@initforthemusic, great list! Nice to see someone who knows Bobby Fuller's version of "I Fought The Law" was a cover of Buddy Holly's, and who also didn't nominate The Clash's God-awful version ;-) . Though I really, really love Barrett Strong's original of "Money", Jerry Lee's is great too. I liked The Beatles version until I heard Barrett's, which leaves their's in the dust. Wicked guitar tone, and deep, deep groove. |
Manfred Mann were a great group, rarely mentioned anymore. Paul Jones was one of the very best singers of the British Invasion (on a par with Van Morrison and Steve Winwood), and the musicians had Jazz influences in their playing styles, unusual at that time. |
Not imo! Not bad, though. |
Wow slaw, two songs I haven't heard. So Steve Miller's "Mercury Blues" is a different song the Lindley's? I admit I haven't heard it. I saw The Steve Miller Blues Band (his original band name) in '67, before the first album came out, with Boz Scaggs playing rhythm guitar (a Gibson ES-335) only, not singing. I'll bet Chilton's "Summertime Blues" is an interesting version, but haven't heard it. So much music, so little time! |
slaw, is that the David Lindley "Mercury Blues"? Must be killer, 'cause David's is fantastic. Great recorded quality, too. |
@n80, I got to see/hear both The Kinks and The Who live in '68 and '69, and both were really great live. You expect that of The Who, but not necessarily The Kinks. Ray Davies in one of my favorite writers ("Waterloo Sunset" !), and he was also a great performer, very entertaining. Believe it or not, The Kinks were louder than The Who. Ray's Telecaster was piercingly bright, to the point of painfulness. |
@n80, have you seen The Band's performance of the song on Saturday Night Live? Astoundingly great, their best. It was late in The Band's original run, maybe in 1976. While SNL always gave the musical guest time for only one song, Lorne Michaels gave them time for three, the only time I've seen that. THAT'S how much respect The Band commanded from other artists. They had the horn section they later had at The Last Waltz, playing the parts heard in the studio version, absolutely essential to the song. Those horn parts not being in Baez's version renders it unacceptable imo. |
In two places in the song Baez got the lyrics wrong. She sped up the song, destroying the Southern feel of The Band’s version, which was ideal for the song’s story. The song is about rural people; Baez's version is pure city slicker. And I really miss the horns (trombone, tuba) heard in the original, which were there for a reason. The huge vocal group heard in the chorus of the song in her recording, drenched in reverb, sounds completely out of place. And then there’s her warbling, extreme vibrato, which some people don’t care for. Other than that it’s fine ;-) . |
Allison Moore's recording of "Both Sides Now" (on her Mockingbird album), which I prefer to those by both Joni and Judy. |
limomangus, Laura was such a great writer. I actually prefer her original performances of her songs to those of others. |
Gram Parsons' original recording of his "A Song For You" (on his debut album GP) is real fine, but the cover by The Continental Drifters is much, much better. The Drifters were a 1990's L.A. supergroup with members from The Bangles, The db's, The Cowsills, The Dream Syndicate, and a great drummer named Carlo Nuccio (who played on Tori Amos' first album). They made one album in L.A., hosted Tuesday nights at Raji's on Hollywood Blvd., then moved to New Orleans where they recorded two more albums. A great group. |
My sister rented Bridesmaids tonight, and as the movie was nearing it’s conclusion, I was surprised to hear a killer version of "Shakin’ All Over" by Wanda Jackson. Wanda was a 1950’s Rockabilly singer, dated Elvis, then went into the Gospel field for decades. This great, great song, originally recorded by Englishmen Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, is best known to a lot of people from The Who’s version on the Live At Leeds album. Wanda’s version was produced by Jack White and is on Wanda’s 2011 The Party Ain’t Over album. It is SMOKIN’ hot, almost as good as the 1965 version by The Guess Who. Better than Johnny Kidd’s version, and much better than The Who’s imo kinda lame one. Following directly behind the song is another using a guitar riff almost identical to the one is Shakin’, Blondie’s "Rip Her To Shreads". This is a live version, and is also great, much better than their studio recording heard earlier in the movie. |
slaw, you know it's funny how when "Oops" is taken out of Britney's hands and put in Richard's, you can hear how good a song it actually is. |
Ha! slaw’s Richard Thompson cover of "Oops!...I Did It Again" is genius! Fun topic. And djones51’s The Band’s "I Shall Be Released" is one I wish I had made (maybe I did in the similar thread?). Richard Manuel’s falsetto vocal is really special. For another great version of his Janis Joplin's "Me And Bobby McGee", give a listen to Gordon Lightfoot's recording. ARC's Bill Johnson really liked the recorded sound quality of the album it's on (If You Could Read My Mind) too. |
The Beatles: "Rock & Roll Music" (Chuck Berry original of course). Dave Edmunds: "I Hear You Knocking" (Smiley Lewis original); "Born To Be With You" (The Chordettes original); "Singing The Blues" (Marty Robbins original); "Almost Saturday Night" (John Fogerty original); a bunch more. Edmunds is my favorite song re-interpreter. Elvis Presley: "Hound Dog" (Big Mama Thornton original). The Byrds: "My Back Pages" (Bob Dylan original); "Mr. Tambourine Man" (ditto). The Bobby Fuller Four: "I Fought The Law" (The Crickets original); "Love's Made A Fool Of You" (ditto). The Guess Who: "Shakin' All Over" (Johnnie Kidd & The Pirates original). .....to be continued!..... |
