Wow - the film is far wilder than the recorded song. Kaleidoscope & fish-eye lens, white horses, very trippy stuff. I'll still take Vanian and The Damned.
Heh - 'Tainted Love' was the first song named on the me-started thread G-Man mentions upthread (although I hasten to add it was in the context of me saying my friends didn't know; I've been fully aware of the original for a good decade or so now).
Possibly the most amusing thing about reading that thread back now is being reminded of that glorious OTF period during which jv's space key wasn't working.
By the way G-Man, another thing in that thread I'd forgotten about was the 'you've never heard of Celia Cruz?!' amazement from myself and Jon. It's possible that this has been rectified since, but just in case...
The cover of 'Fever' I was thinking about was in fact by salsa singer La Lupe, not by Queen Celia. Here it is, if you didn't already manage to track it down.
Womblian wrongness there. The Ryans' version is pedestrian and plodding. The Damned's version is a soaring eagle of bombast and melodrama. No comparison, Vanian wins.
Nah, not having that. The Ryans' original was how the song was intended, all kitchen-sinky and brooding, then melodramatic. The Damned's versh was far too obvious.
Whoever it was upthread that said their cover of 'Alone Again Or' was better calls it right. And even that wasn't amazing. The Damned were way better doing their own thing than rehashing.
The Osmonds' "Love Me For A Reason"? Written and first recorded by Johnny Bristol.
It was from his Hang On in There Baby album (1974), the title track of which concurrently sat in the UK Top Five while The Osmonds were at number one with 'LMFAR'.
Greenlander wrote: Tainted Love by Soft Cell wins this for me.
I think Almond (at least) was a Northern Soul regular, when he heard the Gloria Jones version of Tainted Love. Soft Cell also covered What by Judy Street, which was another NS favourite.
A slight tangent is hearing famous songs for the first time in ways that you probably shouldn't.
Childhood examples would include "Wild Thing" (Goodies), "Yellow Submarine" (Pinky and Perky), and - a bit later - "Strange Fruit" (on UB40's first album).
[edit - just realized that I mean not just hearing, but owning, which is even worse]
Them old Top of the Pops albums are surely fertile ground here tr - my dad had a few of them so that would be how I first heard many seventies songs.
I had a Pinky & Perky album when I was younger as well, can't remember what was on it though. The Wombles were certainly a pretty bizarre entry route into Chris Spedding's work.
up until a few days ago i thought Freak Me by Another Level was the original. Due to some early 90's music searching on youtube i found the original by a group called Silk. Never heard of them before and to be honest i think i enjoy the cover version more.
Whenever i know a song is a cover version though i can never rate it higher than the original. I may like the cover version more but no matter how much of an improvement you think it is, the cover requires the original to exist for it to exist so i cannot take it as better.
I love Sinead O'Connor singing Nothing Compares 2 U but once i found out it was a Prince tune my admiration dwindled somewhat. O'Connor's is still the best version to listen to but could she ever have come up with something so brilliant?
Tramp The Dirt Down wrote: I still haven't heard Dylan's version of A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall - rightly or wrongly I still associate this with Bryan Ferry.
Wrongly. the only thing that should be associated with Brian Ferry is the phrase 'fucking cunt'.
I still haven't heard Dylan's version of A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall - rightly or wrongly I still associate this with Bryan Ferry.
Wrongly. the only thing that should be associated with Brian Ferry is the phrase 'fucking cunt'.
Can people really not separate the art from the artist here? Ferry himself may be politically objectionable, but Roxy Music remain one of the all time great British pop groups and I think his version of 'A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall' is possibly the best ever Dylan cover.
I still haven't heard Dylan's version of A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall - rightly or wrongly I still associate this with Bryan Ferry.
Wrongly. the only thing that should be associated with Brian Ferry is the phrase 'fucking cunt'.
Can people really not separate the art from the artist here? Ferry himself may be politically objectionable, but Roxy Music remain one of the all time great British pop groups and I think his version of 'A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall' is possibly the best ever Dylan cover.
Best ever cover? It's a goofy cover in my opinion.
Just off the top of my head, Hendrix shreds All Along the Watchtower and Like A Rolling Stone via live at Monterrey.
He is indeed an absolute ballbag and it really is a pity Roxy Music are so fucking superb in every way because I'd like to detest him more.
He was fond of throwing covers in, Midnight Hour and Eight Miles High on Flesh and Blood, a decent attempt at Jealous Guy and even in solo mode It's My Party.
I think he even did an entire album of Dylan covers too.
Complete twatter, though, there's no escaping that.
Comment