Single-band, covers-only records: Best? Worst?

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

I don't think anyone mentioned Mark Lanegan's "I'll Take Care of You" which is veddy GOOG.

Radcliffe · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:18 pm

billy g Wrote:

I don't think anyone mentioned Mark Lanegan's "I'll Take Care of You" which is veddy GOOG.

And the Lanegan connection reminds me of this:

The Walkabouts Satisfied Mind

AMG Wrote:

Like Yo La Tengo's Fakebook, the Walkabouts' Satisfied Mind is a definitive artistic statement masquerading as a loose-knit collection of acoustic covers. Sometimes a group's selection of cover material, combined with their ability to make the songs their own, winds up revealing as much about their craft as their original music, and such is the case here; mining the work of diverse artists like the Carter Family, Gene Clark, Mary Margaret O'Hara, John Cale, and Nick Cave, Satisfied Mind represents the purest evocation to date of the Walkabouts' aesthetic and its standing at the crossroads of country, rock, folk, and punk. By casting well-known songs in an entirely new light -- Patti Smith's "Free Money" becomes an ominous waltz, while Charlie Rich's "Feel Like Going Home" is renewed as an epic dirge -- the album makes explicit all of the implicit connections in the Walkabouts' work. By extension, it underlines the connections binding the spectrum of roots music as well; Satisfied Mind doesn't simply suggest that diverse sounds can coexist together -- it proves that they always have.

Stone red's dark sunshine · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:17 pm **Posts:** 1096

Dread Zeppelin - Un-Led-Ed

Finch Platte · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:27 pm

Stone Wrote:

Dread Zeppelin - Un-Led-Ed

Or The King's Gravelands An Elvis impersonator doing songs by dead people- Nirvana, Thin Lizzy, Jeff Buckley, Skynyrd, Hendrix, etc.

High-larious.

nobody · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:35 pm

Anybody mention this short album of Chuck Berry covers?

Nothing groundbreaking, but great fun.

nobody · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:39 pm

Or this pair of records...all done in the style of the Ventures by the delightful Ramonetures:

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:41 pm

Moxie Wrote:

tortoise/bonnie 'p' billy - the brave & bold

One of the worst ones I've heard.

Also the BPB album where he covers himself backed by a Nashville band is pretty bad.

The only one mentioned here that I have and like is Fakebook. I'm generally put off by the idea of all-covers albums.

nobody · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:44 pm

I like the one where he re-records his stuff in Nashville. I like most of those versions better than hearing him heavy breathing in a closet like on so many of the original versions.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:46 pm

Oh yeah, Viva Last Blues, Days in the Wake, and Hope sound terrible and totally needed to be redone.

What-the-fuck-ever.

nobody · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:51 pm

Just my opinion. I listen to plenty of stuff that is rough and raw, but there's nothing wrong with guys who can play well and decent recording gear.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:59 pm

The problem is more with re-doing something that was done right the first time.

In my opinion.

nobody · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:05 pm

Yeah, I can see how if you were really attached to the originals it would sound bad. I have a pair of albums, one from Chuck Berry and one from Jerry Lee Lewis where they re-rerecorded all their hits in the early 60s with new backing grounps and all. The had just switched labels and made new versions to sell and did decent jobs on 'em. But, they don't ring as true to me as the originals in most cases (although I do like to listen to them from time to time).

In this case, I was kinda ho-hum on the Palace stuff and listened to bits and pieces, so these versions weren't fucking with something I had any attachment to.

pinehurst · **Joined:** Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:45 am **Posts:** 1526

Sort of a covers album:

Fantomas - The Director's Cut

Worth hearing just for the theme from The Omen.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:04 pm

pinehurst Wrote:

Fantomas - The Director's Cut

Probably my favorite of all the ones listed so far. Great call.

Sketch · **Posted:** Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:30 pm

One that just came to mind:

Brad Mehldau - Anything Goes

shiv · **Posted:** Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:16 pm

I forgot about the Lanegan & Fantomas albums.

TheTheory · **Posted:** Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:47 pm

The Residents - Third Reich & Roll

HideousLump · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:42 am

TheTheory Wrote:

The Residents - Third Reich & Roll

How could I have forgotten?! It took me a while to realize that the ending is the "na na's" from "Hey Jude" over the guitar solo from "Sympathy for the Devil."

Single-band, covers-only records: Best? Worst?

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