Yep, sure, is bound to be subjective.
the Man or Astro-man? version of this song is great to my ear too ;)

Pity! I love Suffragette City by Bowie but i couldn´t hear at the cover since is blocked in the country i´m now (or maybe in whole Europe?) 


Audio Gasoline said:

Contemporarily speaking, there's some great covers out there, but harder for me to make the judgement that they're better than the original. Some great versions though, to my ear, include:

Zeke "Midnight Nambla" (Turbonegro)

Nashville Pussy "First I Look At The Purse" (Contours, Smoky Robinson) - ok, this one goes back to the 60s

The Dictators "Search & Destroy" (Stooges)

The Candy Snatchers "Suffragette City" (Bowie)

Supersuckers "400 Bucks" (Rev. Horton Heat)

Man Or Astro-Man? "Dueces Wild" (Link Wray)

Tersicore said:

i´d be more curious about comparing songs which were both, original and cover, quasi contemporary, or from not so extremely different musical genre. 

What do you think?

Ciccone Youth , Chicago Style (Tomatoes , peppers , celery salt , day - glo relish , white onions, mustard. Fuck the no ketchup statute.) ??  This sounds surprisingly inoffensive , but , it is'nt annoying , like a Wax Trax cut. Beats Hell out of the original record . So would a sledge hammer.
 
kopper said:

Killdozer's cover of Janet Jackson's "Nasty" is better than the original.

You're right , Pete Seeger adapted the song from the Book of Ecclesiastes before Dylan did it. I forgot.
 
Audio Gasoline said:

I remember reading somewhere that the only cover of his that Dylan liked (of all the covers of his songs) was Jimi's version of "All Along The Watchtower". John, I have to mention one small factoid in your Dylan post: "Turn, Turn, Turn" was a Pete Seeger song (the words were from the Bible, but he wrote the music and did the main arrangement). Dylan in his early years did some bitchin' covers in his own right, especially of traditional blues and gospel standards. Half of his first album were cover songs. (Disclaimer: I'm a fan of "Classic Dylan", and lose interest somewhere around "Blonde On Blonde".... except for "Desire", that album rules.)

Tersicore said:

ha ha, somehow i got the feeling that is not really hard to make a good cover of a Dylan song, sorry! ;D

Killdozer's cover of Janet Jackson's "Nasty" is better than the original.

Contemporarily speaking, there's some great covers out there, but harder for me to make the judgement that they're better than the original. Some great versions though, to my ear, include:

Zeke "Midnight Nambla" (Turbonegro)

Nashville Pussy "First I Look At The Purse" (Contours, Smoky Robinson) - ok, this one goes back to the 60s

The Dictators "Search & Destroy" (Stooges)

The Candy Snatchers "Suffragette City" (Bowie)

Supersuckers "400 Bucks" (Rev. Horton Heat)

Man Or Astro-Man? "Dueces Wild" (Link Wray)

Tersicore said:

i´d be more curious about comparing songs which were both, original and cover, quasi contemporary, or from not so extremely different musical genre. 

What do you think?

I remember reading somewhere that the only cover of his that Dylan liked (of all the covers of his songs) was Jimi's version of "All Along The Watchtower". John, I have to mention one small factoid in your Dylan post: "Turn, Turn, Turn" was a Pete Seeger song (the words were from the Bible, but he wrote the music and did the main arrangement). Dylan in his early years did some bitchin' covers in his own right, especially of traditional blues and gospel standards. Half of his first album were cover songs. (Disclaimer: I'm a fan of "Classic Dylan", and lose interest somewhere around "Blonde On Blonde".... except for "Desire", that album rules.)

Tersicore said:

ha ha, somehow i got the feeling that is not really hard to make a good cover of a Dylan song, sorry! ;D

Thanx!
but wow, the original sounds cool too!

dave said:

The Hugger Muggers - Come On Up [1967 Freak Beat / Heavy Psych Norway]

Tersicore said:

ok, i know both versions of the "pills" song,
but who did the original "come on up"?
both links, by way for comparison would be great!

dave said:

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

The Hugger Muggers - Come On Up [1967 Freak Beat / Heavy Psych Norway]

Tersicore said:

ok, i know both versions of the "pills" song,
but who did the original "come on up"?
both links, by way for comparison would be great!

dave said:

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

ha ha, somehow i got the feeling that is not really hard to make a good cover of a Dylan song, sorry! ;D

John Battles said:

There's so many....Jerry Lee Lewis made , pretty much , any song his own.

 

There's so many Dylan covers that , I believe, were better than the originals....

Pretty much any by The Byrds - My Back Pages , Mr. Tambourine , Turn , Turn ,Turn , etc.

Elvis did a total of two Dylan songs. "Don't Think Twice , It's All Right " was just a studio jam that went on for 10 minutes , but really drove the point home......a putdown to the one who put him down. Saying "iT AIN'T NO BIG THING" WHEN IT IS.

it Ain't Me , Babe - Johnny Cash and even The Turtles.

It's aLL over Now , Baby Blue. - Them , Chocolate Watchband , 13TH Floor Elevators.

Isley Bros. - Lay , Lady Lay "Now some people say this cat knows a lot about a lot of things . Me , I like anything that's goy LAY in it !" (Ronnie Isley) 

Yardbirds - Most Likely You'll Go Your Way .

Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm.

OK , to be fair , I heard Dylan doing "It Takes a Lot To Laugh , It Takes a Train To Cry" , recently. It beats Hell out of Blue Cheer's version.

Well, since most of us grown up with R´n´R, Rock, Punk and so on, i guess is not too difficult to find more appealing versions of some old Jazz, Folk or old R´n´B songs. 
We may have heard in most cases the cover earlier than the original one,  
or maybe never heard the original at all. 

Personally i´d be more curious about comparing songs which were both, original and cover, quasi contemporary, or from not so extremely different musical genre.
What do you think?

BUT: I´ll spend a beer to anyone who comes with a better version of the original "Smokestack Lightning" by Howling´Wolf! ;)

ok, i know both versions of the "pills" song,
but who did the original "come on up"?
both links, by way for comparison would be great!

dave said:

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

Both Manic Hispanic and El Vez do an outstanding job of making song parody work AND rock , with Latino themes that won't alienate us chingadoros blancos. Of course , Robert Lopez was/is in The Zeros ...
 
Audio Gasoline said:

More of a re-make than a cover, but I think it's awesome:

I WOULD NEVER TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM FRED AND TOODY COLE , THEY'VE BEEN FRIENDS OF MINE FOR MANY YEARS. DICKIE PETERSON AND I WERE FRIENDS , TOO , THO' NOT AS CLOSE. I'VE ALWAYS LOVED BOTH VERSIONS , BUT , YOU KNOW , SOME PEOPLE LIKE BLUE CHEER'S VERSION AND NOT DEAD MOON'S . GO FIGURE.
 
Audio Gasoline said:

I suppose Blue Cheer's version deserves mentioning, but personally it never did anything for me: it always seemed kind of fractured and unfinished. Acid rock can be better when it's actually played while on acid, but it really should be mixed and mastered while sober :) Besides, I'm from Portland, so I got to stand up for one of our local legends.

John Battles said:

Of course , there's Blue Cheer's better - known version , and partly the inspiration for Dead Moon's "Rock like fuck " version.....Johnny Winter and John Mayall did all right versions , too.

More of a re-make than a cover, but I think it's awesome:

I suppose Blue Cheer's version deserves mentioning, but personally it never did anything for me: it always seemed kind of fractured and unfinished. Acid rock can be better when it's actually played while on acid, but it really should be mixed and mastered while sober :) Besides, I'm from Portland, so I got to stand up for one of our local legends.

John Battles said:

Of course , there's Blue Cheer's better - known version , and partly the inspiration for Dead Moon's "Rock like fuck " version.....Johnny Winter and John Mayall did all right versions , too.

There's so many....Jerry Lee Lewis made , pretty much , any song his own.

There's so many Dylan covers that , I believe, were better than the originals....

Pretty much any by The Byrds - My Back Pages , Mr. Tambourine , Turn , Turn ,Turn , etc.

Elvis did a total of two Dylan songs. "Don't Think Twice , It's All Right " was just a studio jam that went on for 10 minutes , but really drove the point home......a putdown to the one who put him down. Saying "iT AIN'T NO BIG THING" WHEN IT IS.

it Ain't Me , Babe - Johnny Cash and even The Turtles.

It's aLL over Now , Baby Blue. - Them , Chocolate Watchband , 13TH Floor Elevators.

Isley Bros. - Lay , Lady Lay "Now some people say this cat knows a lot about a lot of things . Me , I like anything that's goy LAY in it !" (Ronnie Isley) 

Yardbirds - Most Likely You'll Go Your Way .

Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm.

OK , to be fair , I heard Dylan doing "It Takes a Lot To Laugh , It Takes a Train To Cry" , recently. It beats Hell out of Blue Cheer's version.

Well , most people have never heard Bo's original. It seldom turns up on retrospective albums (It IS on his box set.). THE DOLLS ' VERSION IS MORE OVER THE TOP. I DON'T KNOW THAT IT'S BETTER , IN MY OPINION, but , it is the definitive version , the one everyone covers.
 
dave said:

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

Of course , there's Blue Cheer's better - known version , and partly the inspiration for Dead Moon's "Rock like fuck " version.....Johnny Winter and John Mayall did all right versions , too.
 
Audio Gasoline said:

Dead Moon's cover of "Parchman Farm" knocks it out of the park, especially in contrast to Mose Allison's well-known jazzified piano blues original.

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

Dead Moon's cover of "Parchman Farm" knocks it out of the park, especially in contrast to Mose Allison's well-known jazzified piano blues original.