Now Something

A long time ago I listened to the Beatles. At the same time I realized that the first four or so albums included covers. That was my first experience with the idea of covers. Since then I've always been somewhat intrigued with the idea of covers, comparing the originals to the covers for or worse. Most of my experience though has been comparing Beatles covers and their originals and being highly disappointed. Eventually though I realized that the Beatles had done covers and that other bands did covers of non-Beatles songs. Some of my favourite songs are covers and in a few decades I'm sure somebody will be covering songs by favourite bands (though in the case of Kaiser Chiefs that's already occurred. Twice.)
A long time ago Radio Caroline ruled the rock scene in the UK. It was an illegal offshore station, but anyone who wanted to listen to rock listened to it. The official BBC radio didn't have a rock station but then in 1967 the BBC decided that it was tired of being really out of the loop (and losing all that profit) and so it launched Radio 1. Since then BBC radio has expanded to 6 channels playing a variety of classical and contemporary music as well as the news. Radio 1 though celebrated it's 40th anniversary a little over a month ago by releasing an a two disc album of covers. Because of the stations status it could ask just about anyone to participate and just about anyone whose anyone in the British rock/pop scene did. Quite literally.
Ever wonder what "Under Pressure" would sound like if Keane covered it? It sounds about the same honestly though it does make one re-realize what an amazing singer Freddy Mercury was. The "Town Called Malice" cover by McFly is amazingly faithful almost to the point of being bland, but at least all the words come through. The View's cover of the Libertines is awful and should be avoided at all costs. On the other hand listening to Girls Aloud cover "Teenage Dirty Bag" is both extremely pleasurable and extremely hilarious at the same time. The Klaxons covered "No Diggity" and I have to admit, I'm really, really impressed. "Cupid" as performed by Johnny Nash is well covered by Ms. Winehouse though that's really not so surprising. Neither is the fact that Natasha Bedingfield covering "Ray of Light" is quite good. Franz Ferdinand do a lovely version of "Sound and Vision" originally performed by David Bowie though I'll admit I've never heard the original. Finally the beginning and end of the first disc are my two favourites, tied for first place: Kaiser Chiefs performing "Flowers in the Rain" by the Move and "Don't Get Me Wrong" by the Pretenders, performed by Lily Allen. The former sounds like something t'Chiefs could have written themselves while the latter shows that Lily really can sing if there were any questions.
I love covers. That's why I bought Mark Ronson's "Version" and paid import for Radio 1's cover album. Simply put I think covers are the bee's knees.