Covers albums.... you opinion?

[glam_junkie]

After listening to the Vains of Jenna cover album 'Reverse Tripped' it got me thinking as to whether there are any good covers albums out there.

 

It seems to me that bands who release albums consisting completely of covers usually have a major dud on their hands. I'm a Vains of Jenna fan, but could not stand the album.

 

Poison have done it and failed.

Def Lep, Aerosmith, Pretty Boy Floyd, have all had a go too.

 

There are numerous examples, and i cannot say that i've heard anyone rave about a covers album.

 

As a fan of Peppermint Creeps, i thought their covers album was actually ok, but it's not something that i'm urged to pull out and play.

 

Now i love a good cover thrown into an original album, with some of the best examples in my opinion being Starrats (who do Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You" and Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself"), GnR with Knocking On Heaven's Door, and even Sassy Scarlet with 'What A Wonderful World'and 'SOS'.

 

All of these examples do them in their own style, raterh than just replicating the original. WHy do a cover and make it sound like the original? There's no point is there?

 

Are there any single-artist covers albums out there that are worth listening to?

[embrock]

I like Reverse Tripped quite a lot actually, although I'd prefer another all original Vains of Jenna album.

 

Not really a cover-album, but I love Mike Tramp's reworkings on "Remembering White Lion". Some of them sound like completely new songs.

[Nick C]

A WASTE OF SPACE - I can't really be bothered at all with them, I don't mind the ocassional cover song but whole albums of them!

I really don't care that much about a bands influences and even less them paying tribute to them in this form - it always seems to me like a desperate act by a band struggling for ideas.

I can only think off the top of my head one covers album that I really like and that's Tesla's Reel to Real album(s) as each cover rocks and isn't some half assed version. I'm sure there's another I don't mind but I can't think of it right now...oh yeah Jeff Cannata's - My Back Pages ... I really like dthat one too....all the rest fergeddit!

[Jeff]

Yeah, I'm not much for covers because it seems a lot of bands choose the most boring songs. And I didn't care much for Reverse Tripped either. Had they picked some interesting songs to cover, maybe...

 

Vains Of Jenna did do a cover of Refugee on The Art Of Telling Lies...pretty decent IMO.

[Geoff]

Yep, I don't think there's any doubting my opinion on the issue. I think it's a dreadful idea and an instant failure before it begins. I hate them all and hate the idea whenever I hear a band is doing it.

 

If I had to pick the best I'd heard, which is picking the best of a bad bunch... well, the best 2 I have heard, I think, are probably LA Guns 'Rip the covers off' and probably the new Stryper CD.

 

As noted above, I don't mind a cover here and there on a CD, especially if it's a good one. But a whole album of covers is always a lazy, terrible idea. That Vains of Jenna CD is shockingly bad... one of the worst I've heard.

[Studboy]

 

As a fan of Peppermint Creeps, i thought their covers album was actually ok, but it's not something that i'm urged to pull out and play.

 

 

I was going to say Peppermint Creeps as well, especially the cover of Motley Crue's Bastard, they play it a little faster but I really dig it.

[glam_junkie]

 

As a fan of Peppermint Creeps, i thought their covers album was actually ok, but it's not something that i'm urged to pull out and play.

 

 

I was going to say Peppermint Creeps as well, especially the cover of Motley Crue's Bastard, they play it a little faster but I really dig it.

 

I like the fac tthat they sped it up a bit. That's who the creeps are.

I think if a band is going to do a cover, they have to do it in their own style, not duplicate the original.

 

Do yourself a favour and check out the 2 cover versions by the Starrats that i mentioned in the first post.

[cdjunky41]

I like 'em!

 

Tesla-Reel To Real

Guns And Roses-Spagetti Incident (had a couple of good tracks)

Metallica-Garage Days

Just to name a few..

[Geoff]

 

As a fan of Peppermint Creeps, i thought their covers album was actually ok, but it's not something that i'm urged to pull out and play.

 

 

I was going to say Peppermint Creeps as well, especially the cover of Motley Crue's Bastard, they play it a little faster but I really dig it.

 

I like the fac tthat they sped it up a bit. That's who the creeps are.

I think if a band is going to do a cover, they have to do it in their own style, not duplicate the original.

 

Do yourself a favour and check out the 2 cover versions by the Starrats that i mentioned in the first post.

Looks like that Star Rats CD escaped my 'first spins' thread contributions, but I heard that CD last week. Good disc, and I didn't notice the Billy Idol cover (as I don't know the original) but the Bon Jovi one was okay. 100% appreciate what you're saying about making the song your own, but all I could think while I was hearing it was that it was nowhere near as good as the original. Sped up versions of ballads can be good, but they still require a solid effort to be great.

[glam_junkie]

 

As a fan of Peppermint Creeps, i thought their covers album was actually ok, but it's not something that i'm urged to pull out and play.

 

 

I was going to say Peppermint Creeps as well, especially the cover of Motley Crue's Bastard, they play it a little faster but I really dig it.

 

I like the fac tthat they sped it up a bit. That's who the creeps are.

I think if a band is going to do a cover, they have to do it in their own style, not duplicate the original.

 

Do yourself a favour and check out the 2 cover versions by the Starrats that i mentioned in the first post.

Looks like that Star Rats CD escaped my 'first spins' thread contributions, but I heard that CD last week. Good disc, and I didn't notice the Billy Idol cover (as I don't know the original) but the Bon Jovi one was okay. 100% appreciate what you're saying about making the song your own, but all I could think while I was hearing it was that it was nowhere near as good as the original. Sped up versions of ballads can be good, but they still require a solid effort to be great.

 

the billy idol cover is on broken halo from memory.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

WHy do a cover and make it sound like the original? There's no point is there?

 

This is my greatest concern towards covers. I know what the original sounds like. Why do I wanna hear you sing it, if you're not gonna alter it? One of the best covers I've heard is Steelheart's latest offering. Their cover of Led Zepplin's "Black Dog."

 

 

As for albums, I generally cringe at the announcement of an entire album of covers. I thought Stryper did well, and I liked what Def Leppard did with some of the tracks, but I'd rather an artist release new original material, or non at all. I still haven't heard Tesla's two efforts, which is surprising, considering they're one of my favourite bands.

[Geoff]

WHy do a cover and make it sound like the original? There's no point is there?

 

This is my greatest concern towards covers. I know what the original sounds like. Why do I wanna hear you sing it, if you're not gonna alter it? One of the best covers I've heard is Steelheart's latest offering. Their cover of Led Zepplin's "Black Dog."

 

 

As for albums, I generally cringe at the announcement of an entire album of covers. I thought Stryper did well, and I liked what Def Leppard did with some of the tracks, but I'd rather an artist release new original material, or non at all. I still haven't heard Tesla's two efforts, which is surprising, considering they're one of my favourite bands.

Same here. As noted in another thread, Tesla are one of my all time favourite bands but I wouldn't buy the double CDs of 'Reel to real' for $1. I heard a few of the tracks at the time of it's release and made a forceful mental note to myself to NEVER buy those CDs.

[Nightrain]

i don't mind cover album but definitely not essential purchase for me. If it's done with an interesting twist and not hundred percent similar to the original, then it must be good.

 

Few albums that I think are excellent are Vince Neil - Tattoos and Tequila, it was done in a Motley Crue way, so good that it even blow Saints of Los Angeles away.

 

Another one is Tesla's Real to Reel, but don't really dig all the song choice, nevertheless still respect them and quite okay with the album.

 

Stryper's "The Covering" i think is also okay, they put a Stryper touch to every songs, making it slightly different in a good way, and i think GNR's "Spaghetti" is another okay album.

 

Poison'd is a failure, Warrant i think is quite bad, Def Leppard as well, and Vains of Jenna isn't really horrible, but a very forgettable one I guess.

[Jez]

One or 2 have been ok - as mentioned, Tesla's 'Reel To Real' was a keeper, Toto's 'Through The Looking Glass' (for the most part) was also a goodie and Lepp's 'Yeah' was ok in spots too. Otherwise I pretty much steer clear.

[Geoff]

Guns N' Roses are actually the perfect example of why covers albums should never happen. They recorded a couple of really brilliant cover songs that they truly made their own... such as 'Knockin' on heaven's door' and 'Live and let die.' They recorded these in a manner so that one could be forgiven for thinking they were original G N'R songs. Then you take the 'Spaghetti Incident' CD, which is just plain awful. It's overkill, and the covers thing is saturated and loses it's effect all together. A perfect example of why a cover song works well on an album of originals, but a whole album of covers is ALWAYS a terrible idea.

[glam_junkie]

Not that i've listened to it alot, but i thought GnR 'spaghetti' was a bit of a mixed bag. I recall there being a handfull of pretty good tracks, and then a handful of very ordinary tracks. It was supposed to be a tribute to their punk influences wasn't it?

[Fat Freddy]

Depends on the band doing the covers, I guess. I really liked Overkill's COVERKILL disc and Metallica's GARAGE DAYS has already been mentioned. I also liked Helloween's METAL JUKEBOX and Iced Earth's TRIBUTE TO THE GODS.

 

The German power metal band "Powergod" has done two discs of '80s metal covers, and they're a mixed bag. Some of the songs are really good (they even do a cover of Hear N Aid's "Stars," with a whole bunch of current thrash/power/death metal guys making guest appearances on it just like the original's cast of thousands).

 

Poison's cover disc had a couple of decent tracks but overall was kinda "meh."

 

...and oh yeah, a couple of years ago Detritus 'zine sent me a Ramones "tribute" album by Kristy Krash Majors of Pretty Boy Floyd to review, and WOW that thing was f*ckin' godawful. I couldn't wait to finish getting my review of it written just so I could chuck it in the wastebasket, it was a total waste of plastic.

[LV KIX]

 

...and oh yeah, a couple of years ago Detritus 'zine sent me a Ramones "tribute" album by Kristy Krash Majors of Pretty Boy Floyd to review, and WOW that thing was f*ckin' godawful. .

 

 

There are just some bands and songs that should be left alone... The Ramones is one of those bands.

[Fat Freddy]

 

...and oh yeah, a couple of years ago Detritus 'zine sent me a Ramones "tribute" album by Kristy Krash Majors of Pretty Boy Floyd to review, and WOW that thing was f*ckin' godawful. .

 

 

There are just some bands and songs that should be left alone... The Ramones is one of those bands.

 

Amen!

[TIM (2)]

I simply would never and have never bought an album of covers. Plus I don't really enjoy albums that have covers on them (unless it's a song I've never heard before) as they're usually an after-thought to fill a bonus-track obligation of some kind. In fact the only covers CD I actually own was a freebie with Metal Hammer of Pantera tunes (a Dimebag tribute) where modern bands like Machine Head/Avenged Sevenfold/Five Finger Death Punch/Biohazard etc cover Pantera tunes. It's worth keeping for a couple of tunes but generally would have poor Dimebag turning in his grave. A band might want it's fans to hear what their influences are via a covers album, but they should stick to throwing a few covers into their live set and not waste time recording them IMO.

[Rockposer]

I've always liked Helloween's Metal Jukebox.

[Captain Howdy]

Its rare that I dont like a covers album as its always cool to hear another bands take on a song, see who influenced them and also expose me to songs by bands I have never heard.

Quite a few of them often have duds on them because I either think its not a patch on the original (or another bands version), its a cover of a band or song I just dont like, or I just think it was a poor song choice.

 

I loved Poison'd for instance, but really did not like their version of Squeezebox. Never really a fan of The Who version, but the Roxy Blue version was just amazing, and the Poison version was sub par compared to that.

 

Off the top of my head, I really cant think of a covers album that I hate or dont like the bulk of the songs on.

 

And lets be honest, if they are such a failure of an idea, why do so many bands continue to do them? Because they sell, thats why.

[Geoff]

While I'm on the subject tonight... 'We will rock you' by Warrant. Anyone who owns the single knows what an amazing job they did on this song. Not only Jani and the band showing what can be done with an already classic song, but a showcase for how amazing Joey Allen was in this era. Stunning cover track.

[hardrockhaven]

While I'm on the subject tonight... 'We will rock you' by Warrant. Anyone who owns the single knows what an amazing job they did on this song. Not only Jani and the band showing what can be done with an already classic song, but a showcase for how amazing Joey Allen was in this era. Stunning cover track.

I agree. This cover blew away the original.

[LV KIX]

DEAN BATSTONE - "On The Outside"

 

 

Picked this up for $1.00 a couple months ago... I spin it a couple times a week. One song on this release may be creeping up into my top 10 of all time... "A Little Northern Town".