Cover or Photocopy?

[alanp]

(Or, if you're old, Photostat. If you're extremely brand-conscious and call tissues by a brandname, Xerox.)

I'm listening to "Twang! A Tribute To Hank Marvin & The Shadows", and there are several stand-out tracks, including a live performance by Hank of Flingel Bunt.

Iommi's version of "Wonderful Land" especially struck me because he brought his own interpretation and twist to it. (Johnny Cash, in his American albums, did this even better. I love Cash's covers of U2 songs, but cannot stand U2 themselves.)

Mark Knopfler's cover of "Atlantis" is beautiful, and extremely well executed. Too well executed. Note-perfect, as in you may as well listen to the original studio recording.

Frampton's cover of "The Frightened City" is probably halfway between the two. Brian May's "FBI" is neat, in that he is still close to Hank's playing, but still manages to make the lead "his", if you follow.

Bela Fleck is probably the furtherest from the original still entertaining, though.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Should covers be faithful to the original, or should the cover-er bring something new to the table? How far is TOO far?

[Muadzin]

Depends on the situation. If you're a tribute band, or a parties playing cover band then yes, as faithful to the original as possible. If you're a cover band with a twist, then doing the interpretation thing is in order. If you're a new band that wants to start out with some covers then you can do both, although you will probably lack the originality to make it your own. If you're an established band that wants to lay down some quick bonus tracks to go along with a new album, you can do both. And if you're contributing a cover to a 'Tribute to......' album then doing your own thing seems basically mandatory.

Thing is though, a well cover performed true to the original is just as good and interesting as a cover that gets owned by its new performer. There is nothing wrong with either. A badly performed cover in either category is just as bad, although the thing with cover songs is that audiences tend to be forgiving with things that they recognize. People will fill in the missing parts in their head. That's why its so much easier to get gigs and make a living playing cover songs then it is to play originals. You can be a lot worse playing covers then you are when playing originals. And of course there's also lots of fun to be had butchering cover songs. Like in playing rocking metal versions of the most atrocious pop songs that torment us on the radio. \m/ 

[march500]

One of my favourite covers \m/
http://youtu.be/S5K4Py1L7mc

[29palms]

I think it's a difficult balance between doing something new to the song without completely departing from the original feel/atmosphere. I didn't really enjoy Brian May's FBI, even though I like some of his playing in Queen, maybe cos the original is one of my favourite Shadows songs? I quite like what Steve Stevens did with 'The Savage'. As you say Alan Knopfler's Atlantis was beautifully played but ultimately pointless...

Here's one that does something interesting without losing the spirit and the feeling (sorry couldn't resist) of the original—
https://www.thisismyjam.com/song/glomag/disorder

[jimilee]

I really think it's the situation, if it's a bands version of the cover it should be either different enough to tell they're just not screwing it up or playing it wrong, or it should be true to the original but in that band's own style.

[nzCdog]

Gee i dunno... some covers are seriously cool.  We covered the commitments cover of 'mustang sally' and the blues brothers cover of 'sweet home chicago'.  The foo fighters did a sweet version of 'baker st' too which you must check out... although in that instance we covered the original

[jimilee]

Gee i dunno... some covers are seriously cool.  We covered the commitments cover of 'mustang sally' and the blues brothers cover of 'sweet home chicago'.  The foo fighters did a sweet version of 'baker st' too which you must check out... although in that instance we covered the original

My last band did a lot of that, our inside joke was we were a  cover cover band.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk