This week’s installment is going to be a little different. Instead of focusing on a cover of a single song I figured I would put the spotlight on a band instead. Postmodern Jukebox, if you have not heard of them, is an assemblage of really talented singers and musicians who get organized by bandleader/pianist Scott Bradlee to perform re-imaginings of songs ranging from today’s biggest pop hits to classic pop from the last few decades.
Aretha Franklin joins the millions of YouTubers around the world who have made cover versions of the Adele hit “Rolling In The Deep” as part of her upcoming cover record, DIVA CLASSICS where The Queen of Soul sings songs made famous by other musical divas.
I have been in a bit of Burt Bacharach mood musically lately. Nothing soothes the savage beast like the polished production of the Bacharach oeuvre and while going through my iTunes collection of Bacharach songs I have listened to many of the same song being interpreted by different artists and it is something how Bacharach’s songs lend themselves to reinvention without ever losing that quality that makes them so recognizable as a Bacharach song. One song in particular that I have been having an auditory duel with is “I Say A Little Prayer”.
Now I know what you are thinking…who in the right mind would waste their time covering Technotronic‘s “Pump Up The Jam” of all songs? And their is no way it could possibly be any good, right?
Well the cover artists are a jazz trio from Canada called The Lost Fingers and they made the overly produced, synthesized dance hit from the 90s into a swinging, full-bodied jazzy barn burner that would get the flappers flapping in any speak-easy in the 1920s.
It has been a while since I have done one of these but the cover of this song inspired me to pull the old Cover Me Monday out of the mothballs. And don’t be alarmed this isn’t the Rick Astley song (that catchy bit of pop trifle is actually “Never Gonna Give You Up“) and you are not being Rickrolled either. Scout’s honor.
Continue reading “Cover Me Monday: Never Give You Up”
This installment of Cover Me Monday takes a look at one of my favorite songs from Stevie Wonder’s seminal album TALKING BOOK.
Continue reading “Cover Me Monday: Blame It On The Sun”
One of the crowning achievements of the Holland-Dozier-Holland production team and a bit of a departure from the established Supremes sound, this is one of my favorite songs by the Supremes as well as one of my favorite Motown songs ever.
Continue reading “Cover Me Monday: You Keep Me Hanging On”
Taken from Mr. Hall’s TV show, Live From Daryl’s House, comes a duet between the Hall & Oats singer and British songstress Rumer. The two vocalists put a very mellow, easy listening radio spin on the 1970s William DeVaughn classic “Be Thankful For What You Got“. Continue reading Cool Collabos: Daryl Hall & Rumer
Paul F. Tompkins (a regular on those VH1 “I Love The 80s” shows)may be dressed like the proprietor of an old timey ice cream parlor and he may rock one of the best examples of a pornstache in modern times but he sings the heck out of Adele’s “Skyfall”. Brava, funnyman! Continue reading The Best Cover Of An Adele Song By A Middle-Aged Stand-Up Comic
Lake Street Dive is a band that is probably as unconventional musically as the name they have chosen (I always end up referring to them as Lake Shore Drive). The group is made up of a foursome of classically trained musicians who blend pop, jazz, folk, and soul into an eclectic mixture that incomprehensibly ends up working sublimely. One of those moments of auditory perfection is on the group’s cover of the Jackson Five classic “I Want You Back”. This version, recorded on a street corner in the Brighton area of Boston, is just amazing from the arrangement to the … Continue reading Cover Me Monday: I Want You Back
Pumped Up Kicks is a snazzy little tune that tends to get stuck in my head for days on end every time I hear. Well now I am going to have to make the mental decision of which version I will be hearing…the original Foster The people song or the Usher cover that he did during an appearance on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge. Usher add some very usher like flourishes to it that did nothing to ruin the song but instead made it just different enough to be interesting. There is nothing worse than a beat for beat copy … Continue reading Cover Me Monday: Pumped Up Kicks
I am not really a fan of the original version of this song by Rihanna but I am finding myself enjoying the heck out of covers of it. I posted the Jessie J cover a little while ago (pointing out how a powerful singing voice can do wonders with a song originally sung by a lesser vocalist) but the Bat For Lashes cover got me for a completely different reason. If you listen to the lyrics of We Found Love you notice that it isn’t the most shiny happy song. The problem is that Rihanna doesn’t have the depth of … Continue reading Cover Me Monday: We Found Love (Take Two)
Crustula 