May 302017
 
james blake frank ocean

Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed”, from his Blonde album, has been a popular song to cover, with a great recent take from Stormzy. But it’s even more special that James Blake would cover the song that samples his own “Always”.

Blake, who’s been a mastermind and contributor to a lot of other great artists, including Kendrick Lamar, produced, arranged and made keyboard contributions to Ocean’s original “Godspeed”. It is safe to assume the performance on May 14th in Arizona was not Blake’s first time playing the song. In a solo piano set, Blake performed an even mellower, more somber version of Ocean’s song. Continue reading »

May 272017
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Bruce Cockburn, a curious and spiritual man who finds the wonder where you can’t and who sees the danger when you don’t. The Canadian singer-songwriter has released two dozen albums over the last 45 years, but isn’t too well known outside of the Great White North. Generally speaking, Bruce’s ’70s albums were acoustic, frequently religious, and grounded in nature; perfect Sunday brunch backgrounds. The ’80s recordings were more electric, angrier, yet always hopeful. Cockburn is perceptive, able to explain a complex tragedy by focusing on the victims it created. And regardless of the decade, Cockburn’s love songs were always in the mix. Bruce has won 13 Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy) and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Bruce turns 72 today and we celebrate by offering a selection of other artists covering his work.
Continue reading »

May 262017
 
chris cornell covers

We’re more than a week on since the tragic loss of Chris Cornell, and not more can be said that hasn’t already been written. A lot of musicians were crushed and many expressed their sadness on social media and in song (though it must be said, it didn’t always feel genuine as a few tried to capitalize on his popularity by name-checking him). While the media focuses on the how and why of Cornell’s passing, the fans mourn in the mosh pit and the mezzanines.

When I pitched writing this roundup, I also knew that regardless of how heartfelt these tributes would be, it would be incredibly difficult for many singers to hit Cornell’s singing range. This is not to pick on anyone in particular, nor to throw shade on their own expressions of grief and the want to express it. But even as someone who often has to defend cover songs versus the originals, I really think Chris Cornell was truly irreplaceable.

Here are my favorites of the many Soundgarden, Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog covers that have been recorded since Cornell’s passing. Continue reading »

May 252017
 

That’s A Cover? explores cover songs that you may have thought were originals.

Our story begins with R&B singer Limmie Snell, who in March 1965, under the name Lemme B. Good, released “Good Lovin’.” Only a month later, another version was released. This one kept the basic melody, the title, and the “yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah” hook, but all the other lyrics were changed – author Rudy Clark wasn’t happy with what he heard, and got Artie Resnick (who also co-wrote “Under the Boardwalk” and “Yummy Yummy Yummy”) to give him a hand with fixing the words. What emerged was a whole new song – no longer about a man who gets good lovin’ from his new girl (even though she’s ugly and can’t sing), now it’s about a man who needs good lovin’, a diagnosis obtained after consulting a physician. Continue reading »

May 232017
 
james bond theme covers

Two years ago, I ranked the 24 best covers of James Bond theme songs for the 24 movies to date. The original plan was to include one cover of every song, but that quickly became untenable. There were a million good covers of “You Only Live Twice,” and zero of Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” (and I haven’t seen anyone pick up the mantle since his death either).

If only I’d waited.

A new Bond tribute album came out earlier this month, and it includes a cover of every single Bond theme. Yes, including the ones from Sheryl Crow, Madonna, and of course Cornell. It’s called Songs. Bond Songs: The Music Of 007 and, in honor of Roger Moore’s passing today, we thought we’d post all the new covers of the themes from Moore’s seven movies. Continue reading »

May 232017
 
susanna hoffs prince

Susanna Hoffs covers a lot of songs. With her musical partner Matthew Sweet, she has recorded three albums so far in the fantastic Under the Covers series, and throughout her career she has periodically cropped up with great covers (we named one of them in our Best Covers of 1996 retrospective). So Susanna Hoffs recording a cover song is hardly news. Susanna Hoffs covering Prince, however, certainly is.

Hoffs has had a successful enough solo career that some may forget she first came to fame as a member of the Bangles. And one of their biggest hits was the Prince-penned “Manic Monday” (which we recently premiered another cover of). So Hoffs has more credibility covering Prince than most, and thirty years after he gave her one of her biggest hits, she does it again. Continue reading »