Post subject: What's the best Neil Young cover song?
I love these ones;
Cinnamon Girl. Type O Negative
Ohio. The Isley Brothers
Love is a Rose. Linda Ronstadt
Like a Hurricane. Roxy Music
Southern Man. Merry Clayton
Mister Soul. Rush
Helpless. Buffy Sainte-Marie
Down by the River. Buddy Miles
Look Out for my Love. Linda Ronstadt
After the Gold Rush. Prelude
Birds Bette Midler
And of course, the breathtaking Heart of Gold by Boney M
Two or three years ago i saw Phil Lesh, Jason Crosby, John Molo, other Dickinson, Grahame Lesh, and Anders Osborne perform a killer version of down by the river at the tower theatre in Philadelphia
The first time I listened to this album I was not expecting it so I hated it, but it has sense grown on me. I thought it was such a ballsy move to lead off your album with (in my opinion) best songs ever written.
Now that I look at the youtube video for it, apparently it has been used in a lot of TV shows.
Part of what I've always loved about Cortez is that it's such a laid back and almost drowsy song. It never rushes, giving Neil a whole lot of space to explore. This plays it like a straight ahead rock song, which it is not. It's fast and pushing throughout and the drums are way over the top. I was worn out less than halfway though this.
What Neil does with Cortez (and Warren Haynes understood and did the same thing with Gov't Mule) is to not make it a rockfest. This is a song that does well with space and a tempo that doesn't push. It needs dynamics. It needs space. This version has no space...it's straight up loud and rock for 20 minutes. This needs a drummer who plays behind the song...not over it. And a singer who is okay with not being on top of everything. There is no soul in the vocals here at all. That's the problem...everyone is trying to rock this thing out from beginning to end. It's just not that song.
I love Built To Spill. I love Cortez. It's one of my favorite songs, because Neil let's it breathe and doesn't turn it into this. And I love that these guys took it on. But I'm sorry...this does not work for me. Too long, too loud, too fast, too straight up rock.
Here's Mule with Marc Ford from 1999. For me, a much better version.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
That's interesting because I never considered this version to be "rocking out". The guitar is pretty airy and even in the loudest parts is not like there's shedding or anything. I think it goes more with Doug Martsch's guitar style in that a lot of the parts are drawn out and have some effects applied to them. I actually find it quite peaceful and use it to help me fall asleep on occasion...
As for the vocals, they take up about 5% of the song so i don't really focus on them. I think Martsch did a decent job with them though, and given that its a live recording i wouldn't say he's trying to sing over them. That's probably just how the recording was mixed.
In general my opinion on covers is that if you're just replaying the song you shouldn't have bothered; i like hearing a band play a song in their style and not in the way the writer intended. It's hard to enjoy a cover if you're thinking "this isn't the way the author wrote it"... That's kind of the point. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
That's interesting because I never considered this version to be "rocking out". The guitar is pretty airy and even in the loudest parts is not like there's shedding or anything. I think it goes more with Doug Martsch's guitar style in that a lot of the parts are drawn out and have some effects applied to them. I actually find it quite peaceful and use it to help me fall asleep on occasion...
As for the vocals, they take up about 5% of the song so i don't really focus on them. I think Martsch did a decent job with them though, and given that its a live recording i wouldn't say he's trying to sing over them. That's probably just how the recording was mixed.
In general my opinion on covers is that if you're just replaying the song you shouldn't have bothered; i like hearing a band play a song in their style and not in the way the writer intended. It's hard to enjoy a cover if you're thinking "this isn't the way the author wrote it"... That's kind of the point.
It depends. It can be the opposite. for example, to me what makes something a great song is usually the melody that was composed so well. So if you cover it and perform it in a way that strays from that melody, then you're taking away what was great about the song. Its no longer great. On the other hand if what made the song great was the lyrics, which is rarely the case, then you can change it all you want. So it all depends on what made the song good in the first place. Of course, ,there's still the creativity of the band and their musicianship that can be the thing that's awesome. But then youd be better off just doing your own material.
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