Mar 312022
 
best cover songs of march 2022
Avhath – Cool / Levitating / Don’t Start Now (Dua Lipa covers)

What’s better than one Indonesian black-metal Dua Lipa cover? Three Indonesian black-metal Dua Lipa covers! Not that you’d ever know these were Dua Lipa songs unless you were listening really closely to the lyrics (and could manage to make them out).

The Band of Heathens – El Paso City (Marty Robbins cover)

During lockdown, Band of Heathens hosted a regular livestream variety show called Good Time Supper Club. One segment, “Remote Transmissions,” featured them covering a new song every episode – over 50 in all. They’re collecting some of the best on a forthcoming album of the same name: Remote Transmissions. “Making records is always about cataloging any point in time. We wanted to celebrate the unique collaborative aspect of the show,” guitarist Ed Jurdi told American Songwriter. “What better way to document the last year than with these songs?” First up is this take on a Marty Robbins country classic. Continue reading »

Mar 022022
 
Greyboy Allstars

Though the Beatles’ iconic Revolver lead-off “Taxman” was influenced by soul, most fans probably haven’t really thought of it as a soul or funk song. The Greyboy Allstars are here to change that.

The Greyboy All Stars have been releasing soul jazz records for nearly 30 years. Their latest is inspired by a series of livestream shows they put on during the pandemic. Realizing that they were playing a ton of covers during these shows that they’d never released, they decided to put out a covers album. And their version of “Taxman” is considerably more soulful and funky than the original.

In fact, in the early goings it sounds a lot like Booker T and the MGs plus a horn section (i.e. the Mar-Keys). The rhythm guitar is closer to Steve Cropper, the bass is less angular, the organ takes the lead vocals and the horns take the backing vocals. The sound makes you imagine an alternative reality in which the MGs had made a whole album cover of Revolver instead of Abbey Road (on their classic McLemore Avenue).

But this is soul-jazz, not just soul, and the Allstars stretch out the song a fairly long guitar solo which is extremely different from Paul McCartney’s searing original, follow by an organ solo worthy of Booker T. Check it out below.