Best Covers

[Pat O' Banton]

... at a prompt from Gustavo on Worst covers Every thought this may well be started.

Inspiral Carpets Tainted Love
Johnny Cash - Hurt & Personal Jesus
Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind
Jesus and Mary Chain - Surfing USA & Guitar Man
Ian Brown - Sorry Ms Jackson

[Dublin12]

The best cover I've heard recently,and I'm not ashamed to say it either is,Beyonce's-crazy in love,the old Chi-lite's tune.

[carrickharp]

Bo'Selecta - I got you Babe ;)

[Macy]

Johnny Cash - Hurt & Personal Jesus
And virtually all the other covers on the American Recording series are decent.

Ian Brown - Billie Jean
Oasis - I am the Walrus (from 94-95)
Time For Livin - The Charlatans and The Chemical Brothers

[noby]

Inspiral Carpets Tainted Love



I think Soft Cell's cover was a better version.

I'm sure this thread was done already. So I'll avoid re-hashing the usual suspects.
One I came across recently is Ballboy - Born in the USA. In a time when the whole world and his mother are doing slowed down acoustic versions of songs (thank you very much Ray Darcy) this blows them all out of the water.

[the 12 th man]

happy mondays "boys are back"
pm dawn "true" (not strictly a cover though) ;)

[Pat O' Banton]

Oh for an album of 'covers' Mermaid Avenue' by Billy Bragg is a load of old Wood Guthery songs that had no tunes and Guthrie's family gave them to Billy to put tunes to, and a fine job he did as well.

Think Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' is a cover of an old Ottis Redding number, but done very differently - which is one of the secrets of a good cover version.

Like 'Medley' by The Pouges which has the advantage of being three covers roled into one.

Oh yeah and Carter USM's version of 'This is how it feels'

[Macy]

Oh for an album of 'covers' Mermaid Avenue' by Billy Bragg is a load of old Wood Guthery songs that had no tunes and Guthrie's family gave them to Billy to put tunes to, and a fine job he did as well.
What was the name of the band that did that album with Billy Bragg (it wasn't a solo Bragg project)

Edit - was it Wilco

[noby]

Oh for an album of 'covers'

or Nick Cave - Kicking against the *****s (oops. that's pr1cks)



Think Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' is a cover of an old Ottis Redding number, but done very differently


Very differently in more ways than one. Redding's version was like " I expect you to show me some respect when I get home"

[Aberdonian Stu]

Bobby Darin - Mack the Knife (originally a bizarre German concoction by Berthold Brecht I believe)
Gun - Word Up

[The Good Son]

Song To The Siren - This Mortal Coil
Armagideon Time - The Clash
Seventeen Seconds - Cowboy Junkies
This Corrosion - Lambchop
Shiny Happy People - Fatima Mansions
Redemption Song - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
Sing Me Back Home - The Stars Of Heaven

[Ruairi]

My favourite ever cover is the Chili Peppers version of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground. Fan-funking-tastic.

Also quite partial to Rage Against The Machine's version of Cypress Hill's how I Could Just kill a Man

[Sheridan]

Bobby Darin - Mack the Knife (originally a bizarre German concoction by Berthold Brecht I believe)
Eh? Nothing bizarre about it! It's from Die Dreigroschenoper, and was inserted to flesh out the character of Macheath (Mack the Knife) at the insistence of the lead actor, who hoped to procure more lines for himself; instead, the performance of the song was entrusted to the character of the Ballad Singer.

Bobby Darin's version (and every version subsequently perpetrated by two-bit cabaret singers) is cr*p. The original is far darker (although I like the fact that a song detailing the depraved behaviour of a child-murderer, rapist and gangster has infiltrated the standard cabaret repertoire.) Track down the version from the 1990 recording of Die Dreigroschenoper (or Ute Lemper's attempt) to hear how it should be done.

[Sheridan]

Also: The Best Cover Ever is Pulp's version of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' The Night. Nothing like the original, but all the better for it. Very difficult to track down, unfortunately.

[Troy.McClure]

David Kitt has just released an album of covers. His version of 'Dancing in the Moonlight' by Thin Lizzy is really good.

[thecorner]

the cure....hello i love you(the doors)

[Pauro 76]

Muse "Feeling Good" originally covered by Nina Simone?
Red Hot Chilis "Higher Ground"
recent cover versions, Marilyn Manson's covers of "Tainted Love" and "Personal Jesus" were pretty good....

[Pat O' Banton]

Marilyn Manson's covers of "Tainted Love" and "Personal Jesus" were pretty good....

To tell you the truth couldn't stand his version of either, though the Inspirals/ Soft Cell & Johnny Cash respectively mentioned above were better. Oh sorry My Bloody Valentines version of 'We've got all the time in the world' is perhaps the single best cover of all time.

[finlma]

The best cover ever in my opinion is Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

[the 12 th man]

farnk sidebottoms version of the madonna song "like a virgin"

[razor]

You can't beat the Frank & Walters version of Funky Cold Medina

[Pat O' Banton]

farnk sidebottoms version of the madonna song "like a virgin"


12th you know your a man after my own heart, Old pumpkin head's versions of 'Anarchy in Timperely', 'Timperely Blues' and particularly his version of 'I should be so Lucky' are also highly recomended.

[the 12 th man]

Old pumpkin head's versions of 'Anarchy in Timperely', 'Timperely Blues' and particularly his version of 'I should be so Lucky' are also highly recomended.


its a shame but i think there's a whole generation out there who've never been exposed to frank and his sidekick "little frank".

pat,maybe if we keep going on about him someone will take an interest :)

to the tune of (there aint no cure for)"the summertime blues"
"i sent little frank out to get me a visa"
"but little frankie brought me home a pepperoni pizza" :D

[sylvo]

its a shame but i think there's a whole generation out there who've never been exposed to frank and his sidekick "little frank".

pat,maybe if we keep going on about him someone will take an interest :)

to the tune of (there aint no cure for)"the summertime blues"
"i sent little frank out to get me a visa"
"but little frankie brought me home a pepperoni pizza" :D


Not forgetting Franks cover of Campervan Bethoven's ''Take the skinhead's bowling''.

Touch of class.

[Pat O' Banton]

I propose that at least once month we try to get a mention of Frank into a thread no matter on what subject, all the pups on the site will at least know something about the great man.

[the 12 th man]

I propose that at least once month we try to get a mention of Frank into a thread no matter on what subject, all the pups on the site will at least know something about the great man.


better still,lets lobby for a "frank sidebottom" forum :D

[The Good Son]

Frank was supposed to perform at half time during a match during the dark Bishopstown to publicise a benefit gig he was doing for the CCISA that night in The Village, but manager at the time Damien Richardson or maybe it was Plonk wouldn't allow it for some reason. In fairness to Rico he was the only one involved with CCFC that turned up for the gig that night along with Tony Eels, (despite the fact that the entire City team were on the guest list) and was apologetic about not allowing him to perform.

[Pat O' Banton]

Sorry to be resurrecting the thread again but I was reminded of The Farm's version of 'Stepping Stone' (The Monkeys) last night, not a great fan of the band in general, but this tunes a cracker.

[patsh]

And now I'm resurrecting it again to put in a mention for Talking Heads cover of Al Green's "Take me to the River".

[the 12 th man]

robert palmers version of marvin gaye's mercy mercy me ain't bad either

[eoinh]

The Byrds version of Dylans' "Its all over now baby Blue" is a cracker.

[joey B]

I heard someone doing oasis-wonderwall sounded pretty good,any idea who did it?

[the 12 th man]

I heard someone doing oasis-wonderwall sounded pretty good,any idea who did it?


i take it that it was'nt mike flowers version :eek:

[eoinh]

Theres a few knocking about. This is not the best one ive heard but its not too bad. download (http://jessicaharp.org/media/audio/full/Jess-Chelle-Wonderwall.mp3)

The best version i heard was an acoustic version by someone.

[joey B]

Yeah the acoustic one is what i was talking about heard it recently.

[noby]

I'm guessing it's the Ryan Adams version you're talking about

[piratemousey]

r.e.m. doing first we take manhattan.(dylan)
jack lukeman-cant get you outta my head(kylie or whoever rites her stuff)
rory gallagher-as the crow flies
CSNY -woodstock

[thecorner]

dinosaur jr. version of the cures just like heaven aint bad either

[noby]

r.e.m. doing first we take manhattan.(dylan)



Isn't that a Leonard Cohen song?

Speaking of which: JAMC - Tower of song.

It's hard to beat a ska version of any song

Scofflaws - the good the bad and the ugly
Bad Manners - magnificent 7; my girl lollipop
tony tribe/ub40 - red red wine
Some of the specials songs, including -a message to you, rudie; monkey man;
Ditto Madness - One step beyond; madness; it must be love.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Johnny Cash' version of Nick Caves 'The Mercy Seat' -it's on American III.
he shortens it a bit -but it's like it was written for him.

[piratemousey]

yes youre right there noby. thanks for that.

[green goblin]

The Frank Sidebottom MP 'medium Play' features a version of Planet Earth, by kevin Bignall, from Birmingham which is just incredible. He won a competition and the prize was to sing a song on Frank's next record.
Frank's own versions of Anarchy in the UK and Twist and Shout do it for me every single time, as well.

Some current Fave covers though,

Don't Walk away Rene- Billy Bragg
Hey Jude- De Dannan
Mr Tambourine Man- the Byrds
Let's Make some plans- the Wedding Present
Move on up- The Jam
Lost in Music- The Fall
Marquee Moon- The Chronos Quartet

Oh yes, and I dearly love "Ladies and Gentleman we are floating in space" by Spiritualized, but it's basically Pachelbel's Canon in D, so it might as well be a cover.

[Pat O' Banton]

Also 'Come up and See Me (Make me Smile) by the Wedding Present.

Virtually all of Frank Sidebottoms covers are superb, however again I will nominate 'I should be so Lucky' (which is far better than the original - don't se why Stock, Aitkin and Waterman didn't ask him to do it in the first place!)

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=20980

[piratemousey]

10,000 maniacs doing The Smith's- Everyday is like Sunday is fantastic.
same band as above doing- dont go back to rockville by rem is also a stormer

[green goblin]

Got a vinyl only bootleg of R.E.M doing live covers. Ghastly sound quality, but their versions of Pretty Vacant and Smokin' in the boys Room are genius. :)

Always liked David Bowie's 2nd version of John I'm Only dancing. Genius, doing a cover of one of your own songs.

[piratemousey]

wow. whats the name of that bootleg?
and from what year is it

[CollegeTillIDie]

Roxy Music's cover of Jealous Guy ... way better than John Lennon's original.
The Byrd's cover of Mr. Tambourine Man....better than Bob's though you could say that about a lot of Dylan songs.

Soft Cell's cover of Tainted Love.... the definitive version of the song.

Beautiful South's version of Livin' Thing.... a very good yet very different take on the ELO song but the original is still better.

[Kowalski]

My own favourite would be Hendrix's version of the Dylan's 'All Along The Watch Tower'.

But if your looking for cracking covers look no further than 'Even Better Than The Real Thing' Vol I&II. Classics

[CollegeTillIDie]

My own favourite would be Hendrix's version of the Dylan's 'All Along The Watch Tower'.

But if your looking for cracking covers look no further than 'Even Better Than The Real Thing' Vol I&II. Classics

And Bob Dylan fans should check out a Various Artists compilation called
" It Ain't Me Babe" which is cover versions of Dylan songs came out a few years ago.

[SligoRoversfan]

Johnny Cash- One (U2)