sleepy jack

I tried to do a clever play on right-tracks thread title but couldn't think of one so it ended up being lame. This is a thread for exceptionally good covers that are hard to do. I mean we all know Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah is great and so is Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower but how hard is it to do a good Dylan or Cohen cover? Not hard. This thread is to honor bands who cover bands that are very hard to cover and do it well.

Radiohead "The Headmaster Ritual (The Smiths)"


I have heard so many people absolutely slaughter the Smiths, even really good artists, some notorious for cover songs well (I'm looking at you Jeff Buckley, I still can't believe what you did to The Boy With the Thorn in his side) seem to ruin smiths songs. Maybe it's because it's hard to imitate Morrissey, I don't know but people always seem to screw it up. This track isn't any different from the original which is fine but everyone seems to screw up singing Morrissey Thom absolutely nails it and it's really impressive.


Elliott Smith "Jealous Guy (John Lennon)"


After that recent compilation (THANK YOU YOKO ONO!) of John Lennon covers I don't think I need to explain the amount of butchery that has happened to that mans songs so I won't. This is one of my favorite songs Lennon has ever written, the lyrics are so simple and honest and it just seems a fitting song for Elliott to cover and he does it well. I should note I've yet to hear a bad cover from him but this is one of my favorites he's done.


Radiohead "Ceremony (Joy Division)"


Joy Division, like the Smiths seems to be a magnet for bad covers (The Killers, Fall Out Boy, etc.) once again Radiohead proves they can do it well.


Dinosaur Jr. "Just Like Heaven (The Cure)"


Cure covers tend to not bother me purely because they're never any different from the original for the most part (311 is a prime example from this) which causes me to get bored of them since Robert Smith typically sings better than any of them. This cover however is great, the driving guitar and the chorus with the screaming "go!' in the background is beautiful.


The Flaming Lips "Knives Out (Radiohead)"


I have heard some pretty bad Radiohead covers, Panic! at the Disco, Something Corporate etc. This one is really good, in fact I think I'd like it better if I preferred Wayne's vocals of Thoms, but I don't so yeah.


Patrick Wolf "Afraid (Nico)"


I cannot stand Nico, which is kind of funny seeing as Patrick Wolf and Elliott Smith my two favorite artists idolized her, anyway I think the original is awful. But Patrick covers this so beautifully I love it so much, Nico's version doesn't touch this probably because her voice doesn't even compare to is. He also did an even better Nico cover of her song 'Ari's Song' I wanted to post because it's one of the most haunting songs I've ever heard I couldn't find a video for it though so I'll upload it tomorrow.

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