Quite possibly a very insane cover version....
I've been listening to Sandi Shaw this week and her Reviewing The Situation album. If you don't know the album it came out in 1969 and Sandi was in the producer's chair. It's a cover album, the title track comes from Oliver! and there's a great version of Your Time Is Gonna Come, which would appear to be the first time a Led Zeppelin song was covered.
It also features a version of Sympathy For The Devil. It's fast. Very fast. And it gets faster as the track goes on. The band sound like they can't quite keep up with the tempo and Sandie's voice is at it's nearest to helium as it can be for a lot of it. I have to add I absolutely love it. But it makes me dizzy, kind of like running very fast and then spinning around when you're a kid. The floor doesn't quite feel steady under my feet when I hear it.
Bonkers cover versions anybody?
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Cover art
These are not necessarily bonkers, but are all very entertaining:
007, A Fantasy Bond Theme - Barry Adamson
Coronation Street - Izzy Royal
Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler? - Billy Childish
Star Wars (7" version) - Meco
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts
A few of my fave sonic oddities are
Barbara Streisand - Life On Mars
William Shatner - Common People
Mae West - Great Balls Of Fire
Peggy Lee - Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
Ella Fitzgerald - Savoy Truffle
Wynder K Frog - does a belting version of Green Door
Sammy Davis - You Can Count On Me (a vocal version of Haiwii Five O theme)
Anandar Shankar - Jumping Jack Flash
And there are uptown top ranking reggae covers worth tracking down.
Norma White - I Want Your Love
Randy's Allstars - Mission Impossible theme
Susan Cadogan - In The Ghetto
And Jackie Mittoo - Telstar, and Alone Again Naturally
One of the best cover albums is...
Los Punkrockers - Exitos de Sex Pistols
A straight faced track for track rework of the Sex Pistols NMTB -truly unbelievable
Anything by William Shatner really
Everything I Do, I Do It For You - Fatima Mansions
Vaseline - Ben Folds
To Drunk To F*** - Nouvelle Vague (Yeah, it's what they do but this just blows my top, man.)
Daisy Daisy - Blur
Zoom - The Boo Radleys
Cicconi Youth - Into The Groove(y)
My favourite version of the greatest song ever written - Witchita Lineman - Sammy Davis jr at the moment.
Zoom
I'd forgotten about that; was a b-side of Barney or one those tunes?
Fatima Mansions did a pretty funny version of Shiny Happy People as well that was entertaining for a little while
It was Barney & I
I believe. I haven't heard that version of Green Door since I used to dance like a lunatic on talc in back rooms and sports halls of the mid 80's.
And yes, that version of Sympathy For The Devil is absolutley blinding/barmey. Off down Bearwood for some tea....
My favourite Youtube clip
For your delight I present William Shatner, WITH Ben Folds and throw Joe Jackson into the equation just for the Hell of it:
Covers rock
Some more colourful/unexpected/frightening covers that come to mind:
ON ILKLA MOOR BAHT'AT - BILL ODDIE (in the style of Joe Cocker)
RADIOACTIVITY - SENOR COCONUT (Kraftwerk mambo)
IT'S NOW OR NEVER - EL VEZ (the Mexican Elvis typically manages to insert a whole load of other stuff into one song - in this case Maggie May, Losing My Religion and the theme from The Godfather. He's good fun and worth checking out.)
GREY CLOUDS - THE ORB & ALAN PARKER
TRUST IN ME - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
SUPERSTAR - SONIC YOUTH
BORN TO ADD - SESAME STREET
ENGLAND'S GLORY - MAX WALL (3rd mention on the site in one week!)
YESTERDAY - DAFFY DUCK
ROCK EL CASBAH - RACHID TAHA
Other, relatively well-known sources of genre-twisting covers include Hayseed Dixie, Seu Jorge, the Puppini Sisters, Paul Anka's recent covers album.
[By the way - Dave C/Planetmondo - Thanks for your recent Cool Britannia mix, which I shall be playing this weekend in lieu of scootering to Brighton and duffing up some rockers.]
senor coconut
Senor Coconut also do an excellent version of Smoke On The Water which is a great improvement on the original.
Conga love
I should have mentioned Senor Coconut's other stuff, including their mambo Kraftwerk tribute album, "El Baile Alemán", which is always interesting and fun. "Tour de France" works particularly well. It's the marimba.
For wacky covers, head straight for April
April Winchell specialises in this very topic, with everything from the Gregorian-chant version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", via the Imperial March from Star Wars on the ukelele, to the Spongebob Squarepants theme in German.
Moog Cookbook
Roger Manning Jr from Jellyfish and Beck made two albums of moog covers including 'Teen Spirit' 'Black Hole Sun' and this...
Hotel California
I've also tracked down a Bolivian 60s garage band doing The Doors
'Break On Through' this week
And Sarah Vaughn's album of Beatles covers is worth digging out too.
Squeal, Iggy, squeal
Hayseed Dixie aren't the only ones doing hillbilly versions of rock classics.
"Purty Vacant" by Deadwood is as crazy as a prairie dog with fleas, and "Lust for Life" by Bad Livers sounds like Iggy on moonshine.
Both appear on John Peel's excellent "FabricLive" compilation.