Feb 152021
 

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

"Crowded House" album cover

Crowded House, harking from the land down under, formed in the mid-80s. Their first album, self-titled, took a little bit of time to catch on, but its fourth single, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” became a hit internationally. The band, with a changing line-up, has been making music off and on ever since. Neil Finn has even taken on quite a side project, joining Fleetwood Mac after Lindsey Buckingham’s departure.

The band, in its current form, was supposed to tour in 2020, but the pandemic required a postponement. However, there is a silver lining to the lockdown; a new Crowded House album is being promised this year. Until then, we can revisit this song that started it all. Cover Me’s own Jordan Becker talks about the original tune, and we’ve discussed a cover in the past, but the more covers, the merrier. Here’s five more!
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Jun 282019
 

Check out the best covers of past months here.

best cover songs of june
Ashley O [Miley Cyrus] – Right Where I Belong (Nine Inch Nails cover)

The second-most-bonkers cover of the month (just wait ’til we get to “Spicy”) comes from – who else – Miley Cyrus. On a new episode of Black Mirror, she covers/parodies angsty Nine Inch Nails songs as the most insipid of pop jams. Trent Reznor, for one, says he is very much on board (given the lyric changes, these covers required his legal approval). Miley’s songs in character as Ashley O are outrageous and borderline offensive, which is kind of the point. “On a Roll” (FKA “Head Like a Hole”) has gotten most of the attention, but “Right Where I Belong” is more listenable. Marginally. Continue reading »

Apr 012019
 
best cover songs march
Amaara – House of Cards (Radiohead cover)

We just posted the 45 best Radiohead covers ever, but there’s already a 46th. Unsurprising, really, considering how much this band gets covered. The musical project of actor Kaelen Amara Ohm, Amaara took on the In Rainbows gem “House of Cards.” Her cover carries echoes of the haunting original, but with a smoother electro-ambient sheen.

Chris Anderson – Eh-Hee / Digging in the Dirt (Dave Matthews / Peter Gabriel cover)

Composer Chris Anderson draws from some pretty deep wells of music knowledge on his new Song Cycle. He covers Laurie Anderson and John Cage and Tom Waits – twice. He covers Peter Gabriel twice too, on a beautiful “Mercy Street” and more subtly here, working bits of “Digging in the Dirt” into – of all things – a gospel Dave Matthews cover. “The addition of a choir was important to me to create the feeling of a ground-swell of support,” he writes in an email. “The fact that the song is about ‘knocking the devil to his knees’ made the gospel choir a natural choice.” Continue reading »

Jul 212015
 
flock of dimes

“Don’t Dream It’s Over,” first reentered the covers stratosphere with Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande’s adorable rendition for the Happy Hippie Foundation earlier this year. Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner (under her solo moniker Flock of Dimes) and Sylvan Esso also covered the Crowded House jam for AV Club’s Undercover series, and as much as I loved Miley and Ariana’s take, this one may have it beat. Continue reading »

Jun 142011
 

Download This scours the web’s dark corners for cool cover freebies. View past installments.

Oftentimes, when artists release free covers, you’re met with a few different possibilities. One is that there’s great variety between the song selections, but there are only a few of them. The other is that there are a ton of different covers and they’re all sort of the same. Vancouver’s Reid Jamieson cannot quite be placed in either camp, although his covers are in no short supply. Continue reading »

Feb 012011
 

By now you’ve probably seen the video of Anne Hathaway and some Hollywood-types inviting Staten Island’s PS22 Chorus to the Oscars. That video acts as a sure sign, if one was needed, that this mass of fifth graders has “made it.” They’ll be performing the 1939 Judy Garland classic “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, which airs on February 27. Continue reading »