Apr 042025
 

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

Sexual Healing covers

The American, or Caribbean, musical expatriate in Europe has been a constant since travel between the continents has been easy. From the Jazz Age to the present day, some artists prefer to ply their trade on the European continent rather than the American one.

Each individual had their own reasons for their move. Pianist Hazel Scott was a huge success in the US, becoming the first Black American woman to host a network TV show, but the McCarthy witch hunts chased her out of America. Others were trying to escape drug or alcohol problems, or vindictive individual drug dealers, or, in the case of Chet Baker, were hoping that the authorities in Europe might take a more lenient view of their drug habits, which they had no intention of curbing.

A significant theme from many African American artists, from Josephine Baker onwards, was that the segregation policies and lack of appreciation of Jazz or Rhythm and Blues as art forms in their home country made Europe an enticing prospect. They could feel more appreciated in their art, and love who their heart wanted to love rather than who society was willing to let them love. This has been eloquently described by Sonny Rollins, and features in all the biographies of Miles Davis. Artists who had been to Europe fighting in the Second World War on behalf of their country, contrasted their acceptance as heroes in the lands they helped liberate, with their status back home.

This world is beautifully captured in one of the greatest movies about music ever made, Round Midnight. In the movie, saxophonist Dexter Gordon (who spent many years himself in Copenhagen) plays jazz musician Dale Turner. His alcohol problems have made him unwelcome in his favorite playing spots in the US, and so he takes a residency in Paris.  There he finds a supportive community of post-bop musical superstars, and people who lionize him as a person and support him in his craft. The story itself is based on the life of Bud Powell. Through love, nurturing and appreciation as an individual, Turner/Gordon refinds his muse and his mojo. The Oscar-winning soundtrack albums, curated by Herbie Hancock, are exquisite works of art.

Marvin Gaye’s time in Europe followed one of the tropes. Creatively, emotionally and financially broken by years of drug abuse, he had lost his marriage, record deal and reputation, and moved to Europe in the late ’70s. His relocation to the port town of Ostende, Belgium in 1981 was an attempt to get away from his problems. It seemed to work, and Gaye was able to start recording after curbing his drug use, and getting fit both physically (by running) and spiritually. Forced by circumstances to be innovative with his music, he learned how to use the Roland TR-808 and Jupiter 8 synthesizers (then mainly used as drum machines) to create a whole sound.  From that the album Midnight Love and its biggest hit, “Sexual Healing,” emerged.

Recovery from cocaine addiction can awaken all sorts of things in the addict. In Gaye’s case his libido returned.  He was still a young man. He used that energy and creativity to create one of the great songs about sex.  It also gave Gaye one of his biggest hits and led to receiving his only two Grammy Awards.

One of the biggest risks the expatriate faces is when he thinks he is over the worst and can return across the Atlantic to face his demons, with greater strength. It does not always work out as they hope.  In the same way that Dale Turner/Bud Powell struggled when they returned to the US, Gaye’s potentially triumphant return to musical stardom and his family home soon ended in disaster.

The universality of the message and success of the song has meant that there have been many covers over the years.  Here are five of the best.
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Jun 132023
 
noel gallagher love will tear us apart

Manchester is on a roll. Manchester City is the best football team in Europe, and probably the planet. In addition to sport, music plays a central role in Manchester’s vibrant recovery. On a recent weekend, fans sang along at separate stadium gigs from Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys.  Sir Elton John had an arena farewell on. Cover Me fans might have been at Scary Pockets‘ triumphant first visit to the city. Next year, a concert venue with input from Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles aims to be the best venue in the UK for acoustics and attendee experience. Manchester icon, and City Fan, Noel Gallagher’s visit to The Radio 2 Piano Room to pay homage to one of the city’s most treasured songs had potential, at least. Continue reading »

Dec 172018
 
best cover songs of 2018

Two things strike me as I scan through our list this year. This first is that many of the highest-ranking covers are tributes to recently-deceased icons. No surprise there, I suppose. But none actually pay tribute to artists that died in 2018. They honor those we’ve been honoring for two or three years now – your Pettys, your Princes, your Bowies. Hundreds of covers of each of these legends appeared in the first days after their deaths, but many of the best posthumous covers took longer to emerge.

Good covers take time. That principle – the cover-song equivalent of the slow food movement, perhaps – holds true throughout the list. Sure, a few here appear to have arisen from sudden moments of brilliance, flash-arranged for some concert or radio promo session. But many more reveal months or even years of painstaking work to nail every element. Making someone else’s song one’s own isn’t easy. These 50 covers took the time to get it right.

– Ray Padgett, Editor-in-Chief

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Oct 312018
 
cover songs october
AJ Lambert – Lush Life (Frank Sinatra cover)

Frank Sinatra’s granddaughter covers Frank Sinatra. You think you know where this story ends: fawning nepotism. But despite familial loyalty, A.J. Lambert isn’t afraid to twist “Lush Life,” adding a Lynchian undercurrent of menace. More of an overcurrent in the crawling, nose-bleeding video.

Amy Shark – Teenage Dirtbag (Wheatus cover)

Every month, one or two of these selections invariably hail from Spotify’s terrific new cover-sessions series. My only gripe is that they came with no information, the sort a band would write in the YouTube description or press release announcing a new cover, or say on stage before performing one live. That’s now solved with Spotify’s new “Under Cover” podcast, in which the artists performing the covers talk about them. We learn that Amy Shark tried to make “Teenage Dirtbag” a Pixies song, and that she considered the song her anthem when she was young. She says: “The first time I heard ‘Teenage Dirtbag,’ I was in high school. I was crazy obsessed with it to the point where it was in my head every day all day. I would sing it in all day in school. Even teachers would say, ‘Amy, please listen to something else.'” Continue reading »