Cover #40: Blue Öster Cult covers "Kick Out The Jams" by MC5

 If you are going to cover a truly iconic song, you really should bring something completely new to the conversation.  Here is another BÖC cover of a classic rock classic done basically the same as the original.  It's probably just as well that these guys use the PG spoken intro, because you are not going to get anything exciting with the rest of the cover.  Like their Animals cover, this is executed well, and suits the sound of BÖC just fine, but in the end it's exactly that-  just fine.  ✅✅

Cover #39: Blue Öyster Cult covers "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" by The Animals

 Everyone's favorite head-scratcher hard rock group leaves the cowbell untouched for this cover, which is barely different from the original.  Their version starts out with a slightly Santana sounding guitar solo, and they do bring a more 70s hard rock crunch, but otherwise there isn't much unique going on.   ✅✅

Cover #38: The Dick Carpenter Trio covers "Dancing In The Street" by Martha & The Vandellas

 Dick Carpenter would be the elder brother of the soft pop superstars The Carpenters.  A couple of iterations before the hit duo, the two Carpenter siblings teamed up with a bass/tuba player (you heard that right) and performed some jazzy covers and at least one original.  This stuff is miles away from the Carpenters familiar sound folks, so give it a try.

I don't think this version has been issued officially, but you can find it easily on YouTube from a 1968 performance on a TV show called "Your All American College Show."  So how is it?  It's really good!  This trio puts out a sort of jazz-meets-go-go (not Washington, DC Go-Go, but the 60s kind) with some nifty short little solos including Karen on drums.  She was just 18 when they performed this, right after the trio won a local Battle of the Bands competition.

Who'd a thought?    ✅✅✅✅

Cover #37: We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It! covers "Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum

 This is a perfect example of "it's so bad it's good."  I absolutely loved this group when I first heard them in the C-86 era- they were just so different from everything else.  This group embraced the entire "we're not going to let the fact that we've never been in a band or played any instruments before stop us" punk and post-punk ethos- very much in the spirit (ahem) of The Slits and X-Ray Spex.  So, here they put their unique spin on the old classic rock hit.  It is definitely a unique take- it only sort of sounds like the original.  Good stuff.  ✅✅✅✅

Cover #36: Low covers "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" by The Smiths

 It's not easy to cover The Smiths.  The gallery of truly good Smiths covers is meager, and I'm not exactly sure why.  This cover by Low is a good effort- they strip off the superfluous intro (isn't it super obvious that The Smiths turned in this uneven final album to satisfy the record company?) and remake the song into a very quiet, somber lament.  The vocal delivery is magnificent, and the mid-song dramatic change adds emotion rather than distraction.  I wish the recording quality was higher, but I'll take it.  ✅✅✅✅

Cover #35: Los York's cover "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream

 Yes, the band does have an apostrophe in its name, and they put out a very sinister cover of the old Cream classic.  It's sung in Spanish, and the title is "La Alegría De Tu Amor."  There are little touches like the guitar dropping out of a few notes at the end of the famous riff in the beginning, and a much more subdued drumming performance that makes this version somehow more nervous.  Turn down the lights, turn this cover up gradually louder and louder, and scare the crap out of anyone within earshot.    ✅✅✅✅

Cover #34: Elliott Brood covers "Runaway" by Del Shannon

 This cover by a little-known Canadian band sticks pretty close to the cover.  One thing I do like better about this cover is the keyboard solo is less annoying than the one in the original (a "Musitron" inflected keyboard, which is too whiny for my ears).  This is really a 2.5 star cover, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.   ✅✅✅