The Experimental Cover Bands

[frenchmaidrobot]

In regards to today's comic about the idea of weird instrumentation/arrangements for songs...

Has anybody listened to Petra Haden's version of The Who Sell Out?

[KharBevNor]

No...

But as far as wierd covers:

Blumchen's dance cover of Queen's 'Bicycle Race'
Any of the KMFDM covers, particulary 'These Boots Are Made for Walking' and 'Material Girl'
SikTh's version of Nick Cave's 'Tupelo'
Graveworm's cover of REM's 'Losing My Religion'
Inkubus Sukkubus' reworked covers of Kylie's 'Can't Get you Out of My Head' (Oh, the altered lyrics! The gothic choir chanting the na's!) and Cher's 'Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves'
The Anti-Nowhere Leagues cover of 'The Streets of London' (punking up songs before anyone had even thought of Hot Topic)
Skyclad's covers of Thin Lizzy's 'Emerald', Judas Priests 'Dreamer Deciever', and Venom's 'Prime Evil' (all songs, I must now admit, sorely in need of fiddle in their original incarnations)
Overlord's cover of Girls Aloud's 'Sound of the Underground'
Behemoth's cover of David Bowie's 'Hello Spaceboy'
Amorphis' cover of The Doors/That bloke who originally did it's 'Light my Fire' (Absolutely hilarious, especially stuck as the bonus track on the end of one of the gloomiest doomdeath albums ever put to record)
Tulus' cover of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'
Therion's cover of Abba's 'Summer Night City' (REALLY fucking brillliant)
Entombed's covers of Bob Dylan's 'The Ballad of Hollis Brown' and the hymn 'Amazing Grace'.
Tiamat's cover of the Rolling Stone's 'Sympathy For the Devil'

And if you like poetry, Both Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadow's and Arcturus' settingd of Edgar Allen Poes 'Alone' (The Innocence of Devils and Alone respectively) are utterly wonderful, as is Behemoth's setting of AC Swinburne's 'Before Aeons Came' and Tiamat's beautiful setting of Alasteir Crowley's 'The Pentagram'.


Probably more when I think on't. I collect odd covers.

[Kai]

The Residents did an album of covers of popular sixties songs and FUCKED THEM  UP to an extreme. It ends with Inna Gadda Da Vida, Hey Jude, and Sympathy for the Devil playing AT THE SAME TIME. It't the best cover album ever (Third Reich N Roll, for the curious).

[Jeridus]

I once saw a crazy reggae/ska band at a show (forget which show)... and they did a cover of U2's New Year's Day... it was nuts, and totally fucking awesome

also... someone should cover Kaizers Orchestra's "Bak et Halleluja"... so weird... hear it here... http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/war.php

[a pack of wolves]

V/A - Dynamite With A Laserbeam - Queen As Heard Through The Meat Grinder of 31G

Bands like Das Oath, Melt-Banana, Glass Candy, Asterisk* etc demolishing Queen songs. Really, really good. And it has Bastard Noise on it. Bastard fucking Noise, doing Lily of the Valley which I've never heard and would almost certainly not recognise if I did. But it rules.

[Kai]

On the local radio here, There's some show called Cypress Avenue with this awesome guy who hosts it, and one time he did a show of nothing but reggae covers of Bob Dylan songs.

[boeuf]

I actually emailed Jeph about this one.

While in Montreal I saw a band play called Sabbath Cafe, which obviously, did Black Sabbath covers. It was pretty well done but the weird thing was the instruments they used.
Drums
Huge friggin' stand up bass
Accordian
and a Flute.

Yeah, I know.

[zekterellium]

V/A - Dynamite With A Laserbeam - Queen As Heard Through The Meat Grinder of 31G

i fucking hated thart album. people were just noisy for the sake of it and not becasue they, like, enjoy making noise. some of those songs could have been awesome but all the bands we're determined to be 'more hardcore' than all the other bands so they fucked up what was in essence a really good idea.

best cover ever is johnny cash's version of hurt.

[a pack of wolves]

I dunno. Some's fairly listenable, and it's not as if people like Asterisk* are doing anything different to normal, but I can see where you're coming from.

[BehringerBoy]

i heard a thing on the net called the punk rock orchestra. Well, an orchestra playing punk covers obviously...

what does jeph have against apocalyptica, other than their name? i think they rule.

[dave86]

I've had it to the back fucking teeth with ironic covers.

[blindsuperhero]

What if they're not ironic?

[nickyandthefuture]

Melt-Banana's cover of "Surfin' USA" is pretty rad.

[happybirthdaygelatin]

Devo's cover of Head like a Hole > then the original = my opinion.

I always wanted to do beatbox versions of Tom Waits songs.

[KharBevNor]

EEENTTOOOOMMBED SONS OF SATAN PRAISE THE FUCKIN' LORD. BEST COVER ALBUM EVERRRR!!!!

[Johnny C]

The Alan Parsons Project, my sources tell me, does an "interpretation" of "Edgar Allen Poe," or so I hear.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[La Creme]

Inkubus Sukkubus' reworked covers of Kylie's 'Can't Get you Out of My Head' (Oh, the altered lyrics! The gothic choir chanting the na's!) and Cher's 'Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves'
The Anti-Nowhere Leagues cover of 'The Streets of London' (punking up songs before anyone had even thought of Hot Topic)

Inkubus Sukkubas are the fucking business. I only have one song of theirs, and I don't know the name. But it is sooo goddamed industrial and true gothy. Anti-Nowhere League are cah-razy.

Devo's cover of Head like a Hole > then the original = my opinion.

I always wanted to do beatbox versions of Tom Waits songs.

Devo's covers of <cough cough> EVERY COVER DEVO DO! For that matter, everything Devo does. For that matter, I'm seein' them in August bitches! sorry. That was wanky.

Also, there's a Tom Waits Cover C.D. It's really shitty. It's just crappy bands like Archers of Loaf and 10,000 Maniacs ruining his classics. Also, some wanker (who just so happens to be a whitey) raps Pasties and a G-string. Poorly. THe only redeeming features of the CD are the Violent Femmes covering "Step Right Up" and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks covering "Better Off Without A Wife". Tom is the shit. I wanna do a metal version of "God's Away On Business" or a proggy Gordian Knot-like version of " 'Taint No Sin" or a death-polka cover of "Going Out West".

[KharBevNor]

Inkubus Sukkubus' almost purely elecronic approach to quite heavily folk-based (but totally gothed up) music is so, so, awesome.

I also totally forgot their awesome cover of 'Paint it Black'! Really heavy and full of keys and uber-processed guitars.