Always great to hear from you Graham, I sense we're on a very similar wavelength both in music and writing. Like you, I've been steeped in music since my early teens, which fortunately just happened to coincide with some of the greatest rock music in history being released (1970–75). That era (starting in 1965 really) set a record for wall-to-wall classics. I've written thousands of words in essays which I still hope to eventually publish in book form, although I published many of them over the years on my now defunct WordPress site, chameleonfire1 and occasionally on my Substack.
I don't think it's any stretch to put some of rock's greatest records and bands in the same category as the classical composers in terms of their importance to musical history. Keep in mind that some of the compositions by Yes, Keith Emerson, Genesis, Gentle Giant—the progressive rockers—are every bit as complex musically as classical. Yet in my view they're actually a superior form of music because whereas classical is limited to an orchestral or chamber music form, Prog Rock literally allows the composer to mix and match ANYTHING, both in terms of musical instruments and genres. So the late 20th century gets my vote for creating the absolute apex of musical achievement in human history.
And as for the popular song, this too is an art form unto itself, one which, we're now seeing in today's made-to-order "hits" requiring teams of a dozen "songwriters" to produce for the Taylor Swifts of the world, is clearly not so easy to do as we once thought. Once again, songwriting is a talent like writing poetry or novels and you can't just do it to a formula, even if the popular song has a consistent form.
Often the songwriters themselves aren't the greatest musicians, yet when interpreted by truly great singers—Linda Ronstadt being a prime example—the song takes on a life of its own. Think also of Santana's immortal version of Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman." Even Bob Dylan's songs often best come to life when done by other interpreters—Johnny Winter's version of "Highway 61 Revisited," Hendrix doing "All Along the Watchtower," or the excellent 30th Anniversary Concert by various artists performing Dylan's work.
Thank you Sean. Very interesting all this even though I can't entirely agree with some of it...... I have a pretty strong prejudice in favour of the song writer's own performanc of their work and though, like you, I am a champion of the best of Rock, ultimately I put my favorite Classical pieces on a higher plane. Good to talk with you.....and Happy New Year too.
Hard to find any rock/pop that compares with St. Mathew Passion or The Firebird Suite, or any Mahler symphony, and one could argue for Beethoven, et al. Rock isn't meant to have the depth of Classical music, which makes the comparison as pointless as comparing Boots Randolph to John Coltrane. One can enjoy both without the schism.
Have a listen to the Yes suite "Awaken": it covers the grand sweep of passions and subtle passages that make your hair stand on end. This 20-minute epic matches any symphonic piece for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDXccU0xgNo
As I said before, my comparisons are to pop/rock groups, Mike Oldfield is outside that category. Progressive is a legitimate category, It may be too narrow, but I think once you leave the realm of the repetitious back beat of the snare drum, then rock loses it's foundation. Rock music is founded on repetition, especially the bass and drums and it all comes from the blues. Categorizing music is an endless exercise in futility.
Interesting though that it took rock music to free music from the strictures of classical and allow the possibilities of Progressive Rock (or Progressive Music if you prefer). As a friend of mine once said, "Syncopation was the best thing that ever happened to music."
The Animals version of Dylan’s ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ is a good example of being superior to the original. This is one of my favorites, Eric Burton voice makes the song:
Graham, I’m gonna leave you this 1979 live recording from the ‘The Police’ before they toured America (Rock Goes to College, Hatfield Polytechnic). Ska to punk to rock for you all in 40-ish min of wonderful noise:
Nice and eclectic..... thank God! Had an uncle who loved certain classic rock, definitely influenced my tastes. But.... AND I SWEAR BY ALL THAT IS HOLY... he liked Pink Floyd, but hated Led Zeppelin. Because "Zeppelin was a stoner band".
I want to recommend hundreds of songs, so appreciate the pain in restraining myself to a ballad comnpilation - ha ha. Aiming for songs that would have been considered as classic if recorded 20 years earlier. The first two from Australia because my passion was reignited after watching the new Midnight Oil documentary. No need to listen to all or one. It was a hedonistic and therapeutic escape from writing politics today - https://wickedmike.substack.com/p/10-musical-commandments-for-bethlehem
Thanks Mike. I'll have a listen but none of these are ones I know so could take a while.
Be My Baby: take a look, if you haven't already, at the 'In Honour of Ronnie Spector' Youtube on my playlist.....it's an amazingly sexy video; one that perfectly complements that fantastic record.
Taken me a while to get back here to listen and be reminded (by you and your subscribers).
I'd never seen the George Harrison video - its dance was a joy burst.
I found Phyllis Nelson middle-of-the-road, but happy to add to my 80s knowledge.
JJ Cale's was perfect for my early Sunday morning (before it gets to 35°C, 95F).
I don't see the link you're referring to for 'Be My Baby' but watched 3 versions, the original, Ronette's live (on the Album Collector channel), and Jennifer Grey dancing on the bridge.
Phyliss Nelson: To me that song is just incredibly sexy...but that may be partly related to things going on in my life when it was in the charts. (It got an added bonus when I was compiling this playlist to discover that she actually wrote the song herself....something unusual for black soul/disco artists. Here's the link in case you went to a less good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFNszV-7VJI&list=PL_SMEwUs1XepRU0wmfo_TnVl5DFzosgYG&index=11
My favourite bar existed in the wonderfully dingy 90s. We saw some original rockers (and more strippers than that), but my favourite was a one-man cover band who sang a lot of alternative and dark pop, from The Pixies and U2 to Eurythmics and Depeche Mode. His playlist included 'Whole of the Moon' and 'Sit Down'. We sang along for years.
Thinking of naked women, 'Be My Baby' was memorable as a track from the movie Dirty Dancing'. It was a tussle being a teen boy pretending not to like it whilst Jennifer Grey's wet top was imprinting my hormones. The soundtrack introduced me to several good songs.
Deacon Blue - great band! Your song choice is one of their best though my #1 is 'Dignity'. It was a lesson to me, a street cleaner saving up to buy a dinghy that he sees as a ship. Nice that, like Tears for Fears, Deacon Blue is still alive e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylCZZVkwbig. I miss pop having meaning!
I'm four songs in to this list and all I can say is wow!!! Have to pause to fully appreciate what is coming next. Ending on The Waterboys seemed good for this Sunday.
I enjoyed your personal rundown a lot. That Eurythmics inclusion reminded me how many great records they released in the '80s.
There are some here that would appear in my (huge) favourites list, like Gentle George and Don Henley, as well as that timeless Ronettes record!
On a tangent, one of my recent Substack essays was on the subject of "ultimate cover versions" and includes a few Dylan covers,; which any such list would have to, almost by definition.
I have a feeling you would find plenty to disagree with me on regarding Dylan covers vs originals though !
But as I always stress in my pieces: when it comes to music or any art I suppose, it's all about opinions. In my opinion of course.
I have complicated feelings re Dylan. He was such a huge hero in my teens and twenties but I can't help wishing he'd hung up his rock star boots about 40 years ago because (in my opinion) his huge output since the early 80s has been mostly forgettable. The exceptions (such as To Feel My Love and Things Have Changed) are few. I wrote about my view in this piece I published around the time of his 80th birthday: https://www.city-journal.org/article/older-than-that-now
You are right that I have a general prejudice in favour of a songwriter's own version of their work. But Yes there are exceptions....(Clannad's cover of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now is one that springs to mind).
As for Dylan covers, I have retained my delight in the Byrds covers in the 60s. Another commenter here mentioned The Animals' cover of It's All Over Now Baby Blue as an example. So I listened to it but, for me, Dylan's own is the better one.
He is maddeningly eratic as a singer....his live concerts are notoriously awful aren't they? But then - in complete contrast - no one has ever come close to Dylan's brilliant rendition of House of the Rising Sun (on his first 1962 album).
Please do let me have your choices for best Dylan covers.
Do you know, I haven't even heard BD's version of House of the Rising Sun! I will have to check that out definitely.
Also I am unfamiliar with the Clannad cover so will have a listen. Thank you. Ian Hunter once said that as long as Dylan was alive, he would be the greatest living songwriter, which not many would argue with, I suppose.
Though I am with you that there are a number of writers and performers from our era who definitely should have hung up their guitars (or piano) decades ago. Springsteen comes immediately to mind for me, though there are several others topping up the pension funds these days! You might agree with at least part of what I offered as definitive Dylan covers then. Here is my piece. I would be interested in your thoughts of course. I had great fun putting it together, selecting and then dismissing certain tracks for whatever reason. Such is the nature of list-making, as you know!
I'll check out your In Praise of Covers in the next couple of days and let you know what I make of them.
On Dylan.... I have to say that, much as I adored his songwriting for two long decades, I think his last, sustained songwriting brilliance was the Street Legal album of 1978 (as I wrote in the City Journal piece I linked above).
Thanks, I had a listen to both those tracks on YT. The Dylan is kind of what I expected, but I like the quiet intensity a lot, and it stands up to The Animals' version in its understated way. The Paul Young/ Clannad is delightful, as you say. Very ethereal in keeping with the subject matter, and subtle, complex harmonies. Not sure if I would put it ahead of Joni's original, as far as one can "measure" these things, but it's great!
I have just read your Dylan at 80 piece, thanks. Yes, I think it's important that even when we are huge fans, we are brutally honest about the output of our idols over the years. I always treat these "return to form" proclamations with disdain, personally; as in all probability the lines were written by somebody who wasn't even born for a lot of that artist's career. I remember reading rave reviews for Time Out of Mind.....and being mystified at the clamour after buying the CD. To Make You Feel My love being the outstanding exception, of course. I acknowledge though that you are obviously a huge Dylan fan, and I am less so. In that regard, my opinions will be less informed. I hope you find something of passing interest in my "covers" piece, or any of my others there. Yes, always good to talk music!
I checked out many - but not all - of the tracks in your covers piece. I found it interesting and although I am familiar with very many of them I still learned something from it. For example:
...the impressive Nazareth Love Hurts cover for instance (which I would put 'equal and different' to the Everly Brothers one. Similarly the Disturbed Sound of Silence
....which was quite something because the Paul Simon original is one of a few songs from my mid-teens that are etched deep into my musical soul (along with The Byrds Mr Tamborine Man, Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, The Four Tops I Can't Help Myself and - deeper than all - Be My Baby.)
Brian Ferry's The In Crowd is a classic. His Dylan covers I liked more when they came out than I do revisiting them now. (I still like Ferry's own original stuff though and nearly included one of his in my self portrait)
....Carol King was an odd inclusion because - as you said - hers was basically the original; not a cover.
.....I'm rambling aren't I? so I'll leave it there!
Thanks for the comments. Yes, the Carole King was justified for me because although she and Gerry Goffin wrote the hit for The Shirelles, her own re-reading a decade or so later had a completely different, more reflective mood and perhaps world-weariness about it. And as the Shirelles was the "hit", her own version was for me, even better. And Bryan Ferry sure loves a cover version...his first two albums are covers LPs of course, and he later did whole albums of material from way back in the '40s and earlier, which I was less enthusiastic about if I am honest!
This is awesome. About "rock" music what captures my attention are the songs that are pure genius, where the blend of words and music resonate to produce a meaningful, memorable message.
Nice list. I am likely a little older, so my list would have more “oldies” and a few sleepers. More folk influenced; Phil Spector ( A Christmas Gift for You (1963) a little of everything. As a longtime professional saxophonist, I have many strange favorites. 🎷
Phil Spector was an enormous influence on Rock (although you daren't now say it in some quarters). He features on my playlist in case you hadn't noticed. And this is from my last post on rock music: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/imagine-theres-no-muzak (which I referenced in this one) "One song that many industry insiders think is the greatest pop record ever made was brought back into the media spotlight by the death, earlier this year, of sexy Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Spector. Its release in 1963 is another deeply-etched memory of my early teens: I’m in my bedroom and Be My Baby - early Phil Spector Wall of Sound - comes blasting out of our new portable Radio Rentals transistor. It sent sensual ripples all down my spine and amazingly still does almost sixty years later. There are no poetic lyrics; no obvious musical sophistication so it is ripe for discarding as trash. What it does have though is a radically new kind of electronic orchestration with a visceral emotional power and strange beauty of its own."
“Right on” I had a summer job in 1967 or ‘68 in the RCA mailroom. Read my first Billboard (?) and met a Spector high school class mate, and learned about the LA studio players. I was a music major at Indiana…
It was one of those songs that I heard while driving and had to pull over and listen. The Beach Boys, Good Vibrations was another one, and an Israeli singer, Yasmin Levy, who made the hair on my arms stand up, Mahler's 4th Symphony with the NY Phil, Bruno Walter conducting, left me in tears, the shock of the Rite of Spring when I was 16, hearing Charlie Parker for the first time when I was 14 and I knew that was the music I wanted to play.
A great eclectic mix. Well done you.
Thank you....and HNY
You got half of them right!...:)
Anything by Radiohead is good by me. Some of the best true musicians all time.
Happy New Year!
May i offer "Release" by Pearl Jam. If you can't remember that one, given it a roll...I think you'll like it based on a few of your other selections
I'll check it out....Happy New Year to you.
Radiohead covers are as common as coins in a jar, but this one, in a supper club, is special - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ5ZclZTeTU
wow. i actually like that one
Ryan, have you checked out Thom & Jonny’s new band ‘The Smile’ ? Check out album ‘A Light for Attracting Attention’. Here’s one of the cuts:
https://youtu.be/yk9d8mnUxEE?si=ZZgFFGMAok5MmzWu
Oooh. I like. Thx sharing!
Always great to hear from you Graham, I sense we're on a very similar wavelength both in music and writing. Like you, I've been steeped in music since my early teens, which fortunately just happened to coincide with some of the greatest rock music in history being released (1970–75). That era (starting in 1965 really) set a record for wall-to-wall classics. I've written thousands of words in essays which I still hope to eventually publish in book form, although I published many of them over the years on my now defunct WordPress site, chameleonfire1 and occasionally on my Substack.
I don't think it's any stretch to put some of rock's greatest records and bands in the same category as the classical composers in terms of their importance to musical history. Keep in mind that some of the compositions by Yes, Keith Emerson, Genesis, Gentle Giant—the progressive rockers—are every bit as complex musically as classical. Yet in my view they're actually a superior form of music because whereas classical is limited to an orchestral or chamber music form, Prog Rock literally allows the composer to mix and match ANYTHING, both in terms of musical instruments and genres. So the late 20th century gets my vote for creating the absolute apex of musical achievement in human history.
And as for the popular song, this too is an art form unto itself, one which, we're now seeing in today's made-to-order "hits" requiring teams of a dozen "songwriters" to produce for the Taylor Swifts of the world, is clearly not so easy to do as we once thought. Once again, songwriting is a talent like writing poetry or novels and you can't just do it to a formula, even if the popular song has a consistent form.
Often the songwriters themselves aren't the greatest musicians, yet when interpreted by truly great singers—Linda Ronstadt being a prime example—the song takes on a life of its own. Think also of Santana's immortal version of Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman." Even Bob Dylan's songs often best come to life when done by other interpreters—Johnny Winter's version of "Highway 61 Revisited," Hendrix doing "All Along the Watchtower," or the excellent 30th Anniversary Concert by various artists performing Dylan's work.
Thank you Sean. Very interesting all this even though I can't entirely agree with some of it...... I have a pretty strong prejudice in favour of the song writer's own performanc of their work and though, like you, I am a champion of the best of Rock, ultimately I put my favorite Classical pieces on a higher plane. Good to talk with you.....and Happy New Year too.
Hard to find any rock/pop that compares with St. Mathew Passion or The Firebird Suite, or any Mahler symphony, and one could argue for Beethoven, et al. Rock isn't meant to have the depth of Classical music, which makes the comparison as pointless as comparing Boots Randolph to John Coltrane. One can enjoy both without the schism.
Have a listen to the Yes suite "Awaken": it covers the grand sweep of passions and subtle passages that make your hair stand on end. This 20-minute epic matches any symphonic piece for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDXccU0xgNo
I wouldn't classify YES as a pop/rock music group. They are composers, not song writers.
Another great Prog Rock composition to check out is Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, for my ears as great as any Mozart or other classical composer.
As I said before, my comparisons are to pop/rock groups, Mike Oldfield is outside that category. Progressive is a legitimate category, It may be too narrow, but I think once you leave the realm of the repetitious back beat of the snare drum, then rock loses it's foundation. Rock music is founded on repetition, especially the bass and drums and it all comes from the blues. Categorizing music is an endless exercise in futility.
Interesting though that it took rock music to free music from the strictures of classical and allow the possibilities of Progressive Rock (or Progressive Music if you prefer). As a friend of mine once said, "Syncopation was the best thing that ever happened to music."
The Animals version of Dylan’s ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ is a good example of being superior to the original. This is one of my favorites, Eric Burton voice makes the song:
https://youtu.be/e4D4Aam9FUg?si=d-Hh8oe08A6upoge
Thanks for the link! I'll have a listen.
The Ronettes Back in my salad days, I had A Thing about Ronnie Spector!
Didn't we all! Check out the Be My Baby YouTube video on my playlist......amazingly sexy.
It's a sad and beautiful world, my unknown friend.
Tom Waits - "Take It With Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCiPaNWHB2U
I really like Tom’s (original) ‘Downtown Train’
https://youtu.be/qWDJIwqCXi4?si=HDomIdv-gtuYRDNt
Elton John’s ‘Razor Face’ is also a gem of a cut :
https://youtu.be/h2Bf5bkQQTU?si=6Amv7a0IawFHJM1j
Graham, I’m gonna leave you this 1979 live recording from the ‘The Police’ before they toured America (Rock Goes to College, Hatfield Polytechnic). Ska to punk to rock for you all in 40-ish min of wonderful noise:
https://youtu.be/_MwKstla6w0?si=waYso1-HyXQMLyci
Nice and eclectic..... thank God! Had an uncle who loved certain classic rock, definitely influenced my tastes. But.... AND I SWEAR BY ALL THAT IS HOLY... he liked Pink Floyd, but hated Led Zeppelin. Because "Zeppelin was a stoner band".
I want to recommend hundreds of songs, so appreciate the pain in restraining myself to a ballad comnpilation - ha ha. Aiming for songs that would have been considered as classic if recorded 20 years earlier. The first two from Australia because my passion was reignited after watching the new Midnight Oil documentary. No need to listen to all or one. It was a hedonistic and therapeutic escape from writing politics today - https://wickedmike.substack.com/p/10-musical-commandments-for-bethlehem
Thanks Mike. I'll have a listen but none of these are ones I know so could take a while.
Be My Baby: take a look, if you haven't already, at the 'In Honour of Ronnie Spector' Youtube on my playlist.....it's an amazingly sexy video; one that perfectly complements that fantastic record.
Taken me a while to get back here to listen and be reminded (by you and your subscribers).
I'd never seen the George Harrison video - its dance was a joy burst.
I found Phyllis Nelson middle-of-the-road, but happy to add to my 80s knowledge.
JJ Cale's was perfect for my early Sunday morning (before it gets to 35°C, 95F).
I don't see the link you're referring to for 'Be My Baby' but watched 3 versions, the original, Ronette's live (on the Album Collector channel), and Jennifer Grey dancing on the bridge.
Here's the Be My Baby link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-dr1PZZMds&list=PL_SMEwUs1XepRU0wmfo_TnVl5DFzosgYG&index=9
I'm also sending you this one (in case you didn't find it)....another absolutely stand-out video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBW8Vnp8BzU&list=PL_SMEwUs1XepRU0wmfo_TnVl5DFzosgYG&index=4
Phyliss Nelson: To me that song is just incredibly sexy...but that may be partly related to things going on in my life when it was in the charts. (It got an added bonus when I was compiling this playlist to discover that she actually wrote the song herself....something unusual for black soul/disco artists. Here's the link in case you went to a less good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFNszV-7VJI&list=PL_SMEwUs1XepRU0wmfo_TnVl5DFzosgYG&index=11
My favourite bar existed in the wonderfully dingy 90s. We saw some original rockers (and more strippers than that), but my favourite was a one-man cover band who sang a lot of alternative and dark pop, from The Pixies and U2 to Eurythmics and Depeche Mode. His playlist included 'Whole of the Moon' and 'Sit Down'. We sang along for years.
Thinking of naked women, 'Be My Baby' was memorable as a track from the movie Dirty Dancing'. It was a tussle being a teen boy pretending not to like it whilst Jennifer Grey's wet top was imprinting my hormones. The soundtrack introduced me to several good songs.
Deacon Blue - great band! Your song choice is one of their best though my #1 is 'Dignity'. It was a lesson to me, a street cleaner saving up to buy a dinghy that he sees as a ship. Nice that, like Tears for Fears, Deacon Blue is still alive e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylCZZVkwbig. I miss pop having meaning!
Thanks Mike for all this.
I'm four songs in to this list and all I can say is wow!!! Have to pause to fully appreciate what is coming next. Ending on The Waterboys seemed good for this Sunday.
Nancy that is so heartening! Do let me know in due course what you make of the rest of them.
I enjoyed your personal rundown a lot. That Eurythmics inclusion reminded me how many great records they released in the '80s.
There are some here that would appear in my (huge) favourites list, like Gentle George and Don Henley, as well as that timeless Ronettes record!
On a tangent, one of my recent Substack essays was on the subject of "ultimate cover versions" and includes a few Dylan covers,; which any such list would have to, almost by definition.
I have a feeling you would find plenty to disagree with me on regarding Dylan covers vs originals though !
But as I always stress in my pieces: when it comes to music or any art I suppose, it's all about opinions. In my opinion of course.
Thank you RL.
I have complicated feelings re Dylan. He was such a huge hero in my teens and twenties but I can't help wishing he'd hung up his rock star boots about 40 years ago because (in my opinion) his huge output since the early 80s has been mostly forgettable. The exceptions (such as To Feel My Love and Things Have Changed) are few. I wrote about my view in this piece I published around the time of his 80th birthday: https://www.city-journal.org/article/older-than-that-now
You are right that I have a general prejudice in favour of a songwriter's own version of their work. But Yes there are exceptions....(Clannad's cover of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now is one that springs to mind).
As for Dylan covers, I have retained my delight in the Byrds covers in the 60s. Another commenter here mentioned The Animals' cover of It's All Over Now Baby Blue as an example. So I listened to it but, for me, Dylan's own is the better one.
He is maddeningly eratic as a singer....his live concerts are notoriously awful aren't they? But then - in complete contrast - no one has ever come close to Dylan's brilliant rendition of House of the Rising Sun (on his first 1962 album).
Please do let me have your choices for best Dylan covers.
Sorry RL not RT!
Do you know, I haven't even heard BD's version of House of the Rising Sun! I will have to check that out definitely.
Also I am unfamiliar with the Clannad cover so will have a listen. Thank you. Ian Hunter once said that as long as Dylan was alive, he would be the greatest living songwriter, which not many would argue with, I suppose.
Though I am with you that there are a number of writers and performers from our era who definitely should have hung up their guitars (or piano) decades ago. Springsteen comes immediately to mind for me, though there are several others topping up the pension funds these days! You might agree with at least part of what I offered as definitive Dylan covers then. Here is my piece. I would be interested in your thoughts of course. I had great fun putting it together, selecting and then dismissing certain tracks for whatever reason. Such is the nature of list-making, as you know!
https://leafandstream.substack.com/p/in-praise-of-cover-versions?r=dyiq4
Here is the Dylan cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP_caKDfoyU
and the Clannad/Paul Young cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob0mYdbFjdU
I'll check out your In Praise of Covers in the next couple of days and let you know what I make of them.
On Dylan.... I have to say that, much as I adored his songwriting for two long decades, I think his last, sustained songwriting brilliance was the Street Legal album of 1978 (as I wrote in the City Journal piece I linked above).
Good to 'talk' of all this with you.
Thanks, I had a listen to both those tracks on YT. The Dylan is kind of what I expected, but I like the quiet intensity a lot, and it stands up to The Animals' version in its understated way. The Paul Young/ Clannad is delightful, as you say. Very ethereal in keeping with the subject matter, and subtle, complex harmonies. Not sure if I would put it ahead of Joni's original, as far as one can "measure" these things, but it's great!
I have just read your Dylan at 80 piece, thanks. Yes, I think it's important that even when we are huge fans, we are brutally honest about the output of our idols over the years. I always treat these "return to form" proclamations with disdain, personally; as in all probability the lines were written by somebody who wasn't even born for a lot of that artist's career. I remember reading rave reviews for Time Out of Mind.....and being mystified at the clamour after buying the CD. To Make You Feel My love being the outstanding exception, of course. I acknowledge though that you are obviously a huge Dylan fan, and I am less so. In that regard, my opinions will be less informed. I hope you find something of passing interest in my "covers" piece, or any of my others there. Yes, always good to talk music!
I checked out many - but not all - of the tracks in your covers piece. I found it interesting and although I am familiar with very many of them I still learned something from it. For example:
...the impressive Nazareth Love Hurts cover for instance (which I would put 'equal and different' to the Everly Brothers one. Similarly the Disturbed Sound of Silence
....which was quite something because the Paul Simon original is one of a few songs from my mid-teens that are etched deep into my musical soul (along with The Byrds Mr Tamborine Man, Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, The Four Tops I Can't Help Myself and - deeper than all - Be My Baby.)
Brian Ferry's The In Crowd is a classic. His Dylan covers I liked more when they came out than I do revisiting them now. (I still like Ferry's own original stuff though and nearly included one of his in my self portrait)
....Carol King was an odd inclusion because - as you said - hers was basically the original; not a cover.
.....I'm rambling aren't I? so I'll leave it there!
Thanks for the comments. Yes, the Carole King was justified for me because although she and Gerry Goffin wrote the hit for The Shirelles, her own re-reading a decade or so later had a completely different, more reflective mood and perhaps world-weariness about it. And as the Shirelles was the "hit", her own version was for me, even better. And Bryan Ferry sure loves a cover version...his first two albums are covers LPs of course, and he later did whole albums of material from way back in the '40s and earlier, which I was less enthusiastic about if I am honest!
Glad you found something new there, anyway.
This is awesome. About "rock" music what captures my attention are the songs that are pure genius, where the blend of words and music resonate to produce a meaningful, memorable message.
Thank you
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LzGBQerkvWs&pp=ygUWTGVkIHplcHBlbGluIHJhbWJsZSBvbg%3D%3D
Thanks Gwyneth. I never got into Led Zep even though I got how huge they were for so many. But I liked the guitar on this one. And HNY to you.
It is the lyrics and guitar that speak to me in this song.
And the best of New Years to you.
Three of those are among my favorite 50 songs- "Love is a Stranger", "Boys of Summer", and "Things Have Changed".
Will listen to each of them, but no Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin?
Nice list. I am likely a little older, so my list would have more “oldies” and a few sleepers. More folk influenced; Phil Spector ( A Christmas Gift for You (1963) a little of everything. As a longtime professional saxophonist, I have many strange favorites. 🎷
Thanks Tom.
Phil Spector was an enormous influence on Rock (although you daren't now say it in some quarters). He features on my playlist in case you hadn't noticed. And this is from my last post on rock music: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/imagine-theres-no-muzak (which I referenced in this one) "One song that many industry insiders think is the greatest pop record ever made was brought back into the media spotlight by the death, earlier this year, of sexy Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Spector. Its release in 1963 is another deeply-etched memory of my early teens: I’m in my bedroom and Be My Baby - early Phil Spector Wall of Sound - comes blasting out of our new portable Radio Rentals transistor. It sent sensual ripples all down my spine and amazingly still does almost sixty years later. There are no poetic lyrics; no obvious musical sophistication so it is ripe for discarding as trash. What it does have though is a radically new kind of electronic orchestration with a visceral emotional power and strange beauty of its own."
Will you share some of your strange favorites?
I am 74 by the way.
“Right on” I had a summer job in 1967 or ‘68 in the RCA mailroom. Read my first Billboard (?) and met a Spector high school class mate, and learned about the LA studio players. I was a music major at Indiana…
I grew up ? In Greenwich, Conn.
Life changed.
Jug Band Music by Lovin' Spoonful in Mono (Like Rock An Roll is supposed to be listened to!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijSlzKr30b4
In the Midnight Hour Wilson Pickett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-usrZxGns
The Fabulous Minnesota Barking Ducks Before You Accuse Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzYcbsfxad0
The Zombies ~ She's Not There (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it68QbUWVPM
Thanks Steve for these. Oh Yes The Lovin' Spoonful....You Didn't Have To Be So Nice was a big one for me as a teenager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZkGHvlx9Qw
Have you heard this amazing Midnight Hour cover by the Irish band The Commitments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxWFc_-Phbk
She's Not There by Vanilla Fudge is the scariest recording I've heard. They took it apart and put it back together to create something different.
You've reminded me of how blown away I was - all those decades ago - by their amazing heavy cover version of You Keep Me Hanging On.
Helluva performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dJO47d26kc
It was one of those songs that I heard while driving and had to pull over and listen. The Beach Boys, Good Vibrations was another one, and an Israeli singer, Yasmin Levy, who made the hair on my arms stand up, Mahler's 4th Symphony with the NY Phil, Bruno Walter conducting, left me in tears, the shock of the Rite of Spring when I was 16, hearing Charlie Parker for the first time when I was 14 and I knew that was the music I wanted to play.