A GUEST POSTING by ADRIAN MAHON
JC interjects……
Adrian sent this over with the intention of it being a bunch of videos to watch and enjoy. I feel too many videos take up too much space when folk are browsing through things, so I’ve taken the liberty of digging all up, bar the first and last of them, as mp3 rips. Hope you don’t mind, Adrian. And with that, it’s over to you…………………..
I was enjoying my favourite Bananarama track, and it got me thinking about a piece in the NME about how they were searching very obscure Filipino b-sides for their next single (they were only ever there to front others’ work.).
There are those tracks that you kind of know are covers, but have never dug out the original and then there are the surprises. Well: here’s a selection of mine. Some work…and linked to the previous track:-
mp3: Jimmy Lunceford – ‘Taint What You Do
One for TNVV fans:
mp3: Diana Ross – Love Hangover
In the ‘just a great sound, so leave it be’ category:
mp3: The Strangeloves – I Want Candy
In a similar vein (‘Kitty’?):
mp3: Racey – Kitty
Then there’s this lot:
mp3: The Paragons – The Tide Is High
And again:
mp3: Randy & The Rainbows – Denise
Then you’ll be pleased that some artists changed things:
mp3: Robert Hazard – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Like here:
mp3: The Family – Nothing Compares 2U
Finally: you knew this was a cover. Wrong time, wrong haircuts, but I imagine it played well (on the Mark Bolan show?):
I’m sure you have a few of your own!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Well there is a lot for be had here. That Bananarama cover is something else
Long Hangover – Associates, every time.
I like the idea of seeing more favourite cover versions. I may even post some of my own. A nice way to start the day.
Flimflamfan
The Robert Hazard track is basically a songwriter’s demo that didn’t see the light of day until many years after Cyndi Lauper made the song a hit. The odd thing is that he was actually releasing solo records at the time and he had that in reserve but never did it himself – which makes me wonder, did he not realise it could be a hit, or was he specifically looking for the right person to record it?
As for Blondie, The Nerves’ original of Hanging On The Telephone is also worth a listen.
Léon Macduff
That was a very enjoyable article. I particularly liked The Paragons – The Tide Is High.
I do like a cover version and being a big fan of The Fall, I was delighted to recently procure a CD called Before The Fall. This contains the originals of 20 cover versions released by The Fall. Artists on the album range from Sister Sledge through to Gene Vincent, The Sonics, The Monks and Wanda Jackson. It is extremely eclectic and well worth a listen, even if you’re not a Fall fan.
Darren 157
How about Annie Lennox’s cover of Ash’s ‘Shining light’? Its bit like Mercury Rev’s ‘Holes’ turning up in Sing 2.
This required some work on my MP3 database. What surprised me the most – and also a little disappointed – was that “Girls just …” is a cover version. How could this have been kept secret from me for so long?
At least once I like the original much better than the cover version (Randy & The Rainbows). But that’s no surprise. Neither cover version is one of Blondie’s finest moments. [sk]
Since this post, I’ve been checking every song I hear to see if it’s a cover version. Today I briefly thought that “Ready or not” by the Fugees is a cover version. But it’s probably more of a case of sampling. [sk]