Dancing About Architecture, Vol. XII

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Vol. XII

Tonight’s Episode: A Dozen Great Remakes You Probably Should Have Heard By Now By Popular Artists

February 12, 2008

I really am not sure what’s about to happen here. I suppose that is always true of all of us all the time, but in this case I mean I’m not sure what I’m doing now with this “blog”. That word is in scare quotes because there hasn’t been an entry here since last October. Sadly, I still haven’t seen any live music since then, although I’ve played a couple times and maybe I’ll get around to blogging that, if I decide you should care. So I'm in a blogging state of mind, and today Nima (equinox-of-insanity.com) finally put the fear of godlessness into me that a world without my blogging is a sad world indeed. This is to say nothing of the state of the world containing said blogging. Sound and fury, baby.

For quite a while, as in at least 15 years, I’ve mulled over the question of musical covers. Every band does them, so we can’t ignore them and lean on our ignorance to deny their existence like that whack job who claims there are no homosexuals in Iran. We might as well face up to them, and as the great Jewish philosopher Hillel famously said of facing up to musical covers, “if not now, when?” They are a curious element in the rock culture universe, and I like things that are “curious”, “elements”, “culture”, I like rocks, and I usually like the universe. So let’s dive in (two paragraphs later, which is as fast as I go.)

First I must make a crucial distinction, that between “covers” and “remakes”. Every band, every one, plays covers. That is, they play other people’s songs because they are good songs, they’re fun to play, and best of all they’ve already been written by someone else. Its part of keeping up your chops, and gives the band something to do when you’ve only got a dozen of your own songs and/or you’re still trying to find your style. There is no reason to ever stop playing covers for their own sake. Bands spend a lot of time messing around, you know. That said, there is no inherent reason why anyone else should have to listen to your cover. If you’re recreating someone else’s work, I don’t need to hear it unless you’ve added something that merits being added. This axiom leads to the Law of Remakes, which separates clearly remakes from covers.

The Law of Remakes:

Do not remake a song unless you have a damn good reason.

In other words, if you and your band decide you are going to re-MAKE someone else’s song, and then expect me to listen to it, your job is to find something in the song that inspires you to make something new to add to it, and this new thing or things must serve the dual purpose of respecting the integrity of the song while simultaneously enhancing it. The listener needs a reason to choose your version over the original. This simple rule is so often ignored or confused. As creatures of habit living in the age of recorded music, we simply love to hear the same recording of a familiar song over and over and over again, even and especially once we know every nuance and further listening will add nothing to our understanding or appreciation of the song (for me, the Police song “Roxanne” is the flagship piece in this category. I never need to hear that song again). This often leads to the misconception that just because someone else records a given song, with a different voice and different production values and different drum beat from the version with which you are intimately familiar, that this new version is somehow creative, when it’s simply reproductive. I generally love people, but when people fall into this trap I hate people. At least, I hate that we do that.

There are, though, many remakes that deserve some props. A select few remakes – I choose my words carefully here – can be said to have followed the Law of Remakes so adroitly, went above and beyond the requirements, you might say, that they actually are better than the original. This rare breed is worth closer inspection, and so I’ve listed a dozen here in no particular order. This list includes a few I’d placed into this elite category, in my mind, years ago, which have waited patiently for revelation. Some others came to me more recently as I was thinking about this blog. Some are obvious; I also considered many obscure ones that might also be great, but for now we’ll limit ourselves here to remakes by more or less “popular” bands.

1. All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RD7s4i_X-p0. Yes, this is a big fat obvious one. Everybody carries with them the secret special knowledge that this Hendrix powerhouse hit was originally an earthier folk blues by Bob Dylan. Everybody also agrees that, although Dylan’s version is great and he in fact wrote it, Hendrix took this tune, as Jake mentioned earlier today, to another level. He obeyed the Law by upholding the power of the song’s timeless poetry and he superseded this minimum requirement by playing it in the way only Hendrix can play. The only reservation here is that I’ve heard it so much I could use another remake. This leads us to the corollary:

1b. All Along the Watchtower – XTC. (YouTube only has a live BBC session: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hjTSZmDdJdw.) This 1978 version from their terrific pre-Andy Partridge-nervous-breakdown album “White Music” starts with the foundation that Hendrix’ rock-out had already been done and was the more familiar version to most people than Dylan’s. Here Colin Moulding, one of the most adept rock bassists when it comes to rhythmic, melodic and harmonic counterpoint, pulls apart the descending-ascending chord structure like shredded beef and rips out a bass line that jumps all over the scale. You wouldn’t know the song until the lyrics kick in. When Partridge comes in with his (at that time) octave-hopping raving lunatic voice, the lyrics take on a whole new flavor. The opening and finale with the long clamped organ/harmonica chords assures that this version is nothing like the original, and also awesome.

2. Higher Ground – The Red Hot Chili Peppers. http://youtube.com/watch?v=WZat5TbRO3A. Back when this band was following on the heels of The Minutemen and had some good ideas, they recorded several fine remakes, which also include Hendrix’ “Fire” (and the Great Wheel turns). Remakes often diverge from the original in one of two ways, either “turning it up” or “turning it down”. Usually this is all that is done by way of adaptation, making it more of a cover, as in the seemingly endless string of bad punk remakes like Social D’s “Ring of Fire”. But this here was when the Peppers were comfortable with their brand of funk-punk fusion, so it was a perfectly natural step to take Stevie Wonder’s funk classic and add the speedball punk element, without removing the funk within. I just decided that “The Funk Within” is, well I don’t know what it is, but I hope I possess it. And no, you may not have any.
3. I Fought The Law – The Clash. http://youtube.com/watch?v=MBeT4ptY9sY. Apparently the order in this list is quasi more-to-less obvious. Social Distortion or their frontman also released a version of this song, and somebody really needs to tell them to just cut it out. The only band that ever really mattered (who said that? Was it Lester Bangs? I can’t remember) took this good song and made it fantastic. Certainly The Clash admired Bobby Fuller’s punk cred before the term “punk” came to mean something other than “cretin”, but the truth is that they were just too damn good for their own good. The monotone guitar solo (aforementioned in DAA Vol. IX) has so much stronger gravity with the amplified upper octave electric guitar. It’s like the waft of perfume that drags Pepe LePew into a zombie trance. The “six-gun” snare drum double triplet thing is perfect. This is the definitive version, hands down.
4. Satisfaction - Devo. http://youtube.com/watch?v=CvcuaJy9OwI. The Rolling Stones are associated in my mind with The Phantom of the Opera. Everybody loves the shit out of each of them and I just don’t understand what’s so fucking great about either one. I guess the Stones can be proud of making a buttload of cash by making great black music friendly for white audiences, or something. But I do appreciate why this particular track is my dad’s favorite from “the acid rock era”. This from the man who drove across New York state with my mother, twice I think, to see The Doors in 1968. I love that. But back to the remake. Devo is (I think I can still use the present tense) composed of some severely repressed but remarkably creative individuals. Somewhat akin to XTC’s remake described above, which I’m actually listening to right now, this take (a year earlier from the XTC song, in 1977) keeps the song structure but completely rewrites all the parts. There’s a lot more going on here at any given moment than the comparatively primitive arena-rock guitar in the Stones’ original. Plus, Mark Mothersbaugh’s geekified voice is so much more convincing. We all know Mick got plenty of satisfaction.
5. Take Me To The River – Talking Heads. http://youtube.com/watch?v=G2BpsCwUa2I. Let’s start with the foundation that Talking Heads is, if I had to choose, like totally my favorite rock band (1989’s “Naked” notwithstanding). They did things nobody had done before or since, and all of it brilliant. I believe this is the only cover they recorded, and I love it because I learned only much later that it’s originally by the Reverend Al Green. It was a dirty gospel song ironic in its silky delivery. This band turned it into a pumping new wave concert closer with all the intricate and infectious arrangements for which they long ago earned my eternal respect and admiration. To say this version is better than the original is really to say that I simply prefer the style here better, but they did it so well you can’t really fault me for it.
6. Twist ‘n’ Shout – The Beatles. http://youtube.com/watch?v=faVTixv81IQ. Yes, the bloody Beatles. I know, including them in any discourse on pop music is worn, cliché, even tacky. But look, when The Isley Brothers recorded this, they might as well have recorded it as “Stroll and Saunter”. It’s nice and all and it makes me want to throw twigs in a brook from a footbridge. The Beatles saw what this song was really supposed to be, and they were still young and innocent enough that their explosive verve is all genuine. John used to blow his voice out in concerts on this one, not that the hordes of screaming girls really cared.
7. Ball of Confusion – Love and Rockets. http://youtube.com/watch?v=-ALRLZQf42s. How Daniel Ash heard the Temptations’ 1970 Motown hit and imagined its reincarnation as a bass-heavy goth rock song is something I can’t even begin to surmise, but that's part of why I love this band. Several aspects of this remake I find particularly striking. First, Ash’s straight-ahead, deep vocals infect the lyrics with a world-weathered wisdom, whereas the original comes off sounding naïve, even if we know outside of the song that the Temptations certainly had with them the wisdom of their age and experience. The “hey, hey” from Ash just seems more wan. Second, David J.’s driving bass line pushes the song ever forward, where the original seems flat to me. Third, the lyrics which in 1970 may have referred to the ills of the Vietnam war and entrenched racism in America took on a new meaning in the late 1980s – it was as though in remaking the song it became more about the persistence of stupidity in human politics.
8. Kiss – Prince. (Sorry, no link for this one.) I don’t own any Prince albums even though I know the guy’s good. I can’t explain that state of affairs. Especially since the stripped down elemental funk guitar in his version of “Kiss” makes the song so much sexier. The original, by Tom Jones and the Art of Noise, suffered principally because it was by Tom Jones and the Art of Noise. That Tom Jones ever achieved sufficient fame and recognition for me to have heard him is a great example of why every decision made in the 1970s was bad (the main exception being the flowering of the punk/new wave counter-culture that shone like a lighthouse beacon in the thickest fog. Also, I was born in the 1970s). Even if you haven’t heard the original, you know Prince’s remake is so, so much better. It just has to be.
9. Lake of Fire – Nirvana. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7oVvkNp4GdA. Despite the fact that Nirvana was and is still so popular, they actually kinda deserve it. I like them in part because it makes me feel smart and manly when I can trace a band’s major influences all by myself, which I have done for Nirvana. Two bands: Meat Puppets and Pixies. I mean, the very same dang monkey from Pixies’ “Doolittle” album cover is on the back of “Nevermind”. How much more can they spell it out? So it always seemed appropriate to me that Nirvana remade Meat Puppets’ “Lake of Fire”, because it was like them showing us where they came from and how they got to where they were at that time. I really like the original, which is on an incredibly varied double album, but I have to admit it’s one of the more difficult tracks to listen to. Nirvana (probably, to be more precise, Kurt) clearly recognized the song’s potential and it was best realized through their lens.
10. Swan Lake – Madness. http://youtube.com/watch?v=eKwOn5erl1k (live take here). Yet another track from that magical era between 1976 and 1980 when creativity abounded below the pop culture radar in so many spheres that there are few eras which can soundly compete in quantity or breadth. The beauty of this particular remake might simply be in the selection of the tune. This most familiar sweeping melody from Tchaikovsky’s ballet stands in perfect rhythmic counterpoint to the ska backbeat applied by Madness. They further accentuate this effect by cutting the sustained notes in the melody short with the substitution of an un-pedaled piano for the original violins.
11. Pictures of Matchstick Men – Camper van Beethoven. http://youtube.com/watch?v=eKwOn5erl1k. I don’t know who did the original and I don’t care (Actually, I believe it was Status Quo). CVB’s special brand of wiry, scratchy absurdist country-folk rock rarely let me down before and it keeps its promise in this tune. The sudden break in sound at the end of a cadence that is carried forward only by the upper octave violin through a simple little interlude melody always catches me. Then when the band kicks back in, it’s so heavy underneath the violin and vocals, it makes me want to cry.
12. That’s Entertainment – Morrissey. (No link again). About two years ago flipping through a pop station I landed on a cover of the Smiths’ “Girlfriend in a Coma” by some eunuch emo band. The lingering, bitter aftertaste of my reaction at that moment is one of the driving forces behind this over-long essay. You can’t remake that song! You blasted fool! Now I’m not quite a Smiths fanatic, but that song is perfect as it is, one of the few truly perfect pop songs. At exactly two minutes in length, it gets everything exactly right. Trying to remake it is like remaking the film “Psycho”. What is wrong with you?! Anyway, I like ex-Smiths Morrissey’s remake of this already terrific song by The Jam (http://youtube.com/watch?v=CcfEXeNzgdI) not because it’s musically so divergent – it follows the “turn-it-down” path – but because Morrissey rewrote many of the lyrics. His most outstanding talent of lyric-writing was half of what made the Smiths so great (Johnny Marr’s song-craft and guitar work being the other), and so he uses that talent here to subtle but valuable effect. The replacement lyrics are so similar in tone with Paul Weller’s that Morrissey succeeds in painting almost the same picture but with a slightly different hue.

That reminds me: The Jam’s version of the Batman Theme (1977) (http://youtube.com/watch?v=d1yPoW6hsy8) is also wonderful. I guess it stands to reason that great bands will, if they so choose, be in the best position to create great remakes. The lesson here is: play to your strengths. They Might Be Giants should get a runner-up prize for “Why Does the Sun Shine?” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=lwwlK7eCCsk) if only because they are the only ones who could take an insipid but somehow clever 1950s school-reel song and turn it into something transcendent. Second runner-up could be R.E.M.’s 1987 B-side version of the Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=nQiJZgsGFfU). Their aesthetic at that time gave this song what it was missing 20 years earlier, primarily not having Nico sing it. It’s just that EVERYbody covers VU songs; it’s like a right of passage for any indie band worth its salt (remember the Cowboy Junkies’ biggest radio hit? It was a turn-it-down version of “Sweet Jane”), but I do like this one. And I’m sure anyone reading this (is there?) would come up with a different dozen remakes that are all great, too. Well, happy listening! YouTube is your friend.