Original Cover

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The recent edition of the Italian-language newsletter of Dice.fm included a reflection on the trend of using slowed-down, dramatic covers of popular songs in movie trailers, complete with a link to a YouTube playlist. Interesting, very interesting. I haven't listened to them all yet, but I will say I enjoyed the creeeeepy Britney Spears one. Props to her composers for writing a song that truly has stood the test of time.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R5s5h_MTCQ&list=PL5XD1wePFp_f2uceQiNuA7dnmedtADFGG&index=1

What are your favorites?

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Man Next Door

The Paragons (1968):

vs. Massive Attack (1998):

You can read more about the other versions of this song here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Next_Door

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Vein Melter

Herbie Hancock (1973)

v. Jesse Fischer & Sly5thAve (2015)

They're both sooooo goooood!!!

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Show Me Love

Robin S. (1993)

v. Clean Bandit feat. Elisabeth Troy (2014)

No contest. Robin S. wins hands down. And just for the record, I love Clean Bandit, but yikes, that cover is horrible.

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Another Day in Paradise

Phil Collins (1989)

v. The Derevolutions (2015)

Unlike Nate Wize's dub/reggae cover of Rock the Casbah, the Derevolutions version of Another Day in Paradise falls a little bit flat. I know I know, the genre can be like that, and overall the Derevolutions version is totally listenable (I've been listening to it as I work today). That said, it's still Phil Collins FTW.

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"Breathe" Blu Cantrell v. Years & Years I may be biased on this one, the Blu Cantrell version is of my era. But the new cover is pretty much a jam, I will admit that...

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No One / Close

Alicia Keys (2009)

vs. Hackman (2011)

Hackman hands down. Never liked that Alicia Keys track, Hackman wins by far, finally someone breathed some life into that track.

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Bela Lugosi's Dead

In honor of Halloween, I've got the most Vampired-out song you can possibly find: Bela Lugosi's Dead. Bauhaus (1979)

vs. Sepultura (2001)

To be honest, I'm shocked at myself for not having put any Bauhaus up here sooner, they have some great covers (Telegram Sam, Ziggy Stardust) that I've had on my list for over a year now. Sepultura gave it a good try, but I'm afraid you just can't beat the original with this one.

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Peggy Sue

In honor of Lou Reed, I've decided to post a song not BY Lou Reed, but a song that he covered. I love Walk on the Wild Side and Perfect Day just as much as the next person, but I think the pure Lou-Reed-ness really shines through on this one: Buddy Holly (1957)

vs. Lou Reed

It may not be the prettiest cover of Peggy Sue, but it's all Lou, turned up all the way.

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Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay

I cannot deny it any longer: I am homesick. Terribly heartbroken at the very thought of the city I consider "home" and the idea that I will not be there again any time soon. I miss the smells, the views, the food, the art, THE LIGHT. I miss how it feels to be there, how I feel when I'm there. In honor of my homesickness, I've got my 3rd Otis Redding song for you all, because I love Otis and he knows how it feels to be stuck in San Francisco, a city that so many people love and would give everything to be a part of, and really miss home. Otis started to write this song in 1967, while on tour with the Bar-Kays and staying on a houseboat in Sausalito, CA. Over the next few months he and Steve Cropper finished the lyrics and recorded the short but poignant track. To add an even more bitter twist to my post today, Redding died shortly after the track was completed, and it was only released postmortem. I bring up this deadly theme not just because we're in the throws of Halloween, but because we have just lost another musician who I'm sure is near and dear to many of you: Lou Reed. I'll dedicate a post to Lou Reed in just a moment, but for now, here's Otis: Otis Redding (1968)

vs. T. Rex feat. Gloria Jones (1975)

I searched long and hard for a cover good enough to prop up against Redding's, and...there just isn't one. Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings don't got it: Sammy Hagar had the decency to get Steve Cropper to play with him, but wow what a completely beige, meaningless version of the song they came up with. Bob Dylan's and Pearl Jam's covers are only live versions, which is too bad because this might be the only time I can say I like a Pearl Jam song, and there's some Pearl Jam fans I'm missing deeply right now. Definitely couldn't go with Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 (also, yikes what a terrible interpretation), and I'll be damned if I ever post a Michael Bolton or Widespread Panic song here for anything other than a good laugh. T. Rex was the only band I felt put their own spin on it without totally missing the point and turning the track into some watered-down, empty ghost of the original, similar in form but not in function. Sadly, the singer of T. Rex, Marc Bolan, also died to early, in a fatal car accident. So, here's to you Bolan, Redding and Reed, we miss you like we miss home.

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All Mine

Portishead (1997)

vs

Tom Jones

Whoa! Tom! Who knew I could like a Tom Jones song, this is sort of amazing. It's like some badass James Bond intro song, move over Adele!

Portishead still wins, but in either case, this is a case where those dramatic orchestral movements really work and add to the song (ahem, looking at you Gloomy Sunday)

For bonus points, can anyone name the show that Portishead's music video was based on?

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Gloomy Sunday

Billie Holiday

vs

Bjork

It's really incredible how much I love this song, even on a day like to day where I have nothing to be gloomy about. The lyrics, ugh, just so good in every way. Plus you add two of my favorite vocalists, Bjork and Billie Holiday, and I can barely keep it in my pants. In writing this post I was surprised to learn that the song is actually a Hungarian song written in 1933 by Rezso Seress with lyrics by Laszlo Javor, and first recorded in 1935 by Pal Kalmar. It has since been covered by a plethora of remarkable artists, including Artie Shaw, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Lydia Lunch, Elvis Costello, Christian Death, Serge Gainsbourg, Sinead O'Connor, Anton LaVey (of course!) and Sarah McLachlan. A full list is available over at wikipedia.

To be honest, as much as I love Bjork, I cannot get past the cheesy orchestration that sounds like some terrible musical you'd see on TV at 5am on TMC. I love her rendition, but she did perform it live at a benefit in the 90s, so the Pops-at-the-Beach type backing isn't really surprising.

Holiday's version is, by contrast, much more subdued, and because it lacks the exaggerated drama of Bjork's version, is simultaneously more relaxing and more arresting. She brings a peace to the inner storm that makes the suicide theme real, not kitschy.

For the version in Hungarian, click here, it's beautiful.

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Tesselate

Alt-J (2012)

vs

Ellie Goudling (2013)

Well I'll be damned, an Ellie Goudling song I can get with. Still gonna give this one to Alt-J, if only for having such a dope video, full of art history references. Plus that mellow voice just can't be beat, even if Goulding's version does make me wanna do some 90's style freak dance moves, ain't no twerkin over 'heah!

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Chelsea Hotel No 2

Leonard Cohen (1974)

vs

Lana Del Rey (2013)

Call me crazy, but this is actually a tough one. I should make it clear that I am not a Lana Del Rey fan, but I feel like her version might be better. Cohen's version is interesting historically; he was upfront about writing it about Janis Joplin - a detail he later regretted revealing.

For such a personal song, Cohen's version lacks any personal emotion, and in some ways that is what make Cohen so remarkable and enigmatic. The song is full of inner conflict, he says it himself: "I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, that's all, I don't even think of you that often." - an entirely bittersweet way to end a song.

So guys, who's it gonna be? Does Lana Del Rey's broken person embody the conflicting extremes better? Or does Cohen's dead-pan, matter of fact delivery make the song just that much more complex?

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In a Manner of Speaking

Guestblogger, Trollcole Post II

In a Manner of Speaking

Martin L. Gore:

Tuxedomoon

Nouvelle Vague

Firstly, let’s just nix Nouvelle Vague’s version. It’s not terrible, but as OriginalCover’s host and I discussed, they stick to a schtick-script that is anachronistic and not an expression of authentic artistry. So, out.

Now, Mr. Gore’s cover from his cover-songs album, Counterfeit, was the first version I heard. It’s melodically wonderful with his harmonizing voice set to frenchy industrial arpeggiation pays a strong tribute to Tuxedomoon’s original. But I really have to give it to the originators. They are so minimalistic and it is befitting. The only issue I have is the Bowie/Bauhaus–esque sprechgesang toward the end. That section sounds amateurish; however, the song is from an era where that was avant-garde and the New Romantics loved dark artistry, so it really makes sense in this context.

Winner – Tuxedomoon.

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Nightcall

Yet another really tough one for me, again I love both these bands. I'm a bit depressed today, so I'm really loving the sad London Grammar version, but without a doubt the Kavinsky original is an amazing track: Kavinsky

youtube here: http://youtu.be/MV_3Dpw-BRY vs. London Grammar (2013)

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Punk Rock/Cody

This may be the most epic original/cover pairing ever. I love both these bands, so this is a hard one for me:

Mogwai

vs.

Deafheaven