Cover #9: Cristina Quesada covers "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus and Mary Chain

 Here we have the ultra-popular hit song by The Jesus and Mary Chain (almost 69 million plays on Spotify, who ought to know) remade into the sweet indie pop format that the song was naturally made for.  In the hands of polyglot Spaniard Cristina Quesada, the focus shifts more to the lyrics and the mood of the lyrics.  This is definitely a salt vs. pepper cover version, one that almost sounds like a whole new song, and for that the wonderful Cristina Qusada deserves our admiration.

Cover #8: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs cover "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles

 I don't like the original version of this song very much, but this cover is a significant improvement.  It's on the slower tempo side of the ska spectrum, with vocals that are a mix of Spanish (mostly) and English.  There is nice horn work, including a tasty trombone solo, and I give these guys credit for making a likeable version of a song that I normally detest.

Cover #7: Sol Marianela covers "Something Against You" by The Pixies

 Last November the Surfer Rosas label out of Argentina released a cool digital only tribute album to The Pixies called Gigante - Un Tributo Argentino A Pixies Vol. 1.  It's hard for me to provide much feedback on the whole album, since I am only familiar with the first two Pixies releases (Come On Pilgrim and Surer Rosa).  For the covers of songs from those two albums, including the one in the title of this post, they are pretty good.  This version sticks close to the original but tones down the vocal shouting compared to the original, which is probably an improvement.

Cover #6: Frank Zappa covers "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin

 I still remember the day in 1991 when I saw the Frank Zappa album The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life in a pharmacy/sundry store in Ann Arbor.  CDs were still fairly new, and everything came in long box form.  I had not kept up with Zappa for a few years at that point, but when I casually looked at the song listing on this new CD I saw that he covered "Stairway to Heaven" and I absolutely had to hear that.  I bought the CD and that began my second and permanent period of Zappa fandom.  The cover, by the way, is phenomenal.  The cover begins more or less straightforward, with the addition of several short snorts and sniggles (what Zappa called "putting the eyebrows on" a song).  The famous Jimmy Page guitar solo, however, is replaced by a note for note big band horn arrangement that is pure brilliance.  On the 1988 tour Zappa had three vocalists, so had the luxury of using Ike Willis for the main part of the song and switching to Bobby Martin for the latter, higher register vocals.  A second official version of this cover came out in 2022 on the posthumous album Zappa 88:  The Last U.S. Show.  This version is pretty similar except that Zappa plays a guitar solo before the horn solo.  The version on TBBYNHIYL is one of the best covers in the history of recorded music.

Cover #5: Lorette Velvette covers "Boys Keep Swinging" by David Bowie

 This is one of those covers that stays pretty close to the original, but with enough difference to make it worthwhile.  Tonally her version is less glam and much more indie rock, with some rough edges that I find appealing.  The vocals are lower in the mix compared to the original, which is a smart way to cover a Bowie song. 

Cover #4: Black Flag covers "Louie Louie"

 Everyone knows that "Louie Louie" is one of the most covered songs of all time, possibly the most.  Black Flag, who did not perform very many covers, have released no fewer than three distinct versions of "Louie Louie":  the single version (which is probably the best known of their versions), the version that appears on the Everything Went Black record, and the live version with Henry Rollins on vocals which appeared on the live album Who's Got the 10 1/2?

All three of these versions have different lyrics, none of which come close to matching the original lyrics.  All of them are good, but I prefer the EWB version- the musical performance is slightly tighter and the lyrics have better pacing with the music. 

Cover #3: Nazareth covers "Road Ladies" by Frank Zappa

 I must say, when I first read that Nazareth did a cover of "Road Ladies" (quite some time before I was able to hear the cover), I remember being quite surprised.  Frank Zappa gets covered by plenty of jazz groups, chamber ensembles, and full-time Zappa tribute bands.  But Nazareth?  Covering a fairly obscure Zappa tune?  As it turns out, the song choice is not that surprising-  "Road Ladies" is a simple blues rock number that matches well with that classic Nazareth sound.  The cover itself is decent, maybe even good, but still.....  Nazareth?  Covering Zappa? 

Cover #2: Uriah Duffy covers "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath

 Well now.  Black Sabbath gets covered a lot, with quite a few dedicated tribute albums.  So if you are going to take on a Sabbath song, you better bring some new ideas.  The artists on the album UnderCover Presents:  Paranoid (A Tribute to Black Sabbath) do just that.  A great example is the cover of the song "Paranoid" by Uriah Duffy.  In this version they mix easily recognizable (yet updated) portions of the original with extracurricular moments that will positively make you say "who is this?" but in a good way.  Wow, I haven't been this impressed by a cover song in I don't know how long.  Wow.  Just wow.  Holy wow. 

Cover #1: Inokasira Rangers covers "Geno" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

 A couple of days ago, during one of my frequent spelunking excursions in Bandcamp, I ran across a page for the Inokasira Rangers, who are a Japanese band specializing in ska and rocksteady covers.  A few years ago they put out an all-cover album of British punk and new wave songs, Rangers Patrol 1977-1982 UK!  The covers are mostly good, all instrumental, and the song selections are interesting (for example, choosing "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" and "What Do I Get?" instead of more obvious choices).  

Even though I did not know the original, their cover of "Geno" by Dexy's Midnight Runners caught my ear.  Maybe because I did not know the original, I heard echoes of Desmond Dekker's "Warlock" in the arrangement.  I did just now listen to a couple different versions of "Geno" by DMR, and it does seem like a very suitable song for the Inokasira Rangers to cover.  Well done.