Author Topic: Criminal cover versions (Read 45764 times)

citoyen · « **Reply #150 on:** 29 May, 2021, 09:44:49 am »

Quote from: Peter on 29 May, 2021, 03:27:30 am

A Dylan recording is a complete thing not simply a song that he is performing.

Excellently put. And this is the thing many people fail to understand when they talk about his not liking his voice (or his harmonica playing, for that matter). The voice is part of the whole package.

Peter · « **Reply #151 on:** 29 May, 2021, 12:57:04 pm »

Thanks, D. Concisely put and that is something I obviously found difficult! The timing of the post is probably a clue!

Pingu · « **Reply #152 on:** 30 May, 2021, 12:07:27 am »

Yebbut that Lulu thing was still an abomination.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #153 on:** 30 May, 2021, 12:48:12 am »

And a Dylan song as initially released into the wild is often only a starting point, as the existence of at least half of the Bootleg Series amply demonstrates. Even dedicated Bob-o-philes can listen to him live and wonder what the hell the song is until the vocals kick in. One callow youth* was complaining bitterly about this on the Tube after His Bobness' appearance in Hyde Park, as if Dylan should have provided a written promise always to sing “Like A Rolling Stone” exactly as it sounded in 1965. If I hadn’t been so knackered** I'd probably have raised the point that they’re Bob's songs and he can play them how he bloody well likes.

* To compound his idiocy he was wearing a Doors T-shaped shirt with a picture of Fat Bloke Dead In The Bathtub on it, which is the biggest fashion faux-pas since one of the Spice Girls – I think it was Dopey Spice – appeared on live television sporting a shirt from Motörhead's 1982 Iron Fist tour. People have been murdered for less.
** And cowardly, obv.

Peter · « **Reply #154 on:** 30 May, 2021, 10:22:27 am »

Quote from: Pingu on 30 May, 2021, 12:07:27 am

Yebbut that Lulu thing was still an abomination.

I don't think anyone's disagreed, have they?!

citoyen · « **Reply #155 on:** 30 May, 2021, 01:32:06 pm »

Quote from: Peter on 30 May, 2021, 10:22:27 am

Quote from: Pingu on 30 May, 2021, 12:07:27 am
Yebbut that Lulu thing was still an abomination.

I don't think anyone's disagreed, have they?!

I'm not even going to listen to it. I'm happy to take everyone's word for it.

Unfortunately, I have been subjected to Green Day's version of Like A Rolling Stone. No one needs to hear that. No one.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #156 on:** 30 May, 2021, 06:44:31 pm »

Not quite a cover but DJ Random subjected me to Curtis Knight's “How Would You Feel” the other day. “Like A Rolling Stone” with a Mr J Hendrix on guitar (good) and different civil-rights-oriented lyrics (errr…).

Best avoided, I think.

Peter · « **Reply #157 on:** 30 May, 2021, 09:00:12 pm »

I think Hendrix's first recordings were with Curtis Knight. How CK had the heart or the nerve to complete them puzzled me when I first heard them. Like Tony Sheridan and the Beatles, even though the Beatles weren't particularly outstanding at that time.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #158 on:** 31 May, 2021, 01:39:09 am »

Prior to joining Knight's band Jimi had already played on singles by the Isley Brothers and Little Richard, but later signed a slightly dubious contact with Curtis Knight's producer Ed Chalpin (he had already signed one with another outfit a few months earlier), before signing yet another one with Chas Chandler and Mike Jeffery. Business, it has to be said, was not Jimi's forte. After a prolonged legal case Chalpin got the distribution rights to the Band Of Gypsys live album.

Peter · « **Reply #159 on:** 31 May, 2021, 10:04:56 am »

Cheers, D. I knew about the Isley brothers but had thought (for diminished values of thought) they were after CK. Bass playing wasn't Chas Chandler's forte, either! When you mix in Hilton Valentine's fluffs on the arpeggios it's a miracle that The Animals cover of House Of The Rising Sun ever heard the light of day! It's a good Hammond solo, though! Still keeping things "His Bobbness"!

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #160 on:** 31 May, 2021, 10:20:22 am »

One of the appendices in the Harry Shapiro/Caesar Glebbeek biography of Hendrix (which this Unit commends to the House) has an exhaustive listing of every twang, squeak and fart known to have been committed to tape by the man, and I'd provide dates if I weren’t ~~insufficiently caffeinated~~ too idle to roll off the sofa and haul the said bok off the shelf

Apparently His Bobness' version of House Of The Rising Sun was a carbon copy of Dave Van Ronk's and was rush-released ahead of the latter. Van Ronk then stood accused of ripping off Dylan $:-\$

Peter · « **Reply #161 on:** 31 May, 2021, 10:30:24 am »

Yes, I think the Van Ronk thing also involved Don't Think Twice didn't it? (No need to leave the sofa - I'm not!)

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #162 on:** 31 May, 2021, 10:43:33 am »

No chance of leaving the sofa for that one as I can see from here that I don’t own a decent biography of His Bobness, or even an indecent one come to that. Does Thee Panel have recommendations that don’t involve Albert Grossman?

(Leaves sofa to fetch more Brown Drink)

Peter · « **Reply #163 on:** 31 May, 2021, 02:29:39 pm »

I've got a very early work by Antony Scaduto, which I remember as being very good. I got it the year it was published (1972) but I can't remember if that's where I came across the Van Ronk stuff. I'll have a look. Incidentally, did you see the Oscar Isaac(s?) film called something like Searching For Lewin Davies? That's supposed to be about a character who may or may not be Van Ronk. whatever, it's a good fillum.

It's all a bit academic - Bob has stolen so much stuff over the years he ought to get the Nobel Prize For Sampling. He was years ahead in that field, as he has been in most!

PS all written without leaving the sofa - or couch, as we have it up here.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #164 on:** 31 May, 2021, 02:39:38 pm »

The Ch5 hit song retrospective reached 1992 this week and included the Undercover version of "Baker Street". You'll never hear it played on the radio now, thank $DEITY.

fd3 · « **Reply #165 on:** 19 August, 2021, 12:05:51 am »

BBC Proms covers of Bowie. Amazingly every one of these is a dud - you need sickbags at the ready.
Friends don't let friends clicky on the link

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Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #166 on:** 19 August, 2021, 08:50:22 am »

Quote from: Peter on 29 May, 2021, 03:27:30 am

Unless you're Joan Baez - her covers of Dylan are both respectful and beautiful.

Sorry, I've used both sides of the paper!

As was everything she sang.

CAMRAMan · « **Reply #167 on:** 19 August, 2021, 09:10:21 am »

I was once going out with a girl who told me that Wank, Wank, Wank's version of With A Little Help From My Friends was superior to the original. I knew were on thin ice already, but she explained that Ringo Starr's voice wasn't even in tune at the start. Realising that recognising irony wasn't her strong point, I left it at that. We didn't last much longer...

Have we had Elton John's version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds yet?

MattH · « **Reply #168 on:** 23 August, 2021, 06:29:15 pm »

Linked to from an article in El Reg.

Check out the awesome guitar work - it's hard to believe he's not really playing!

https://youtu.be/9_FvJh_pHlQ

Legs · « **Reply #169 on:** 24 August, 2021, 09:30:05 am »

Rockollection. It's not truly a cover - more of a tribute medley, but it's utterly woeful... In this performance the diaphoretic M Voulzy is accompanied by the Gallic Legs & Co.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9y8yB5ckzs

Peter · « **Reply #170 on:** 24 August, 2021, 10:11:39 am »

Legs, you may have a name reminiscent of & Co, or Pans People - but DON'T do that again - ever, OK?!

Legs · « **Reply #171 on:** 24 August, 2021, 11:10:55 am »

Legs · « **Reply #172 on:** 24 August, 2021, 05:49:36 pm »

We’re you brave enough to listen to it all the way through, Peter? There’s an extended 18-minute version out there somewhere…

Redlight · « **Reply #173 on:** 24 August, 2021, 06:05:14 pm »

Quote from: Legs on 24 August, 2021, 09:30:05 am

Rockollection. It's not truly a cover - more of a tribute medley, but it's utterly woeful... In this performance the diaphoretic M Voulzy is accompanied by the Gallic Legs & Co.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9y8yB5ckzs

Sorry, but that needs to come with a health warning

Peter · « **Reply #174 on:** 24 August, 2021, 08:48:09 pm »

Quote from: Legs on 24 August, 2021, 05:49:36 pm

We’re you brave enough to listen to it all the way through, Peter? There’s an extended 18-minute version out there somewhere…

No, I saw that but as I'd already confessed to several crimes that happened before I was even born by two minutes in, I closed it down. My blood pressure had dropped so much that I missed the stop icon first time!