Best of Cover Wars: I Put a Spell on You
DaveO
October 31, 2012
6 Comments
Who does the best cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put A Spell On You?
Cover Wars
CW: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
DaveO
December 20, 2011
8 Comments
Who does the best version of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)?
Cover Wars March Madness: Championship
DaveO
April 4, 2011
4 Comments
It seems like only yesterday that we started with the play-in game and had our 32 covers set up to compete. Today we’re down to our final showdown featuring Perpetual Groove’s cover of Live and Let Die squaring off against My Morning Jacket’s performance of It Makes No Difference.
The Final Matchup
Perpetual Groove – Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney) – A Play-In Selection
Perpetual Groove performing Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney from 10-30-2010
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/pgroovemadness.mp3]
VS.
My Morning Jacket – It Makes No Difference (The Band)
My Morning Jacket had the pleasure of recording It Makes No Difference for the 2007 compilation Endless Highway: The Music Of The Band at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, NY. In 2006, prior to the release of Endless Highway, My Morning Jacket frequently covered the song in concert including their Bonnaroo festival set as well as in opening slots for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder frequently came out to trade verses with MMJ lead vocalist Jim James.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/diffmmj.mp3]
Eddie Vedder with MMJ:
READ ON for the final vote!
Cover Wars March Madness: Sweet 16
DaveO
March 23, 2011
1 Comment
Cover Wars March Madness rolls on. We’ve had our play-in round and our first full round of 32 covers and we’re left with our Sweet 16. We are in our third year of this tournament and we have just now done the obvious, we have generated an actual bracket so you can visualize how this is all going to go down. Have a look and be sure to vote in all eight matchups.
Matchup #1
Phish debuted this cover at Alpine Valley in the Summer of 1998. As most Phish fans know, there has been one other performance ever and it was the following week at Vernon Downs where the band paired Ramble On with their own Slave To The Traffic Light to close the first set. There are some killer Ramble On Teases in the Slave jam. Source: 8-1-1998
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/phramble.mp3]
UPDATE: The text in all the descriptions for Cover Wars March Madness are taken from the original editions which at times – are out of date. As one of our readers pointed out in the previous round – Phish has since performed one more partial performance of Ramble On, and yes – it was pretty terrible.
VS.
Wilco recorded this cover for the 2006 Big Star covers record Big Star Small World. Though never played live by Wilco, the song has made at least 11 appearances at Jeff Tweedy solo shows.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/wilco13.mp3]
READ ON to vote on the remaining seven matchups in the Sweet 16.
Cover Wars March Madness: Round 1, Pt. 1
DaveO
March 15, 2011
6 Comments
Last week, we kicked off the beginning of Cover Wars March Madness by announcing our first ever “play-in” game. We took ten covers that had not previously participated in a Cover Wars and let the readers select up to three for automatic entry into this year’s tournament.
The winners of the play-in round are:
1) Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney) as performed by Perpetual Groove
2) Across 110th Street (Bobby Womack) as performed by My Morning Jacket
3) FM (Steely Dan) as performed by 2D (Gorillaz) featuring Nathain Haines
The other 29 entries already gained entry into the tournament the conventional way – by winning a Cover Wars in the past year. Now that we’ve got our 32 covers selected, let’s take a look at the matchups…
Matchup #1 (Bob Dylan Covers):
The Black Crowes – Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
In addition to performing the song live, The Black Crowes also contributed a studio take to this 1995 disc for NORML that also includes Gov’t Mule performing Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam, and Widespread Panic’s studio take of And It Stoned Me, amongst other tracks. Source: Hempilation: Freedom is NORML
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/rainydaycrowes.mp3]
VS.
The Black Keys – Wicked Messenger
There are some real gems from the 2007 I’m Not There soundtrack and this is one of them. Previously on Cover Wars, Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers contributed a cover from the same release for Ballad Of A Thin Man. Source: I’m Not There (Music From The Motion Picture)
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bkmessenger.mp3]
READ ON to vote in the remaining seven matchups for the the first half of Cover Wars March Madness Round 1…
Cover Wars: “Trey Week” Edition
DaveO
February 15, 2011
14 Comments
If you’re familiar with Cover Wars, a Tuesday staple here at Hidden Track, you know we take a song covered by at least a few artists, embed audio and video of different artists covering the song – and have our readers vote on the best version. Since it’s Trey Week, we are putting a different spin on it. For this edition of Cover Wars, we have a compiled a collection of ten different TAB covers. Since there have been so many different lineups of this band, we have kept it to just covers that have been played by the rhythm section of Tony Markellis & Russ Lawton and the horns.
And since we’re mixing things up so much, we’re going to allow you to select the three that are your favorites, and not just one.
The Covers:
C’mon Baby Let’s Go Downtown (Crazy Horse) Last Played: 10/23/2008
This Crazy Horse cover was debuted on the Trey ’99 tour and one of the few covers to get plays by both Phish and Trey’s solo bands. Missing in action for over six years, it reappeared on Classic TAB tour to open the 10/21/2008 show in Providence, RI.
Audio: 6-11-2002
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/treydowntown.mp3]
READ ON for nine more TAB covers and to vote for your favorite three…
Cover Wars: All My Friends
DaveO
February 8, 2011
4 Comments
With the announcement coming this past weekend that LCD Soundsystem would be playing their final show on April 2nd at Madison Square Garden, it seemed appropriate that we select one of their tunes for Cover Wars. All My Friends was released as a single for LCD’s 2007 album Sound of Silver. As you’ll see below, that single included two covers of All My Friends.
The Contestants:
Franz Ferdinand is the first of two artists this week who recorded a cover of All My Friends specifically to be released as a B-Side to the single.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/franzfriends.mp3]Franz Ferdinand has played it live on a number of occasions:
READ ON for four more covers of All My Friends…
Cover Wars: Hey Jude
DaveO
January 25, 2011
3 Comments
Hey Jude was the B-Side to the 1968 single Revolution by The Beatles. This single was the Beatles first release on the Apple label. Originally titled Hey Jules, the song was written by Paul McCartney in reference to John Lennon’s son Julian. One of my favorite online Beatles resources is Alan W. Pollack’s site, click here to read all the musical (and other) information you would ever want to know about Hey Jude.
The Contestants:
Leading off this week we’ve got The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival courtesy of a great recording from That Tent at Bonnaroo. Source: 6-15-2008
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/derekjude.mp3]Video from the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise January 2009:
READ ON for more nine more covers of Hey Jude…
Cover Wars: Helplessly Hoping
DaveO
January 18, 2011
3 Comments
“Why don’t you do more Cover Wars that feature vocal harmonies?” I was asked last week. A great question, and obviously the motivation for this week’s selection. Helplessly Hoping is a track from the 1969 self-titled debut album from Crosby, Stills & Nash. The song makes heavy use of alliteration, a device that Stephen Stills – who wrote the song – humorously points out at the trio’s performance at Woodstock (which was the band’s only second live performance). After Graham Nash says it’s one of “one of the best ever written”, Stills quickly says into the microphone, “Helplessly Hoping Her Helicopter Hovers Nearby”.
The Contestants:
Leading off this week we’ve got the Cover Wars debut of Acoustic Syndicate, a band from North Carolina known for their strong harmonies. Source: 12-28-2002
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/acoustichelpless.mp3]READ ON for more covers of Helplessly Hoping…
Cover Wars: Skin It Back Edition
DaveO
November 16, 2010
13 Comments
[Originally Published: June 24, 2009]
Following up on last week’s Willin’ Cover Wars, which the Black Crowes won by a small margin over Uncle Tupelo, we’re re-running an old Cover Wars on another Little Feat classic – Skin It Back…
Skin It Back is a track off the 1974 Little Feat album Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. It also has the distinction of being the first Little Feat song where the songwriting credits are solely that of guitarist Paul Barrère.
This is the second Little Feat song selected for CW. Longtime readers might remember that Mule was the winner of the Spanish Moon Cover Wars. [Ed. note – We’ve tackled Willin’ since this was originally posted]
Let’s get down to business and look at this week competitors…
The Bridge: Leading off this week is the only band that also appeared in the Spanish Moon Cover Wars and there is some excellent guitar work in this one. Source: 8-17-2005
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/skinbridge.mp3]
READ ON for the lowdown on the rest of this week’s contestants…
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