The 5 best cover versions
There seems to be a trend of bands, both big and small, upcoming and famous, to release or perform cover versions, be it straight, comedic or somewhere inbetween. And here, in no particular order, are my 5 favourite cover versions. Some new, some old, but all good.
1: Renegades of Funk – Rage Against the Machine (original by Afrika Bambaata)
Early 80s electro-funk becomes a 90s rock out. I have to say that, IMHO, Rage’s version is an improvment over the original.
2: Breathe - Open Door (orignal by Pink Floyd)
Forget the atrocious, appalling Comfortably Numb by the Scissor Sisters. This is how you cover da ‘Floyd. They’ve jazzed up and funkified track 2 from Dark Side of the Moon.
3: Way Down in the Hole – The Blind Boys of Alabama (original by Tom Waits)
First known to me as the theme song to season 1 of ‘the greatest TV show of all time’ The Wire. There is a different version, including Waits’, for each season of the show but this one always stood out. High concept work from Waits becomes a stripped down blues number.
4: Naima (4Hero version) – 4Hero (Original by John Coltrane)
Strictly speaking, this maybe should fall into the remix category rather than cover. But the revitalisation of Coltrane’s melancholic 50s number into a swinging beat filled jazztravaganza is inspiring and uplifting.
5: All Along The Watchtower – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (original by Bob Dylan)
Now this is how you do it. In this day and age, not many people actually know Dylans version because Jimi made it his. The song is now synonymous with Hendrix. Everyone knows Dylan wrote it, but the genius that was Hendrix transformed it into the song we all know and love today.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ben J Oram. Ben J Oram said: The 5 best cover versions: http://wp.me/pP6mt-1h [...]