What’s your top 5 cover songs that in your mind were better than the originals? An example would be Purple Rain by Aynsley over Prince’s version. Everybody from the Beatles to Fall Down Boy have done them but I’m looking for the ones you all thought were an improvement.
Two spring immediately to mind and yes, one is by Aynsley - but not Purple Rain! I think Aynsley did absolute wonders with ‘As The Crow Flies’ and I particularly love the studio version on Everything I Need.
Also I think Muse’s cover of ‘Feeling Good’, immortalised by Nina Simone, was just blissful.
Oops… that’s Fall Out Boy not Fall Down Boy. My first song is The Ecstasy Of Gold by Metallica. Interesting cover a Clint Eastwood soundtrack piece L’estasi dell’oro by Ennio Morricone. The story behind this song is the band practiced it prior to performing in concert to get the juices flowing so to speak and subsequently added it to their song list as its popularity grew. I’ll add more covers as I think of ‘em but I should change the criteria to “as good as” rather than better since it’s rare a remake is in fact better.
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Little Wing is a corker - and don’t forget Aynsley’s Kenny Wayne Shepherd Soundalike “Disoderly Me” - the riff from Born With a Broken Heart off the great Ledbetter Heights - Aynsley’s live Purple Rain is great too
I can’t believe I didn’t immediately think of Peter Shoulder and his former band Winterville’s rousing ‘Ohio’. Man alive but that would get the heart pumping, oh yes. What a crying shame he never gave in to pressure and put it down on vinyl (tape, disc, whatever!) so that you’ll never know how great it was, unless you heard it live with your own ears.
When the Crow flies by Aynsley is certainly a great version. I have never heard Tony Joe White’s version to know if it is better though. Rory Gallagher did a good version too. Aynsley’s Supakav n Pilchards has a great selection of covers.
I like the Animals version of Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood more than Nina Simone’s (she did not)
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s version of Let Me Love you has more urgency that Buddy Guy’s original.
Joe Bonamassa’s version of Another Kind Of Love originally by John Mayall is groovier than the original (Katie Melua’s version of Mayall’s Crawling Up A Hill is not).
Speaking of John Mayall, he(with Peter Green) did a great version of Looking Back by Johnny (Guitar) Watson.
Think Lizzy’s version of Whiskey In The Jar is better than the traditional versions due to that great guitar tone!
More covers:
Stevie Salas—Hots On for Nowhere (Zeppelin)
Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers—Who Knows/Jam & Road House (Hendrix)
Johnny A—Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb) Oh so mellow!
Creed—Riders on the Storm (Doors)
Marc Broussard—Inner City Blues (Marvin Gaye)
So many! Surprised nobody has gone for Hendrix with `All Along The Watchtower`. How about `Crossroads` by Cream? Obviously would agree with `Purple Rain` by our man Aynsley.
As a future project, what about a covers album from Aynsley or is it perhaps too difficult or expensive to get permission to cover the songs? Or maybe a live album of covers?
So many! Surprised nobody has gone for Hendrix with `All Along The Watchtower`. How about `Crossroads` by Cream? Obviously would agree with `Purple Rain` by our man Aynsley.
As a future project, what about a covers album from Aynsley or is it perhaps too difficult or expensive to get permission to cover the songs? Or maybe a live album of covers?
As Upside Down had no covers on it, Aynsley may feel he no longer wants to record other people’s songs. Noone can argue that his own song writing is not good enough. The odd one wouldn’t hurt though - I love his version of Take Me To The River - completely different from the original (which is great too).
and what about the Hendrix version of “Johnny B Goode” on the In The West live abum - that is a classic for sure!!! - many say covers are a cop out and I suppose there is some truth in that.......
I’ve had my wrist slapped for being mean, posting details about a cover you can’t listen to - and I take the point. Which brings me back to 2. I don’t want to pick each and every track on Supakev, as that’s surely a given. So I’ll plump for one more from Aynsley, his lovely, light, funky Crossroads. Really threw me for a loop the first time I heard that, fantastic.
No4 then is something that may be controversial, as many of my fellow KWS fans think he absolutely ruined it - but I just love Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s take on ‘Oh Well’ and for my money, it’s better than the original because it has so much punch to it.
On a lighter note, this is a cover version worth a look, see what you think:
All right, my 5th choice. It’s just got to be Van Halen’s revamped, testosterone soaked ‘You Really Got Me’. I have a very fond memory attached to that song
We’ve all listened to Tribute cds that have played homage the great Artists. Three come to mind right off: Enconium (Zeppelin), the soundtrack for I Am Sam (Beatles), and Stoned Immaculate (Doors). On the Doors disc is my last contribution to this thread. a posthumous version of Roadhouse Blues done by the three surviving members of the Doors along with Flea of RHCP, the late John Lee Hooker on vocals and (gasp) Jim Morrison back from the dead on lead vocals—the guy even sets the mood for the song with the intro Roadhouse Rap. This isn’t an easy album to find but it’s worth the search. Great version of a great song!
Britbabe - talking of Van Halen brings back memories of my favourite Karioke song, the David Lee Roth version of California Girls - always a crowd pleaser - ah, those were the days!!! - surely you must have had a soft spot for Diamond Dave????
I do indeed Simon, but to the list of my heinous musical aberrations you can add that I’m a Hagar girl, thro and thro! (the others being I don’t like the Beatles, Pink Floyd or - shock horror, Saint Jimi!)
