I know I wasn’t going to post a music blog today, but after an argument with a friend on Facebook (“friendly disagreement”) I was looking up the cover of Eleanor Rigby by Doxology. She seems to think that this version is better than the original. I disagreed on principal, then decided to see for myself.
What I found was
1. It’s not better, I was right, but also
2. Everyone and their brother has done a cover for it
Seeing as this is my favorite Beatles song, I was disturbed and intruiged, and promptly listened to many of them. My thoughts?
Doxology: Has merits, but eh. It’s a more mellow song. Leave it mellow, man.
The Fray: I actually liked this one alright, but it sounded a bit off.
Oasis: The recording I found (I was on YouTube) was a bit quiet. I think they were playing it for a sound check before a show. It was alright, I suppose…
David Cook: I hate to admit it, but his version is what got me back listening to the Beatles. Again, has merit, but it’s not mellow anymore. Meh.
Thrice: A bit too hardcore.
Pain: The singer sounds perpetually stoned. And looks it…. this version makes my head hurt.
Godhead: They even had a music video. This was really weird… I’m going to go cut myself at an emo concert now…
Ray Charles: Meh. Not very good in my opinion. He looked like he was having fun though.
Overall, please stop trying to do sucessful Beatles covers. It will never work.
However, on Pandora, I found this really great cover group who I think does pretty much all covers… New Found Glory. They did a cover for Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris, and it actually wasn’t bad. The original was much better, but still. They also did a cover of King of Wishful Thinking, by a band whose name I can not remember. So… yeah. Music Nerd Bri is going away now.