Tears for Fears cover ‘Ready to Start’ by Arcade Fire

Ready to Start was a single released by Arcade Fire in 2010 and featured on their album The Suburbs. Tears for Fears have recorded a cover version of it and it is one that suits them well.

Sandi Thom covers ‘November Rain’ by Guns ‘n’ Roses

In 2006 Sandi Thom’s debut single I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) went to number one in the UK, Australian and Irish singles charts and was also a hit internationally. Since the release of her debut album Smile…It Confuses People Sandi has recorded three other studio albums including her most recent album  Flesh and Blood which was released in 2012.

At the time of promoting her album Flesh and Blood Sandi performed a series of cover versions which she featured on her Youtube channel and one of those songs is her very beautiful cover version of November Rain which was originally a hit for Guns ‘N’ Roses in 1992. Sandi performance of November Rain is just her and her guitar and keyboards and I think that her version shows the power of how a singer songwriter can both pay homage and make a song her own.

Sandi’s website is here and she is on Twitter @Sandi_Thom where at the moment she updates about her current concert dates in the USA.

Kye Sones covers ‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii

Wake Me Up by Avicii is this week’s biggest selling single in the U.K. and here in Ireland. It is a mix of music genres; pop, dance, folk, country and in that way has registered with a huge number of music fans. Aloe Blacc’s vocals prove the continued importance of a great vocalist on a dance music track.

Wake Me Up has already featured in several mash ups and cover versions but one that stood out for me when I heard it was by Kye Sones. Kye proved as a contestant on X Factor how he could make a well known dance song his own and bring out the essence of the song’s lyrics and meaning and on this cover he does it again.

Kye is on Facebook here and on  Twitter @KyeSones

Johanna Chase covers ‘Scar Tissue’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers

In 1999 Scar Tissue was one of Red Hot Chili Peppers biggest hit singles when it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and it was also a number one hit single on the U.S. Alternative singles charts. 

Here’s a great cover version of Scar Tissue by the American singer Johanna Chase. It’s just Johanna and her guitar and I think that she really captures the sound that defines that independent music ballad genre.

Johanna’s own song Girl’s (Never Gonna Fall in Love) was a song I featured here earlier this year. Click here to watch the video for that song. She is someone who I think deserves to do well in her music career. 

Johanna’s Youtube page is here and it features several other cover versions which she updates regularly. 

Jilo covers Lykke Li’s I Follow Rivers

I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li is one of the great pop songs of the last few years which has been a hit in most countries apart from the U.K. or the U.S.A. It got to number two in the Irish charts last year. I’m sure in time it will be a hit in other countries.

The pop duo Jilo recently covered I Follow Rivers and their version is a gorgeous and very poppy cover. 

Last year I featured two covers by Jilo when they covered Pumped Up Kicks and also Take That’s Rule The World.

I think that their cover versions work so well because they really come across as real pop fans who care about the songs they choose to cover.  

Jilo are on Twitter at @JiloMusic95 and follow Jilo’s music on Soundcloud here.

Tiffany covers Harden My Heart by Quarterflash

One of my all time favourite American pop songs is Harden My Heart by Quarterflash which was a  top 3 Billboard Hot 100 back in 1981. In 2012 it featured in the film Rock of Ages where it was performed by Julianne Hough and was mixed with Mary J. Blige’s cover of Shadows of the Night.

Recently I discovered a great version of Harden My Heart by Tiffany. It featured on her album Greatest Hits of the 80’s and Beyond which was a selection of her own songs and covers of well known radio hit songs of that great decade. I always loved the tone in her voice and Harden My Heart was a perfect song for her to cover.

Tiffany’s website is here and she is on Twitter @TiffanyTunes.

100 Cover Versions: #100: Nick Kelly covers ‘When Doves Cry’ by Prince & the Revolution

Last year I started a series of 100 cover versions by different music artists. It was very enjoyable to do and by doing it I discovered many cover versions of songs that I had never heard before. Soon after posting one of the first cover versions the singer Nick Kelly sent me a link to a cover that he did of When Doves Cry by Prince & the Revolution. I knew that when I heard Nick’s cover of When Doves Cry that it was the ideal song to close the 100 songs that I choose to highlight.

When Doves Cry has been one of my favourite songs since I first heard almost 30 years ago. I still have the Purple Rain soundtrack album that I bought in 1984. I never saw Purple Rain until around 10 years ago and when you see the film you realise that every song on the soundtrack is perfect for the film. In 1984 it seemed that Prince was at the height of his creative brilliance and then he made Parade and Sign ‘O The Times albums and well that what makes a legend.

Any cover of a song like When Doves Cry has to be good, it has to capture the atmosphere of the language of the song and it can not be a carbon copy, I think Nick Kelly’s version really honours a great song. It is a tribute that is also it’s own special version. 

Here is a link to Nick’s version of When Doves Cry. I’ve been writing my blog for almost 7 years now and to be sent a version of a song that I love and respect by a singer such as Nick is something I will always remember and be thankful for. 

Here also is a link to Nick’s website which features information on all his music including the songs he recorded with the great Irish band The Fat Lady Sings.

Thank you to everyone who read my posts over the past year.

100 Cover Versions: #99: Madonna covers ‘Love Don’t live Here Anymore’ by Rose Royce

Two songs left on my list of 100 cover versions. From the very beginning there was always going to be a Madonna song and while she has covered many songs over the years my most favourite  cover version by Madonna  is her very first. It’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore which featured on her Like A Virgin album. It was written by Miles Gregory and was originally recorded by Rose Royce in 1978. In 1985 I was 15 when I bought the Like A Virgin album when it was re-issued with Into The Groove included. That same album is on my desk as I type. Like a Virgin contains three other of my all time favourite Madonna songs; Shoo-Bee-Doo, Dress you Up and Angel. 

I know I must have been familiar with the original version of Love Don’t Live here Anymore. I grew up with a radio station in our back garden so that was definitely a late night radio song. For me in 1985 Madonna was and still is the perfect pop star and all her songs were pure wonderful pop. There were no ballads on her debut album so Love Don’t Live Here Anymore was the first time I heard her sing one and of course Shoo-Bee-Doo which was more pop ballad. 

Love Don’t Live Here Anymore was produced by Nile Rodgers who also played both electric and acoustic guitars and his great fellow producer and Chic band member Bernard Edwards played bass. The production mixed guitars, synthesizers, drums and strings and I think that’s what created a great track on the album. Lyrically it is a wonderful song; the line ‘Through the windmills of my eyes, everyone can see the loneliness inside of me’ is just powerful. There is that lovely dizzying sound in Nile Rodger’s production. I love how Madonna’s vocal builds at the end and then almost breaks down. It was all brilliantly dramatic. I think it’s obvious that it was a song that she liked herself when she recorded it. The story of how the song came to be on the album is here. 

Love Don’t Live Here Anymore was released as a single in 1996 when she released her Something To Remember ballads album and was a remixed version with it’s own video but the version that I love the most is her original version.

Gabrielle Aplin covers The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

It’s that time of year again when the  John Lewis Christmas television ad features a version of a classic song. This year Gabrielle Aplin has covered The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The original is one of the best song of the 1980’s and is one of my all time favourite songs. I like Gabrielle Aplin’s version, It is one of those songs that is almost impossible to cover because the original is so perfect but I think it captures the elegance and the beauty of the song when Holly Johnson sang it first. If her version gets people especially younger music fans to rediscover Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the amazing producer that Trevor Horn was then that is only a good thing.

Frankie’s Two Tribes and Relax has featured in several reality TV shows and of course in the Olympics this year so all these years later their music is as powerful in popular culture as it was back then in the mid 1980’s. 

Waterfalls – the new single by Stooshe

Black Heart by Stooshe is one of the best pop songs of 2012 and it is still in the top 40 in the UK many weeks after it’s release. Their new single is a cover version of Waterfalls by TLC and it isn’t too different from the original which was one of the 1990’s perfect pop songs. It is already 17 years old!  Waterfalls is a cover that’s perfect for Stooshe and it will definitely be another top ten hit for them. It will be released in November as a double A side single with See Me Like This which also features on their self tilted debut album which is also released in November.