And I’m not saying that the original is bad. You have to have a good song to have a good cover in my opinion. But sometimes the cover artist just understands the mission and takes what the original song did and expands on that a hundred times over.
What’re some of your guys’s favorites?
Baby I’m yours
Original by Barbara Lewis
Cover by Arctic MonkeysA Perfect Circle’s version of Imagine by John Lennon is my favorite cover song. They add so much groove, atmosphere and melancholy to the song. It’s beautiful.
Very common opinion, but “Hurt” originally by NIN covered by Johnny Cash. He really puts his mark on it, especially considering how old he was when he did the cover.
I was just about to say this.
I might be the only person who prefers the original
I definitely prefer the original. The layering and orchestration is better and more complex (but not too complex). I prefer Rezner’s voice in that as well. I don’t hate Cash’s version, but I don’t love it.
I don’t prefer one or the other. The two are so different from each other that it’s hard to even think of them as being the same song. It just depends on my mood which one I want to listen to.
Good point.
I share this view. Someone elsewhere on the thread said that the best covers are ones that recontextualise the original, and this song/cover feels like the perfect example of it. I just can’t directly compare the original to the cover because they’re going for such different things
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Haven’t heard it. I know what I’ll be listening to next. Thanks.
Heartily seconded, came here to say this.
Yes that’s a great one
I think Kermit’s cover of Cash’s cover was brilliant.
This is the one.
Goldfinger version of 99 red balloons absolutely nails it in my opinion
Still one of the greatest live acts around.
I prefer the 7 Seconds version
This is the opposite of what you’re asking for, sorry, but I find that more people are familiar with the A Perfect Circle version of The Nurse Who Loved Me than they are with the original version by Failure.
Both very good versions song, but the original still blows me away.
Apologies for doing the opposite of what you asked, but this was just the first thing that came to mind.
This was one of the first that came to my mind as well. It wasn’t till a couple years ago that I learned it was a cover, and I really can’t decide whether I prefer APC’s or Failure’s version.
There is a live recording of Thirteenth Step, where they play it much closer to the original, and it’s the absolute best of both worlds IMO.
Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you”. I love Dolly Parton but Whitney slayed this song.
I think this is the main one. That song (as performed by Whitney) is absolutely iconic and absolutely transcendental. The Dolly version is good, but if it weren’t for Whitney it would be just another Dolly Parton song.
A weird one:
“Sludgefest”, an old Alvin and the chipmunks pop record slowed back down to the speed the vocals were recorded.
The result is unironically good – a grimy, moody sound, with deep growling guitar.
This is fucking awesome. Thank you for sharing!!
This is absolutely awesome, thanks for the introduction to it.
i also enjoyed this
Her style is a super stripped-down one with almost all instrumentation just being her voice through a vocoder. This cover includes a bit more traditional instrumentation than usual for her work, but it’s still quite stark next to the original. It comes across as very pensive, which I think works nicely with the lyrics
Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” covered by Death is incredible.
If anyone wants to take a chance on a cover I recorded (all instruments and vocals) of Enslaved’s “Havenless”, check it out at this link (https://youtu.be/b1ByxMMnSfw)
Tori Amos has an amazing cover album but her rendition of the Eminem song ’97 Bonnie & Clyde is honestly horrifying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4-bXS5LJGM
Also her cover of the Boom town rats I don’t like mondays is my favorite version of that song.
Such Great Heights covered by Streetlight Manifesto. This is one of the songs that makes me think about how much I love my wife.
The horn arrangement just absolutely slays.
Iron and Wine do another great cover of this song
I have no idea who that is but I’m going right now to find out.
The Disturbed cover of Land of Confusion
Or Disturbed’s cover of Sound of Silence
I grew up listening to the original and I still like it very much, but that cover is one of the greatest songs I’ve ever listened to
Yea, that song+video might be the origin of the phrase “goes hard”.
The Lovemongers version of Battle of Evermore catches me the right way sometimes. I prefer the original, but their version is excellent as well
