Three Great Covers

Sometimes, the movie IS better than the book. And sometimes, the cover is better than the original. I present three of my favourites as evidence.

Everybody of a certain age was there in 1969. And if they weren't in body - they were in spirit. I know I was.

It was Woodstock, baby - arguably the most defining moment of the hippie subculture. A generation was turning left en masse - tuning in and dropping out - and The Man was horrified. If peace, love and dope was the message, music was the messenger. And Woodstock broadcast it to the world.

Of the many memorable performances, Joe Cocker's rendition of the Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends stands out. His passion rendered him spastic. The words weren't sung. They were torn from his belly and squeezed through his soul.

Never seen it? Only seen it 47 times?

You're all in luck.

Turn up your speakers folks and please, as always, do up those seat belts. (No extra charge for the french subtitles. They disappear for most of it.)



The next song, in my opinion, ranks as one of the most astounding vocal performances in popular music. Spyder Turner's mimicry of other singers during his cover of Ben E. King's Stand By Me is uncanny. But this is no novelty record. This is a vocal tour de force by an amazing talent. I still get chills at the end when he sings: "But my name is Spyder Turner and I'll get on my knees and say 'Darlin' - don't go!...'"

Although the video consists of a series of static images, they're interesting in that they show pics of all the performers Turner imitates. The sound is good and I deliberately wanted to find the original 45 rpm.



The final clip was a real treat to find and made my week. One of my favourite tunes performed superbly in a live setting. Not any ordinary live setting, nosir. We're talking about a clip from the Ed Sullivan Show.

Vanilla Fudge recorded a cover of the Supremes' You Keep Me Hanging On that just might be the most radical departure from an original, ever. It's psychedelic. It's soul. It's blues. It's amazing drumming by Carmine Appice. It's weird.

And this performance is absolutely wonderful. (You'll thank me for reminding you about the seatbelt.)

Enjoy. (Apologies to early clickers, I'd originally posted the wrong Cocker clip.)



Thanks to GGLEC78, Classic63 and JustU95 for the vids.