Cover Charge #16: Sheryl Crow to Peter Gabriel

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.

Last time: Prince to Sheryl Crow

It's a little bit of a cheat today, sorry. For whilst this most certainly is a cover by Sheryl Crow, she does feature some additional vocals from the original artist during the chorus. But my gaff, my rules, so here goes, with Sheryl's retooling of Digging in the Dirt, from March 2024 - this sounds surprisingly good through headphones. Mundane fact: Sheryl's middle name is Suzanne.

And here's Peter Gabriel's original, all the way back from when he was breaking new ground with a run of innovative music videos. I think I'm right in saying this was the first single taken from 1992's pajillion-selling album Us.

Next time: Peter has cod'n'chips.

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #15: Prince to Sheryl Crow

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.

Last time: The Jesus and Mary Chain to Prince

Maybe it's just me but I can't really imagine Prince just churning out any Straight Bat covers; it would either have to be an Own Stamp or he wouldn't bother. That's certainly the case with this purple reworking from 1999 (when surely Prince should have been partying, right?)

And here's the original Everyday is a Winding Road, from Sheryl Crow's eponymous second album. Neil Finn is on backing vocals, fact fans. Oddly, this was released as a single in the UK only in 1995, where it limped to #43 in the charts, but released globally in 1996 when the parent album came out, and that time made it all the way to #12 in the UK.

Next time: Sheryl gets her fingers dirty.

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #14: The Jesus and Mary Chain to Prince

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.

Last time: Pixies to The Jesus and Mary Chain

After quite a few Straight Bat covers recently, it's nice to feature an Own Stamp today, in the form of The Mary Chain's take on the Purple One's Alphabet Street. This was released all the way back in 1994, on the flip-side of the Come On EP. It's heavy and fuzzy, as you might expect.

Prince's original, six years earlier, was an altogether lighter and sharper affair. The lead single from Lovesexy, it peaked at #8 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B chart, selling 750,000 copies in the process. Is it funky, do you think? I typed that just now but then edited it back out. It might be a little funky, but it doesn't make me want to move body parts, not like I expect funk to anyway. Maybe I should leave it up to connoisseurs of the métier to decide.

Next time: post- Prince takes a road less travelled.

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Without you

I don't have enough Beach Boys knowledge to write properly about Brian Wilson. Other bloggers have done so already, far better than I ever could (step forward Swiss Adam, Alyson, John, Tim, Craig and Khayem, for starters).

Also, and at the risk of sounding like a heathen, can I just say that a lot of early Beach Boys output - the surf and car songs - never did a great deal for me? I'm sorry (not sorry) but they just said nothing to me about my life. I'm not sure they necessarily did a lot for Brian either but boy, did they sell...

That said, as soon as he, and they, started to move away from dunes and deuce coupes, well, that's when things got a bit more interesting, for me at least. There is a special kind of sonic genius in Good Vibrations, I think, and as for songs that say something to me about my life, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times takes some beating. And then there's God Only Knows ... a song that begins with the line "I may not always love you", and later asserts that life will go on "should you ever leave me", yet somehow still manages to be one of the greatest love songs of all time. Not even a looping remix for the syrupy end of Love Actually has robbed it of its power.

In 2014, the Beeb brought responsibility for all its musical output, including radio, orchestras, various "... of the year" competitions and then-nascent BBC Sounds, under one umbrella, with the Ronseal-esque title of BBC Music. To mark the event, they commissioned a recording of God Only Knows with an all-star cast, in a similar fashion to their reworking of Lou Reed's Perfect Day for Children in Need some years earlier. The track was credited to The Impossible Orchestra, which included Dave Grohl, Alison Balsom, Lorde, Pharrell Williams, Zane Lowe, Sam Smith, Paloma Faith, Eliza Carthy, Nicola Benedetti, Chris Martin, Jaz Dhami, Martin James Bartlett, Danielle de Niese, Stevie Wonder, Florence Welch, Lauren Laverne, Jake Bugg, Katie Derham, Gareth Malone, Kylie Minogue, Chrissie Hynde, One Direction, Emeli Sandé, Elton John, Baaba Maal, Ethan Johns, Jools Holland, Jamie Cullum, Brian May, Tees Valley Youth Choir, the BBC Concert Orchestra ... and Brian Wilson.

The end result was quite something, and this week feels like a good time to play it. Rest easy, Brian.

Who's who (and when) in the Impossible Orchestra

Cover Charge #13 - Pixies to The Jesus and Mary Chain

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.

Last time: David Bowie to Pixies

I'll be honest, when Pixies released Trompe Le Monde in 1991, I found it a tiny bit disappointing. Sure, I enjoyed Planet of Sound and Alex Eiffel and Subbacultcha and a few others but the album as a whole, for me, fell a bit short. With hindsight I think I expected too much, after their earlier releases, and in my head attached greater significance to their every recorded note because of how I'd come to know and love Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and Doolittle. But that's another story. One highlight from the album though, was Pixies' cover of Head On. Here it is:

I know it might be considered blasphemous, but I think I prefer that to the Jesus and Mary Chain original, good though that is. Sorry, Reid bros.

Next time: East Kilbride's finest mix their reds with their blues...

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #12 - David Bowie to Pixies

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.

Last time: Depeche Mode to David Bowie

Once a god-like genius has been posthumously deified, it's easy to forget that for there to be such lofty peaks there must also be some troughs, even if only minor ones. The run of albums Bowie produced in the 1990s (Outside, Earthling and Hours) were, for him, perhaps not the successes he might have hoped for. Still, he was Bowie, so everything is relative, I suppose. Whatever, 2002's less experimental Heathen was viewed by critics as a return to form... and side one, track two was this cover of Pixies' Cactus:

And here's the original from Frank, Kim, Joey and David - I don't think they were ever better than on those first two releases.

Next time: Pixies tackle the challenge of a good cover head on. Which may be too much of a clue.

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #11 - Depeche Mode to David Bowie

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.

Last time: The Cure to Depeche Mode

You've got to have big balls, I think, to cover David Bowie. Luckily for us all, Depeche Mode are fully equipped in the trouser department, if this take on Heroes is anything to go by. The Highline Sessions, from whence this comes, were recorded live in August 2016, just a few short months after Bowie died, adding an extra resonance for all concerned. This could have gone very wrong, but turned out rather well.

And because you can't hear it, or him, too often, here's Bowie's original.

Next time: David leads the Cover Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Charge into some quiet/loud/quiet.

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #10 - The Cure to Depeche Mode

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop round, Ouroboros-style, back to where I started.

Last time: Editors to The Cure

Maybe there is a third kind of cover after all, some hybrid of the Straight Bat and Own Stamp. For when The Cure covered World In My Eyes, it was at once both faithful to the source and yet recognisably, unmistakably Robert et al.

Here's the Depeche Mode original, the opening track from 1990's Violator (an album so good it's on the Every Home Should Have One masterlist).

Next time: the Basildon boys take us ... to someone born in Brixton. That's an actual clue, right there. Runaround... now!

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #9 - Editors to The Cure

Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop round, Ouroboros-style, back to where I started.

Last time: REM to Editors

Editors are a perfect band for covering The Cure, I think. They manage to put enough of their Own Stamp on Lullaby while maintaining, perhaps even adding to, the tension and disquiet that runs through the original. The spiderman is always hungry, indeed...

Here's the original, from Sir Robert of Cure-shire - surely a national treasure by now - and his merry band.

Next time: Crawley's finest cover a contemporary act ... but they've been around forever, so that could be anyone, right?

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.

Cover Charge #8 - REM to Editors

The premise of Cover Charge is simple. A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop round and eat my own tail, Ouroboros-style, by getting back to where I started with The Specials.

Last time: The Replacements to REM

Today, the fruit of a mutual covering love-in. Editors had covered Orange Crush, so in 2008 REM returned the compliment by covering Munich for Radio 1's Live Lounge. There's grainy video of this online, but I've gone for the best quality sound recording I could find on YouTube.

And here's the original, from Editors' 2005 debut album The Back Room which, for my money, still sounds rather good.

Next time: spoiler alert, I'm not going to feature Editors covering Orange Crush as that would cause a feedback loop in the chain and bring an end to the spacetime continuum...

The Cover Charge "chain" to date.