Covered Innit!

I cannot think of many bands within any genre that have not at some point dipped their toes into the ocean of cover versions. Would be musicians invariably start off learning to play songs they like, other people's songs, before they have the confidence and competence to write original material. Covers can also be used to fill out a band's set when their own stuff is first being molded into a set. Equally, I have heard many covers played as part of soundchecks over the years. Hey, at the end of the day the majority of musicians are pretty open about their own influences and are quite happy at some stage in a career to give those influences a nod of appreciation in the shape of a cover version.

I have said it before that, in my opinion at least, the best covers are those that give something to the song that is absent in the original. I guess the El Dorado of a cover version is to record a song such that whilst a cover of someone else's song, the version becomes the definitive version, one that eclipses the original.

So, just thinking of another thread, to give me something to think about if nothing else, I am going to run a covers thread. These posts will feature a recording that includes a cover followed by a recording of a band's set containing the original (or if not the original, a version that is the most widely known version).

Bear with me...