OK, it’s a bit naff. But in the classical world there are some great chunes so why not. I always have a bit of affection for this – Dave Edmunds judiciously speeded up for extra impact. I remember the single being in the charts when I was a nip.
There’s another thread about classical interpretations of rock just waiting to land which will be an order of magnitude naffer, trust me.
Other examples?
Keith Emerson was yer man for this sort of caper.
With E.L.P. we got:
Lashings of Mussorgsky on “Pictures At An Exhibition”, plus some rocked-up Tchaikovsky in the form of B. Bumble & The Stingers’ “Nut Rocker” to finish off.
Bit of Aaron Copland on “Trilogy”.
Hubert Parry on “Brain Salad Surgery”.
Copland & Parry again, plus Ginastera on “Welcome Back My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends”
Prokofiev, Bach and Copland (again) on “Works Vol.1”
Rodrigo on “Love Beach”.
Prokofiev, Janacec & Mussorgsky on “In Concert”
Etc.
Previously, with The Nice we had:
Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Bernstein & Bach pieces.
And of course Janacek and Bartok compositions he “composed” himself off the ELP album.
Egg ( as I’m sure you know already), the other Dave Stewart’s band, also did a lot of classical steals, but they could be a bit more complex – or just proggier- than The Nice. I like this Bach cover from the first album more than I think I should.
Quite honestly I am shocked, SHOCKED, that you didn’t lead off with this one:
I was leaving the open goal!
Steve Vai plays Paganini in the “Crossroads” guitar duel…
Crazy guy…
..needs a spanking.
And of course his old boss gave Ravel’s Bolero a bit of a spanking too..
Then he applies some chastisement to Stravinsky & Bartok
Manfred Mann’s Earthband channel their inner Holst:
And then there is always every song ever written…
etc…
The original edition of King Crimson used to render Gustav Holst’s “Mars” in their live set.
Brian Eno put three variations on Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” on the second side of “Discreet Music”
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band sneaked a few little snippets of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” into the live ballet interlude in their cover of “Delilah”.
This, surely…
McCartney playing McCartney’s Celebration from Standing Stone. One of my favorite pieces of music. Love this version.
Sky – Toccata (Fugue in D Minor)
The Who – Hall Of The Mountain King
wins !
similarly:
Madness ska-ify-ing Swan Lake
Cover version.
Here are The Cats from 1968.
and of course..
This lot were great live back in the day
Brian Setzer did a full album of this stuff….
Has anyone mentioned the Trans Siberian Orchestra? They started out as power mettalers Savatage who had classical leanings. Heck they called one album “in the hall of the mountain king” before undergoing a name change and cornering the Thanksgiving / Christmas metal market. At one point I think they had to have two units so they could hit enough markets during the key Nov / Dec period.
How about some mediaeval? We will disregard Phil Pickett is in prison, or was, for molesting his pupils at the Royal College of Music, in favour of the other blokes.
The first tune is My Lady Carolyns Dompe. What’s that about? A song about shitting?
Destination… Space Station Kitsch. Orbiting the Planet Kitsch, 3rd body from the central star of the Kitsch Solar System.
From this station perhaps emanates the sounds of Rick’s cover of Rhapsody in Blue. Anyone have this (double!) LP? I do. This is one of the highlights. Gotta love Rick Wakeman, a fearless man.
From what I recall, he went personally bankrupt staging King Arthur on Ice and so was reduced to this. So great. Moral: If your going to do something, do it full on.
Played pretty straight – Depeche Mode’s cover of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
Renaissance’s take on Albinoni’s “Adagio”, featuring Bolton’s finest singer, Annie Haslam.