Cover Me - The Songs of Bruce Springsteen (S4L Edition 2018)

Having had a bit of a sleepness night I thought I would try and occupy myself with a little music therapy and turned to the songbook of Bruce Springsteen and the interpretations of his songs as performed by others.

And I've gathered together 30 tracks from all manner of artists, some which are well known and a few that were quite new to me. Enjoy.

Cover Me - The Songs of Bruce Springsteen
(S4L Edition 2018)


On The Playlist
Take 'em as They Come - Jimmy Eat World
Ghost of Tom Joad - Rage Against the Machine
Atlantic City - The Hold Steady
It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City - David Bowie
Fire - Robert Gordon & Link Wray
Because The Night - 10,000 Maniacs
Highway Patrolman - Johnny Cash
State Trooper - Cowboy Junkies
Born in the U.S.A. - Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires
No Surrender - Kevin Montgomery
The Fever - Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes
Tougher Than The Rest - Everything But The Girl
For You - Greg Kihn
Rendezvous - Gary U.S. Bonds
Reason To Believe - The Henry Girls
Dancing In The Dark - Amy MacDonald
From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) - Dave Edmunds
Mansion On The Hill - Wilt
Born To Run - Roger Daltrey
Candy's Room - Maria McKee
Stolen Car - Patty Griffin
Used Cars - Strand of Oaks
Downbound Train - The Cardigans
Book of Dreams - Dion
Growin Up - The Bouncing Souls
Protection - Donna Summer
Don't Look Back - The Knack
Thunder Road - Melissa Etheridge
Light of Day - Michael J. Fox & Joan Jett
If I Should Fall Behind - Nils Lofgren

Take It, It's Yours - Katy Goodman + Greta Morgan (August 2016)

(Katy Goodman + Greta Morgan - Photo by Julia Brokaw)

I love stumbling across new music. Whilst doing the 45RPM piece on Buzzcocks Ever Fallen In Love single I found a cover of it by these two ladies, who I have to confess to not having much knowledge about regarding their particular bands that they are a part of but the cover really impressed me and caused me to check out the album from which it came.

Katy Goodman of Le Sara and Greta Morgan of Springtime Carnivore have teamed up to record an album of cover versions...that usually brings a huge grunt of disapproval from some quarters as cover albums seem like ten a penny these days and are not always very good.

This one is different. I love the fact that they have put their own spin on the songs from some legendary Punk and New Wave Bands like Bad Brains, The Stooges, The Jam, Buzzcocks etc (complete list is down below).

I think this one is going to get a lot of plays in my house in the coming days.

Take It, It's Yours - Katy Goodman + Greta Morgan

Polyvinyl Records

Released 29th August 2016

 Tracklist

Over The Edge (Wipers)
Pay To Cum (Bad Brains)
Bastards of Young (Replacements)
Sex Beat (Gun Club)
Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks)
Where Eagles Dare (The Misfits)
I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges)*
In The City (The Jam)
Dreaming (Blondie)
Rebel Yell (Billy Idol)

*I Wanna Be Your Dog is missing from the Playlist but you can hear the song as part of the album stream here.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 115 - Sunday Morning Favourites #15 Patti Smith

An album of Cover Versions? It always seems to raise a question mark at the end of it and an album of Cover Versions by Patti Smith certainly raised a lot of questions and a lot of, I think, unhealthy criticism. So it's not necessarily what you expected at first and some of the choices seemed a little odd:

  01.Are You Experienced? (Jimi Hendrix)
    02. Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears)
    03. Helpless (Neil Young)
    04. Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)
   05.  Within You Without You (The Beatles)
    06. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
    07. Changing of the Guards (Bob Dylan)
    08.The Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon)
    09. Soul Kitchen (The Doors)
    10. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
    11. Midnight Rider (The Allman Brothers)*
    12. Pastime Paradise (Stevie Wonder)

13. Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.) - Bonus Track

*(Midnight Rider is missing from the playlist as I couldn't find a version on You Tube at all of it. Not all the versions on the playlist are the actual studio versions as they appear on the album a few of them are live performances of the particular track) 

The music press took a sword to it and other critics were not so kind either. Chris Jones on the BBC Website said it is, "a very mixed bag indeed which is a real shame as, when she hits the right territory, she really gives us an insight into her roots and also demonstrates a sensitivity that’s impossible to resist. Twelve may have to remain an oddity in her canon, destined for selective downloading rather than a fully-formed experience."

Joshua Klein on Pitchfork sums up saying, "Smith's comeback has been one of the most welcome and impressive of the reunion-rife post-grunge era. Her albums still seize, spark, and scream like Smith did at any of her scattered peaks. Twelve, on the other hand, is nothing but a big comedown, a placeholder in a career that's long been about soldiering forward, not stumbling backward. It's not an album to get lost in. It's an album you listen to once, then lose. It makes you long for another comeback, the sooner the better to redeem this pointless misstep."

There are things they are saying in their reviews that I do understand but I'm afraid I do not follow their path of casting it aside. I actually quite like it myself, even the bizzare choices of things like Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World or Paul Simon's The Boy In The Bubble I find quite endearing. I totally disagree with the bloke from Pitchfork about it being an "album that you listen to once then lose", because it's an album I have played many times since it was released 9 years ago!

It may not be to everyone's liking and that's fine but I think that Patti Smith made an album she wanted to make and feels no shame that she did make it, even with all it's little quirks. The bravest track on the album has to be Smells Like The Teen Spirit performed like a kind of Bluegrassy Roots tune! That was most unexpected indeed as I thought maybe she would be kicking up a storm with it, but that was not really what the album is about. It's just one woman who's comfortable in her own skin and confident with the things she likes whether or not a reviewer somewhere agrees with her or not. For that we should be grateful to Patti Smith.

 Twelve - Patti Smith

Columbia

Produced by Patti Smith

Released April 2007

US Chart #60

UK Chart #63

Personnel
Band
    Patti Smith – vocals, clarinet
    Lenny Kaye – guitar
    Jay Dee Daugherty – drums, percussion, accordion
    Tony Shanahan – bass, keyboards, vocals

Additional personnel
   Barre Duryea – bass
    David Bett – art direction
    Duncan Webster – guitar
    Flea – bass
    Giovanni Sollima – cello
    Jack Petruzelli – guitar
    Jackson Smith – guitar
    Jesse Smith – backing vocals
    John Cohen – banjo
    Luis Resto – piano
    Mario Resto – drums
    Paul Nowinski – double bass
    Peter Stampfel – fiddle
    Rich Robinson – dulcimer, guitar
    Sam Shepard – banjo
    Tom Verlaine – guitar
    Walker Shepard – banjo

Also included in the playlist above is the 7" Single "two more"

A-Side: Perfect Day (Lou Reed)

B-Side: Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect (The Decemberists)

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

Music is The Doctor #25 Cover Version (2)

For the 25th Music is the Doctor Playlist we return to a theme done before way back on Playlist #3 - Cover Versions.

On the Playlist

...Baby One More Time - August Burns Red.

I wonder what Britney would make of this!

Airplanes - The Ready Set

Decent cover of the B.o.B. (featuring Hayley Williams) hit.

Royals - Youth In Revolt

Have to say that I really do love this cover. Springsteen of course did a version when he played down in New Zealand but this version outshines The Boss!

Babylon's Burning - Die Toten Hosen

Fairly faithful cover of Ruts classic.

River Deep, Mountain High - The Saints

Released in 1977 on their 1-2-3-4 EP and then added to the 2004 remastered version of (I'm) Stranded album.

Time is Tight - The Clash

Cracking wee instrumental from The Clash performing Booker T. and the MG's Time is Tight. Their version was first released on the album Black Market Clash from 1980.

Police On My Back - Willie Nile

Originally done by The Equals. The Clash's version appeared on Sandinista and on the Tribute Album The Sandinista Project Willie also covered it.

The Magnificent Seven - Joe Grushecky and the House Rockers

Taken from the Tribute Album The Sandinista Project.

I Fought The Law - Ducks Deluxe

Another almost Clash related one! Love this. What a band The Ducks were! One of the founding bands of the whole Pub Rock Scene in the 1970's. So much history tied up in this one band alone: Brinsley Schwarz - his Pub Rock band named after himself included Nick Lowe and he would go onto be a part of Graham Parker and the Rumour. Sean Tyla - who would form The Tyla Gang,  would produce for Stiff Records, and even guested on Joan Jett's eponymous album back in 1980 (that was re-released as Bad Reputation in 1981). Martin Belmont - former roadie for Brinsley Schwarz and would be a founding member of The Rumour - backing band for Graham Parker, they were also joined by Nick Garvey - who would go on to form The Motors and Ken Whaley (RIP) -  bassist who went on to be a part of The Tyla Gang but he had left before they recorded anything.

Everywhere - Yellowcard

Another from the first album in the Punk Goes Pop series. Always like this tune as done originally by Michelle Branch (a single and also appears on her album The Spirit Room). Really got into Yellowcard a few years ago when they released their album Southern Air in 2012 and love what they do with this one.

Teenage Kicks - The Offenders

Have heard this a few times being covered but I have to say that I'm quite taken with The Offenders version of what was John Peel's favourite song ever!

Until the End of the World - Patti Smith

This version can be found on the cover mount CD - "AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered" that was released via Q magazine.

Another Girl Another Planet - The Lightning Seeds

Quite a few folks have covered this but there's something quite charming about Ian Broudie and his band ripping through it that makes me smile.

Do Anything You Wanna Do - Michael Monroe

With his band Demolition 23 he covered loads of great punk tunes and on other solo releases he's included various covers as well.

Ballroom Blitz - MotörDam

 Motörhead and The Damned combine for a rousing version of The Sweet classic.

Mama Weer All Crazee Now - The Runaways

Keeping with the glam how about The Runaways covering Slade for their 1979 album And Now...The Runaways.

20th Century Boy - Placebo (featuring David Bowie)

Siouxsie and the Banshees did a worthy cover of this, as did Girlschool. Def Leppard covered it (and we'll say no more about that one!). This one though was pretty cool, a performance at the Brit Awards in 1999.

 You Better Move On - The Boys

A 1961 classic by Arthur Alexander that was recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama done so perfectly by The Boys for their To Hell With The Boys album and it was released as a single on Safari Records in 1980.

Darling, Let's Have Another Baby - Kirsty MacColl and Billy Bragg

Originally released in 1978 on Chiswick Records by Johnny Moped and was written by Johnny's Bass player Fred Berk. Kirsty teamed up with Billy Bragg to record it as a track on Walking Down Madison CD2. This version is taken from a BBC Session for Nicky Campbell's Show and was included on the reissue of Electric Landlady.

I Wanna Destroy You - Uncle Tupelo

Written by Robyn Hitchcock and originally released by The Soft Boys as a single in 1980. It was featured on their album Underwater Moonlight. The Uncle Tupelo version was recorded in 1991 and released as a B-Side to Gun on Rockville Records. The Circle Jerks have also covered it and Sham 69 covered it on the album Their Finest Hour.

 

Born Down in a Dead Man's Town

On this day in 1984 'Born in the U.S.A.' was released.

To celebrate that today I'm giving this a blast, one of my favourite albums of  last year.

Tracklist

"Born In The U.S.A" - Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires
"Cover Me" - Apache Relay
"Darlington County" - Quaker City Nighthawks
"Working On The Highway" - Blitzen Trapper
"Downbound Train" - Joe Pug
"I'm On Fire" - Low
"No Surrender" - Holly Williams
"Bobby Jean" - Ryan Culwell
"I'm Goin' Down" - Trampled By Turtles
"Glory Days" - Justin Townes Earle
"Dancing In The Dark" - Nicole Atkins
"My Hometown" - North Mississippi Allstars

Music is The Doctor #3

Listening to Gary Crowley's Punk and New Wave Show today he was spotlighting favourite cover versions, and here on Soundtrack4Life there's been a number of posts featuring cover versions and so today's Music is the Doctor I thought it would be go to revisit that theme once again.

One of the things I always liked about Cover Versions is that they more often than not lead you back to the Original Artist and sometimes that leads to exploring even more fantastic music. As example of that I remember first seeing and listening to 9 Below Zero and being blown away by some of the old Blues classics they were doing in their live set. I remember being so taken with them that I made a concerted effort to track down the originals. I wouldn't say I had a great knowledge of the Blues before but it opened up a whole new sphere of musical enjoyment for me. Over the years I have managed to get a fairly decent collection of Blues music, over four hundred albums! That could repeated time and time again with many different musical styles.

So here we go, 20 fantastic covers to enjoy today and the bonus links for the originals, click on them to give 'em a blast .

The Kids Are Alright - Eddie and the Hot Rods.

Loads of bands have taken a shot at this classic by The Who. I do like The Pleasers version of it as well but the Hot Rods version is just pure unadultared rock and roll.

True Believers - Hot Water Music.

A band I've come to love in the past few years is New Jersey's Bouncing Souls. This particular version of their excellent song was part of a Split 7" where Bouncing Souls covered Hot Water Music's 'Wayfarer'.

Damaged Goods - The Hot Rats.

From the 2010 album 'Turn Ons' that also contains great covers of songs from The Doors, Squeeze, Roxy Music, The Cure, The Beastie Boys and the Sex Pistols to name but a few. This one is of course a Cover of the most excellent Debut EP by Gang of Four. I think this was a project done by members of Supergrass.

Free Money - Penetration.

From the fantastic 'Moving Targets' album that also contained a Cover of Buzzcocks' 'Nostalgia'. I love this version of Patti Smith's classic that originally appeared on the 'Horses' album.

Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache - Dexys Midnight Runners.

B-Side to their massive hit single 'Geno' back in 1980 and a worthy Cover of the 1968 original by Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon. 

The Passenger - Siouxsie and the Banshees.

An Iggy Pop Classic (from 'The Idiot' album) that was released on the Banshees fantastic 1987 covers album 'Through the Looking Glass'.

Personal Jesus - Nina Hagen.

Ever the fascinating creature Nina Hagen pulled out all the stops when she released the brilliant 'Personal Jesus' in 2010. Her version of it is so much better than the awful rendition (and so bad I refuse to post a link for it) done by Marylin Manson. The only over cover of it though that would top Hagen's would be the Johnny Cash version. I wonder what Depeche Mode think about these! 

Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight -The Rezillos.

It's hard to believe that Fleetwood Mac (under the guise of Earl Vince and the Valiants) recorded this as the B-Side to their massive 1969 hit 'Man of the World'! The Rezillos took it and totally made it their own when they released it on their Debut album 'Can't Stand The Rezillos'.

Armagideon Time - The Clash.

One of my favourite covers by The Clash. It's orginally done by Willi Williams, first recorded in 1977 at Studio One in Jamaica.

Stay Free - Pete Wylie.

Speaking of The Clash here's a great wee cover of one of Mick Jones' finest moments on the 'Give 'Em Enough Rope' Album. Pete Wylie has been playing this as part of his live set for ages now and it's brilliant.

Marquee Moon - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs.

These two have released three fantastic albums of Cover Versions and this one is taken from the 2nd volume of 'Under the Covers'. I love Television and their Debut 'Marquee Moon' is one of my favourite albums ever. Matthew and Susanna manage to pull off a great version of the title track here.

Down at the Tube Station at Midnight - Carter USM.
Have to say I don't remember this one. Was a B-Side of Carter's single 'Do Re Me So Far So Good' released in 1992. Surprisingly it's actually quite a respectable Cover of The Jam classic.

These Boots Are Made For Walking - Pure Hell.
There's been a few Punk Covers of this classic Nancy Sinatra tune and a few duff pop versions as well (Jessica Simpson anyone?). The 1978 single by Pure Hell is by far my favourite cover of the song.

Senses Working Overtime - Mandy Moore.
Mentioned above about duff pop cover versions and you would think that this cover of XTC just wouldn't work at all, but shockingly it does! Taken from her album 'Coverage' where she also covers Blondie, The Waterboys, and Joan Armatrading to name a few. They don't all work as well as this one and I realise that XTC fans will rise up in horror at a pop princess doing one of their most loved songs but there's no going back now!

Tell That Girl To Shut Up - Transvision Vamp.
Another favourite Cover is Wendy James and Co. performing Holly and the Italians' 'Tell That Girl'. Such a great pop tune, I'm amazed that it wasn't a smash hit for either of them.

Blitzkrieg Bop - The Beautiful South.
Everyone and their Grandmother has probably done a version of this Punk classicby the Ramones but none of them managed to make it quite sound like Paul Heaton and Co. From their superb 'Gold Diggas, Head Nodders and Pholk Songs' album on which they also managed to cover S Club 7 and Olvia Newton John and John Travolta is quite fascinating I think.

She Said She Said - The Shop Assistants.
From the B-Side of their 1989 single 'The Big E Power'. Mod Revival band The Chords did a smashing version of this on their album 'So Far Away'. Originally released in 1966 on 'Revolver' by The Beatles and written by John Lennon.

Ninety Nine and Half (Just Won't Do) - The Redskins.
From the 1986 album 'Neither Washington or Moscow' on Decca Records. There's a whole bunch of fantastic covers of this magnificent Wilson Pickett track first released in 1966 on Atlantic Records. Dr Feelgood, Credence Clearwater Revival, Etta James, and Buddy Guy are among the number of great versions.

American Girl - The Gaslight Anthem.
Back in 2010 The Gaslight Anthem included this in their set whilst on tour  and it was pretty cool I thought. This one was taken from a show in Indianapolis. Probably my most favourite Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song.

Thunder Road - Frank Turner.
There's a couple of great covers of this iconic Springsteen song, The Cowboy Junkies do a lovely version of it but I've included Frank's version of it because it's just so different from what you normally expect from him. It's hard of course to top Bruce's version of it either Solo or with the E Street Band.

Alphabet Beats Bonus #3: More Kinks

As a wee Alphabet Beats Bonus today here's a couple of Top Ten Countdowns spotlighting the music of The Kinks. First up is a S4L Top Ten Tracks by The Kinks and that will be followed by a S4L Top Ten Cover Versions of songs written and performed by The Kinks.

The S4L Top Ten of The Kinks

10. A Well Respected Man.

09. Sunny Afternoon.

08. Tired of Waiting For You.

07. Waterloo Sunset.

06. Lola.

05. Dedicated Follower of Fashion.

04. Better Things.

03. You Really Got Me.

02. Till The End of The Day.

01. All Day And All Of The Night

The S4L Top Ten Covers of Songs

by The Kinks.

10. Set Me Free - Sonny and Cher.

09. Lola - Madness.

08. See My Friends (Live) - Richard Thompson.

07. Where Have All The Good Times Gone (Live) - Supergrass.

06. Waterloo Sunset - First Aid Kit.

05. Dead End Street - Graham Coxon.

04. David Watts - The Jam.

03. Stop Your Sobbing - The Pretenders.

02. Days - Kirsty MacColl.

01. Better Things - Bouncing Souls.

Rewind: 1973 - The Dark Side of the Moon Released

Released 16th March 1973 UK/1st March 1973 USA

#1 US Billboard Chart*

#2 UK Album Chart 

*The Dark Side of the Moon became one of the best-selling albums of all time, (not counting compilations and various artists soundtracks), and is in the top 25 of a list of best-selling albums in the United States. Although it held the number one spot in the US for only a week, it remained in the Billboard album chart for 741 weeks.

Live at The Empire Pool Wembley

1974

I can remember a moment back when I was a kid reading the music press (not sure what paper it was now) when I saw a picture of Johnny Rotten wearing a 'I Hate Pink Floyd' T-shirt (it turns out that Cook, Jones and Rotten had all worn the same T-shirt at one point or other during their early days) and from that moment onwards it seemed to be the norm that if you were a Punk Rocker that you also hated Pink Floyd! Personally I thought that was totally dumb. Why should I cast aside the music I had been listening to just because it was no longer deemed cool by "the punk elite"?

Whilst I am not by any means a huge Floyd fan, back when I was younger I had a real love for a lot of the stuff they had done. I was first introduced to their music as a 12 year old kid (1975) by a friend at school who totally loved them. Some of it was a bit odd for me and a bit too long as well (when you've been used to listening to songs that last anywhere from between three minutes to seven minutes getting used to a band that for instance has just one song on the side of an LP is a tough thing to phathom - Echoes from the 1971 album 'Meddle' lasts for 23mins 29secs!)! 

Anyway, regardless of what was deemed as cool I really had a thing for them and that was right up until 'The Wall' was released in 1979 (an album I just didn't like and I never really followed what they were doing after that). 'Animals' had been my last favourite Floyd album and 'Wish You Were Here' remains a favourite as well all these years later.

This coming Monday is the anniversary of the release of The Dark Side of the Moon in the UK (the reason I posted this piece today was intially the Music History Calandar said the album was released today but upon further investigation I discovered that was not the case at all, but I thought I'd post it regardless as Monday is a bit of a busy day for me and I might not get the chance to do it then) and it was nice to take the chance to listen to the album again after so many years of not hearing it. 

Click on the links to enjoy further spotlight on The Dark Side of the Moon.

The Dark Side of the Moon Live at the BBC 1974.

Classic Albums: The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon.

The Dark Side of the Moon

Covered

Speak To Me/Breathe - Dream Theater.

On The Run/Time - Brian Damage.

The Great Gig In The Sky - Pink Talking Fish ft. Adrienne Osborn.

Money - Gov't Mule.

Us And Them - Misery Signals.

Any Colour You Like - Pigs and Pyrimids.

Brain Damage - Bim Skala Bim.

Eclipse - The Floyd Effect.

More Covers

The Flaming Lips - The Dark Side of the Moon Remake.

Easy All-Stars - Dub Side of the Moon.

Tidy Tune #347: Friction - Television

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TOM VERLAINE

Marquee Moon (Full Album).

Marquee Moon Album - Live

See No Evil - Live in Milan 2014.

Venus - Live in Copenhagen 2014.

Friction - Live in Boston 2014.

Marquee Moon - Knoxville, TN 29/03/14.

Elevation - San Francisco 2013.

Guiding Light - San Francisco 2013.

Prove It - Austin Tx 2013.

Torn Curtain - London 2014. 

 

See No Evil - Tristen.

Venus - Trotsky Icepick.

Friction - Echo and the Bunnymen.

Marquee Moon - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs.

Elevation - Amps Do Furnish A Room.

Guiding Light - Tennis.

Prove It - Amps Do Furnish A Room.

Torn Curtain - Amps Do Furnish A Room.

 

 

Rewind: 1963 and 1968 - The Beatles

On this day in 1963 The Beatles released their 2nd album 'With The Beatles'. 

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

With The Beatles Covered

It Won't Be Long - Franz Ferdinand.

All I've Got To Do - Suzanna Hoffs.

All My Loving - Artic Monkeys.
Don't Bother Me - The Beatoids.

Little Child - The Beat Rush.

Till There Was You Maisy Stella.

Please Mister Postman - The Carpenters.

Roll Over Beethoven - ELO.

Hold Me Tight - Evan Rachel Wood.

You Really Got A Hold On Me - She and Him.

I Wanna Be Your Man - The Rezillos.

Devil In Her Heart - Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou.

Not A Second Time - Robert Palmer.

Money (That's What I Want) - Cheap Trick.

On this day in 1968 The Beatles released their 9th Studio Album 'The Beatles' (commonly known as 'The White Album').

The White Album Covered

Back in the USSR - Lemmy.

Dear Prudence - Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Glass Onion - Rita Eriksen.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - Nicotine.

Wild Honey Pie - The Pixies.

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - Deerhoof.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Rock Destroy Legends.

Happiness is a Warm Gun - Breeders.

Martha My Dear - Bidiel.

I'm So Tired - Kasabian.

Blackbird - Thee Acquainted.

Piggies - The BeaTrips.

Rocky Racoon - Jack Johnson.

Why Don't We Do It In The Road - The Lightning Kids.

I Will - Alison Krauss and Mark O'Connor.

Julia - Sean Lennon.

Birthday - Kevin Max.

Yer Blues - The White Stripes.

Mother Nature's Son - Harry Nilsson.

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey - Soundgarden.

Sexy Sadie - Paul Weller.

Helter Skelter - Roger Daltrey.

Long, Long, Long - Tom Hooper.

Revolution 1 - Alice Cooper ft Johnny Depp.

Honey Pie - Anastasia.

Savoy Truffle - Dhani Harrison.

Cry Baby Cry - Beady Eye.

Revolution 9 - Alarm Will Sound.

Good Night - Linda Ronstadt.

Cover Me Nicely - Even More Great Cover Versions

After doing my All-Time Top 50 Cover Versions I realised that there were loads of tracks that never made it into the list, so in order to put that right here's a whole load more Covers that I really enjoy (and you might also). They are in no particular order and would probably make another great Mixtape (or three!). The Original artists names are in the brackets. Click on the links to enjoy the music.

Ace of Spades - Joe Brown. (Motorhead)

Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt. (Elvis Costello)

Help - The Damned. (The Beatles)

What A Wonderful World - Joey Ramone. (Louis Armstrong)

Virginia Plain - SpizzEnergi. (Roxy Music)

Tainted Love - Soft Cell. (Gloria Jones)

Dear Prudence - Siouxsie and the Banshees. (The Beatles)

David Watts - The Jam. (The Kinks)

Days - Kirsty MacColl. (The Kinks)

Stop Your Sobbing - The Pretenders. (The Kinks)

Gimmie Some Truth - Generation X. (John Lennon)

All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix. (Bob Dylan)

Personal Jesus - Nina Hagen. (Depeche Mode)

People Are Strange - Echo and the Bunnymen. (The Doors)

Walk On By - The Stranglers. (Dionne Warwick)

Jole Blon - Bruce Springsteen & Gary US Bonds. (The Breaux Brothers)

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

River Deep Mountain High - The Saints. (Ike and Tina Turner)

Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies. (Lou Reed)

Backstreets - Maria McKee. (Bruce Springsteen)

Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins. (Fleetwood Mac)

Peace Train - 10,000 Maniacs. (Cat Stevens)

Gimmie Shelter - Patti Smith. (Rolling Stones)

Kiss - Age of Chance. (Prince)

Hard To Handle - Black Crowes. (Otis Redding)

Take Me To The River - Talking Heads. (Al Green)

Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles. (Simon and Garfunkel)

My Way - Sid Vicious. (Frank Sinatra)

We Love You - Cock Sparrer. (Rolling Stones)

You Ready Now - Slaughter and the Dogs. (Frank Valli)

Jump - Aztec Camera. (Van Halen)
Do You Love Me - Girl. (Kiss)
Senses Working Overtime - Mandy Moore. (XTC) - I know it's bizzare!
Use Somebody - Paramore. (Kings of Leon)
Somebody Got Murdered - Chelsea. (The Clash)
He'll Have To Go - Pete Stride and Honest John Plain. (Jim Reeves)
All The Young Dudes - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. (Mott the Hoople - There is some debate whether or not the Mott the Hoople version can be considered as a cover version because it was originally written by David Bowie but seeing as Mott were the first ones to record and release the song therefore it cannot be considered a cover version!)

That will do for now. Maybe another point in time we'll return with some more Cover Versions.

Enjoy.

 

The S4L Top 50 Cover Versions Part Five 10 - 01

10. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding - Elvis Costello.
Written by Nick Lowe and released in 1974 by his band Brinsley Schwarz on the album 'New Favourites of ...Brinsley Schwarz'.
Elvis Costello's version first appeared as a B-Side of Nick Lowe's single 'American Squirm' and credited to Nick Lowe and His Sound.

09. Please Don't Touch - HeadGirl.
A 1959 Rock and Roll Classic by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates was turned into a Heavy Metal "duet" between Motorhead and all girl rockers Girlschool in 1980 for the 'St Valentine's Massacre EP'. It reached #5 in the UK Singles Chart - the biggest hit for either band! 

08. True Believers - Hot Water Music.
Released on a 2011 Split Single with the writers Bouncing Souls (who covered Hot Water Music's 'Wayfarer'). 'True Believers' appeared first on Bouncing Souls' 2001 album 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation'. 

07. Up Around The Bend - Hanoi Rocks.
A great slice of rock and roll from 1984's 'Two Steps To The Move' album. The song was a massive hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1970. John Fogerty is one of my all-time favourite song-writers.

06. Ninety Nine and A Half (Won't Do) - Doctor Feelgood.
I could have put one of any number of versions of this song here but I really do love the Feelgoods version from the 1977 'Be Seeing You' album. That was their first album after the departure of Wilko and the first with Gypie Mayo on guitar.
The original was penned by Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett and released on Atlantic in 1966. It should have been a massive hit I think.

05. Looking At You - The Damned.
The Damned always had a real golden touch when it came to cover versions ('Feel Alright' - The Stooges, 'Eloise' - Barry Ryan, 'Ballroom Blitz' - The Sweet, and 'Alone Again Or' - Love) and this fantastic MC5 track from the 1970 'Back In The USA' sat really well on The Damned's return album 'Machine Gun Etiquette' from 1979 on Chiswick Records.

04. Song To The Siren - This Mortal Coil.
Funnily enough Tim Buckley (who along with Larry Beckett wrote the song) was not actually the first person to release the song. Pat Boone was actually. He released it as an album track on 'Departure' in 1969 and Buckley's release on the 'Starsailor' album would follow a year later.
There have been some notable covers (and some less notable ones: *cough* Half Man Half Biscuit!), but the one that towers above them all is the version by This Mortal Coil (basically on this single it was The Cocteau Twins). Elizabeth Fraser's haunting vocal has never lost it's sense of wonder even listening afresh to it 31 years on from it's intial release. I honestly cannot understand how the single only reached #66 and yet the demand for it was so high that it spent 101 weeks on the Indie Chart (maybe have to put that down to "four skinny Indie Kids" - to quote Half Man Half Biscuit and Chelsea Footballer Pat Nevin!).

03. Trapped - Bruce Springsteen.
Springsteen began performing this Jimmy Cliff track back on the 'Born in the USA Tour' in 1984 and a live version from 6th August the same year at the Meadowlands, NJ was released on the 'We Are The World' album in April 1985.
Cliff's original recording was a B-Side (man, how many great B-Sides have there been!) for his 1972 single 'Struggling Man'.

02. Hurt - Johnny Cash.
I'm sure that Trent Reznor had no idea when he wrote this song for Nine Inch Nails' 1994 album 'The Downward Spiral' that all these years later people would still be talking about the song except they'd be talking about the Johnny Cash version! When first asked if Cash could cover the song he felt flattered but thought that it might end up as a bad gimmick. But once he saw the music video his response was this:
"I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure."
The video was filmed in February 2003, Cash was 71 and had serious health issues leading up to it and the recording of 'American Recordings IV: The Man Comes Around'. June Carter would pass away in May 2003 and Johnny would not be that far behind her, exiting this world with all it's hurt and pain in September 2003.
The video won awards for Best Video of the Year at the  Grammys and at the CMA. In July 2011 the NME declared it to be the best video of all time.
There's such a fragileness to Cash's voice on this that you almost think that he's going to break out into tears himself, until you realise that it's you and not him that has tears rolling down your cheeks!

01. I Believe In You - Sinead O'Connor.
My favourite cover version of all time is a faithful adaptation of a Bob Dylan song from a time when he was frowned upon, namely his "Born Again Phase". First released in 1979 on 'Slow Train Coming' and released by Sinead O'Connor in 1992 on 'A Very Special Christmas 2'.
I know other folks would probably have a different one as their top one or maybe would have chosen Cash on the top spot but this is mine and I'm unashamed of it. I love Sinead's voice on it and the live version that's on the above link is totally mesmerizing.