Youtube cover songs better than the original or just as good as...

There is a lot of talk about Heart covering Led Zeppelin songs. How about a band that covers a Heart song, and does it better than Heart?


 
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There are some cover artists or cover bands that do such a good job of recreating the original artist that they sound almost the same as the original artist and it's sometimes hard to tell that it is being performed by a different cover artist. In that case the cover may be said to be just as good, or in some cases better than the original version, perhaps due to better technology.

And then there are covers where the cover artist has a distinctly different voice or puts a different interpretation on the original song or changes it just enough so that you can tell it is different but in some cases it can be just as good or even better than the original.
 
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Qs Laptop said:
There is a lot of talk about Heart covering Led Zeppelin songs. How about a band that covers a Heart song, and does it better than Heart?


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This one sounds highly processed. She doesn't sound like this live. Just sayin'
 
Amy Lee Covers Led Zeppelin's Going to California

Amy Lee does justice to a great song.

 
candrew said:
Amy Lee does justice to a great song.

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WOW! I love Amy Lee to start with (Evanescence - Bring me to Life, My Immortal, Good Enough, Lithium, etc), but oh boy, she sounds great! She can definitely SING and I love her take on this.
 
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candrew said:
Amy Lee does justice to a great song.
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Art is in the eye of the beholder. Great voice, but not a good song choice for her voice IMO.

Many covers are decent tributes, but very few covers are better than the originals to me. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are: Jimmy Buffett's versions of Mexico (James Taylor) and Brown-Eyed Girl (Van Morrison) are better than the originals to me. So is Everclear's version of Brown-Eyed Girl.

I've never heard a Beatles cover that was better than the original, though there have been some very good attempts (Sarah McLachlan's take on Blackbird).

Many covers I hear make it clear how good the original was/is. Sometimes we don't fully realize how remarkable a song is until we hear others try it (e.g. Bohemian Rhapsody, there are more bad than good, and none equal to the original IMO).
 
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British bands of the '60s made millions covering American blues artists of the 1930-1950s. Most of the Brits benefited from amplification and other production assets the original artists lacked.

Led Zepplin worked up a powerful remake of "When the Levee Breaks." Memphis Minnie Lawler could have used some royalty payments at the time it came out, but I doubt that she got any as she was buried in an unmarked grave a couple years after it came out. Willie Dixon sued LZ for what he considered theft of intellectual property of a couple other songs.

Here's one that has been covered time and time again by white bands, but I don't think any stand up to the original.
 
Midpack said:
Originally Posted by candrew View Post
Amy Lee does justice to a great song.
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Art is in the eye of the beholder. Great voice, but not a good song choice for her voice IMO. ...
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I loved what she did with her voice for that song, lots of interesting twists, I really liked it. Though I also felt there was some 'urgency' or power or something missing, hard to say what. But a very good cover, IMO.

Midpack said:
...

Many covers are decent tributes, but very few covers are better than the originals to me. .... So is Everclear's version of Brown-Eyed Girl. ...
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I love Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl". Loved it when it first came out when I was a kid, love it now and at all stages of my life. It really had a different sound from a typical pop record (of any time). It has certainly stood the test of time, a classic. So I was looking forward to an alternate version - if if I didn't think it was better, it should be interesting, and who knows, maybe I'll be amazed?

OK, so I understand all the caveats, "to me", it's all subjective, personal preference, YMMV, and all. But I really can't see describing Everclear's version as "better", in any way, shape or form, on any planet that supports life as we know it. Well, not unless your definition of "better" means: "Sucking the life out of a song, sucking the emotion out of it, sucking the personality out of it, sucking the dynamic range out of it (which isn't totally subjective, Dynamic Range can be measured and is something that makes a song more interesting), sucking the musical breaks out of it, sucking the contrasting instrumental lines out of it - and for good measure, adding some suck in the form of a droning background." Just awful, IMO. Shockingly awful. I forced myself to listen to the whole thing, ever the optimist (sadist?). Just played it for DW, didn't get far, she begged me to stop. Then we played Van Morrison's version to bring us back from the edge. Ahhhh.

Yes, I know, it's all subjective. Like a piece of soggy cardboard might be subjectively better to someone than a fine meal at an upscale restaurant.

http://bit.ly/2ZC8NfQ << shortlink to avoid the screen-filling video preview; click at your own risk.

-ERD50
 
Mr._Graybeard said:
...
Here's one that has been covered time and time again by white bands, but I don't think any stand up to the original.
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I saw Muddy Water's live, late 70's in a smallish club outside Chicago. "Mannish Boy" was just a power-house. I can't describe the feeling of experiencing Muddy performing that. That is a single chord the whole way through, no key changes, no chord changes, just that riff. Should be boring as hell, but it was/is exhilarating. Just something special about the delivery. Magic.

-ERD50
 
ERD50 said:
Yes, I know, it's all subjective. Like a piece of soggy cardboard might be subjectively better to someone than a fine meal at an upscale restaurant.

http://bit.ly/2ZC8NfQ << shortlink to avoid the screen-filling video preview; click at your own risk.

-ERD50
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YICK!

I made it to 1 min 30 second mark. I'm off to pour bleach in my eyes and hydrogen peroxide in my ears. That was a disgusting and a musical crime.
 
ERD50 said:
I saw Muddy Water's live, late 70's in a smallish club outside Chicago. "Mannish Boy" was just a power-house. I can't describe the feeling of experiencing Muddy performing that. That is a single chord the whole way through, no key changes, no chord changes, just that riff. Should be boring as hell, but it was/is exhilarating. Just something special about the delivery. Magic.

-ERD50
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Here's a blues cover you might like. I doubt that Jake LaBotz would say his version is even on a par with the Howlin' Wolf original, but he does say he's obsessed with this particular song. I think it shows in the performance.

 
Bill Frisell’s cover of The Beach Boys song “In my room” is better than the original in my estimation
Even without singing 😁


 
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mh said:
Bill Frisell’s cover of The Beach Boys song “In my room” is better than the original in my estimation
Even without singing 😁
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Something in that song seems to bring out the guitar aces. Here's Danny Gatton's version.
 
I was never a big Toto fan, but these young people do a very good version of "Africa":


 
Foxes and Fossils:


and some more Foxes and Fossils:



I've listened to Vacation by the Go-Go's 100's of times but like the F+F version more.
 
cover of beatles song

Midpack said:
I’ll just agree with the OP, most covers aren’t as good as the originals, but a few are as his/her examples show.

Just my taste, I always thought:
  • Buffett and Everclear both had better performances/arrangements of Brown Eyed Girl than the original (Van Morrison).
  • Buffett’s Mexico was better than the original (James Taylor).
  • Jennifer Nettles Hello Again, also at Kennedy Center Honors ***, was better than the original (Neil Diamond). https://youtu.be/E1iRkoPXupY
OTOH I don’t know of any cover of a Beatles song that equals or betters an original?

Extra credit: Best performance of the Star Spangled Banner? My answer, no one has matched Whitney Houston’s Super Bowl Star Spangled Banner IMO, the hairs on my arms were standing on end, powerful and mesmerizing.

*** The tribute covers on Kennedy Center Honors are generally memorable every year IME!
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I would vote for Joe Cocker's cover of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window"....
 
 
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