The Alex Melton cover brings a nice country feel to a very non-country song which I think it pretty interesting, so I pick Melton.
"You Don't Own Me"
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
Quite similar version though I feel Lesley Gore sold the bombastic climax better. Feels like an anthem.
The Song from Sandpit Generals
The original, by Dorival Caymmi, as "Suíte dos Pescadores"
The Russian cover by Несчастный случай, as "Генералы песчаных карьеров"
Edited by Millership on Oct 12th 2020 at 3:00:27 PM
Spiral out, keep going.
"The Song". Great title.
Anyway, I pick the original for it's almost church gathering feel to it. The cover tries to do it as a pop song, but sounds very "hit and miss".
With Halloween upon us...
"Monster Mash"
Original by Bobby "Boris" Pickett
Margrave of the Marshes
Even though I'm a metalhead, I prefer the original. The cover loses the groove of the original, although the singer's got a nice deep voice.
Keeping on the Halloween theme. I'm Your Boogie Man:
KC & the Sunshine Band original
Edited by Wabbawabbajack on Oct 26th 2020 at 9:06:53 AM
While I like the twist of taking the title’s play on words literally, the weird vocal filter and boorish instrumentation makes the cover more annoying than entertaining to me. I definitely prefer the original’s simple yet rich groove.
And now a song I’ve been weirdly obsessed with lately (thanks Lindsay!), Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar. There are a fuckton of versions, so I tried to pick three stylistically distinct ones.
Margrave of the Marshes
Not a musical person so I'm approaching this with fresh ears.
Basalmo does a good job of hitting the high notes and is very expressive.
I quite like the more musically toned-down approach of Martin's version but while his voice is excellent, but I find myself liking it less than Basalmo's.
I'm quite familiar with Gillian due to his work with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm disappointed with this version, I'm expecting expecting fireworks and this version doesn't really deliver those.
In conclusion, I pick Basalmo's version as the best.
Since its Hallow's Eve, why don't we do the Ghosbusters theme:
Xentrix' silly Metal cover
pronounced Zen-tricks in case you're curious
The Xentrix one is fun, but the Ray Parker Jr. one still has the best groove (yeah, he ripped off Huey Lewis, but it still jams). Now for something slightly more obscure
World Without Heroes
Original by Kiss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWacBpIqhYU
Cover by Cher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdM3BGo7hNA
Margrave of the Marshes
That is definitely not something I was expecting from Rammstein. The two covers put a nice, even sensuous, spin on it, but I'm going to go with the original. The piano cover is a close second.
A song that's been covered a lot: Heroes
It came down to David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, or Wallflowers. With Motorhead and Celtic, I couldn't even make out the lyrics.
I'll go with David Bowie though, for being the easiest on the ears.
"Those Were the Days"
Edited by Brandon on Nov 8th 2020 at 11:57:09 AM
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
The original's instrumentation and vocals have more charm, so I prefer Mary Hopkin's version.
"Supergirl"
Spiral out, keep going.
I'll say the cover for it being a rare cover that takes a song and re-interprets it into something else. Also it has a faster tempo than the original.
"Head Over Feet"
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
The cover is more interesting, arrangement-wise.
"Desenchantee"
The original, by Mylene Farmer
Love your hair, hope you win
Giving it to Ryan for giving it a bit more of a kick and not putting a bunch of distracting sound effects in the music video.
Song: I Go To Sleep
Edited by FirstSnow on Nov 21st 2020 at 10:26:57 AM
Joke? Why are you calling it a joke? You drew a picture of two dudes hugging and wrote "I love hugs!" on it.
Both songs have a weird "marble-mouth" tone which lessens the likability on both (for me anyway). But I'll pick The Pretenders, as she sounded like she was actually singing the lyrics, while The Kinks have a weird stilted, staggered sound.
"She Drives me Crazy"
Original By Fine Young Cannibals
Modern R'n'B is an interesting direction to take this song, but I prefer original's upbeat mood, no matter how much the 80's is the least favourite decade of mine.
"Sunny"
Spiral out, keep going.
Love your hair, hope you win
I think I'm gonna actually give it to Cher, despite her not that great vocals. But that climax is the good stuff.
"Proud Mary"
Creedence Clearwater Revival original
Oh man, I don't even have to click the links to listen. Tina Turner all the way.
The original by CCR is okay, and has a nostalgic feel to it (I used to hear it a lot growing up on the local oldies station), but Turner's cover is more upbeat and livelier (aside from the slow beginning).
"The Man With All The Toys"
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
The cover takes a more modern take on this Christmas jingle, but I think that the original's slightly old-fashioned approach is more fitting.
"War"
Spiral out, keep going.
Neither. The Jackie Chan version.
Kidding!
I pick Edwin Starr's version just for having a more powerful sound (both in the vocals and music) which fits the song's overall statement.
"White Christmas"
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
Love your hair, hope you win
There's a timeless quality in Crosby's original that gets kinda lost as the song gets busier with the change in style. The Drifters do their thing very competently, but Crosby just sells the song completely on his own so well.
And now for two very different versions of the same song.
"First We Take Manhattan"
Joke? Why are you calling it a joke? You drew a picture of two dudes hugging and wrote "I love hugs!" on it.
Both are good versions. I was about to say the Leonard Cohen version, as the Cookies N' Beans cover starts out sounding a little pitchy, but I like how it evolves into an old-fashioned nightclub sound. I'll give it to the cover.
"Operator"
Edited by Brandon on Dec 17th 2020 at 11:00:56 AM
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
(ON INDEFINITE HIATUS)
I'll have to go with the original. The vocals and instrumentation are just better to me in Croce's version.
"Got to Get You into My Life"
She/they. Hirrus Clutumnus is my comfort character
Love your hair, hope you win
This is gonna be colored by me not being the biggest fan of the original, there's something about the Beatles' vocals on this song specifically that hits a wrong note for me. Earth, Wind and Fire on the other hand definitely deliver both on vocals and arrangement, enough to where the extension of the song where the chorus comes after every verse rather than every two in the original at least kinda works in its favor.
"Tea for two"
Doris Day original as far as recordings outside the movie itself go at least
Edited by FirstSnow on Dec 18th 2020 at 6:30:46 PM
Joke? Why are you calling it a joke? You drew a picture of two dudes hugging and wrote "I love hugs!" on it.
Charles Trenet's version has a classy feel for a love song. I expect this to be used in a romantic setting. Julio Iglesias gives it an energetic feel so now it sounds like the protagonist in a family film moving to a small but beautiful, breathtaking seaside town. Both have their own merits, but I prefer Trenet's La Mer over Iglesias.
In Too Deep:
Cover By Alex Melton
Original by Sum 41