I was driving in to work this morning and heard on the radio the Leona Lewis version of Snow Patrol’s Run. Now this is one of my favourite songs and I appreciate that Leona Lewis has a good voice but felt that she brought nothing better to the song and it was inferior as covers often are to the original. Another example I can give is Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chili Peppers, the dark tale of their drug addiction, brought out by All Saints all jolly and somehow missing the point. There are cover versions that improve the original one that I think is an example of this is Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares with You, which IMHO is better than Princes version.
As for remixes, just don’t get me started on them, take a decent song put a boing, boing beat on it and lose all the melody.
Anyway rant over what others think, am I on my own here or do others agree?
I'm never one for remixes, but some covers are very well done. In fact the best covers you usually find are done over and over again by different artistes..........you end up going so far that no-one remembers who the original was!!
Take Elvis Presley for example........most of his hits were covers of originals, yet he is the one that is remembered for the songs.
:This is where I wait for Jivejunkie to thunder into the room spewing indignation:
As for the Leona Lewis cover of Run.......I don't like the new release much, but she originally did it in the Live Lounge on Radio 1 and it was beautiful. Now they've tinkered about with it to but on general release and it doesn't sound the same.
I SOOOO concur the song was surely in honour of Hilel and his dismal death , great choice for cheesy pop tarts to cover...not! (and to Gav, that, face-to-face, would have been a slapping situtation)
Apparantly the Zutons wrote "Valerie" but I much prefer the Mark Ronson version (with Amy Winehouse singing?).
I prefer Prince's "Kiss" to the Tom Jones one.
Wholeheartedly agree with a few exceptions :
- many of the tracks with Buena Vista Social Club doing the instrumentation and with the original artists singing - Clocks, Better Together, and She Will Be Loved.
- Paul Anka turning rock and pop songs into swing, True, Smells Like Teen Spirit, The Lovecats, etc
- can't help it, even with such heavyweight and wonderful singers such as Ella and Louis doing earlier versions, against my better judgement I love Will Young doing I Won't Dance
How many people love dancing to Sarah Vaughan's Whatever Lola Wants re-mixed by the Gotan Project, have they heard the original, lovely singing but hardly any instrumentation.
I heard a great remix last night called Dilemma by Rob Murat it samples Doris Day's Perhaps song and is written as a mans reponse to the song. Click on the link if you want to hear it.
I have noticed that most people prefer the version of the song they heard first.
when someone adds something to a song, or puts thier own slant to it then i think it's valid. ie Whatever Lola wants - Gotan remix
Fever - Adam Freeland
or the Buena Vista remixes
my pet hate is the pop version of "Here come the girls" it's annoying & is a pure cash in.
A lot of the Beatles early stuff were cover versions.
In fact I heard an interview with Paul McCartney once where he said that he and John only started writing material because they got fed up with other bands performing the same songs as them.
Even though I’ve danced to this, it still seems like sacrilege to me
I agree with this for most songs but there are some cover versions that are so good such as the Tears for Fears' song Mad World which I always loved but loved the Gary Jules version even more. It wasn’t an inferior copy but he had managed to make it sound like a completely different song.
But don't you think the early stuff has not really stood the test of time
I have danced to this and really like it but again it is not just a straight forward cover he has changed the song. I have nothing against a good cover or a remix that does not have a boing, boing beat that drowns out the melody and you could then listen to 10 songs and not know what you’ve heard.
Oh no I’m ranting again
I'm generally against cover versions and remixes being used in MJ venues unless the new version significantly improves on the original for the purposes of MJ dancing, or is significantly different in style (e.g. "Valerie").
One of the key reasons for this is that if I hear a track and think I know it, it can be something of a shock to discover thirty seconds in that this is actually some variety of remix and that therefore I don't know how long the breaks are, how long it is, where the quick and slow bits are, etc.
do's
whatever lola wants - sara vaughan / gotan
fever - sara vaughan /adam freeland
material girl - cassandra beck
word up - willis
don'ts
girls - sugababes
mercy - duffy (dance remix)
non dance
shipbuilding - robert wyatt (ooooh)
Funny you should ask that..
Twirly and I were at a "jazz club" last night to see guitar virtuoso Antonio Forcione. He played a wonderful accoustic non-vocal version of Message In A Bottle by The Police. I didn't actually realise it was a cover until it got to the "I hope someone gets my.. I hope someone gets my.." bit and I though "that sounds a bit familiar !!
Was truly superb
I agree. I think we have similar musical tastes
I find thats not generally true - I'll prefer the better version of the song no matter which one i heard first. I far prefer Faith No Mores "Easy" to Lionel Ritchies orginal. I even prefer Ewan McGregors voice in Moulin Rouge over Elton Johns...hmm not to mention practically every other song as sung by actors in Moulin Rouge is better than the originals yes, including Roxanne (good as The Police version was).I agree with this for most songs
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