Cover #121: The Beatersband cover "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes

 The Beatersband turn in a very faithful but updated version of the classic by The Ronettes.  Nobody could ever match the vocals of Ronnie Spector, but Donatella Guida, the singer, does a really good job not trying to mimic Ms. Spector (though she keeps the "whoa-oh-oh-ohs" intact).  The updates mostly feature a subdued garage rock arrangement.  I could see this version being used in a movie or tv show soundtrack.  ✅✅✅

Cover #120: The Todd Grubbs Group covers "Transylvania Boogie" by Frank Zappa

 Frank Zappa's music gets covered a lot.  Maybe not as much as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan, but still, a lot.  On the other hand, I'm not sure if even those big name artists have yielded as many full tribute albums as Zappa has.  I personally own over sixty CDs that are full Frank Zappa cover albums, and I know that is not even close to most of what's available in terms of Zappa tribute albums.  From a Zappa tribute album I just picked up yesterday, called Mappa Zappa, we have this hear cover song.  "Transylvania Boogie" is rarely covered; in fact, I'm not sure if I have heard anyone cover this instrumental from Chunga's Revenge before.  How is it?  Really good.  The guitar player in this band turns down the fuzz and turns up the wah pedal, so it sounds a bit like Joe Satriani on the guitar, but this is a satisfying version.  I can't give any points for originality for the performance, but extra credit for choosing this overlooked gem of a song.   ✅✅✅✅

Cover #119: Strange Relations cover "Disorder" by Joy Division

 This duo out of Minnesota (I think) turns in an interesting performance.  The music is pretty close to the original, but with female C86-era vocals that put me in the mind of The Primitives, The Sundays, or Motorcycle Boy.  The guitar work is quite good here.  The vocals save what would be a flat performance.  ✅✅✅

Cover #118: Elizabeth Setzer & La Tania cover "How To Disappear Completely" by Radiohead

 Well.  This cover is advertised as a "flamenco/balkan" version of the Kid A masterpiece, and I'll give them credit for trying.  What works?  The quiet guitar strumming in the beginning, and some of the background vocals in the second half.  What does not work?  The cacophonic castanets (or whatever flamenco percussion they are emulating), the rapid flamenco playing, and most of the vocals.  If this had been played with gentle Spanish guitar, no percussion, and softer vocals it might have been really good.  Unfortunately, it's not really good, or even good.  ✅✅

Cover #117: Extra Action Marching Band (ft. Robin Coomer) cover "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath

 Black Sabbath covers are numerous; indeed, this is at least the second marching band that I know of who has covered Sabbath (the other being Brown Sabbath).  I won't compare this group with Brown Sabbath, so let me focus on the cover at hand.  This is an entertaining, faithful cover.  The brass section mostly matches the original guitar solo, though not as faithfully or spectacularly as Frank Zappa's band did for "Stairway To Heaven" during his 1988 tour.  There is some really distracting "military radio traffic" that just about ruins the Luke's Wall part of the song.  The wind up at the end doesn't work either.  This cover is edible but not tasty.   ✅✅✅

Cover #116: Cowboy Junkies cover "Sweet Jane" by The Velvet Underground

 Cowboy Junkies have covered this song a lot, in several different arrangements.  They've performed it live on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, where I first heard their version.  Unfortunately the SNL police are ruthless on YouTube, so for the moment at least I can't re-watch that performance, which I remember being scary good.  The Cowboy Junkies studio version is pretty good, which I'm listening to at the moment, but if you can find the SNL version, the "la-la-la-la" part toward the end will make the hair on your forearms stand on end.  ✅✅✅✅

Cover #115: Rufus Harley covers "Windy" by The Association

 You haven't really lived until you hear a contemporary jazz rendition of a soft rock hit in which the lead instrument is the bagpipes.  You heard me- a jazz ensemble led by a bagpipe player covering this tune of all things.  Does it work?  I can tell you I'd much rather hear this than the original.   ✅✅✅

Cover #114: Demolition Doll Rods cover "Amazing Grace" by traditional

 If you are looking for a really cool modern take on this church staple, you have come to the right place.  The Detroit garage rock folks behind Demolition Doll Rods paint this up in perfect garage punk glory, with a no frills drum beat and slightly gritty vocals.  The real star here is the guitar, with plenty of sputtering fuzz throughout and a tasty blues influenced solo.  I'm sure this tune has been covered a zillion times (I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment), and I have heard quite a few renditions by both Christian and secular artists, but this one is definitely one of the best versions I've heard.  ✅✅✅✅

Cover #113: Metal Urbain covers "Rock and Roll" by Gary Glitter

 Metal Urbain, the French cold wave titans, do their best to breathe some new life into this sports arena classic.  Do they succeed?  The primarily French vocals and voices make for a nice change.  Think of it as part Thomas Dolby, part The Art of Noise, and part I'm not sure who.  It's not stunning but it's a keeper worth an occasional listen.   ✅✅✅

Cover #112: The Courettes cover "Never My Love" by The Association

 Skipping ahead a few songs on the all-cover album by The Courettes we get to this old chestnut by The Association.  As with the Sam and Dave song, we get a pretty by the numbers cover, albeit with the signature garage rock flavor inherent with The Courettes.  Personally I would have liked a more radical version of this song, but at least it is an improvement on the original for me.  

✅✅✅

Cover #111: The Courettes cover "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam and Dave

 The Courettes have a new all-cover songs album out, and it is pretty good.  First up on the record is a cover of this well-known soul classic.  On the surface it is a pretty faithful cover, but I can hear quite a few bits of interesting stuff going on the background-  I'll have to try this with headphones to see what I can discern.  (Hang on.  Okay, I'm back).  With the ol' headphones on I can better hear the background vocals, including some really faint "la la la las."  The organ is also pretty far back in the mix, but I can hear it better with the headphones.  Hmm.  So while this is a pretty straightforward cover, I like what's going on deep in the mix.  ✅✅✅✅

Cover #110: Elisapie covers "Wild Horses" by The Rolling Stones

 I've never been a big fan of this song, probably because I've never really cared for any Stones ballads.  This version, however, is really compelling.  The arrangement and instrumentation is starkly simple (I won't say "haunting" because that is a very overused adjective) and a bit melancholic.  I love that she sings most of the song in her native language, with the just the song title sung in English.  When a cover improves my attitude about the original, that is a clear success.  I really like this.  ✅✅✅✅

Cover #109: Almyth cover "Sailin' On" by Bad Brains

 This cover by the Latvian band Almyth (who play self-described "stoner jazz") is quite interesting.  It begins with a competent dub version of the song, which fits the song well though that style (dub) is somewhat predictable for a Bad Brains cover.  Partway through the song, however, they change course considerably into a very faithful hardcore version-  good enough that you could fool several punk poseurs into thinking it was the real thing.   ✅✅✅✅

Cover #108: Nazareth covers "Love Hurts" by The Everly Brothers

 For most people younger than the Boomer generation, this is probably the most famous version of this song (followed by Roy Orbison's version then the Everly Brothers original).  This cover is popular for good reason- it is perfectly executed.  Phaser-tinged guitar provides a great backdrop along with drums that are hard and heavy in just the right moments.  The guitar solo is mournful and does not try to upstage the song.  It takes guts to take on a song made famous by Roy Orbison, but Dan McCafferty's plaintive vocals provide a great alternate version of this fantastic song.    ✅✅✅✅✅

Cover #107: The Newlydeads cover "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors

 More Goth covers from the folks at Cleopatra, this one from the Goth tribute to The Doors.  This take sounds like an uptempo early-Ministry type of Goth song if you squint and imagine a little bit; otherwise, it sounds more like something like Linkin Park.  The performance is decent.  This particular song lends itself to this kind of approach more than other Doors songs.

✅✅

Cover #106: Corpus Delicti covers "Suffragette City" by David Bowie

 I've listened to a couple more songs from the new all-Goth tribute album put out by Cleopatra Records, and this version isn't too bad.  The vocals sound kind of like Devo trying to be a Goth band, but I do like the drums on this cover.  It's not a very unique cover, but it's not half bad.  

✅✅✅

Cover #105: Christian Death covers "Panic In Detroit" by David Bowie

 This comes from an all-Goth Bowie tribute album put out by the titans of mostly mediocre tribute albums, Cleopatra Records.  I went straight for this song, so I haven't checked out the other covers yet, but I sure hope they are better than this.  Christian Death turn in a train wreck of a cover.  It is out of sync, like a badly assembled toy on Christmas morning.  What a turd.

💩

Cover #104: The Cardigans cover "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

 I remember reading about this cover before I heard it.  I assumed that with a band like The Cardigans taking on this song that it must be a novelty song, at least partly.  Thankfully, it is not.  The cute little indie band from Sweden makes this song sound like it was only ever an indie band song.  This version is original all the way- just a few references to remind you of the original, but otherwise everything is as fresh as springtime in Stockholm.  

✅✅✅✅✅

Cover #103: Ed Palermo Big Band covers "Village Of The Sun" by Frank Zappa

 Ed Palermo has done a lot of Zappa covers-  a handful of all-Zappa tribute CDs and a few more with Zappa tunes mixed in with others.  Obviously, there is a lot of material to cover over time on this here blog.  

Any Ed Palermo cover of Zappa falls somewhere between very good and excellent, depending on the arrangement, energy, and unique attributes that Palermo's highly talented band brings to each cover.  This cover is pretty basic as far as Ed Palermo Zappa covers go, but the unique quality by far are the female vocals.  Female singing is pretty uncommon in the original Zappa repertoire, so it is always interesting to hear a change in vocal styles.  

✅✅✅✅

Cover #102: Nosferatu covers "People Are Strange" by The Doors

    I have to hand it to the Cleopatra label-  they are single-handedly keeping the tribute compilation industry afloat.  A survey of just some of the more recent offerings reveals compilations that are usually a mix of some older recognizable artists and ones you probably have not heard of, but there are a few that seem to be in-the-studio only bands.  Of course, what really matters is just one thing:  are the covers any good?  

   There are some stylistic (Heaven forbid I say "genre") approaches to The Doors that probably wouldn't work, especially for a whole album, but this Goth approach is interesting.  If you need a reference, think very early Ministry.  

  Alright, so what about this particular cover?  I admit that I've only listened through the album once so far, but this jumps out as the best of the bunch.  The electronic based sounds more like "L.A. Woman" than "People Are Strange."  Only the vocals reassure you that you are in fact listening to the correct song.  I could listen to the basic bass and guitar riffs all day.  This is a really good cover.

✅✅✅✅