Cr#p covers by artists who should have known better

[Chienmortbb]

  On 04/09/2023 at 09:44, casapete said:

I actually like both of these - although they are not exactly the same song.

 

Wilbert Harrison wrote and sang the original in 1962 , as 'Let's stick together' (as per the Ferry version.)

He later re-recorded a version as 'Let's work together' which was subsequently covered by Canned Heat

in late 1969/1970. Despite the songs being very similar, the lyrics are quite different in places.

 

The Canned Heat version was one of the first singles I bought, and still sounds great. It was one of the early

songs I played along to in my bedroom, and introduced me to gritty 12 bar stuff. Bryan Ferry's take

on it also sounds good to me, especially as it features one of my favourite guitar players Chris Spedding. ☺️

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Thanks for the info. I have to admit I have down on Ferry, I think he over sings, but I do take bits from the Ferry version when we play it. 

[casapete]

  On 04/09/2023 at 10:40, Chienmortbb said:

Thanks for the info. I have to admit I have down on Ferry, I think he over sings, but I do take bits from the Ferry version when we play it. 

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Yeh, me too! Not a fan of his vocal style but I like the overall arrangement. I do the song in my country

band ( the Canned Heat version ) and also do the Ferry one too, so it’s easy to get them mixed up!

[Barking Spiders]

As for Rod Stewart, if there's a more jammy, third rate chancer who has made a career in the music biz I'd like to know.  His career is one built on sh***y covers especially The Great American Songbook albums and Soul Book. He just doesn't have the vocal chops to do these songs justice.  I won't hear a good word said for him.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Barking Spiders

[tauzero]

  On 04/09/2023 at 08:13, Chienmortbb said:

Live and Let Die by G&R?

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Not much worse than the original.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

  On 04/09/2023 at 12:26, Barking Spiders said:

As for Rod Stewart, if there's a more jammy, third rate chancer who has made a career in the music biz I'd like to know.  His career is one built on sh***y covers especially The Great American Songbook albums and Soul Book. He just doesn't have to the vocal chops to do these songs justice.  I won't hear a good word said for him.

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Blimey.

[Count Bassy]

  On 04/09/2023 at 12:26, Barking Spiders said:

As for Rod Stewart, if there's a more jammy, third rate chancer who has made a career in the music biz I'd like to know.  His career is one built on sh***y covers especially The Great American Songbook albums and Soul Book. He just doesn't have to the vocal chops to do these songs justice.  I won't hear a good word said for him.

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Come on, don't hold back, just say what you really think!

[Count Bassy]

 

  On 04/09/2023 at 12:26, Barking Spiders said:

As for Rod Stewart, if there's a more jammy, third rate chancer who has made a career in the music biz I'd like to know.  His career is one built on sh***y covers especially The Great American Songbook albums and Soul Book. He just doesn't have to the vocal chops to do these songs justice.  I won't hear a good word said for him.

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I guess you must be too young to remember the Faces and his early solo albums etc. These are what his career is built on (Suggest you have a listen). The reason he could do the stuff you mention (where I tend to agree with your opinion) is because he already had a career as a serious, distinctive and talented rock singer.

 

Personally I'd say that the low point of his career was the" Baby Jane"/"Do you think I'm sexy" era. and I think he tends to agree.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Count Bassy

[Greg Edwards69]

  On 01/09/2023 at 09:28, toneknob said:

 

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OTOH, I love this cover:

 

[casapete]

  On 04/09/2023 at 14:49, Count Bassy said:

 

 

I guess you must be too young to remember the Faces and his early solo albums etc. These are what his career is built on (Suggest you have a listen). The reason he could do the stuff you mention (where I tend to agree with your opinion) is because he already had a career as a serious, distinctive and talented rock singer.

 

Personally I'd say that the low point of his career was the" Baby Jane"/"Do you think I'm sexy era". and I think he tends to agree.

 

 

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You’re dead right - early Rod stuff was fantastic. Jeff Beck era /Faces / Early solo career being the peak IMO.

Didn’t mind the later stuff but I agree that the American Song Book and ‘soul’ albums are truly abysmal.

At that time he wasn’t selling his pop stuff, and IIRC financed the American Songbook albums himself and

made a fortune doing so - no accounting for taste etc. His dreadful appearance at the Buckingham Palace

thing recently was pitiful, which he acknowledged too.

However, I did see him live recently and his voice was actually pretty good, not the same standard as in the

early 1970’s of course but then few singers can claim they are. I’ve always liked singers who are instantly

recognisable, and his voice is just one of those, whether you like it or not. 

[andyaber]

I like the early stuff such as In A Broken Dream and others mentioned here.  His later "pension fund" stuff is so bland it misses my radar completely.  I just dislike what he did to two of my favourite Tom Waits songs.  

[Mykesbass]

  On 04/09/2023 at 16:23, andyaber said:

I like the early stuff such as In A Broken Dream 

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Not bad for a publisher's demo!

[prowla]

There was an Australian bloke who did Stairway To Heaven with a wobble board...

[Lozz196]

  On 04/09/2023 at 17:50, prowla said:

There was an Australian bloke who did Stairway To Heaven with a wobble board...

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Do you blokes know what it is yet?

[alyctes]

  On 04/09/2023 at 17:50, prowla said:

There was an Australian bloke who did Stairway To Heaven with a wobble board...

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That had the distinct advantage of making me laugh, which is much more positive feeling than any I ever got off the LZ version.

(We'll skip hastily over whether they "covered" the intro...)

[SteveXFR]

  On 01/09/2023 at 20:24, Graham said:

There's a number of nu-metal bands who did some awful, earnest covers

 

Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence

Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes

Machine Head - Message In A Bottle

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The title of this thread included "...by bands who should know better" nu metal bands wouldn't have been nu metal if they knew better.

Machine Head weren't really nu metal but Robb Flynn is an absolute tool

[Graham]

  On 04/09/2023 at 18:55, SteveXFR said:

 

The title of this thread included "...by bands who should know better" nu metal bands wouldn't have been nu metal if they knew better.

Machine Head weren't really nu metal but Robb Flynn is an absolute tool

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Machine Head as a rule aren't nu-metal, but The Burning Red absolutely is.

 

I did hear a story that they'd not planned to record the cover, but were jamming it in the studio and Ross Robinson persuaded them to put it on the album

[SteveXFR]

I love a bit of Ministry but they should never have covered Black Betty. Everyone and their mum has covered this song and this is not a good one

 

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

  On 04/09/2023 at 18:59, Graham said:

Machine Head as a rule aren't nu-metal, but The Burning Red absolutely is.

 

I did hear a story that they'd not planned to record the cover, but were jamming it in the studio and Ross Robinson persuaded them to put it on the album

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I was actually chatting to a mate about this yesterday. In hindsight, The Burning Red is a much better album than its reputation would suggest and, apart from some unfortunate rapping, isn't really a Nu-Metal album at all. It has aged well.

 

Supercharger, however, definitely is 😆

[Graham]

  On 04/09/2023 at 19:57, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I was actually chatting to a mate about this yesterday. In hindsight, The Burning Red is a much better album than its reputation would suggest and, apart from some unfortunate rapping, isn't really a Nu-Metal album at all. It has aged well.

 

Supercharger, however, definitely is 😆

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On The Burning Red, Rob asks you to "watch me fall" definitely nu-metal 😁

 

And yes, agreed about Supercharger

[TimR]

Not a lot of love for Live and Let die. This for me is the best cover- probably better than the original.

 

James Last Orchestra with Benny Bendorff.

 

 

[Leonard Smalls]

  On 04/09/2023 at 18:55, SteveXFR said:

nu metal bands wouldn't have been nu metal if they knew better.

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To be fair, I always liked Limp Bizkit's "Faith"...

[Rich]

  On 04/09/2023 at 12:26, Barking Spiders said:

As for Rod Stewart, if there's a more jammy, third rate chancer who has made a career in the music biz I'd like to know.  

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The Stones. I've long said that they're not the Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band in the World, they're the Luckiest Pub Band in the World.

[SteveXFR]

  On 04/09/2023 at 21:15, Leonard Smalls said:

To be fair, I always liked Limp Bizkit's "Faith"...

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Actually I'd go so far as to say their first album was OK. Their second record was just dreadful but made them very rich so they stuck with the format. Wes Borland (guitarist) has proven with his side projects that he can make really quite decent and interesting music. 

[tegs07]

  On 05/09/2023 at 07:06, Rich said:

The Stones. I've long said that they're not the Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band in the World, they're the Luckiest Pub Band in the World.

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I once overhead a discussion where someone claimed that the measure of a great songwriter is whether the window cleaner, postie, builder will still be humming their tunes a couple of decades later. On that bases the luckiest pub band in the world are doing pretty well.

[Mykesbass]

  On 05/09/2023 at 07:30, tegs07 said:

I once overhead a discussion where someone claimed that the measure of a great songwriter is whether the window cleaner, postie, builder will still be humming their tunes a couple of decades later.

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That is literally where the phrase Old Grey Whistle Test comes from.