Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before

We all love a good cover version; some love bad ones as well. Below is a selection that span a decade or four that have caught this eye (or should that be ear?).

The musical sphere is traversed with a mix of the straight and a few being polar opposites of the originals. Otis Redding’s soulful Louie Louie not so far from The Kingmen’s more famous version, itself a cover. Gram Parsons turns in an acoustic blues version of “Searchin’” whilst Steve Earle new album, “Townes” is a tribute to Townes van Zandt, close to the original.

Simtec & Wylie reverse “Maggie May” into a slice of Philly. Perhaps the strangest, in the nicest possible way, is Laura Cantrell’s “Love Vigilantes“, so far removed from New Order’s Lowlife version as to be barely recognisable. Not quite so drastically, Here And Now transform Bowie’s hit into a ska tune.

Punk has always favoured covers. The Damned’s “Ballroom Blitz” moves Sweet’s original on a few years. They themselves provided the template for Oasis’ version of The Who’s “My Generation” whilst China Drum’s speeded up version of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” was always a great live favourite.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Covers mix if there were no fun versions and the Young Knives capture the kitsch of Adam and the Ants perfectly.

Thanks to some fellow bloggers for their (unwitting) contributions to the post: Yann at Cornershop of the Man for Sweet, Lazy at Bloggers Delight for the Here And Now, Larry at Funky 16 Corners for Simtec and Wylie.

’til next time.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before:

01. The Damned - Ballroom Blitz (taken from the album, Machine Gun Etiquette [25th Anniversary Edition])
02. The Higsons – Music To Watch Girls By (taken from the album, The Curse of the Higsons)

03. Here And Now – Man Who Sold The World

04. Otis Redding – Louie Louie (taken from the album, Pain in My Heart…)

05. Gram Parsons – Searchin’ (taken from the album, Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons, 1965-1966)

06. Steve Earle – Mr. Mudd And Mr. Gold (taken from the album, Townes)

07. Laura Cantrell – Love Vigilantes (taken from the album, Trains And Boats And Planes)

08. Symtec & Wylie – Maggie May

09. Young Knives – Stand And Deliver (taken from the album, Up All Night)

10. Sweet – My Generation

11. China Drum – Wuthering Heights

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