Kesher Talk

Cover story. Eve has a list of cover songs she thinks are done better than the original. Here are some covers I love (maybe not better than the originals, but excellent and fresh):

Any cover by Ellen Mcilwaine, particularly Tim Hardin's "Hang On to a Dream" and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground."

The Pretenders doing Hendrix's "Roomful of Mirrors." One of the most incredible pop songs ever.

Bruce Springteen covers: Patti Smith's "Because the Night" and Robert Gordon's "Fire."

Most of the Dylan covers on the "Bobfest" tribute concert album are pretty fine.

Speaking of tribute concerts, I got to hear two this year, both free and studded with stars - perks of living in New York. Symphony Space's annual "wall to wall" concert (a marathon of 12 hours of one artist's music, with multiple musicians) featured Joni Mitchell this year (which I listened to live on WFUV), and last week I attended a free concert in Prospect Park which was a tribute to Leonard Cohen.

The Mitchell tribute included Maggie and Suzzy Roche, the Charles Mingus Big Band (performing songs that Mitchell wrote with Mingus before his death), Laurie Anderson, Fred Hersch, Christine Lavin, David Krakauer, Don Byron, Ute Lemper, and many others. I found the most affecting covers were by artists new to me, particularly a quirky chamber ensemble called the Four Bags, reknown session bassist Gail Ann Dorsey (who made "The Wolf Who Lives in Lindsey" her own), and the elegantly soulful Luciana Souza, whose interpretation of "Amelia" almost made me cry. It was simple and didn't deviate much from the original, but she had a way of quietly nestling down inside those songs.

The Cohen tribute was part of a "salute to Canada" weekend, so most of the performers were Canadian, and included the entire McGarrigle family (Kate, Anna, Rufus, and Martha), the Handsome Family, and non-Canadians Linda Thompson and son Teddy, Laurie Anderson again, Nick Cave, and two of LC's former backup singers.

Linda Thompson, the McGarrigle sisters, and Laurie Anderson were all a bit bloodless, which is a shame because they are all artists whose careers I have followed for years. I missed half of Linda's stark reading (well, there's no other kind, really) of "Story of Isaac" because I stupidly decided to get in the food concession line when I got there instead of waiting for intermission. I prayed she would sing "Famous Blue Raincoat" - that song was made for her. Talk about stark. No, the Handsome Family did it as a bad Johnny Cash imitation. My ears - they burn! Rufus did what he does; it's original and competent but it doesn't do much for me. Nick Cave did a great sleazy lounge singer act in a brown 3-piece suit, which worked particularly well on "Diamonds in the Mine" and "I'm Your Man." But Martha Wainwright stole the show with her tart country blues slide-guitar rendition of "Tower of Song." Keep an eye on that girl.

UPDATE: Mike Silverman lists his fave covers. Anybody else?

posted by Judith @ 7/06/2003 12:21:13 AM