Covers, in the reverse, which one is better?

Is there anyone who prefers Joni Mitchell's original of "Woodstock" to CSN&Y's cover? Not me.

notnaim man posted:

 My Way is a song that I don't particularly enjoy, whichever rendition is played.

Anything sung by Sinatra makes me cringe, and I'd prefer more or less any cover of his hits to the original (in this case, with the exception of the Elvis version, he makes me cringe too!) I'd rather listen to the Pistols ripping the **** out of it....or Nina Simone's version, nobody can deny that she did everything 'her way.'

I've been taken with Clapton's cover of Dylan's I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine.

It's probably a bit obvious, but Hendrix's version of All Along The Watchtower is an amazing thing, I love the Dylan, but Jimi's version is almost a totally different song.

John Cale's Heartbreak Hotel.

joerand posted:

Is there anyone who prefers Joni Mitchell's original of "Woodstock" to CSN&Y's cover? Not me.

Me neither, and I'm a big Joni fan.

In the opposite direction, no-one has ever done a cover of Helpless better than the the original on Deja Vu. Neil's "Last Waltz" version is special, too, but not really a cover. Joni's Coyote on the same record is also spectacular - and no-one has ever covered that at all (that I am aware of - someone here will prove me wrong).

John Mayer's cover of XO for me trumps Beyonce's . Nothing wrong with the original, but the scaled back version works better for me. A real favourite track in fact. 

Last year I went through a bit of an Americana/Blues/female vocals discovery phase, and discovered a genre where covers are pretty widespread, and not only from within the same genre. (There was an Americana thread on here a while back which had some good recommendations.) I made a little playlist of some that tickled my fancy - not always to be taken seriously - but in the unlikely event that anyone is interested, here it is. Despite my earlier slating of Sinatra and Elvis, there are covers here of (NOT by) both of them!

I think that Joe Bonamassa's version of Leon Russell's "Hummingbird" is outstanding. 

While NINs original "Hurt" is extremely powerful, Johnny Cash's simple cover hits me as emotionally more poignant.

Either way, it's a masterpiece of lyrics set to song.

Hurts, as listed above, Manfred Mann, Blinded by the light, not better but damned good is The Sound of Silence by Disturbed

The Grateful Dead covered a lot of Dylan numbers and his Bobness liked them so much he joined the band for a tour resulting the album Dylan and the Dead. There are bootlegs of shows that are much better than those chosen for the official release.

"I Need A Lover". I originally heard Pat Benetar's cover and while good, it's a less-inspired regurgitation of Mellencamp's superior original. That said, Benetar's rendition got a lot of air play at the time and likely helped bolster Mellencamp's career which was struggling at the time.

William Shatner's version of Pulp's Common People is strangely enjoyable (to me, anyway)

The Strangler's version of Walk On By is, to my ears anyway, by far the best.

And, who can deny Quo's definitive take on Rocking A ll Over The World...

steve

Al Green. How can you mend a broken heart-.  Bee Gees version is great, but Al's version is definitive.

I'd rather go blind......  so many great versions

Pev posted:

William Shatner's version of Pulp's Common People is strangely enjoyable (to me, anyway)

What about his version of 'Rocket Man'? He's recorded it a number of times (and there are some great versions on YouTube), but I especially like the version he recorded with the Steve Hillage band.

The cover of Ziggy Stardust by Bauhaus trumps Bowie’s original. Heretical, but true.

TOBYJUG posted:

Al Green. How can you mend a broken heart-.  Bee Gees version is great, but Al's version is definitive.

I'd rather go blind......  so many great versions

Al Green's version for sure TJ. Such a compelling performer. 

I listened to Tim Buckley's 'Song to the Siren' last night. Great, powerful song, but I have in my record collection (sadly unplayed for decades as I no longer have a record player) the spine-chilling version by This Mortal Coil. No contest for me that TMC and Elizabeth Fraser's stunning vocal wins hands down..

Thought provoking and fun topic. 

New York New York by Cat Power. 

You've lost that loving feeling , Long John Baldry.

God only Knows David Bowie

Somewhere, Tom Waits 

I'm sure I'll find a few more, and I agree with most of the above

Bob F

The Man Who Sold The World - Nirvana

Believe it or not......

winkyincanada posted:

joerand posted:

Is there anyone who prefers Joni Mitchell's original of "Woodstock" to CSN&Y's cover? Not me.

Me neither, and I'm a big Joni fan.

Snip

Another big Joni fan, and CSNY for me as well. I’d put the Matthews Southern Comfort version above Joni’s as well, I love Ian’s vocals on that,. I can’t think of another Joni song where she wasn’t mt definitive version.

Beth Hart - "I'd Rather Go Blind". Sorry to Etta James, but Beth nails it totally.
https://youtu.be/QYUO-9ZW_uE