old songs, new artists, some win, some lose.

So, I randomly looked up "I want you to want me" on iTunes after it was mentioned in a Rolling Stone article as being covered. Thus, my project for the day (week?):

Remember an old song that was brilliant, but is now dated. The original was a good example, because while it may have packed some punch in the 80s or whenever it was popular, it's kind of...distant-sounding now. So, once getting a song, find new covers of it and rate them, hopefully finding a *really* good one, and if not, combining aspects of the current covers in a way to make it newly awesome, or take it in an entirely new direction.

6-23-07: I Want You to Want Me--Cheap Trick

The original (Silver) was pretty solid, having some fuzzy background guitars and a meandering lead guitarist that basically solos the whole time (this is a good thing). However, the lead singer is kinda...meh. He's got kind of a heavy, breathy voice, and when he ascends to a higher pitch it sounds nasal.

Most Surprising Cover: Dwight Yoakam does a great job (Tomorrow's Sounds Today), as he keeps the driving, jazzy drums, but completely removes any other ode to Rock, and fills in the rest with an extremely thickly-accented, yodelly voice and slide guitar. He also messes with the tempo in each bar a bit, putting a lot more emphasis on the back end (music majors, is there a term for this?). I really liked it, but I prefer a more Rock feel to go with the song, which is extremely up tempo. By the way, if you want a primer on what I feel country bass-lines should be, listen to this.

Doh! Cover: Lindsay Lohan actually doesn't butcher the song (A Little More Personal) and just updates it with some bubblegum-punk sound (a la Ms. Lavigne). Too bright for my tastes, and the connotations inherent in a girl younger than me singing such an explicit song two years ago are too...slutty...to be comfortable. Don't hate your 12 year old cousin for rocking out to it though, as she's probably lost to the Cult of Skank already, and she might as well get a decent song out of the deal.

Most Creative Cover: The Pucks (are we there yet) did sort of an acoustic guitar, hand drum, folk-ey vocal duet thing, and it really works, because the harmonies are sweet and simple, and no part of the music overbears any other. This is the only acoustic version I could find that not only kept the tempo but kept the FEEL of the tempo.

Wierdest Cover: The Holmes Brothers (State of Grace). Now, I'm sure there's something uplifting for the Christian readers; taking a song explicitly about sexual love and adapting it to some black, choral ode to Jesus, but for the rest of us who fantasized winning the local talent show and our high school sweetheart with this song, it just doesn't work. Nice try, church people.

Best Cover: Jani Lane (Photograph or The Songs of Led Zeppelin and Cheap Trick). Jani Lane basically remasters the old, stadium version, and adds some really sharp sounding synth to help the drums out. While I find that this isn't my *favorite* cover, they really did justice to the original.

Worst Cover: Tigertailz (Original Sin) stripped everything but the drums and background guitar, threw in a weak synth, and called it a cover. If you enjoy what sounds like Eurotrash who grew up idolizing Elvis butcher a rock song, then by all means, fork over $.99 and your soul.

My favorite Cover: Dwight Yoakam, hands down. Fucking brilliant, bringing depressed, rural soul to an angsty, urban, one-hit wonder. <3

While you're checking these out, arrange the songs by title, scroll down a ways until you see one by Isaac Freeman. Tell me his voice is not amazing. Go ahead; lie to me.

Email me any requests for later songs at Mowry 017 "atsymbol" umn.edu, or catch me on Aim (neomanceristaken) or Windows Live (see address above).

Much love.