Rollin' In The Deep [Vazquez Sounds & Linkin Park / Adele] Cover to Cover

Cover to Cover is one of the features of UnderCover I like because you can really highlight all the different ways a song can be covered. That's particularrly today with these two covers of Adele's Rollin' In The Deep. 

Vazquez Sounds is ... well, it's a hispanic version of Hanson but up with a ten year old girl as lead singer, as opposed to Hanson where the lead singer was nine. But don't let that stop you! She's one hell of a vocalist. 

Linkin park on the other hand is well ... a little heavier.

 Vazquez Sounds

 

 Linkin Park

 

Happy Christmas (War Is Over) [12 Days Of Covers]

Happy Christmas (War Is Over) is my least favorite holiday song. No idea why, It just bothers me. But I'm rather fond of this Maroon 5 take on the John Lennon song. Oh and let's hope your Christmas is better than mine. My dad got me a bull semen collectors tool box. No, I'm not even kidding.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus [12 Days Of Covers]

Well in the 12 Days of covers, we've dealt with heart break (Last Christmas / Christmas Please Come Home), Date Rape (Baby it's Cold Outside), and worst of all Billy Squire (Christmas is the Time To Say I Love You) so why stop now? Let's bring out marital infidelity! Here's Amy Winehouse covering Jimmy Boyd's I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.

Santa Baby [12 Days Of Covers]

The magic of Christmas is that it brings people together that wouldn't normally be together. In this case Eartha Kitt and Everclear. Santa Baby has never been so ... grungy?

I Wish It Was Christmas Today [12 Days Of Covers]

Julian Casablancas former lead singer of the Stokes apparently didn't get them memo that this isn't a real song. It was in fact a second rate skit on SNL with Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sans, Tracy Morgan and the dreadful Chris Kattan. Never the less, he turned out a pretty rocking cover of "I Wish It Was Christmas Today."

Run, Run Rudolph [12 Days Of Covers]

Today's 12 Days OF Covers entry is a Chuck Berry cover done by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, and Billie F. Gibbons of ZZ Top. I'm sure this would get the approval of both Beavis and Butthead.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas [12 Days Of Covers]

First recorded in 1944 for the flick "Meet me In St. Louis," I'd wager to guess you've never heard the Judy Garland original of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." You still won't be hearing it here, but consider yourself informed. Here's Coldplay doing their version.

Last Christmas / Ice Ice Baby [12 Days of Covers]

Here's a double dose for your holiday pleasure. From the Richard Cheese album "Silent Night Club" here is his cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby". It counts ... ice, winter, Christmas, it makes a little sense.

Last Christmas 

Ice, Ice Baby

 

Nine Inch Noels [12 Days of Covers]

If Nine Inch Nails put out a Christmas song. This would be it. I don't know how else to describe this Bad God's cover of NIN.

Baby, It's Cold Outside [12 Days Of Covers]

Christmas songs are so depressing. Most are about missing someone like "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" or boken hearts like "Last Christmas." Today's entry into the 12 Days of Covers is all about date rape. Seriously ... have you ever actually listened to the words of "Baby, It's Cold Outside?" The guy tells the girl to stay, and the girl asks "Say What's in this drink?" 

Here covered by Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, it was first recorded for the movie "Neptune's Daughter" by Ester Williams and Ricardo Montalban. Wait a minute .... Ricardo Monalban?  

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) [12 Days Of Covers / Deep Cover]

Without a doubt, the most well known version of Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) is U2's version. Making today's cover also a Deep Cover.


If you listen carefully, you can hear the background vocals of the original artist in their version. Darlene Love recorded the song first in 1963 with a full compliment of Phil Spector wall of sound. It's been covered by everyone from Hanson, Smashmouth, Sh Na Na, R.E.M., Cher and Joey Ramone. Not too shabby.

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch [12 Days Of Covers]

Today's entry into the 12 Days of Covers is Red Wanting Blue covering You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch, from the Timeless Holiday classic, How The Grinch Stole Arbor Day. The original is by Thurl Ravenscroft, not Boris Karloff as some people think. Old Mr. Frankenstein couldn't sing a lick.

T'was the Night Before Christmas [12 Days Of Covers]

I'm not sure if this counts as a cover, heck, I'm not even sure it counts as a song. But since Henry Rollins can kick my ass just by fretting his eyebrow, I think I'll allow it.

The second entry in this years' 12 Days of Covers is Henry Rollins interpretation of Clement Clarke Moore's T'was the Night Before Christmas. Any Christmas song that ends with a bomb exploding is keen in my book. All ... two of 'em.

 

Christmas is the Time To Say I Love You [12 Days Of Covers]

Well it's that time of year again. That's right it's cold and flu season. So make sure to stock up on chicken soup.

It's also time to jump head first into the 12 Days Of Covers, twelve Christmas cover songs.

Let's start with this cover by SR-71 covering Billy Squier's Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You. I must say I've only ever met one person who admitted to liking Billy Squier. Which I find very signifigant because sometime when I'm out in public I just go up to random strangers and say "Hey do you like Billy Squier?!?" They always say no.

I Need You Now

9/10 times if you have one great artist singing another great artist's song, you wind up with a great cover. If you have two great artists, like let's say British songstress Adele, doing a duet with let's say former Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker, covering a country/pop hit like, Lady Antebellum's "I Need You Now." And it's just pretty great! Oh and in case you were wondering, that totally wasn't hypothetical.

Nothin' On You + Hey Soul Sister

Is it a cover? Is it a mash-up? Back when I was a kid we just called them medleys but these kids today don't do nothing like we did them when I was a kid.

Here's Sam Tsui and Ahmir covering/mashing-up/medlying BoB's Nothing on You and Train's Hey Soul Sister. And it's freaking amazing!

Head Like A Hole

There are a few things I'd like to avoid in my life. One of them is pissing off Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Apparently this cover, did exactly that though. At least he thought better about starting an actual feud with Devo because that feud would have been more bizarre than that one Marshall Mathers had with a puppet.

Anyway from the SuperCop soundtrack, here's Head Like A Hole, as covered by Devo.

Complicated

Rockabilly covering bubble gum punk? Sure why the hell not. Dick Brave and the Backbeats covering Avril.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Holy ... Shatner! Can you believe that Kirk would cop to never having heard Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody before covering for his latest album. Shatner's weird in that his music was so bad it became kitsch, then it became so kitsch it became good, and then it just started to go kitsch again. If that makes sense.

Firestarter

What the hell ever happened to Prodigy? I mean they guy with the weird hair cut was angry and danced in the sewers and then kinda disappeared. However they are slightly remembered by at least one band, Jimmy Eat World with a slow dreamy cover of Firestarter.

Love Will Tear Us Apart

Joy Division is one of those great bands that only musical snobs seem to know about. I mean most people know the group as their later incantation New Order. I'm not saying that to be insulting but they just fall into that category, along with the Pixies, Nick Cave, Elliot Smith and Wang Chung.

Here's the band named after Milhouse's super alter-ego, Fall Out Boy, covering Joy Division's most famous song, "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

Dynamite

Here's another guy I randomly stumbled across in my never ending search for awesome covers. He's name is Steve Acho. He's from Detroit. He plays piano. That's all I know ... But he does a heck of a lot of covers. And they're really nifty.

Here he is covering Talio Cruz's "Dynamite." Listen to it, it's that one annoying song you hear all the time but have no idea what it's called, except not so annoying when Steve Acho sings it.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy [Deep Cover]

In my line of work (and by work, I mean sporadic hobby of blogging about covers) there's simply nothing more embarrassing than having someone go "Do you know who did the original of this?" and not even being aware it was a cover. Mortifying!

Despite my embarrassment, here's a cover made famous by Great White. The original by Ian Hunter. Never heard of him? He also wrote the song "Cleveland Rocks" made famous by the Drew Carey Show. Yes, that's his claim to fame, and I'm not sure he actually claims it to be honest with you. I mean obviously he wasn't talking about the local sports teams. BaZing!

Gold Dust Woman

Ya Know for a chick who named her band after her late husband's head, Courtney Love did pretty okay for herself ... for a while. She was at the top of her game when this here Fleetwood Mac cover appeared on The Crow soundtrack.

Also did you know Courtney Love has an uncredited role in the Tim Robbins / John Cussack cult classic TapeHeads? She plays the hooker hitting by the senator with the ridding crop. Neat! Learn something new everyday. Also Weird Al is in the movie. And Ted Nugent. Possibly Kevin Bacon.

 

The Scientist

I'm pretty sure that when Chris Martin wrote The Scientist for his band Coldplay he wasn't thinking to himself, "Wow, this would be cool if Willie Nelson sang it ... and it was used to sell upscale free range Mexican food."

He might not have had that in mind but that's what happened. Actually what the hell is Chipolte's gimmick anyway? Is free range or organic or what? Pretentious? Delicious! Yeah that's it.

She Drives Me Crazy

I'm quickly becoming a big fan of the Onion's A.V. Undercover series. And not just because of the name "UnderCover." Here the Fine Young Cannibals are covered by Sharon Van Etten. Who turns the all but intelligible lyrics and synth pop of "She Drives Me Crazy" into a slow ballad, with semi-intelligible lyrics. It's simply fantastic.

Sharon Van Etten covers Fine Young Cannibals

Grenade

Let's see, hot girls in tight outfits doing an acapella cover of song originally with male vocals ... what more do you want? To bitch slap Nick Lachey? Yeah, well me too. But this season of The Sing Off is still young, and this here Bruno Mars cover by Delilah makes me with I could watch real TV and not just NetFlix. See them EMOTE!

Oops, I Did It Again

Sure, Richard Thompson can out proform Ms. Spears. But let's see him rock a sequined Bikini!

99 Problems

I dunno what it is, but I just love light airy covers of rap songs. Take here this cover of Jay-Z by Hugo. I mean cause hip-hop needs more banjos!

 I got 99 Problems, but finding another cover ain't one.

Whip My Hair

Look ... I could write some drivel here about how awful a song Willow Smith's Whip My Hair is and how Skull Tape's cover kinda makes it rock but ... wait, that's exactly what I just did.

Bohemian Rhapsody

This is like awesomesauce with a bag a chips! (And an old viral video. So sue me.)

To Love Somebody [Damien Rice and Ray Lamontange / Bee Gees]

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Of all the Bee Gees songs, this is the most covered by far. To Love Somebody has been covered by everyone from Janis Joplin to Billy Corgan to Simply Red. Here's one of the best covers of the song, IMHO,  Damien Rice and Ray Lamontagne with a simply heart breakingly aching take on the song.

Psycho Killer

The band Moxy Fruvous has been called the biggest independent band to come out of Canada since the Barenaked Ladies. That's one of those things people say to sound impressive but no one actually knows what it means. 

The band has also set back American geography by decades by preforming a song called "The Lowest Highest Point" which identifies Delaware as the state with the lowest highest point. As we all know, the state with the actual lowest highest point is Florida. Delaware has the lowest median elevation. This is why the United States can't compete with China people! Canadians sabotaging our educational system.

So from the same live album as the "Lowest Highest Point," here's a Talking Heads cover.  

I've Been Loving You Too Long

To quote Spin Mag :

The White Stripes may have called it quits, but their vault continues on. Two previously unreleased tracks from Jack and Meg White have been released via Jack's Third Man Records Vault subscription service ...

For the [Otis] Redding cover ... the duo add their bluesy scuzz to Redding's classic from his 1965 album Otis Blue. The tempo is a bit faster than Redding's original, and the Stripes do without the horn section, but White makes up for it with some awesomely gnarly garage-rock riffage.

One More Try

Here's another little gem from the Onion's A.V. club. Covering the saddest of George Michael's song book, here's Iron and Wine.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

It's an anthem for girl power. It's a slice of 80's kitsch. It's Cyndi Lauper's biggest hit. It's also a Deep Cover. That's right, the protype for the Rock and Wrestling connection was not the original artist. It was in fact written and recorded first by Rick Ocasek wanna be, Robert Hazard.


Wondering why you've never heard the original? Well once you hear the original, you'll know why ... 


Okay ... let's cleanse our musical pallate with the cover shall we?



R.I.P. Captain Lou

The Green Album

I've already previewed one track from the upcoming Muppets tribute album, called the Green Album. Now you can listen to the whole damn thing thanks to NPR.


Tracks include the Muppet Show Theme Song by OK Go, Rainbow Connection by Weezer, Mahna Mahna by The Fray. 

Listen to it here

Eastbound and Down

In my opinion, one of the most underrated bands of the mid to late 1990's was Tonic. One of my personal favorites. Another one of my personal favorite underated mid to late 1990's band is the Refreshments. What do these two groups have in common? Well they were both on the King Of The Hill Soundtrack. The Refreshments did the theme song to the TV show and Tonic did this here cover of Jerry Reed's Eastbound and Down.

Also I get to see Tonic tonight in concert. Be jealous.

Times Like These

Boy that Dave Grohl sure writes a mean country song ... wait, what? Kids, meet the one and only Rhinestone Cowboy, Mr. Glen Campbell.

Nevermind

Want an entire FREE album covering the classic Nirvana album Nevermind? Spin's got your hook up! Holla!

Gangsta's Paradise

Nothing is as gangsta as playing the toy Xylophone. Wait ... What the hell was Alyson Greenfield thinking when she covered Coolio? 

I Know

I'd never heard the original of this song until the cover. I like it lots. I like Elvis Costello lots too. I also like Fiona Apple, especially when she's singing in her underwear how she's "been a bad, bad girl." Anyway, I need to go take a cold shower.

Our World

There's a whole Muppets tribute album coming out this year! Yessss! That's even better than getting a hummer in a movie theater while watching a Muppet Treasure Island. On second thought ... no. It's not that good. I mean ... I'm guessing. I really don't know. I mean ... Here's My Morning Jacket.

Welcome to the Jungle

"I wanna hear you .... sreeeeeeeam!" No? Okay how about then an instrumental version of GNR by 2Chellos. You might have guessed 2Chellos is a group consisting of 2 guys playing chellos. Think Apocalyptica, but half the band.