Great covers YOU'VE played.

[pietruszka]

HI!

I've just played through some Madness stuff, and it got me thinking. I was in a covers band that was around briefly that did the usual load of covers, but as the band was put together by 3 of the members who were brothers, for the purpose of playing their parents 25th wedding anniversary the tracks were chosen by them.

And this is the bit I'm getting at; We did a few tracks that were some of the best sounding I've ever done in a band. The line up was bass, kit, guitar 1 w/lead vox, guitar 2 w/bvox, trombone and sax (he played both tenor and alto). We did House Of Fun and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, and they sounded incredible! Especially House Of Fun. Christ, even Mustang Sally Sounded great and we even pulled off You Can Call Me Al. That band was so satisfying, even though we played just covers.

Has anyone else been in a band that was satisfying just from being in 'that' band? Which tracks no matter the mundanity got you smiling?





Dan

[crez5150]

My current band..... no matter what or where we play it's always a complete joy.....

[thumperbob 2002]

Got a few good musicians in my band- but still as I am a grumpy old man I am never satisfied- never happy with the sound- cant stand our audience- or indeed other band members. Love playing my bass though-

[Bilbo]

I can't ever get past the fact that a great cover is only a cover. There is a simple buzz to be got from a job well done but it has always remained a shallow victory for me.

[LiamPodmore]

Drums, bass, 2 guitars and vocals. Best sounding ones, to my ears, as well as the most fun were pop/punk versions:

Livin' La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin
I Believe I Can Fly - R Kelly
Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepson
Friday/Baby - Rebecca Black/Justin Beiber
Tik Tok - Ke$ha (An acoustic version of this is on our youtube account)

Those are the stand outs to me, but there's other stuff like Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Country Roads, Pokemon Theme, etc... that have all been thrown out there before which were fun.

Also, Bilbo, does it make a difference to you if it's covered in a totally different way to the original (Me First And The Gimme Gimmes are a good example of that), and not just a straight out tribute style cover?

Liam

Edited October 10, 2012 by LiamPodmore

[pietruszka]

I see what you mean Bilbo, I suppose the point I was making was that it didn't matter on the cover in itself, it was how it sounded with those musicians in that band. Like when you find a great amp, you're happy to just play notes through it, just because it sounds good.



Dan

[thebrig]

Must have been great playing Norman's bassline on 'Rhythm Stick'!

Or did you do your own take on it?

[Bilbo]

Yeah, I get that. I remember doing a version of the hateful 'Ain't Nobody' by Chaka Kahn that was so in the pocket it cmae out covered in fluff and stuck to a mint humbug. There have been others; a couple of versions of Canteloupe Island (but the hit rate over 30 years or so is appalling) and even Moondance has scored once or twice(no more as I refuse play it now).

[Guest McBass]

Nu Po...Donny Hathaway.

[Len_derby]

I love it when I get to play for a singer who really knows how to work a song.
Recently I played in a trio (Bass, Cajon and acoustic guitar) backing a female singer who did, amongst other things, three Bill Withers' songs back-to-back. Lovely Day, Grandma's Hands and Ain't No Sunshine.
It made the hairs on the back of my neck stick up (and they're not many).

[swanbrook]

My current covers band, we have way too much fun and get very well paid and looked after.

I find the attitude that cover are beneath some people funny, but the bottom line is if their original music was any good I would be covering it

[pietruszka]

For me it's the line up, and when it's right everything just clicks. Like the example I gave, we were able to do some great tracks, House Of Fun managed to capture that nutty sound brilliantly, yet we managed to make Mustang Sally sound good to.

I miss playing for that lot!




Dan

[Adrenochrome]

In my current band, our 2 singer/guitarists do the Cantrell/Staley close harmonies SO well, I don't think that they realise it themselves - the overall sound can be chillingly authentic.

[davehux]

We do the Leona Lewis version of Snow Patrol's 'Run' - it's right bang in our female singer's range, she loves it and gives it her all, and there's that wonderful 2 second pause of astonishment from the audience before they start clapping their little hands off

Gets me everytime

[pietruszka]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' timestamp='1349880743' post='1831728']
In my current band, our 2 singer/guitarists do the Cantrell/Staley close harmonies SO well, I don't think that they realise it themselves - the overall sound can be chillingly authentic.
[/quote]
Have you looked at any B52's material then?




Dan

[gub]

Some of the most enjoyable songs we cover for me just have pretty simple stuff going on ,like rain by the cult , I always enjoy playing this and it's all root notes really , it's just driven along by this and all I have to do is enjoy and get to move around more as I don't have to concentrate much !

[Spike Vincent]

We do an awesome version of the Human League's Being Boiled.

[wateroftyne]

Having played original material and covers for over 20 years, I've learned this about myself: I literally couldn't care who wrote the song I'm playing. If it's a good song, it's a good song.

[Lord Sausage]

In my current band i love it when we play anything by Led Zep. But my favourites are a Heavy version of Groovejet By Spiller ( Sophie ellis bextor) and We do ready to go by Republica. It's so much fun and just kills.

[xilddx]

I've played some great covers with Kit, but they are very different to the originals.

Aamong others ..

Private Universe by Crowded House
Chop Suey by System of a Down
No-one Knows by QOTSA

Kit's great at arranging interesting covers.

[Lozz196]

In my punk covers band, The Daves, we play many of my fave songs from when I was a kid (76 - 79), Pistols, Clash, SLF, Ramones etc.

But if I had to name my fave from the set to play, it would be The KKK took My Baby Away, by The Ramones.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Lozz196

[BottomE]

One song thats getting a bit of love from me at the moment is Michael Jackson PYT. When it was suggested for the set i secretly didn't want it to work but actually it sounded great. Something about it that gels with our lineup and just works.

[pietruszka]

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1349896111' post='1832013']
One song thats getting a bit of love from me at the moment is Michael Jackson PYT. When it was suggested for the set i secretly didn't want it to work but actually it sounded great. Something about it that gels with our lineup and just works.
[/quote]
That's an awesome track! We do that in my current function band, but it's not the line up I spoke of at the start of this thread.


Dan

[thisnameistaken]

A dub cover of Sabbath's 'Iron Man' with the vocal melody played on trumpet and trombone.

[gub]

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1349896111' post='1832013']
One song thats getting a bit of love from me at the moment is Michael Jackson PYT. When it was suggested for the set i secretly didn't want it to work but actually it sounded great. Something about it that gels with our lineup and just works.
[/quote]
Just revisited this and what a great song it is !