Midweek Crisis #12
Collab Announcement | My All-Time-Favorite Covers | Featured: The Tribe Of Good, Zella Day, Tkay Maidza, Chromatics, Miley Cyrus, The Lumineers & more...
Hi folks,
I would like to begin this issue by unveiling the secret that I’m sharing with Tom from Salty Popcorn (SP) 🍿. Together, we decided to exchange our formats and make a collab. On Wednesday, the 3rd of November, SP will take the reins as MC’s first-ever guest editor.
Salty Popcorn provides cinematic news, reviews, and trailers every other Thursday. Everything is carefully curated by Tom. It’s spoiler-free, witty, and fun to read. SP’s film recommendations saved a couple of my movie nights from a what-to-watch dilemma.
My turn will come on Thursday, the 4th of November. I’ll be the guest editor for the unique issue of SP. Get ready for my special selection of music documentaries, biofilms, musical news, trailers, and tidbits. Stay tuned and subscribe to Salty Popcorn today so you won’t miss it out!
Today I’ve prepared for you a playlist that contains a mix of my all-time-favorite covers.
If you would like to jump straight to the MC #12 playlist, here’s the link to Spotify and YouTube.
Since I remember, I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with covers. “Original version only” was my motto as a listener. There were, of course, some covers I liked more than the originals, like Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” (it’s on the playlist). But most of them I considered as nowhere near enjoyable.
Now I think that accepting the existence of remakes comes in pair with gaining maturity as a listener. The more music you hear, the more open you become. The more you know about the roots of a specific genre, the more understanding comes your way. It’s that simple.
What makes covers great is that they help us re-hear an original song in a completely new way. If done properly, with a big dose of creativity and skill, it can bring pure pleasure to the hearer ✨.
Let’s start with an awesome The Tribe Of Good’s version of the iconic “Heroes” by David Bowie. It sounds fresh, funky and boosts your mood.
“You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate is a hit from 1975 that most people in the world can recognize. It was put in the soundtracks of many movies & series and covered by a couple of artists. But only Zella Day’s version made a huge impression on me. Her voice sounds angelic yet seductive. I love its characteristic deepness made with reverb.
I remember when I first heard Tkay Maidza’s version of “Where Is My Mind?”. The original is an indisputably cult song of the iconic band Pixies, which I have adored since I was a teenager. At first, I was outraged by it. And then its uniqueness and boldness hit me. The way Tkay articulates the words and makes the lyrics echo in the listener’s ear is jaw-dropping.
Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” is one of the most often covered songs ever. Since the ’80s a ton of artists have tried their hands with it. Even Tori Amos, Bat For Lashes, or Tegan and Sara made their own versions. Stereogum selected 20 covers of “I’m On Fire”, rated them, and gave special awards. John Mayer, for example, won The “Overwhelmingly Meh” Award. And my favorite remake, made by the band Chromatics, won The“If Bruce Had Sold The Song To A New Wave Band In ’83” Award. Their synth-pop version is cool and dreamy. And it captures the soul of the original really well.
When speaking of remakes, it’s impossible not to mention Miley Cyrus. She’s an undeniable queen of covers. Miley can remake anything without murdering the original song. Behaving like a cover-making machine, it seems like she doesn’t fear to sing anything 🤖. Check out her version of Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass”. What a powerful voice she has! I’m truly speechless. Special thanks to my friend Nava who recommended I check Miley’s projects.
The Lumineers released last year a beautiful, acoustic version of “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?”. The original song was made by the iconic group Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1970. The cover won my heart with the soft guitar chords and the dreamy voice of the band’s lead singer, Wesley Schultz. It sounds like a lullaby, massaging the ears of its hearers 💆♀️.
These 6 songs that I mentioned are just the beginning of today's playlist. They were specially selected as quite fresh examples of covers you might not have heard before.
Check out the MC #12 complete playlist 🎧
The mix will be regularly updated, so stay tuned.
Have a great day & enjoy listening! 🎧
Glad to hear you again.
Covers. A very interesting theme in music. As the world goes by, covers were and will be and will be needed. They add flavor. Great musicians cover great musicians. Hundreds of songs could be cited.
And so for example the song "All Along the Watchtower", composed by Dylan, performed by Jimi Hendrix, was voted the best cover of all time by "The Daily Telegraph".
Congratulations on an interesting topic and I look forward to your joint project
Very interesting and exciting topic. Congratulations and I’m looking forward to the next episode.