MOONHEAD: PINK FLOYD'S SOUNDTRACK FOR BBC'S COVERAGE OF APOLLO 11

WE'RE GONNA CHANGE IT UP A BIT - COVER SONGS THAT WERE DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT THAN THE ORIGINAL

Let's face it, most cover songs sound pretty close to the original. The Beatles version of "Twist and Shout" sounds like the Isley Brothers version, Smash Mouth's version of "I'm a Believer" sounds almost identical to The Monkees version, and even the Jeff Beck Group's version of "Love Is Blue" sounds like Paul Mauriat's "Love is Blue." These are called "faithful" cover versions.

However, there artist that take things in a totally different direction. This blog post (and podcast) will celebrate those great cover versions that "changed it up a bit."

Since I'm using the podcast for illustration, I won't go into very much detail. However, I will point out the inspiration for this post. The Bluebelles' 1984 British hit "Young At Heart" was the subject of a lawsuit by former Fabulous Poodles' fiddle player Bobby Valentino, who played on the record. He said that he should get a credit and some compensation, because his fiddle playing contributed to the success of The Bluebelles recording. It was originally recorded by Bananarama the previous year with a typical bouncy, synthesizer pop song that Bananarama was known for. The judge agreed that his country pop fiddle made the remake a big hit.

I got to thinking about other cover songs that seem to be unrecognizable from the original. Vanilla Fudge's headbanging psychedelic version of The Supremes hit "You Keep Me Hanging On" came to mind, along with Peggy Lee's smoldering, beatnikish version of Little Willie John's bumpin blues "Fever."

I once heard an interview where Screaming Jay Hawkins said he liked Nina Simone's version of "I Put a Spell On You" better than his. On the other hand, I had a co-worker in radio, who would become visibly angry at the very mention of James Taylor's version of the Jimmy Jones hit "Handy Man." Personally, I never cared for Donna Summer's version of "MacArthur Park" and I like most of Donna Summer's hits.

Everyone has covered "Do You Want To Dance?" and "Money," but Bette Midler and the Flying Lizards did those songs different than any other act.

Many of theses are either, rocker becomes ballad, soft rock becomes heavy metal or disco, even a psychedelic pop song turned into a bluegrass song and a bluegrass song from a 60's rural sitcom turned into a Celtic dirge. Even a British rock band doing a goofy Perry Como song about mannequin lust. So lets take a listen.

NOTE: I realize the sound is bad on this. I'm using "borrowed" equipment, so I don't have control of the sound quality. My apologies. I also used a "guest announcer" for this podcast.

"Young At Heart" The Bluebelles 1984 (Original recording by Bananarama 1983)
"For Once In My Life" Stevie Wonder 1968 (Original hit Tony Bennett in 1967)
"Summertime Blues" Blue Cheer 1967 (Original hit by Eddie Cochran 1958)
"Do You Want To Dance?" Bette Midler 1972 (Original hit by Bobby Freeman 1958)
"Love Buzz" Nirvana 1989 (Original recording by Shocking Blue 1969)

"Hooked On a Feeling" Blue Suede 1974 (Original hit by B.J Thomas)
"I Put a Spell On You" Nina Simone 1965 (Original hit by Screaming Jay Hawkins 1955)
"There Is a Time" Solas 2008 (Original recording by The Dillards with Maggie Peterson 1964)
"Fever" Peggy Lee 1958 (Original recording by Little Willie John 1956)
"Diamonds & Rust" Judas Priest 1977  (Original hit by Joan Baez 1975)
"Careless Whispers" Seether 2009 (Original hit by Wham 1984)
"Handy Man" James Taylor 1978 (Original hit by Jimmy Jones 1960)
"The Locomotion" Grand Funk Railroad 1974 (Original hit by Little Eva 1962)
"Bette Davis Eyes" Kim Carnes 1981 (Original recording by Jackie DeShannon 1975)
"Money" The Flying Lizards 1980 (Barrett Strong 1959)
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" Marilyn Manson 1994 (Original hit for The Eurythmics 1983)
"Satisfaction" Devo 1980 (Original hit for The Rolling Stones 1965)
"Fox On the Run" Tom T. Hall 1976 (Original hit by Manfred Mann 1969)
"Summertime" Billy Stewart 1966 (Written in 1937, first rock era version by Sam Cooke 1957)
"Never Gonna Say Goodbye" Gloria Gaynor 1974 (Original hit by the Jackson Five 1972)
"You Keep Me Hanging On" Vanilla Fudge 1968 (Original hit by The Supremes 1966)
"MacArthur Park" Donna Summer 1980 (Original hit by Richard Harris 1968)
"Woodstock" Mathews Southern Comfort fall 1970 (Original hit by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young March 1970)
"With a Little Help From My Friends" Joe Cocker 1968 (Originally recorded by The Beatles in 1967)
"Walk On By" The Stranglers 1980 (Original hit for Dionne Warwick 1962)
"Proud Mary" Ike & Tina Turner 1971 (Original hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969)
"Light My Fire" Jose Feliciano 1968 (Original hit by The Doors 1967)
"Knock On Wood" Amii Stewart 1979  (Original hit by Eddie Floyd 1966)
"I'm a Man" The Yardbirds 1965 (Original hit by Bo Diddley 1955)
"House of the Rising Sun"  Frygid Pink 1970 (Original hit by The Animals 1964)
"Hey Joe"  Jimi Hendrix 1967 (Original hit by The Leaves 1965)
"Glendora" The Downliners Sect 1966 (Original hit by Perry Como 1956)
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" Diana Ross 1970 (Original hit for Marvin Gaye & Tami Terrell 1967)

And last but not least:

"Blinded By The Light," "For You" and "Spirits In the Night" Manfred Mann's Earth Band 1976-1980 (Original recordings by Bruce Springsteen 1973).

P. S: Before you say "You left off The Cowboy Junkies version of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane." It is different than the version of the Loaded LP." True, but the Cowboy Junkies version is identical to the version The Velvet Underground performs on the Live 1969 LP. So it doesn't count.

DESDINOVA'S PROGRESSIVE/ART ROCK PLAYLIST

I actually made a post for the old blog of progressive/art rock a few years back utilizing YouTube videos. The problem was some links wouldn't post and some of the songs were not available because of legal issues. I've found if most people are interested in a song I post on a playlist, they will find it on one of the many music download websites by Googling the title and artist name.

I decided to go ahead with this concept after hearing "The Art Rock Suite" by National Lampoon while working on the song parody post from a few weeks ago.

Progressive rock or art rock is a genre of music that has for the most part disappeared, with the exception of Dream Theater (I think Coldplay might count as prog rock too). It was at it height of popularity in the early 70s to the late 80s. It was never popular among rock critics. It may be responsible for punk due to the fact that punkers hated it. For the most part, women don't care for it. Once a staple of classic rock radio station, many programmers these day say that it "attracts the Dungeon and Dragons geek crowd."

The stigma of prog/art rock may come from the fact that it appealed to an older crowd and many times more intellectual crowd. One famous group claimed that their audience was predominantly "bearded, pipe-smoking, college professors and hippies" until they had a number one hit and video on MTV, then teenage girls began showing up at their concerts. KTXR's Wayne Glenn has told about finding a lone prog rock LP in the collections of elderly couples, who have given or sold him their records. Part of the punkers contention with prog rock was that it was an attempt to make rock and roll nice, boring and commercial.

Another thing point out as a reason they dislike prog/art rock is it is cliched. Like other forms of popular music such as heavy metal (which prog is confused with by some people), hip-hop and country, prog has its cliches.

1. Surreal, profound and flowery lyrics. A lot of mythology and Romanticism thrown in too.
2. Orchestras and string sections.
3. More emphasis on keyboards than guitars.
4. The songs are long, usually between 5 to 25 minutes long.
5. The cover of the album is a fantasy or sci-fi painting, usually by Roger Dean (above), Frank Kelly Freas or H.R. Giger.
6. Sudden change in tempo or crescendo.
7. A big finish.
8. Most prog/art rock groups are British. Few are American (Kansas, Styx).

So let me give a playlist of great prog/art "masterpieces" for your Ipod or for you to hunt down on CDs or LP. NOTE: These ares not ranked or in any particular order, just as they came up on my Ipod.

1. "Suite Madam Blue" Styx
2. "Bohemian Rhapsody" Queen
3. "Bloody Well Right" Supertramp
4. "Catherine of Aragon" Rick Wakeman
5. "Conquistador" Procol Harum (The 1972 live version)
6. "Carry On Wayward Son" Kansas
7. "March of the Mad Duke's Circus" Ars Nova (Another early prog/art rock band from L.A)
8. "Rock & Roll Dreams Come True" Jim Stienman
9. "Welcome to the Machine" Pink Floyd
10. "Tubular Bells" Mike Oldfield
11. "Heat of the Moment" Asia
12. "Do It Again" Steely Dan
13. "Spirits In the Night" Manfred Mann's Earth Band
14. "Green Eyed Lady" Sugarloaf
15. "July Morning" Uriah Heep
16. "Locomotive Breath" Jethro Tull
17. "The Fountains of Salmacis" Genesis (Peter Gabriel era)
18. "When the Heart Rules The Mind" GTR
19. "I've Seen All Good People" Yes
20. "The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Feather" Alan Parson Project
21. "Rondo" The Nice
22. "Turn It On Again" Genesis (Phil Collins era)
23. "Dream Weaver" Gary Wright
24. "Karn Evil #9 (1st Impression)" Emerson, Lake and Palmer (a.k.a "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends")
25. "Art For Art's Sake" 10CC
26. "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" Argent
27. "Cold as Ice" Foreigner
28. "Mad Puppet" Goblin
29. "In the Court of the Crimson King" King Crimson
30. "Nights in White Satin" Moody Blues
31.  "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" Ambrosia
32.  "Roll Over Beethoven" Electric Light Orchestra
33. "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" Mike & the Mechanics
34. "Joy" Apollo 100
35. "Pretty Ballerina" The Left Banke (Many believe the first prog rock band)
36. "Mars" Isao Tomita (Note: Not "Mars: Bringer of War." He does a version of that song too.)
37. "A Farewell To Kings" Rush (I knew if I left off Rush, their fans would whine)
38. "Gravedigger" The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble
39. "Theme from Clockwork Orange" Walter Carlos