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

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Hornbein said:
That speech is by Charlie Chaplin shortly before his exile. It was in The Great Dictator.
This is hard to imagine being surrounded by the frenzy of a joyful crowd that all know the lyrics while the lead singer lays down facing the stars in Sao Paolo with #Coldplaylive 72m views and everyone wearing stars on their wrist. Mind you, it does remind me of the 1st US festival in Cali watching Police, Santana and 30 other bands for 3 days and nites with a half million others camped on the side of a mountain and 500 kW of perfect stereo audio

I love Tommy Emmanuel, but his talent is far from ordinary.
 
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Hornbein said:


Cover of Diana Ross. That was a big hit when I was a kid near Detroit.

That choreography would never get on TV in 1966.

Glee?
I like the original and if I heard this on the radio I would say it's ok but has no atmosphere to it. That 60s haze.
Glee though?
 
We agree this lady is just amazing. She can sing anything.

 
Another Alyona. This is my favourite Led Zeppelin track and she does another amazing job. I used to play it on guitar and get my girlfriend at the time to sing it because the chorus was too high! That was my first encounter with a 13th chord. Jazz!
 
pinball1970 said:
Glee?
I like the original and if I heard this on the radio I would say it's ok but has no atmosphere to it. That 60s haze.
Glee though?
You shamin' me bro?
 
pinball1970 said:
That was my first encounter with a 13th chord. Jazz!

Jazz chords are really pretty simple. All you do is stack up notes with intervals of thirds. 1 3 5 7 9 11 13. It's pretty awkward on guitar though. That's one of the reasons I play keyboards.

If you are McCoy Tyner you stack up fourths, usually in some mode. 1 4 7 10 13.

Voicings, that I don't know yet. You can get pretty fancy results by playing a basic triad and adding some other note in the bass. Play a D triad, put a C in the bass, and you've got a 13th chord. Easy as pie on a keyboard.
 
Hornbein said:
Jazz chords are really pretty simple. All you do is stack up notes with intervals of thirds. 1 3 5 7 9 11 13. It's pretty awkward on guitar though. That's one of the reasons I play keyboards.

If you are McCoy Tyner you stack up fourths, usually in some mode. 1 4 7 10 13.

Voicings, that I don't know yet. You can get pretty fancy results by playing a basic triad and adding some other note in the bass. Play a D triad, put a C in the bass, and you've got a 13th chord. Easy as pie on a keyboard.
The positions get tricky. A13 is all on second fret or you can bar on the fifth and fret the 6th giving you the 7th as well as you release A on the 7th fret. Some of the others though? b5th b9th +5th sus4/2 maj9th and combos of?
You have to play a lot.
I'm ok on chords but piano is much easier, you have ten digits to work with!
Can't do the fancy stuff though, lady Madonna and Martha my dear are as fancy as I get! Hey that's one for the thread. Slade before they became Slade.
 
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This is live. It is not suited to them and it misses the piano. How loud do the drums get???
Interesting though, Noddy Holder with a skinhead!
 
Hornbein said:
You shamin' me bro?
A little bit dude.

You gave me Japanese, virtuoso, jazz and prog rock, foxes and fossils and Alyona.
.......and Glee!
 
Now I give you Austrian/Bavarian polka bands playing ACDC's Highway To Hell.



Well, as long as there's no getting out of it you might as well enjoy the ride. While it lasts.

 
Here's the original of the popular cover by Blondie.

 
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Hornbein said:
Jazz chords are really pretty simple. All you do is stack up notes with intervals of thirds. 1 3 5 7 9 11 13. It's pretty awkward on guitar though. That's one of the reasons I play keyboards.

If you are McCoy Tyner you stack up fourths, usually in some mode. 1 4 7 10 13.

Voicings, that I don't know yet. You can get pretty fancy results by playing a basic triad and adding some other note in the bass. Play a D triad, put a C in the bass, and you've got a 13th chord. Easy as pie on a keyboard.
This guy is one of my favourite YouTube musicians. Fantastic technique, this is one of his covers.

 
If we are looking at this style then this guy was the master. Introduced by Oscar Peterson, the best ever Jazz pianist? It's a version of "Ain't misbehaving," so still qualifies for the thread.
EDIT: The link helps.
 
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Hornbein said:
Here's the original of the popular cover by Blondie.


I thought Blondie wrote it!
 
pinball1970 said:
If we are looking at this style then this guy was the master. Introduced by Oscar Peterson, the best ever Jazz pianist? It's a version of "Ain't misbehaving," so still qualifies for the thread.
EDIT: The link helps.


Well dang. That led me to this one. I said to myself, that rhythm section is just about perfect. I never heard Charlie Haden play mainstream jazz before. The drummer is Joe Porcaro. I suspect for every famous musician there are ten more who are just as good. Joe has indirect fame amongst drummers as the father of Jeff Porcaro.

 
The Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women covered by parties unknown.

 
I like the harmonies here but the arrangement was pretty bad. Through the miracles of modern technology, if thy rhythm section offendeth thee, pluck it out.

 
I think Walter Rodrigues plays wonderfully. So smooth and relaxed with very little flash, a deep knowledge of harmony, dynamics, rubato, and a great touch. It might take a long time to work through his catalog but so much the better, eh?

Someone wrote, "So you feel useless. It could be worse. Someday you might find yourself in Joe Pass's rhythm section."
 
Hornbein said:
I like the harmonies here but the arrangement was pretty bad. Through the miracles of modern technology, if thy rhythm section offendeth thee, pluck it out.


I hated the Fugees version of this, with a passion.

Alyona is doing that version, from the 30 seconds I listened to. Even without the drums and what sounds like a sitar or something I still hate it.

Anyways….I always thought Roberta Flack did the original but it was actually Lori Lieberman who also co-wrote it the lyrics.
 
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There are many covers of this, all of the same one minute Tik Tok length! I find that weird, but then again people do many things that I find weird.
 
pinball1970 said:
I hated the Fugees version of this, with a passion.

Alyona is doing that version, from the 30 seconds I listened to. Even without the drums and what sounds like a sitar or something I still hate it.

Anyways….I always thought Roberta Flack did the original but it was actually Lori Lieberman who also co-wrote it the lyrics.

According to Wikipedia the origin of Killing Me Softly is fraught with forty years of drama.

I too find the Fugees version intolerable. Alyona's version is very pretty but Lori's version more sincere with the arrangement very good. She doesn't have a hitmaker voice though. That's maybe 70% of a pop song. Without that you've got two strikes against you stepping up to the plate.

I really don't like affected mannered singers but the general public goes for it. Whatever. I just wish that They hadn't decided that groaning and gasping indicates soulful feeling.

To end on a positive note...
 
Hornbein said:
According to Wikipedia the origin of Killing Me Softly is fraught with forty years of drama.

I too find the Fugees version intolerable. Alyona's version is very pretty but Lori's version more sincere with the arrangement very good. She doesn't have a hitmaker voice though. That's maybe 70% of a pop song. Without that you've got two strikes against you stepping up to the plate.

I really don't like affected mannered singers but the general public goes for it. Whatever. I just wish that They hadn't decided that groaning and gasping indicates soulful feeling.

To end on a positive note...

Yes they tried to screw Lori over. Not very nice
The Fugees version was unadulterated garbage.
That something stupid version was very good and a nice touch at the end. A couple of bloopers.
 
pinball1970 said:
That something stupid version was very good and a nice touch at the end. A couple of bloopers.
Hah! I didn't even notice.
 
Hornbein said:
She doesn't have a hitmaker voice though.
It is simple, honest, a little bit hippy. Made me think of Joan Baez or Joni Mitchel.
 
Hornbein said:


There are many covers of this, all of the same one minute Tik Tok length! I find that weird, but then again people do many things that I find weird.

Wow, that is lovely technique!

What guitar is that?? It looks like a plastic watering can! Very odd. Great sound though.Different style to this guy, his arrangement is more sophisticated but he is older so has been around the block a few times.
 
Old Grey Whistle Test. An English Bastion like Sky at night.
Anyway, this is LL. She can do it live too