Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Amazing Covers

It's an awesome feeling when you hear an artist bring fresh life to one of your old favorite songs. Do you have any that just changed the way you felt about song forever?

Here's one of my favorites. It's the first time I ever heard the Cowboy Junkies, and it made me a fan for life. It also gave me a whole new appreciation for Lou Reed and inspired me to buy more of his music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRFZFmEq9o

Here's another that just blows me away every time I hear it. I never thought anyone could do Joni better than Joni.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0RCDHBw50Q

I think Billy Preston's version of "Can\'t Get No Satisfaction" blows the original clear out of the water.

Preston (1946-2006) would go on to become somewhat well known for the hits "Will It Go 'Round In Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing." He never got the level of fame he truly deserved, though.

Billy Preston was amazing. Nice pick.

[bows]

Nara Leão (1942-1989) is one of my favorite Brazilian musicians. Here she is doing a rare turn on an American standard (though she's singing it in Portuguese): "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

Not really a song I ever thought of as being subtle or introspective, until I heard this version.

BTW, great idea for a thread, Jerry. These links are great!

Here's a little more Mitchell before I head off to bed: Terri Lyne Carrington and her band play "Ethiopia" .

Jazz musicians really love Mitchell. I think Herbie Hancock did an entire CD of her songs at one time. And Ethel Ennis, a criminally underrated vocalist, did a killer version of "For Free" on her If Women Ruled The World disc, accompanied by one of my favorite horn players: Jane Ira Bloom. (Couldn't find that one on YouTube, unfortunately.)

Wow! I was not expecting to find some other Billy Preston fans at Legion World! He never got the level of fame he truly deserved but I think a lot of other musicians would kill for the career he had and the achievements he earned during it. How many people get credited with being 'the 5th Beatle' due to all the work he did with that group?

Some incredible Billy Preston videos on Youtube...

* 11 year-old piano prodigy Billy with Nat King Cole on his show -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1loV...F8B9CE8&playnext_from=PL&index=3

* Billy performing a George Harrison classic at his friend's memorial tribute concert -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aa3...F8B9CE8&playnext_from=PL&index=7

* Billy rocking an Afro to beat all Afros (take note Cinar!) -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_DV54ddNHE&feature=related

And my absolute favourite which I e-mail to friends every Christmas/New Year's...

* Billy and Aretha Frankin in the best version of Auld Lang Syne ever -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U9z...F8B9CE8&playnext_from=PL&index=0

Great choice Sketch! That is an excellent cover.

I can't help but be reminded of my friend Michael Johns' less successful attempt at that song on American Idol but then that also reminds me of his amazing version of Dolly Parton's 'It's All Wrong, But It's All Right' which I think blows hers out of the water (and that's coming from a big Dolly fan) -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evjYXmMeVFg

Yes, the Herbie Hancock tribute is called River. It's nice and he won a grammy for it. Lots of great guests. Tina Turner does vocals on Edith. It's fun to see jazz musicians embrace Joni Mitchell. She was bitterly rejected by the jazz establishment when she made her initial efforts at writing, singing, and playing jazz.

Rebekah Del Rio covers Roy Orbison's Crying (Llorando), from Mullholland Drive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIpkMg9sh6Q

Club Silencio. Great scene from a great movie, rouge.


One of my favorite covers I actually posted a while back in the "Your Latest Favorite Song" thread, but I like it so much it bears repeating.

Beck has an online project where he's done covers of complete albums of artists like Skip Spence, Leonard Cohen, and the Velvet Underground, the last of which produced this fantastic cover of "I'll Be Your Mirror":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XepyhNKnhGk

Not to get too far off topic, but it really is such a brilliant scene. You're told that it's a recording, you think that you "know" it is a recording, but when she collapses and her voice continues, it's still so shocking. The illusion is just so convincing, and the song so powerful.

It just reflects so beautifully on the "Reality" the characters are experiencing up til this point. One of the best scenes in cinema.

Here's Herbie Hancock and Tina Turner covering Joni MItchell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRx52OD8IY

BTW, good choices everyone.

It was those gents from Queens, N.Y., who made me kind of almost enjoy Aerosmith .

Then there's these guys ...

[snip]

A lot of the initial hostility had to do with the time it first happened, I figure. There's a long history of cultural appropriation in jazz that it was hard for Black musicians to talk about without suffering automatic commercial suicide-- until fairly late in the 20th Century. A lot of Black musicians probably looked at Mitchell and thought she was just another carpetbagger, gaming somebody else's culture for whatever cache she could get from it. They didn't think she was serious or that she any sincere interest in the form.

Meanwhile, a lot of White critics were just going to dismiss anyone tagged with the "rock" label who got near their genre without really examining what they were doing with it.

I admit that I'd forgotten what a gem the guy was, until a few years back when I heard a local soul-funk tribute band playing "Will It Go 'Round In Circles" live. Such a great melody. Never goes out of style.

And don't forget, despite his commentary in "Nothing From Nothing," Preston had a side career as superhero .

I bumped the Beatles thread, since I already had some other covers posted over there.

Okay, I love the Run DMC version...but I almost lost it with the second one. Where did you ever find that?

I blame the local "community" radio station, Dev. Their weekday morning show when I used to get up for work several years ago was always very folk-bluegrass oriented. Sometimes they got bored will all those songs about broken hearts and the untimely death of loved ones and stopping the war and yadda yadda yadda. Then they'd slip this Hayseed Dixie masterwork into the mix.

These guys did a great job making this song feel new, while totally respecting the King.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2aha4uEpEQ

Bringing the thread full circle, another Lou Reed cover, this one from Simple Minds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1-iLfE-WNQ

Percy Mayfield has written so many Blues/R&B classics. ("Hit The Road, Jack;" "River's Invitation," "Please Send Me Someone To Love," etc.) I knew his name, but it wasn't until hearing this rip-roaring take of "You Don\'t Exist No More" that I counted myself a capital-F fan.

Mayfield's original version is introspective and sad. Whereas Li'l Ed and his band sound mad enough to kick a house down-- while the ex is still in it.

Concrete Blonde does Leonard Cohen. Don Henley also does a respectable cover of this song, but I prefer Blonde's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaJAxdGeZ4E

I can't stop listening to The Bobs' cover of "White Room."

I dunno'... maybe I need professional help...?



<span style="font-size: 11px;">P.S. -- Canucks ain\'t afraid of no ghosts! </span>