Prompted by Twangs 20 best guitar album thread and Sunday morning, so anything goes…. A question, m’learneds: a few years back Carlos Santana put out a “covers” LP of guitar solos that was hugely derided by all and sundry, including not a few of his peers. And, OK, allowing for the fact it isn’t all that great, actually guitar solos apart, being let down by a Billboard top 50 aimed production and the usual lousy vocals so loved by the man, what is so wrong with the idea? He is a guitarist. Singers can get away with singing other peoples songs, jazzers are always interpreting other peoples stuff, tho’ they call ’em standards in that idiom, why shouldn’t he? (The criticism was more that he did it, not how he did it, Richard Thompson being expressly dismissive)
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Rec Room says
See Elvis Presely for the gold standard. Or for a more up to date (and cynical) response there’s Dylan’s last few albums.
Twang says
My view of any cover is if it’s a recreation of the original, a “look I can also do a Beach Boys harmony” pr something, it is a waste of time. See most covers bands too – not really interested. But taking a cover and bringing out a new dimension of the song, hitherto hidden, is always interesting. There are some songs which are so hackneyed and worn I never want to hear them again, but reinterpreting a good song is fine with me and the same applies to guitarists. I haven’t heard the Santana one mind.
Billybob Dylan says
I marvel at Andy Partridge’s version of ‘Strawberry Fields’ as well as the Dukes’ ‘Pale & Precious.’ I’m sure it was a “look at me! I can make a note-for-note copy that sounds just like the original!” and “my band can sound just like the Beach Boys if we want to!”
On the other side of the coin is something like Devo’s version of ‘Satisfaction.’ A million miles from the original, and it doesn’t even include the iconic three note riff! It’s a fantastic interpretation, and, not that Devo would have done such a thing, but if it had simply been a recreation, it would have been completely worthless.
Yes I know the second paragraph contradicts the first one but there you are.
ianess says
The Devo version is stupendous. They tell a great story about playing it to Jagger in his hotel room, hoping to get his permission to release it. After a few seconds, Mick gets up and starts dancing delightedly to it. Mindblowing experience for the Mothersbaughs.
Twang says
I’m unenthused by the track list:
Whole Lotta Love
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Sunshine of Your Love
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Photograph
Back in Black
Riders on the Storm
Smoke on the Water
Dance the Night Away
Bang a Gong
Little Wing
I Ain’t Superstitious
Looks like a covers band play list. Bleagh.
Johnny Concheroo says
Exactly, it’s covers band territory. You don’t cover songs like Smoke On The Water and Sunshine of Your Love unless you have something new to bring to them. Those songs are set in stone and it was bizarre that a big name like Santana would even think of touching them.
I have this album and the guitar playing is great as always, but the whole concept is fatally flawed. I guess because Carlos had the biggest album of his career with the 30 million-selling Supernatural album, he (or, more likely his people) thought he could get away with more of the same – celebrity guests on each track etc – a few years later.
Even the title is bad: Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time.. Here’s an idea, let’s use the word “guitar” twice in the title.
duco01 says
When I first saw the tracklisting for that Santana covers album, I read the ninth track as “Dancing the Night Away”. I thought “Great! He’s covered the old Motors song!
Lando Cakes says
Is the answer “when it’s by Led Zeppelin”?
retropath2 says
Sorry to the 600 odd posters who had witty, erudite and learned responses to my simple question, all eaten by the no connection to database. Maybe you can summon the strength to reprise, but, worry not, should ennui prevail, I at least will recall this as the single most responded post this side of drupal.
Sniffity says
The thing is, 300 of those posts were from HP Saucecraft, attempting to shoehorn Lionel Blair into the conversation.
Mike_H says
Some artists have a body of songs that are reasonably easy to reinterpret, the most obvious being Dylan.
In his case the quality of the songs make covering them highly desirable, while I imagine the way he uses his voice on the originals makes it necessary to try different approaches. Anyone else singing his songs in his style would just sound unpleasantly mocking.
retropath2 says
Unless they are Steve Gibbons, who does Dylan better than Dylan.