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Which cover do you prefer to the original?


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Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Death Is Not The End (Bob Dylan) 

Joe Cocker - Summer In The City (The Lovin' Spoonful) 

Adele - Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan) 

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded By The Light (Bruce Springsteen) 

The Black Crowes - Hard To Handle (Otis Redding) 

Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie) 

Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Lead Belly)

Guns n' Roses - Down On The Farm (UK Subs)

The Clash - I Fought The Law (The Crickets) 

The Animals - House Of The Rising Sun (traditional)

Halestorm - Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) 

Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles) 

 

I feel the need to stress that I'm a huge Dylan fan despite him being on the list a lot. But some of these covers took his weaker stuff and put it above and beyond. 

 

 

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Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan)

 


Jimi made me appreciate the original all the more, you could learn to play that song in like 5 minutes...and Jimi heard THAT in it, wow.

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Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Lead Belly)

Sacrelige.

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The Black Crowes - Hard To Handle (Otis Redding) 

More sacrelige.

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Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles) 

And yet more sacrelige :lol:

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6 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

Sacrelige.

That Nirvana version was amazing. That scream at the end, the rasp in his voice, that sigh, the way he managed to put so much emotion into it (perhaps speaking from own experience?)... it's hard to top that one.

Edited by EvanG
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There are not many covers better than the originals really. I actually like Dylan's ''Watchtower'', but let's say Jimi took the song in a different direction - it is a monster of a recording. Guns N' Roses' ''Knockin' On Heaven's Dawawa'' is utter shite as is their cover of ''Sympathy''. Quite like their ''Jack Flash'' and ''Heartbreak Hotel'' though. The Stones themselves had some good covers, ''Route 66'', ''Carol'' - they were good Chuck Berry interpreters. You are still going to favour the blues by a gnarly little black guy from Chicago than three pasty faced Londoners, aren't you, however good?

 

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3 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

There are not many covers better than the originals really. I actually like Dylan's ''Watchtower'', but let's say Jimi took the song in a different direction - it is a monster of a recording. Guns N' Roses' ''Knockin' On Heaven's Dawawa'' is utter shite as is their cover of ''Sympathy''. Quite like their ''Jack Flash'' and ''Heartbreak Hotel'' though. The Stones themselves had some good covers, ''Route 66'', ''Carol'' - they were good Chuck Berry interpreters. You are still going to favour the blues by a gnarly little black guy from Chicago than three pasty faced Londoners, aren't you, however good?

Richards always said we knew (i'm starting to wonder now if this was Richards or not!) that we knew we couldn't nail the nuances so we just juked it up.  Thats the way to do a cover really.  But yeah, as you say, fuckin' Spoonful by Howling Wolf or Spoonful by Cream ain't no fuckin' contest.  Which is not to say Creams one isn't great, Jack Bruce certainly has the depth of voice and Ginge really does shit with the drumming, he's certainly not doing a fuckin' Fred Bellew or Below or whatever his name was.  

Chuck Berry is an odd one, the thing I think people miss when they do Chuck Berry covers is the always tend to speed em up a bit, there's something about that Chuck Berry two string rhythm thing that just lends itself to playing fast.  People make it feel kinda squeezed in and like...I dunno what the word is, kinda jumbled almost whereas Chuck was like, super relaxed when he played it, like REALLY in control.  Really well balanced and timed to perfection.  Its really not like jun-jun-jun-jun-jun *little blues lick* jun-jun-jun-jun-jun.  It appears to me, from my extremely uneducated perspective, that bluesmen perfected, by repetition, a simple art form and a consequence of that is that they were REALLY exacting about it.  From Chuck to Wolf to Muddy, there's stories about each of them berating people playing the blues over what some might call inconsequential details.  Clapton often relays the story of being mortified when first playing for Howlin Wolf who was like 'No, no, no!!', grabbing his hand and shoving it up and down the fretboard :lol:   And The Wolf was an intimidating fella to say the last.  His band members say the way he kept order in the band was basically by kicking the fuck out of them :lol: Then there's the famous Richards and Berry thing on that documentary...point being its always over the details of the playing.  Not just bending a certain note but the WAY you bend it or how long you hold it and all sorts. 

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14 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

Richards always said we knew (i'm starting to wonder now if this was Richards or not!) that we knew we couldn't nail the nuances so we just juked it up.  Thats the way to do a cover really.  But yeah, as you say, fuckin' Spoonful by Howling Wolf or Spoonful by Cream ain't no fuckin' contest.  Which is not to say Creams one isn't great, Jack Bruce certainly has the depth of voice and Ginge really does shit with the drumming, he's certainly not doing a fuckin' Fred Bellew or Below or whatever his name was.  

Chuck Berry is an odd one, the thing I think people miss when they do Chuck Berry covers is the always tend to speed em up a bit, there's something about that Chuck Berry two string rhythm thing that just lends itself to playing fast.  People make it feel kinda squeezed in and like...I dunno what the word is, kinda jumbled almost whereas Chuck was like, super relaxed when he played it, like REALLY in control.  Really well balanced and timed to perfection.  Its really not like jun-jun-jun-jun-jun *little blues lick* jun-jun-jun-jun-jun.  It appears to me, from my extremely uneducated perspective, that bluesmen perfected, by repetition, a simple art form and a consequence of that is that they were REALLY exacting about it.  From Chuck to Wolf to Muddy, there's stories about each of them berating people playing the blues over what some might call inconsequential details.  Clapton often relays the story of being mortified when first playing for Howlin Wolf who was like 'No, no, no!!', grabbing his hand and shoving it up and down the fretboard :lol:   And The Wolf was an intimidating fella to say the last.  His band members say the way he kept order in the band was basically by kicking the fuck out of them :lol: Then there's the famous Richards and Berry thing on that documentary...point being its always over the details of the playing.  Not just bending a certain note but the WAY you bend it or how long you hold it and all sorts. 

One of the most hideous things I've ever heard is "speed Blues" it's kinda like bad speed metal. You go as fast as you possibly can spitting out licks and the phrasing is usually shit. Joe Bonammasa is a good example. Technically very good but it's so boring. What the old blues players did and Jimi was complex in a way. I'd say it's just as hard as doing 8 finger tapping only in blues you can instantly hear it if it doesn't have emotion in it or the amount of emotion and how descriptive you can be while talking the language. That's tough to do. Just like with shredders you can instantly hear how good they are technically when they utilize one of the harder techniques. SRV had both though, Jimi too of course. But who did it better Albert King or SRV? what made SRV's playing interesting? to me it was simply his feel, it was mostly Albert's ideas taken to "another level" or better yet played with someone else with different personality who was also an incredible talent and you can hear it when he played Jimi's shit too. Not as good, but definitely interesting and worthy.

It's always about the details of playing if there's a guitar involved, not just in blues but in blues it's of the utmost importance.

 

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2 minutes ago, Rovim said:

One of the most hideous things I've ever heard is "speed Blues" it's kinda like bad speed metal. You go as fast as you possibly can spitting out licks and the phrasing is usually shit. Joe Bonammasa is a good example. Technically very good but it's so boring. What the old blues players did and Jimi was complex in a way. I'd say it's just as hard as doing 8 finger tapping only in blues you can instantly hear it if it doesn't have emotion in it or the amount of emotion and how descriptive you can be while talking the language. That's tough to do. Just like with shredders you can instantly hear how good they are technically when they utilize one of the harder techniques. SRV had both though, Jimi too of course. But who did it better Albert King or SRV? what made SRV's playing interesting? to me it was simply his feel, it was mostly Albert's ideas taken to "another level" or better yet played with someone else with different personality who was also an incredible talent and you can hear it when he played Jimi's shit too. Not as good, but definitely interesting and worthy.

It's always about the details of playing if there's a guitar involved, not just in blues but in blues it's of the utmost importance.

 

You know I never listened to SRV ever.  Any reccomendations?  I dont even know what sort of music he did, I’m guessing blues since this conversation.

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30 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

You know I never listened to SRV ever.  Any reccomendations?  I dont even know what sort of music he did, I’m guessing blues since this conversation.

You did, it was Little Wing though and you said it was great, the closest anyone ever got to the original but it was years ago. This was written by Doyle Bramhall:

You need to listen to the entire album Texas Flood (1983) and then probably In Step (1989) then Couldn't Stand The Weather (1984)

 

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1 minute ago, Rovim said:

You did, it was Little Wing though and you said it was great, the closest anyone ever got to the original but it was years ago. This was written by Doyle Bramhall:

You need to listen to the entire album Texas Flood (1983) and then probably In Step (1989) then Couldn't Stand The Weather (1984)

 

Nice one mate, Texas Flood, I'll check that out.

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I just like the old black blues buggers to be honest, besides Hendrix but he is of that lineage and The Stones and a few of the 1960s English acts (Animals weren't bad, Buesbreakers etc). You put Howlin' and Muddy Waters on the stereo and it is this immense sound and rhythm which comes out of the speaker - veering into rock n' roll Chuck has that ''Chess'' sound. These are the best produced rock records ever. 

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As with everything it depends on your taste. With covers that are the same as the original it depends on whichever singer or guitarist you prefer, and when they change genre, it depends on whichever genre you may prefer. Soul Asylum have always done unusual covers, including Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing. A lot of people will say that is sacrilege too, especially when it's turned into a rock song, and even though I love Marvin Gaye, I prefer Soul Asylum's version because I like rock more than soul, although I'm probably in the minority about this one. Probably also because I heard their version way before the original.

 

Also, SRV is one of the best guitarists who ever lived. They say he played with string gauge as high as .018-.074 sometimes and he used very high string action, and still he could play like that.

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10 minutes ago, EvanG said:

As with everything it depends on your taste. With covers that are the same as the original it depends on whichever singer or guitarist you prefer, and when they change genre, it depends on whichever genre you may prefer. Soul Asylum have always done unusual covers, including Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing. A lot of people will say that is sacrilege too, especially when it's turned into a rock song, and even though I love Marvin Gaye, I prefer Soul Asylum's version because I like rock more than soul, although I'm probably in the minority about this one. Probably also because I heard their version way before the original.

 

Also, SRV is one of the best guitarists who ever lived. They say he played with string gauge as high as .018-.074 sometimes and he used very high string action, and still he could play like that.

I love Marvin Gaye but I always struggled with Sexual Healing, I mean just listening to it, I feel like I'm intruding on something :lol:  I am really like one of the biggest Marvin Gaye fans every birthed...but that song, one of his most famous hits, if not the most famous...and its a bit of a blindspot for me.  I don't know why either, its almost like its a birds song.  Lets Get it On too. 

 

53 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

I just like the old black blues buggers to be honest, besides Hendrix but he is of that lineage and The Stones and a few of the 1960s English acts (Animals weren't bad, Buesbreakers etc). You put Howlin' and Muddy Waters on the stereo and it is this immense sound and rhythm which comes out of the speaker - veering into rock n' roll Chuck has that ''Chess'' sound. These are the best produced rock records ever. 

Playing devils advocate here...is Jimi REALLY of that lineage? 

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3 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

I love Marvin Gaye but I always struggled with Sexual Healing, I mean just listening to it, I feel like I'm intruding on something :lol:  I am really like one of the biggest Marvin Gaye fans every birthed...but that song, one of his most famous hits, if not the most famous...and its a bit of a blindspot for me.  I don't know why either, its almost like its a birds song.  Lets Get it On too. 

 

Playing devils advocate here...is Jimi REALLY of that lineage? 

He literally is haha.

But he did the Chitlin thing. He had the delta blues in his veins. 

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21 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

He literally is haha.

But he did the Chitlin thing. He had the delta blues in his veins. 

 

9 minutes ago, Rovim said:

:max:

I've heard it argued, not by me mind, I don't really have a position on the matter, that he really wasn't and shouldn't be considered so and a lot of old bluesmen, allegedly, held this belief.  He wasn't from Chicago or Mississipi and, like the bluesmen of England, learnt more from recordings than from actually being of that ilk.  He was a kid from Seattle.  The Chitlin Circuit is his biggest claim in that regard but he was more playing with rock and soul performers of the day as that's what was more prevalent. 

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24 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

 

I've heard it argued, not by me mind, I don't really have a position on the matter, that he really wasn't and shouldn't be considered so and a lot of old bluesmen, allegedly, held this belief.  He wasn't from Chicago or Mississipi and, like the bluesmen of England, learnt more from recordings than from actually being of that ilk.  He was a kid from Seattle.  The Chitlin Circuit is his biggest claim in that regard but he was more playing with rock and soul performers of the day as that's what was more prevalent. 

Yeah I guess technically you're right. Also: Al Hendrix was born in Canada. (and I've read he had 6 fingers in each hand)

 

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13 minutes ago, Rovim said:

Yeah I guess technically you're right. Also: Al Hendrix was born in Canada. (and I've read he had 6 fingers in each hand)

 

Not that that shit really makes a difference about anything, its just, y'know, pointless music geek discussion :lol: Perhaps not being from those places gave him a certain freedom to do the crazy things that he did with it.  And you could even argue, though his experiences on the chitlin circuit weren't strictly blues related, all those genres like Soul and RnB are kinda well steeped in that shit so he was chewing some of the same dirt if you like. 

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First time I was in Berlin I was in a pub and I saw that later that evening his brother, Leon Hendrix, was going to perform there. I thought about going back, but it was on the other side of town and I couldn't be bothered. I watched him on youtube later on and I'm glad I didn't go.

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I personally like every GnR cover more than the original. Metallica has some great covers, even making a Queen song better than Queen. Dream Theater’s covers on the Change of Season EP are so good that even though they’re live they sound just like studio versions of the original songs. Adrenaline Mob has a pretty great covers album, and Metal Allegiance’s We Rock cover is better than the original, and that’s hard considering how good the original is. 

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