9NT0/​

And the complete song, which is actually pretty good:

​

 

[robphy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Is_Comin'_to_Town


Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town - Goldfinger version | Missioned Souls | Family band studio cover


Carpenters - Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Original 1974 single version)
&t=55s


Jackson 5 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Official Video)


Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - 2007
&t=1m20s


Alice Cooper - Santa Claws Is Coming To Town

 

[morrobay]

Shes Not There , instrumental cover

 

[DennisN]

A very nice, dreamy cover of "Don't Fear The Reaper" by the Greek chillwave duo Keep Shelly In Athens... I like it because it's very different from the original, and very dreamy sounding:

Keep Shelly In Athens - Don't Fear The Reaper


I really like Keep Shelly In Athens, they have done some nice songs.

 

[pinball1970]

A very nice, dreamy cover of "Don't Fear The Reaper" by the Greek chillwave duo Keep Shelly In Athens... I like it because it's very different from the original, and very dreamy sounding:

Keep Shelly In Athens - Don't Fear The Reaper


I really like Keep Shelly In Athens, they have done some nice songs.

Its very nice!

 

[Hornbein]

A cover of Kim Gun Mo's 1995 hit Wrongful Meeting. As far as I know this was one of the first big Kpop dance productions.

I think the ebass player is great. I like the explosion sound effects. All electric keyboards have them.



Today there are dozens of Kpop groups like this, but the industry has made music secondary. Today the dancing girls usually don't sing, they rap instead in a lame manner. Too bad.

 

[Hornbein]

I like Domi's playing but she's usually with a drummer I don't like. Here she is backing up an avaunt guard version of The Star Spangled Banner.

 

[Hornbein]

World's best ebass player.



Having the ebass strung backward seems like a big disadvantage but that don't stop him.

 

[robphy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_New_Year_(song)

(1980) ABBA - Happy New Year (Video) -103M views

(1980) ABBA - Felicidad (Video)

---

(2023) ABBA - Happy New Year (Harp Twins)


(2024) ABBA - Happy New Year (Piano) - Gamazda


(2019) Happy New Year - ABBA (Alyona cover)


(2013) ABBA - HAPPY NEW YEAR (Metal Cover) -pellekofficial


(2020) ABBA - HAPPY NEW YEAR (Metal Cover) - Laura Guldemond

 

[Hornbein]

Japanese policemen play Uptown Funk. But what's with the clarinets wrapped in blankets?

As you can see, J police have a very different mien than those in the USA. The Otakanomori-Nagarayama Metro station has a video of the local firemen dancing. In general dance is a much bigger deal in Asia than in the West.

 

[Hornbein]

Meanwhile in the Department of Bad Covers...



They can't get the title right. It's Give Up The Funk.

 

[Hornbein]

 

[pinball1970]

Meanwhile in the Department of Bad Covers...



They can't get the title right. It's Give Up The Funk.

Cmon. Not the easiest, see how many players? Should have one drummer to make it tighter. Snare, cut through.

 

[Hornbein]

Cmon. Not the easiest, see how many players? Should have one drummer to make it tighter. Snare, cut through.

I'm used to Japanese marching bands. A Japanese middle school band is about as good as a USA music college band. This is a nation where millions of people have been playing music diligently since age three.



Last time I was in Tokyo I attended a concert by the high school orchestra that is attached to the number one music college. It was just as good as the pros.

 

[robphy]

I have always liked Satsuma3042's videos showing how to play songs by Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc...
usually filmed in his restaurant.

Here's a recent video:
(2024) VAN HALEN TRIBUTE BAND from Japan / PON HALEN feat SATSUMA3042
Panama, Running With The Devil, ...


(2011) Mean Street/VAN HALEN ( SATSUMA3042 )


and my current favorite song
(2021) Ozzy Osbourne - Over the mountain / YOYOKA's 12th Birthday Session (with SATSUMA3042 )


(older references to SATSUMA3042 in this thread)

 

[pinball1970]

Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou.

 

[jack action]

This made me look up "Love Hurts", which I didn't know was an Everly Brothers original. I like it:

​

But the Nazareth version is unbeatable. The raspy voice seems necessary to render the emotion of that song. Lots of covers which just render hommage to Nazareth's version. Notable is this female version with Gabriela Gunčíková's voice:

​

Having both male and female raspy voices with Tom Keifer (from Cinderella) & Joanna Dean:

​

On the softer side, Joan Jett's softer voice with a somewhat heavier guitar gives a nice result:

​

On the acoustic side, the very soft - yet powerful - voice of Emily Linge is just great:

​

Finally, Dee Snider gives his cover version which is at least different and interesting:

​

 

[Hornbein]

 

[Hornbein]

Doesn't she seem like the nicest person in the world?



This is a cover of the theme song for the anime A Certain Scientific Railgun, which is about neither science nor railguns. (Who ever said art has to make sense?) It's about middle school girls who use their superpowers to preserve order, protecting the good from evil by taking down street criminals. I would trust that singer to protect me with superpower. She seems suffused with incorruptible goodness.

She also covers Demon Slayer, which a few years ago was a big fad. You saw it everywhere. One of the characters is a girl who is transformed into demon with an overwhelming desire to consume human flesh. Her brother goes to great lengths to help her with the unprecedented achievement of resisting this hunger and using her new demon powers for goodness instead of evil. Among these measures is wearing a gag. This was during COVID so I think this hooked into the mass wearing of medical masks.

Something tells me that not far below the very polite surface in the hearts of Japan lurk warriors most fierce. The USA wants the Japanese to rearm. I think that's a really bad idea. Once you get a powerful army you are tempted to use it. It wasn't long ago that they did that. Stick with anime. As someone once said to me of Bali,

That’s why they have such an orderly society. If not, all hell would break loose.

 

[Hornbein]

 

[robphy]

Stevie Ray Vaughan's Scuttle Buttin' (start at 1m10s):

covers by kids

(2020) Jasmine Star- Scuttle Buttin' (Stevie Ray Vaughan) (about 17 years old).



(2019) Scuttle Buttin - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Guitar Cover - Federica Golisano 15 Years OLD. (Italy.)
(solo &t=56s )



(2023) Scuttle Buttin' (Extended) by Melis Ogut (15 years old. Turkey.)
(solo &t=35s ) 6m48s





(2023) Scuttle buttin - Stevie ray Vaughan - Guitar by Evlee (Evlee is 15 years old. China.)
(solo &t=40s shreds with pitch harmonics )



earlier posts of covers of Scuttle Buttin

• #553 (posted by @Hornbein) Scuttle Buttin' (Stevie Ray Vaughan) - IREE from Rolling Quartz @ 2nd Solo Concert 2022 DEC 10
• #556 (posted by me) ASTERISM 『Scuttle Buttin』（Stevie Ray Vaughan cover）2019/03/30
  (Hal-Ca is 16 years old.)

 

[jack action]

Doesn't she seem like the nicest person in the world?

Have you noticed that some lyrics are in English?

At 1:01 and 3:31, she really says:

Looking!
The blitz loop this planet to search way
Only my RAILGUN can shoot it

At 2:02, she really says:

Sparkling!
The shiny light true desire
Only my RAILGUN can shoot it

I could have never noticed without the lyrics.

 

[Hornbein]

Have you noticed that some lyrics are in English?

At 1:01 and 3:31, she really says:

Looking!
The blitz loop this planet to search way
Only my RAILGUN can shoot it

At 2:02, she really says:

Sparkling!
The shiny light true desire
Only my RAILGUN can shoot it

I could have never noticed without the lyrics.

Mixing in some English is common in J music. It is also common that I don't recognize it as English without the subtitles. Some bands even have their names in English, such as Bandmaid. Japanese words all end with either an s or a vowel so it's pronounced Banda-maido. One hears of "jazzu", at the supermarket you get a "receipto" and so forth. Oh and that pun is deliberate. Japanese is so ambiguous that punning is a national pastime. It's possible to speak a sentence that has hundreds of meanings.

In east Asia book titles are often in English even though the text is in the native language. That baffles me. The most extreme example might be Thailand. That's really the name of the country. Though it isn't English. It's German. The name changed from Siam when their model was Nazi Germany.

 

[robphy]

(1981) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Stop_Believin'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(band)

(2010) Journey - Don't Stop Believin' (Live 1981: Escape Tour - 2022 HD Remaster) (with Steve Perry)

(2016) Journey - Don't Stop Believin' (Live 2009) [Official Video] (with Arnel Pineda)

• Journey's Steve Perry at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017
  - Journey's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Acceptance Speeches | 2017 Induction
• Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'" | 2017 Induction
• ( fan-made video : Battle of the Journey Lead Singers
  - "Steve Perry, Steve Augeri, Jeff Scott Soto and Arnel Pineda perform Don't Stop Believin'" )
• What Makes This Song Great? "Don't Stop Believin'" JOURNEY - Rick Beato

---

(2024) Don't Stop Believin' by JOURNEY | Missioned Souls family band (studio) cover


(2018) Don't Stop Believin' - Journey; By The Iron Cross and friends


(2024) Don't Stop Believin' - Live Recording, Gold Coast, Australia - Elevation Live Band - nice vocals


(2017) Don't Stop Believin' - Journey (ONE TAKE Vintage Postmodern Jukebox Cover) - my favorite cover of this song

- PMJ Pop-Up: Don't Stop Believin' - Journey (Cover) ft. Rayvon Owen, Thia Megia & More (annotated with info)

Honorable mentions

• Don't Stop Believin' (Journey) — Trad Jazz Cover by Robyn Adele Anderson
• Don't Stop Believin' - Simply Three & Brooklyn Duo (Journey cover)- instrumental with strings
• Don't Stop Believin' Journey (Piano Shopping Mall) - Glaucio Cristelo (Piano Rock)
• The Grand Jam - Don't stop believin' - Journey- performed by hundreds of musicians at The Grand Jam on July 29th, 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany.
• Peter and His Heckler - "Don't Stop Believin'" (with Will Ferrell) - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - comedy

 

[robphy]

(from #1,601)
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Scuttle Buttin' (start at 1m10s):

covers by kids

one more cover ... this one not-by-a-kid

(2016) Igor Paspalj - Scuttle Buttin - Steve Ray Vaughan cover


I think Evlee in #1,601 (and in #30 and #34 from the Talent Worthy of Wider Recognition thread) is heavily influenced by this guitarist.

 

[jack action]

(1981) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Stop_Believin'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(band)

I don't know if it counts as a cover, but when I listen to this song, all I can think about is the Journey Escape game from ATARI 2600 that I used to have! Here is a review (with the song at the beginning).

 

[morrobay]

What A Voice

 

[morrobay]

 

[Arjan82]

French, ok, but it hits me like a bomb...

 

[pinball1970]

I have always liked Satsuma3042's videos showing how to play songs by Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc...
usually filmed in his restaurant.

Here's a recent video:
(2024) VAN HALEN TRIBUTE BAND from Japan / PON HALEN feat SATSUMA3042
Panama, Running With The Devil, ...


(2011) Mean Street/VAN HALEN ( SATSUMA3042 )


and my current favorite song
(2021) Ozzy Osbourne - Over the mountain / YOYOKA's 12th Birthday Session (with SATSUMA3042 )


(older references to SATSUMA3042 in this thread)

We do "over the Mountain" in our tribute. That is a good version. How can the drummer hold the sticks like that but play so well?

And it's a kid!