First, I wanna thank you guys for the submissions. I found something to like in all of them. I hope you'll forgive me for the shorter descriptions for some of your songs; I'm concise to a fault sometimes
And besides, we can talk more in the thread.
5 Points - KevShmev: The Flaming Lips – Breathe https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Speak+To+Me+Breathe/2zF38MWow. This is what I was talking about when I mentioned bands adding something to the original piece. I’m really glad Kev sent this to me early in the day, because to be honest, I hated it on my first listen. It seemed to go nowhere; it was really noisy, and a bit disorienting. I listened to it again though; I wanted to give everything you guys sent me a fair shake. Once I got over the shock of my first listen, I could appreciate what was going on in this cover. The ostinato bass groove really holds the piece together, and the percussion work is great – the way the rhythm section works actually reminds me of something that would fit in a Santana song (Note: I don’t really listen to Santana, apologies if I’m way off
). I like the way the vocals are done, as well. It sounds like the harmonies are sung in the same intervals as the original, but since the underlying harmony of the actual song seems to be completely different, they have a whole new effect. I think what’s great about this cover is that it contains elements of psychedelia in a whole different way than the Floyd version did. This piece just puts me in a trance-like state.
4 Points - Sigz: Scala & Koalcny Brothers – Creep https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Creep/adTzzI’m really glad you sent me this song. You’ll probably hate me for it, but I first heard it during a trailer for “The Social Network” and was really intrigued by it, but it slipped my mind soon after the trailer ended. Whereas Radiohead’s version of Creep has the soft verse, loud chorus thing going on, Scala’s cover is far more subdued, which is cool. Covering a Radiohead song is always a tricky proposition because one-upping Thom Yorke’s voice is just an uphill battle – 99% of the time, it’s just not gonna happen. The fact that the cover is done by a choir alleviates that pressure – it’s different enough to stand on its own merits. Like I said, I’m a huge sucker for vocal harmonies; this cover is right down my alley. I dunno if I could listen to a whole album of songs like this, but one is more than tolerable.
4 Points – skydivingninja: Jacob Moon – Come Talk To Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qphRwdr6MlYThis is just great. I’ve actually never heard the original, and I thought both versions were excellent. I really liked how Moon made the song his own with his fancy guitar work – it really suits the song well. The tone he gets is out of this world, and I love how he manages to change his playing up throughout the six minutes of the song. I’d definitely like to hear more of this guy’s music.
3 Points – SoundscapeMN – Local Natives – Warning Sign https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Warning+Sign/2gDGa5I wanted to put this up with the four-pointers, but Kev’s and SDN’s submissions were just too good. I actually like the cover way better than the original (I’m not too familiar with it) – I think the instrumentation is great and the vocal harmonies kick ass. Not much else to say!
3 Points – ariich – Matt Cardle – Baby One More Time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4mfUyjfuA0What? Baby One More Time is actually a solid pop song! Rich took a risk sending me an X Factor song, but I like it a lot. Cardle’s voice really works well for the tune, and I like the way he changes up the vocal melody in some parts just slightly. I think the best part of the cover is the bridge – he sings with a lot of power here and it’s just a nice emotional payoff that you wouldn’t expect from a song originally done by Britney Spears.
3 Points – sonatafanica: Björk – Like Someone in Love https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Like+Someone+in+Love/1pGIaLI’ve never heard a Björk song before this, so I was kind of worried, especially since I like the original quite a bit. Björk’s version is just a completely different animal though – just a harp and her voice. She sounds so vulnerable and fragile in the song, culminating in the cracking/straining of her voice in the end. I really like the raw sound of it.
2 Points – letters: Opeth – Soldier of Fortune https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Soldier+of+Fortune/2DX2HTMan, I love Mikael’s clean voice. It’s just
nice. I would have rated this higher, but I felt it was one of the most literal covers out of the bunch and not much else. I will say, I think the song is PERFECT for Opeth. When I was listening to the original, I thought to myself, “I bet the Opeth version isn’t much different,” and look, I was right
2 Points – Gorille: Stream of Passion – Street Spirit https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=street%20spirit%20stream%20of%20passionI saw you had submitted a Stream of Passion song and I gasped a bit
Fortunately, it turned out to be good! Unfortunately, it’s a cover of my favorite Radiohead song, and while I think the singer did a really good job with it, I don’t think it needed to be turned into a metal song – I honestly think the original is perfect. This version sounds a bit too sterile. Also, while the singer's voice was very powerful, it just lacked the emotion of Yorke's, which is the problem I talked about in my description for Sigz's song -- It's just really hard to beat him, even if you're a fantastic singer.
1 Point – sneakyblueberry: The White Stripes – Jolene https://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Jolene/2TrolAHm. Jolene ain’t my favorite song in the world, and The White Stripes couldn’t do much to change it. I do love the rawness of their live sound, though, and I think Jack White does this tune better than Dolly. But like I said, not a huge fan of the song.
Leaderboard:
KevShmev - 5
Sigz - 4
SDN - 4
SoundscapeMN - 3
ariich - 3
sonatafanica - 3
letters - 2
Gorille - 2
sneakyblueberry - 1
Round 2 - Free For All. Send me whatever you like.
Deadline - Wednesday, Midnight.
Topic: antigoon's Song Roulette! Talkin 'bout Arcade Fire (Read 47972 times)
