While true for several Beatles’ hits, the name of the song “Strawberry Fields Forever” seems to anticipate the number of covers that would later be made of it. Good thing Lennon changed the working title, “It’s Not Too Bad.” That phrase does little justice to either the original version or this latest quirky and organic cover made by Twintapes. Continue reading »
They call her the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll and they say that everything he touches turns to gold. Since he isn’t touching The White Stripes these days (those golden days are over), Jack White’s had time to add his touch to Wanda Jackson’s ‘50s rockabilly tunes. The rock-duo, who have been ripping up the late-night circuit with appearances on Letterman and Conan, teamed up with another one of White’s side-projects, the Third Man Band, to perform a rendition of “Riot in Cell Block #9” at Nashville’s Third Man Records headquarters. Continue reading »
To promote the launch of her fifth solo project, Mondo Amore, Nicole Atkins has been doing a lot of crying. The bluesy-rock album walks the oft-trod path of heartbreak, shedding tears most poignantly (and literally) in second track “Cry Cry Cry.” So it’s probably not surprising that when she stopped by the Rolling Stone offices to perform a few songs, she covered Roy Orbison’s “Crying.” At the top of the song, Atkins’ tips her hat to her grandma saying that she always wanted her to be a country singer. Atkin’s sugary vocals share that gloomy-quiver that’s present in the Orbison original and makes you believe in their heartbreak. Watch the video and download the MP3 below. Continue reading »
Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.
Here’s one of those situations where the cover is actually more widely-known than the original. The song was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. Unlike the later covers of the song that have been chart-climbers (like Soft Cell’s), Jones’ version nearly fell into complete obscurity until a British DJ, Richard Searling, stumbled upon her CD My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home almost ten years later. The song garnered enough underground success on the UK Northern Soul scene (the ’60s mod-twist on American soul music) to prompt Jones to re-record the single in 1976, but the tainted track once again got no love from the charts. Continue reading »