Covers of songs you like by artists you like are always a tough nut to crack.
I was talking to my girlfriend about a band she loves, and the band has done Kickstarter campaigns to fund their albums, and one of the (pricey) donations allows you to pick a song for the band to cover. I guess you can pick any song (or, rather, I think you have to give them a list of three and they pick from those three).
Anyway, it's out of the price range (I think it was like $1500 or something), but I asked her what song she would pick. And we kinda both came to the conclusion that it's impossible to top the versions of songs we like, and we were joking we would pay the $1,500 if the band would just write another new song of their own instead!
Not to be a stick in the mud, though. Some cover versions are great, and I think we all have songs from one artist we love that we'd be curious to hear interpreted by another artist we love.
I think most of Brian's previous covers (from his solo career anyway) have been generally good but not revelatory. Ironically, the live arrangement he did during his first shows in 1999 of "This Could be The Night" would probably be one of the few times I might like Brian's version more than other versions.
I think most indications are that Brian does good but relatively faithful covers of Beatles or McCartney songs. "Wanderlust" was just fine, but nothing earth-shattering.
I like the idea of Brian covering bands or artists that aren't obvious, that he rarely discusses or that we wouldn't immediately think of. I think Brian doing an ELO track could be amazing. Jeff Lynne, while usually going on and on about The Beatles, Del Shannon, and Roy Orbison, I think was very much influenced by the Beach Boys and Brian (allegedly, Lynne bugged folks while working with Brian on the '88 album to get a listen to some "Smile" stuff!), and I'd love to hear Brian take on some of the lush, layered vocals Lynne did on a lot of his ELO stuff.
Because I'm not a big fan of Brian's modern-day attempts to do a "wall of sound", reverb-laden production, I'd probably steer clear of that sort of stuff for him to cover.
Stripped-down musical arrangements with lush vocals would be ideal. So I like the Everly Brothers idea.
I've never been very into Brian's version(s) of "Proud Mary", so normally I'd say I could easily lose that one. On the other hand, he's been talking about it so long, it would be kind of anti-climactic if he *didn't* include it!
I'd love to hear Brian attempt some Emitt Rhodes, maybe "With My Face on the Floor" or "Promises I've Made" or most anything off the self-titled Rhodes album.
Random Lennon idea: The relatively obscure "Out the Blue" from Lennon's "Mind Games" album.
Gerry Rafferty did a very nice version of "Out the Blue" some years back.I was talking to my girlfriend about a band she loves, and the band has done Kickstarter campaigns to fund their albums, and one of the (pricey) donations allows you to pick a song for the band to cover. I guess you can pick any song (or, rather, I think you have to give them a list of three and they pick from those three).
Anyway, it's out of the price range (I think it was like $1500 or something), but I asked her what song she would pick. And we kinda both came to the conclusion that it's impossible to top the versions of songs we like, and we were joking we would pay the $1,500 if the band would just write another new song of their own instead!
Not to be a stick in the mud, though. Some cover versions are great, and I think we all have songs from one artist we love that we'd be curious to hear interpreted by another artist we love.
I think most of Brian's previous covers (from his solo career anyway) have been generally good but not revelatory. Ironically, the live arrangement he did during his first shows in 1999 of "This Could be The Night" would probably be one of the few times I might like Brian's version more than other versions.
I think most indications are that Brian does good but relatively faithful covers of Beatles or McCartney songs. "Wanderlust" was just fine, but nothing earth-shattering.
I like the idea of Brian covering bands or artists that aren't obvious, that he rarely discusses or that we wouldn't immediately think of. I think Brian doing an ELO track could be amazing. Jeff Lynne, while usually going on and on about The Beatles, Del Shannon, and Roy Orbison, I think was very much influenced by the Beach Boys and Brian (allegedly, Lynne bugged folks while working with Brian on the '88 album to get a listen to some "Smile" stuff!), and I'd love to hear Brian take on some of the lush, layered vocals Lynne did on a lot of his ELO stuff.
Because I'm not a big fan of Brian's modern-day attempts to do a "wall of sound", reverb-laden production, I'd probably steer clear of that sort of stuff for him to cover.
Stripped-down musical arrangements with lush vocals would be ideal. So I like the Everly Brothers idea.
I've never been very into Brian's version(s) of "Proud Mary", so normally I'd say I could easily lose that one. On the other hand, he's been talking about it so long, it would be kind of anti-climactic if he *didn't* include it!
I'd love to hear Brian attempt some Emitt Rhodes, maybe "With My Face on the Floor" or "Promises I've Made" or most anything off the self-titled Rhodes album.
Random Lennon idea: The relatively obscure "Out the Blue" from Lennon's "Mind Games" album.
I can easily imagine Carl singing a few Emitt Rhodes tunes; not sure if they would work for Brian. Definitely need an Everlys tune on this album - Brian and Al in harmony.