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Albums of cover versions that you listen to

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The scorn in some quarters for Bruce’s album of soul covers got me thinking about the merits of such a pursuit and whether they warrant universal and immediate dismissal.
I came up a few that I play periodically over the years and I reckon hold up.
Elvis Costello – Almost Blue
Bowie – Pin Ups
The Reels Aussie band can’t remember the title
The Band – Moondog Matinee

A few maybes
Lennon RocknRoll
Nick Cave- Kicking Againt the pricks
Stones – Blues
Jinny Barnes – Soul Deep

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Comments

    • See also:
      “Sympathy For The Devil” by Laibach. An interesting take.
      “Sunshine Of Your Love/Purple Haze” and “Stairway To Heaven” as covered by Frank Zappa. Plus Little Richard’s “Directly From My Heart To You”, of course.
      “Ruby Baby” covered by Donald Fagen springs to mind and I suppose the cover of Duke Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” by Steely Dan deserves a mention.

      A few of those multi-artist coverdiscs from Mojo and Uncut threw up some good covers. The Dylan ones demonstrated that Bob’s stuff is easier to cover successfully than most other artists material. Ditto the HJHMs, of course. Bowie has proved to be a pretty difficult artist to cover with any conviction, IMO.

        • It`s better than the Anthony Newley impersonator`s version IMO.

          Just a word on those who`ve shown disdain to Bruce`s covers album Junior they are just the usual trolls who can`t resist having a go at artists they do not care for.

          • Or perhaps, Baron, they are lovers of the original whose opinion is… they just don’t think Brooce’s version is very good.

            I have half a dozen Springsteen albums, I don’t think the rest are worth buying. That’s just my personal taste, not a grand conspiracy.

            • If you post any music released after 1985 on the Afterword you will receive at least one comment that says little more than “I hate this and it’s shit”, often from some of the same people currently aggrieved because Kid Dynamite isn’t overly energised by the idea of Bruce Springsteen doing Soul covers.

              Personally, I’m a fan of the if you’ve nothing nice to say then try to say nothing at all approach when it comes to music, but it’s not really how things work on here. Entirely fair enough, but I don’t see why Bruce should get a pass (and I say this as someone largely in the “he’s earned it/if it brings joy to someone why not” camp).

              • Thing is that lately there’s not been a lot of stuff on here that I have much interest in. If I completely {*] refrained from criticising stuff that I don’t like (without being needlessly nasty, I hope) then I might as well not bother coming here.
                I’m not implacably opposed to covers, as can be seen in some of my other comments here. Just as long as they can bring something to the song that wasn’t already there in the original.

                I have a suspicion Bruce’s muse has taken a temporary leave of absence and that this album is an effort to lure it back again.
                Bruce’s voice, never amongst my favourites, is inferior to Frank Wilson’s and the arrangement, while well-played and recorded, doesn’t raise it enough to make me want to play it voluntarily. Not that I’d feel the need to cover my ears and leave, if I heard Bruce’s version somewhere.

                [*] Quite a few current threads that I’m just skipping over rather than commenting on. I shan’t name them.

            • Hi there Steve, where in my post is this conspiracy you speak of?

              If they are lovers of the original version do they take the time to lambast all subsequent versions of that song? I think not.

              Springsteen is an easy target, working class guy made good, HOW DARE HE!

              Of course I`m a fan of The Boss but I don`t expect everything he touches to turn to gold. The guy is 73, he can`t be expected to put out a `Nebraska` or `Darkness On The Edge Of Town` anymore. He`s going to go into the studio and enjoy himself and hopefully his fans can enjoy the same. Do you expect Steve Mack or the O`Neil Brothers to be turning out the likes of `Manic Pop Thrill` or `Babble` when they are in their 70`s?

              Stop Press: I do share your love of Cowboy Junkies, thanks for the good news.

            • There were a few dimensions to that debate.
              I dont like his version of this song. Ok
              Why the fuck is he doing an album of covers , how pathetic. Hmmm well ok if you dismiss all such efforts – the impetus for this thread.
              Complete rubbish will play album once and never listen again. Hmmm album hasn’t come out.

  3. Paul Weller’s Studio 150 is a sometimes surprisingly good collection. It might not be the first album of his that I reach for-of his solo catalogue that would be the self-titled first one-but I find it gets a fair bit of in-car listening.

  4. I’m rather fond of the Mojo comp Abbey Road Now!, featuring a random collection of artistes including Cornershop, Loose Salute, Gomez and Low Anthem. It’s strange and more than a little unsettling, but none the worse for that IMHO. Only Robyn Hitchcock does a completely respectful (and slightly pointless) stab at I Want You, the rest are all over the place. E.g….

  5. As someone said on the Brooce thread, the Cowboy Junkies latest covers collection is excellent.

    I’m putting kd lang’s fag-smoking tribute, Drag, in my list.

    And, for the second mention of the week, the grunge-era If I Were A Carpenter.

  6. I have loads, covers being my ‘thing’. Do I play ‘em incessantly? No, but will often put together playlists consisting of nothing but covers, as diversional listening. One that always features is Deadicated, unsurprising devoted to the Grateful Dead. The Gram tribute, Grievous Angel, is another.
    I quite like the themed tributes to artists, especially the reggae ones, of which there are a lot, covering artists such as Dylan, Stones and, again, the Dead. Likewise blues covers of Led Zep, Johnny Cash etc etc.

    • Funnily enough, I have just agreed to do a “Cover Classics” review of that Durannie’s monstrosity, to celebrate(!) their indictment into the R&R Hall of Fame, provided I can find something or anything nice to say about it. On revisiting it just now, it isn’t (quite) as bad as it has painted, and is now so very dated, it isn’t even as dated as when it was first released. If you catch my drift.
      I have just ordered a new copy, even, for £2.50.
      Maybe I should revisit that Simple Minds one as well,or am I fast going @beany…..?

    • Worth hearing just for 911 is a Joke, in which Simon Le Bon complains that the American emergency services are deliberately slow to respond to his phone calls because he lives in the ghetto.

  11. The Gilmore’s Loft Music, and to a lesser extent her cover of the whole of Dylan’s John Wesley Harding album. You could add her part in The Reel and Soul Association, which leads me on to Richard Thompson and co’s Morris On.

    Sometimes those multi-artist cover Mount CDs can work well, and that was my way into Dylan whom I had previously regarded as difficult and unapproachable in some way. With Dylan I realised soon enough that his own recordings are the real deal, but there is a Springsteen cover mount comp. somewhere that I enjoyed more than I have ever liked any of his own albums, presumably because Bruce isn’t on it.

  13. Strict Tempo by Richard Thompson is a favourite of mine – instrumental only, so I’m not absolutely sure that it counts in this thread.

    Kicking Against the Pricks by NC and the Bad Seeds appears in the ‘maybe’ column in the OP – it would be in my definitely YES column.

  14. The only ones I ever listen to in their entireties are the Gram Parsons tribute (Return of the Grievous Angel) and the Kanye Xmas album, Kreezus (https://m.soundcloud.com/local-business-comedy/sets/kreezus), with the latter really just a seasonal novelty.

    Return of the Grievous Angel is a genuinely great record in its own right – virtually every track works; the Pretenders and Emmylou Harris covering “She”, Elvis Costello’s “Sleepless Nights”, Wilco’s “One Hundred Years From Now”, Whiskeytown doing the immortal “A Song For You”, etc.

    However, my personal highlights are The Mavericks on “Hot Burrito #1”, Evan Dando powering through “$1000 Wedding”, and, particularly, Gillian Welch’s absolutely haunting “Hickory Wind”. So good.

  15. The Seeger Sessions
    Pin Ups
    Dylanesque by Bryan Ferry
    …all get regular spins.

    Linda Ronstadt hardly ever wrote anything , so all of her albums are of covers. I guess this applies to a lot of artists, another notable being Elvis of course.

    Edit: I guess we are really talking about artists who are regular writers who do a side project – there are no end of performers who made records and never wrote a note.

    A couple of additions..
    Rock & Roll by Lennon and Macca’s Run Devil Run – I know that wasn’t quite all covers, but I think it counts.

      • The one I go back to most often, too. The latest Springsteen effort, based on listening to one track, one is… not to my taste (if I can say that without the Boss Squad jumping on my head).

    • I’d be amazed if we haven’t dealt with it here before but are you asking the question “when is a cover not a cover?”
      Huge numbers of top selling artists never write anything themselves bit their albums are often filled with songs that have never seen the light of day before and may even have been written especially for them. Is Wendy James’ ‘Now Ain’t the Time for Your Tears’ a covers album? Is it possible for an artist to ‘cover’ their own songs when they record a song someone else has already made famous? Is either of the original versions of ‘Shipbuilding’ a cover?
      There must be several examples of Bacharach & David songs where two artists were in studios at the same time doing their own version, unaware of the other’s activity. Which, if any, is the cover?

      • We discuss this a lot, over at Cover Me Songs, the official line being that the artist who gets it out first is the first, even if the writer then “covers” it. So Elvis C’s record, out there in eel land, of the Wendy James LP he wrote for her, is oficially a cover version. Likewise he covered Robert Wyatt’s when he did his own version of Shipbuilding, although it gets murky, as there is supposedly an earlier Elvis demo, maybe where Robert Wyatt got it from.
        See also Girls Talk: was it Dave Edmunds or Elvis? Or even Rockpile, as they did an earlier live version that trumps both. (And yes, I know who sang it and played the guitar in Rockpile, but this is an area of pedantry I specialise in.)

        • I was under the impression that Clive Langer and Elvis Costello’s intention was that the song they wrote together was for Robert Wyatt to record first. Costello’s version was done after. Principally so that Chet Baker could play the trumpet solo on it and earn some money.

      • The other end of the telescope also comes to mind . Written for Aimee Mann I still think Costello was right to record his own version with the fantastic Nieve piano.

  17. Shelby Lynne’s Just A Little Lovin’ is her best album. As is Cat Power’s Covers Album. And Odette Sings Dylan.

    Holly Cole’s Temptation is a fantastic album of Tom Waits songs.

    Being old and sentimental, I listen to A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night a fair amount, but stick to the original as the additional tracks make it too long.

    Do the later, iconic Johnny Cash albums count? American Recordings and The Man Comes Around definitely should.

    The last studio Stones LP is a lot of fun.

  19. I prefer 1997’s all-female tribute ‘Time and Love: The Music of Laura Nyro’ to actual Laura Nyro.

    Jane Siberry wrote her own song for it, which was a bit “Stars of Laura Nyro on 45”.

  20. Multiple artist cover albums seem to more of a rarity than they used to be. One’s I still listen to a lot is:
    Real: The Tom T Hall Project. I’ve no idea how I came across it but I I suspect Mary Costello’s influence!
    Keeping it in the (fractured) family, I also often dig out Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, Detours and rendezvous – Songs of Elvis Costello.

  24. The answer is of course: The Fall.
    Ok not yet issued – the Fall covers album.
    Rollin Danny
    Victoria
    There’s A Ghost in My House
    Strange Town
    White Lightning
    Lost In Music
    Mr Pharmacist
    The Legend of Xanadu
    Walk Like A Man
    White Line Fever

    What a release that would be!

  26. John Fogerty’s two »Blue Ridge Rangers« albums are quite good. Ace song selection and brilliant playing from the »boys«. Even the Christian songs are unresistable to sing along to…

  27. The Beatles covers album also yet to be released.

    Soldier Of Love
    Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
    Anna
    Twist And Shout
    Rock And Roll Music
    Dizzy Miss Lizzy
    Roll Over Beethoven
    Leave My Kitten Alone
    Searchin’
    Nothin’Shakin’
    Boys
    Three Cool Cats
    A Taste Of Honey
    Money (That’s What I Want)
    You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me
    Please Mr. Postman
    Devil In Disguise

    Bonus tracks
    Mr. Moonlight
    Till There Was You

    • A great idea – it is always a bit of a beef of mine that their early covers were actually really important but are largely now ignored or underated.

      I would add a second disc and have Chains, Bad Boy, Long Tall Sally, Matchbox, Words of Love, Rock and Roll Music, Honey Don’t, Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby, Kansas City, Act Naturally, Slow Down, Baby It’s You, plus Some Other Guy, Clarabella, Memphis Tennessee, The Hippy Hippy Shake from the BBC sets…although there are heaps to choose from there!

  30. In 2019 Anerican folk/ Americana journeyman Robbie Fulks released an album called 16. Only available on vinyl through a small indie label Bloodshot.
    Sixteen is the word that opens Dylan’s Street Legal and his album is a reinterpretation of tht album it really has some high-points and the sparser arrangement bring to the fore the dense and magnificent imagery in the lyrics of that record.
    Here he is live.

  33. Senor Coconut did an album of Kraftwerk covers called El Baile Aleman
    There’s something about those tight melodies combined with the loose Latin rhythms that I find irresistable.

  37. Erm … has anyone mentioned “Fire In The Hole – Sara Isaksson & Rebecka Törnqvist sing Steely Dan” yet?
    No?
    Well, I will, then.
    It’s the greatest album of cover versions ever made.
    Nowadays, when I listen to the Dan, I think: “Why can’t they sound more like Sara and Rebecka?”

  39. Two More more on the traditional songs front:

    Other Voices, Other Rooms – Nanci Griffiths

    and (may have been mentioned before) Bruce’s The Seeger Sessions. A whole tour too based on that album with a different band. Saw him at the comparatively intimate NEC. Great evening.

    • Big fan of Nanci Griffith – thought she was a great singer songwriter but Other voices other rooms was possibly her best album.
      She introduced me to Speed of the sound of loneliness and Clare to here and both versions stand up well against the originals.

      And John Prines In spite of ourselves is also a fantastic album of covers but for the title song which is his own.

      • Which reminds me that Nanci Griffith’s cover of Tower Song, on Poet: the songs of Townes Van Zandt, is so good as to be a compulsory listen:

        I am reminded, from the cover, how many other good artists participate, including ‘covers’ regulars Lucinda and Cowboy Junkies, who, along with Los Lobos, appear on more tribute albums than anyone else. Lucinda is on well over 20.

  40. A Pledge Music only release, in support of The Defiant by TMTCH, the puntastically named Al Green Was My Valet. I don’t have it but the track listing is
    1 A Horse With No Name
    2 Big Brother John
    3 Warhead
    4 Gasoline Alley
    5 Roving Gambler
    6 Doesn’t Make It Alright
    7 John Barleycorn
    8 From Clare To Here
    9 Swords Of A Thousand Men
    10 Mercy Of The Guards
    11 Guitar Town
    12 Factory
    13 Shoals Of Herring

    • Yeah, Steve seems to have lost his mojo around the timr of Washington Square Serenade

      That run of classic albums he did from Train a Coming through to just an American Boy is pretty terrific, though

  43. Lot of love for Emmylou on here – most of her albums are covers except Red Dirt girl.
    Who can resist her versions of Here there and everywhere, Sweet old World, Wrecking ball amongst others.

    • I was going to mention her Western Wall with Linda Ronstadt, although strictly speaking there are 3 tracks she had a hand in writing, so it isn’t actually all covers – a stunning album which I prefer to the Trio outings, although they are excellent too.

  46. Anyone who loves covers should be aware of the resource, Second Hand Songs, a detailed data base that used to be pretty up to date. You can search by song or artist, by original artist and by cover artist. So fore the Queen of covers, Lucinda, here is her first page: https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/7563
    (Note, where it suggests she has only written 40 odd songs, note this is only those that have been covered by others.) Quite a wormhole, I can get lost down there for days, just tapping in artist names I like, or favourite songs. Loads of YouTube links too, should you be sad enough steal the mp3s therefrom.

  47. Late to the party on this one, but would echo others. All of the following get regular spins:

    k d lang – Hymns of the 49th Parallel
    Thea Gilmore – Loftmusic and John Wesley Harding
    Bryan Ferry – Dylanesque
    Nanci Griffith – Other Voices Other Rooms
    Cowboy Junkies – Songs of the Recollection

    Plus just about anything by Emmylou Harris, but if pushed I have a particular fondness for her Bluebird album.

  48. Surprised no one has mentioned Daniel Johnston’s Discovered/Covered yet.

    Album of his very low fi originals and a second album of covers by well known artists – zEels, Mercury Rev, Tom Waits etc, etc. incredibly good songwriter and sadly gone too, soon

    K. Carty’s album of DJ covers, Dead Dog’s Eyeball, is also pretty damn good

  50. All “various artists” covers so maybe not within the remit of the OP, but I’d like to give a shout out to:

    Rainy Day — David Roback curated Paisley Underground covers of ’60s greats. Would recommend to anyone who likes the Sweet/Hoffs LPs (she’s on this one, doing I’ll Keep It With Mine, IIRC).

    True Voices — Late ’80s covers of songwriters taken too soon from us. Last recording from Gene Clark on there, I think.

    Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye — Roky Erikson. ‘Nuff said.

    The original Sweet Relief benefit for Victoria Williams. Check out Maria McKee’s version of Opelousas.

    Sing Hollies in Reverse — featuring Ken Stringfellow on “the mighty Jon Lord organ” (calm down, Moose).

  51. Let’s gently close with Jim ‘The King’ Brown, Belfast’s finest postman, who had the idea of the celestial band better than most, by channeling Elvis covering 2 albums worth, one a double, of dead rockstars.
    Gravelands (geddit!) and Return To Splendor.
    Here’s No Woman, No Cry:

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