Original Cover

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R5s5h_MTCQ&list=PL5XD1wePFp_f2uceQiNuA7dnmedtADFGG&index=1

The Paragons (1968):

vs. Massive Attack (1998):

Herbie Hancock (1973)

v. Jesse Fischer & Sly5thAve (2015)

Robin S. (1993)

v. Clean Bandit feat. Elisabeth Troy (2014)

Phil Collins (1989)

v. The Derevolutions (2015)

"Breathe" Blu Cantrell v. Years & Years I may be biased on this one, the Blu Cantrell version is of my era. But the new cover is pretty much a jam, I will admit that...

Alicia Keys (2009)

vs. Hackman (2011)

In honor of Halloween, I've got the most Vampired-out song you can possibly find: Bela Lugosi's Dead. Bauhaus (1979)

vs. Sepultura (2001)

In honor of Lou Reed, I've decided to post a song not BY Lou Reed, but a song that he covered. I love Walk on the Wild Side and Perfect Day just as much as the next person, but I think the pure Lou-Reed-ness really shines through on this one: Buddy Holly (1957)

vs. Lou Reed

I cannot deny it any longer: I am homesick. Terribly heartbroken at the very thought of the city I consider "home" and the idea that I will not be there again any time soon. I miss the smells, the views, the food, the art, THE LIGHT. I miss how it feels to be there, how I feel when I'm there. In honor of my homesickness, I've got my 3rd Otis Redding song for you all, because I love Otis and he knows how it feels to be stuck in San Francisco, a city that so many people love and would give everything to be a part of, and really miss home. Otis started to write this song in 1967, while on tour with the Bar-Kays and staying on a houseboat in Sausalito, CA. Over the next few months he and Steve Cropper finished the lyrics and recorded the short but poignant track. To add an even more bitter twist to my post today, Redding died shortly after the track was completed, and it was only released postmortem. I bring up this deadly theme not just because we're in the throws of Halloween, but because we have just lost another musician who I'm sure is near and dear to many of you: Lou Reed. I'll dedicate a post to Lou Reed in just a moment, but for now, here's Otis: Otis Redding (1968)

vs. T. Rex feat. Gloria Jones (1975)

Portishead (1997)

vs

Tom Jones

Whoa! Tom! Who knew I could like a Tom Jones song, this is sort of amazing. It's like some badass James Bond intro song, move over Adele!

Portishead still wins, but in either case, this is a case where those dramatic orchestral movements really work and add to the song (ahem, looking at you Gloomy Sunday)

Billie Holiday

vs

Bjork

It's really incredible how much I love this song, even on a day like to day where I have nothing to be gloomy about. The lyrics, ugh, just so good in every way. Plus you add two of my favorite vocalists, Bjork and Billie Holiday, and I can barely keep it in my pants. In writing this post I was surprised to learn that the song is actually a Hungarian song written in 1933 by Rezso Seress with lyrics by Laszlo Javor, and first recorded in 1935 by Pal Kalmar. It has since been covered by a plethora of remarkable artists, including Artie Shaw, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Lydia Lunch, Elvis Costello, Christian Death, Serge Gainsbourg, Sinead O'Connor, Anton LaVey (of course!) and Sarah McLachlan. A full list is available over at wikipedia.

To be honest, as much as I love Bjork, I cannot get past the cheesy orchestration that sounds like some terrible musical you'd see on TV at 5am on TMC. I love her rendition, but she did perform it live at a benefit in the 90s, so the Pops-at-the-Beach type backing isn't really surprising.

Holiday's version is, by contrast, much more subdued, and because it lacks the exaggerated drama of Bjork's version, is simultaneously more relaxing and more arresting. She brings a peace to the inner storm that makes the suicide theme real, not kitschy.

Alt-J (2012)

vs

Ellie Goudling (2013)

Leonard Cohen (1974)

vs

Lana Del Rey (2013)

Call me crazy, but this is actually a tough one. I should make it clear that I am not a Lana Del Rey fan, but I feel like her version might be better. Cohen's version is interesting historically; he was upfront about writing it about Janis Joplin - a detail he later regretted revealing.

For such a personal song, Cohen's version lacks any personal emotion, and in some ways that is what make Cohen so remarkable and enigmatic. The song is full of inner conflict, he says it himself: "I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, that's all, I don't even think of you that often." - an entirely bittersweet way to end a song.

Guestblogger, Trollcole Post II

In a Manner of Speaking

Martin L. Gore:

Tuxedomoon

Nouvelle Vague

Firstly, let’s just nix Nouvelle Vague’s version. It’s not terrible, but as OriginalCover’s host and I discussed, they stick to a schtick-script that is anachronistic and not an expression of authentic artistry. So, out.

Now, Mr. Gore’s cover from his cover-songs album, Counterfeit, was the first version I heard. It’s melodically wonderful with his harmonizing voice set to frenchy industrial arpeggiation pays a strong tribute to Tuxedomoon’s original. But I really have to give it to the originators. They are so minimalistic and it is befitting. The only issue I have is the Bowie/Bauhaus–esque sprechgesang toward the end. That section sounds amateurish; however, the song is from an era where that was avant-garde and the New Romantics loved dark artistry, so it really makes sense in this context.

Yet another really tough one for me, again I love both these bands. I'm a bit depressed today, so I'm really loving the sad London Grammar version, but without a doubt the Kavinsky original is an amazing track: Kavinsky

This may be the most epic original/cover pairing ever. I love both these bands, so this is a hard one for me:

Mogwai

vs.