Cover versions unusual , unheard or unlistenable

I have to note that I have each of the albums that you note on your list (apart from Brakes). Back on topic my favourite covers are:

Built to Spill - Cortez the Killer (Live) all 20 minutes of it

Tesla - Street Fighting Man

Soft Cell - I Feel Love.

These spring readily to mind i will add some more later.

Gerry

Anything by Hayseed Dixie has got to be considered unusual.

One that better than the original.

DREAD ZEPPELIN.  UN-LED-ED.

Zeppelin, Elvis and reggae music on an after life meeting.  Simply superbblious!

Tony

The Cat Power Covers Album is excellent imo

But mayb not so in your's  (?)

Best to have a listen before buying if you don't like versions transformed into key of doom and gloom dire minor.

Just love it myself though : )

The surprisingly good:

Brian Eno, The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Guadalcanal Diary, Kumbaya

The surprising (this has to be seen to be believed):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rBgMeunuviE

The bad without any redeeming values whatsoever:

a CD I was given of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, all played on pan pipes.

"Better?"  Strong words   IMHO a very respectable cover, but he loses points because, well, it's a cover.

Rolf Harris doing "Stairway to Heaven" at the Gilfest a few years ago. Knockout!

Zen Geurrilla, Moonage daydream, recording quality is poor but what a powerhouse of a cover, way better than the D Bowie original imho.

Robert Wyatt's version of Strange Fruit from Nothing Will Stop Us, an absolute peach.

Good,

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Stairway to Heaven

Mojo sponsored cover of Power, Corruption and Lies plus Blue Monday and The Beach covers

Bad,

Any of Nick Drake's songs on principle

Jono

Courtesy of Viz Magazine in the early 90s

Captain Morgan and his Hammond Organ says  "Anyone got time for a quick medley of hits shipmates?"

Gerry ,  I cant reccomend Brakes album Give Blood enough . if you like your bands to be interesting a bit querky with a variety of songs styles then this is for you, Cud esq in some ways . There is also a cover of  sometime always by the jesus and mary chain well worth a listen on its own plus its a bargain on amazon at the moment. 79p plus postage. great band live also ,,

 twp

Rodrigo Y Gabrielacover of Orion

For unusal I have heard "Hear Comes the Sun" by Swedish satanists Ghost ( sung at about half teh speed in a high pitched monotone)

Or Seasons in the Sun, re imagined as a viking drinking song/ dirge by Finnish symphinc rockers Turiasas ( all on you tube) which suhas a surpsing degree of poignancy

He should have been shot for that crime.

steve

TWP, not heard it, but have just ordered it on Amazon.

Other great covers, that come to mind are.

Mary Fahl: From The Dark Side Of the Moon. Not so much a cover, just a complete re-interpretation of the whole album.

Mary Fahl: Una Furtiva Iagima, Hate opera, this interpretation is sublime.

Tesla: All The Young Dudes

Sex Pistols: C'mon Everybody

This Mortal Coil: Song to The Siren

Echo & the Bunnyman: I am The Walrus

The Church: Silver Machine & Cortez the Killer. I have 22 of The Churches 23 albums. Aways try to be anti completist.  

So many great covers.  Here's a few that come to mind:

• The Breeders covering "Happiness is a Warm Gun" on the album Pod
• Los Lobos covering "Bertha" on the Deadicated tribute album
• Tom Waits covering "Heigh Ho!" on the Disney music tribute album
• Milla Jovovich covering "Satellite of Love" on the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack
• The Cramps covering "Uranium Rock" (not sure of the original Cramps album, but it's definitely on Bad Music for Bad People)
• Jeff Buckley covering "The Way Young Lovers Do" on Live at Sin-E
• kd lang on Shadowland
• Lucinda Williams, Soul Asylum and Pearl Jam covering Victoria Williams on the Sweet Relief benefit album
• The Minutemen covering "Dr. Wu" on Double Nickles on the Dime
• Son Volt covering "Looking at the World Through the Windshield" on Retrospective 
• Wingless Angels covering "We Shall Overcome" on Wingless Angels
• Bill Frisell, Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz covering "Going Going Gone" on the Rubaiyat Elektra tribute album

The one bad cover I can think of right now:  "Because the Night" by Natalie Merchant/10,000 Maniacs.  She sings it like a lullaby, while Patti Smith sang it with the angst and force that Bruce probably intended.

Great topic.

Clark.

Far too many good covers to detail, so here's some of the worst:

Paula Yates - "These boots are made for walking" from BEF Music of disctintion and quality Vol 1 (an otherwise sublime collection.) You know those skits where someone sucks helium and has a squeeky, high pitched voice? Thats how Paula sounds on this number...

Duran Duran "Watching the Detectives" de-angsting a song which is nothing but angst, yeah that'll do it.

Take That/Flying Picketts "Smells like teen spirit" either one of these totally guts the fierceness of the original and replaces it with faux-angry on their part but with real anger on the listeners...

Olivia Newton John "Ring of fire" They used to burn witches, this is prima facie evidence of someone sinning against nature...

And to show it doesn't just go one way with MOR covers of indie songs-

Manic Street Preachers "Umbrella" didn't much like the original, but Richey James would be turning in his grave...

Xiu Xiu "Under pressure" flat voices and John Zorn style tenor sax do not make for success...

regards,

Giles

Agree. Don't mess with Nick's songs.

Robyne Dunn (Little known Aussie songstress) did an awesome Stairway to Heaven years back. It was part of the series of STH covers that closed a weekly tonight show in Australia (I can't remember the show - Miles, Lontano, YoYoMa - any clue?). The STH cover series included Rolf Harris' version on the wobble board. Rolf admitted to NEVER having heard the original, and performed straight from the score. It was the stuff of legend.

Addition: Found it. The Show was "The Money or the Gun" featuring Andrew Denton.

This gets more play than the original these days.

Stu.

There was a lounge singer-type (Think of an Aussie version of that Russian Tra-la-la guy) who covered Pearl Jam's "Better Man". Instead of the the grim feel of the original (It's about being trapped in a failed and abusive relationship, essentially), he gave an upbeat "swing" and grinned the whole way through it. Bizarre.

Bob Downe?