A friend recently gave me a CD with a generally awesome mishmash of stuff on it. It also, however, had a cover of Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows" that is hands-down the most unlistenable thing I have ever heard in my life. It's by Mark Ronson, and although his first album was excellent and I found his show at Highline last year generally delightful, I skipped "Version" because I've never wondered what some of my favorite songs would sound like if they also had a heavy horns section. You like the brass, I get it, jeez. The one standout on "Version" for me is "Oh My God," because it does for me what a cover is supposed to do, which is to depart enough from the source material to make the new uh, version more than the sum of its parts. I'm meh on Lily Allen and even meh-er on the Kaiser Chiefs, yet they're two meh tastes that taste great together.
Anyway, here are my five favorite covers, in no particular order. The Elbow track's faithfulness to the original contradicts my statement about needing a reinterpretation of sorts, but I love his voice, I love Massive Attack, and I love the song, so there it is. I'm also posting the original of "The 15th" just for funsies.
Elbow - Teardrop
The Raincoats - Lola
Kronos Quartet - Marquee Moon
Elliot Smith - Trouble
Fischerspooner - The 15th
Wire - The 15th (original)
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