cover albums |
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yoel?
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 19 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 160 |
Topic: cover albums Posted: October 28 2007 at 14:59 |
im not sure if this thread has beendone before, so if it has im sorry
anyway, i bought jordan rudesses new solo album the other day, and it got me thinking about cover songs. Whilst the songs themselves are technically mezmerizing [especially the Yes and ELP covers in my opinion], they seem so mechanical, the songs dont have any kind of soul or emotion in them.
your thoughts???????
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Raff
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 29 2005 Location: None Status: Offline Points: 24429 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 15:06 |
Well, I've got a few tribute albums (I suppose it's the same thing), and they are not bad at all. The recording company Magna Carta specialises in them - the ELP tribute album is actually very good, with Rudess playing on a couple of tracks. I also bought DT's A Change of Seasons because I was curious about the covers, but I was as disappointed as you were by Rudess's album - lots of technique, but very little soul.
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darkmatter
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 23 2006 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 2760 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 15:12 |
Not progressive rock, but I'm thinking of a couple related to A Perfect Circle. They did an album of covers (eMOTIVe, which was unfortunately their last album), and it seemed to be quite unpopular among many people. Admittedly, I'm not very familiar with most of the original versions of the songs (from what I'm to understand, they're completely different), but I think it's a good album, although not even close to being as good as their first two albums. The other album I'm thinking of is an album of APC covers by some random band(s). I got it at FYE one day a few years ago, and I really regret doing that, because it was pretty bad.
I've never heard a lot of cover albums, but I'm guessing they're hit of miss. |
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Lofcaudio
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 04 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 444 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 16:15 |
Covers are tough. Today's artists are genuflecting to past artists' creativity while trying to stamp their own interpretation on the material. I actually find that I generally enjoy cover albums for one reason only--and that is, that the cover band is going to take a song that they appreciate, and take it to a new level. Typically, this is an improvement (even though the traditionalists will disagree with me). For example, if any listener hears the cover first, it will almost always seem like a huge improvement over the original song. But for listeners who are married to the original, a cover is almost always going to come off as a b*****dization ("no soul").
I have been listening to Neal Morse's Cover to Cover album and thoroughly enjoy it. His covers of "I'm Free" and "Sparks" totally blow away anything The Who ever recorded, in my humble opinion. Of course, Portnoy's "channelling of Moon" really means "Portnoy stomps Moon" when it comes to the drum kit. Whether you like Neal Morse or not, he is a smart man by surrounding himself with incredible musicians which makes his music pretty special (again, in my opinion).
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Lota
Forum Senior Member Joined: December 08 2005 Location: Peru Status: Offline Points: 178 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 16:25 |
Yellow Matter Custard by Morse, Portnoy, Gilbert and Bissonette. They do a really good job covering Beatles songs, the best I heard so far!!
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And In The End, The Love You Take, Is Equal To The Love You Make
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Philéas
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 14 2006 Status: Offline Points: 6419 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 18:32 |
The only cover album I have is Guns N' Roses' The Spaghetti Incident?, which is pretty enjoyable if one likes Guns N' Roses.
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Atkingani
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: October 21 2005 Location: Terra Brasilis Status: Offline Points: 12288 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 18:39 |
Kevin Gilbert & Giraffe, "The Lamb Lies Down At ProgFest '94"... simply amazing! I have the DVD too and it's even better.
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Guigo
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The Doctor
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: June 23 2005 Location: The Tardis Status: Offline Points: 8543 |
Posted: October 28 2007 at 18:43 |
Erik Norlander's Homage Symphonique is a pretty great prog covers album. Great versions of some classics...ELP's Pirates, Yes' Turn of the Century, Tull's Clasp, Crimson's Starless among others.
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magnus
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 19 2006 Location: Norway Status: Offline Points: 865 |
Posted: October 29 2007 at 13:47 |
I find Jordan Rudess' The Road Home a really good album. it really refreshed my interest for Free Hand, A Trick of the Tail and Tarkus.
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Dick Heath
Special Collaborator Jazz-Rock Specialist Joined: April 19 2004 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 12812 |
Posted: October 30 2007 at 06:48 |
Said it before: the best cover versions of tunes are those which are not slavish copies of the originals, but demonstrate the band's arrnagement and playing skills, adding something to the original without necessarily losing the essence of the original. There have been numerous Hendrix cover albums, of which:
is interesting but only Pat Metheny and Nigel Kennedy have the guts to avoid doingweak imitations, and instead each build upon those originals tunes they cover. There is a jazz rock Hendrix covers album - and with the Royal or London Symphony Orchestra! - that works perhaps because of the jazzing up of familar Hendrix tunes. Those Roadroader/Magna Carta tributes work for the most part - especially the Yes and Rush ones. Other labels (e.g. the Italian mellow label) have released tributes to Krimson (3 or 4 of these available) , Caravan , Gentle Giant, etc. However, perhaps the best covers are found on albums of largely self-written music: a few of my favourites:
Endless Enigma on Mastermind's (with Jens Johansson) The Angels Of The Apocalypse
Yes's cover of Lennon& McCartney's Every Little Thing ( ex. Yes)
Journey's version of George Harrison's Its All Too Much
Theo Travis's version of 21st Century Schizoid Man (ex. Earth To Ether)
Lenny White's funked up version of LZ's Kashmir (ex. Edge). Edited by Dick Heath - October 30 2007 at 06:51 |
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Ghandi 2
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 17 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1494 |
Posted: October 30 2007 at 09:10 |
I don't like covers at all on an album. Even if it is a creative reworking, it's still the same song and I want to hear something new.
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zicIy
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 04 2007 Status: Offline Points: 413 |
Posted: November 15 2007 at 02:11 |
"Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out " cd is very interresting stuff, imho. i like Haden´s great voice on that.
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