Recently i’ve been randomly listening to and enjoying a lot of cover versions from my music collection and realised that i haven’t really done a post about covers in quite a while. So to make up for it i’m gonna do two.
Straight to the point then….
ORIGINAL: Tom Petty – I Won’t Back Down
The first song is a Tom Petty cover courtesy of Dawn Landes. A respected artist in her own right but maybe unfairly mainly known for her appearances alongside the likes of Alexi Murdoch, Jose Gonzalez and her husband Josh Ritter. The Kentucky native has put her own relaxing Americana tinged spin on this already American rock classic. There are a few cover versions of this song floating around but this is my favourite one.
MP3: Dawn Landes – I Won’t Back Down
ORIGINAL: Queen and David Bowie – Under Pressure
I love this song. I love the original but i love the uniqueness of this cover. It manages to stick quite close to the original version yet somehow manages to throw in all sorts of jangly,chimey, instruments/weird noises that fit in perfectly. Yet another track that has been covered several times. The most famous of which are probably the Keane version and the My Chemical Romance/The Used version. Both of which were comprehensively shit and not worth mentioning. Even though i just did. Shit. But let’s try and imagine those ones never existed. The only one worth checking out is Xiu Xiu’s version.
MP3: Xiu Xiu – Under Pressure (Feat. Michael Gira)
ORIGINAL: Dee-Lite – Grrove Is In The Heart/Beach Boys – California Girls
This is essentially two covers. As if hearing the scuzz merchants use their filthy guitars to do THAT catchy lead line from Dee-Lite’s disco classic wasn’t enough they then go and mash it up with the Beach Boys track “California Girls”. The Crocodiles deserve your love and praise simply for the fact that they were brave enough to attempt this track and the fact they’ve successfully transformed a disco anthem and a sunshine pop gem from the 60’s into a groovy, disturbingly good cover.
MP3: Crocodiles – Groove Is In The Heart
ORIGINAL: Erma Franklin – Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart
Jaguar Love hid this track away as a bonus song at the end of the album “Hologram Jams”. They decided to take this ode to heartbreak from Aretha Franklins big sister Erma and turn it into a mad psychedelic synth and guitar filled shriek fest. The vocals certainly take centre stage followed closely by the slightly deranged solo around the 2 minute mark. Bonus points for replacing the line “I’m going to show you baby that a woman can be tough” with the line “I’m going to show baby that a JAGUAR can be tough”. Brilliant.
MP3: Jaguar Love – Take Another Piece Of My Heart
ORIGINAL: Dolly Parton – Jolene
Treading safe water here. Ellie Goulding has the perfect voice to tackle the legendary Dolly Parton number. The guitar plucks steadily alongside the fragile yet assuring voice. It’s nothing new and doesn’t really add anything extra to the original but is a good cover nonetheless. I love The White Stripes version as well.
MP3: Ellie Goulding – Jolene
Remember if you wanna download any of the MP3’s just right click and save as.
S.I.T Wolf X
Someones In The Wolf 