Look out, Metallica! When the cover is better than the original

 

 

Just in case you don’t know who they are, Metallica are one of the biggest bands of all time; they are also one of the bands that defined Heavy Metal. Founded in 1982, they are still going strong, and their secret is simple: while most other metal bands were engaged in an arms race to be the loudest, darkest and most abrasive, Metallica stayed melodic and accessible.  They have also inspired a lot of covers.  Here are two of the best.

 

The Hu:  “Sad but True”

Metal is normally defined by the emphasis on electric instrumentation.  But it is more than that, it is an attitude, and no one has more attitude than The Hu.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpxA_ZxGX_M

Alessia Cara and The Warning:  “Enter Sandman”

Metallica invited a number of artists from various genres of music to contribute to the Blacklist Album: an album of covers of Metallica’s biggest songs.  This is perhaps the best one on the album, though it is so different from the original that it’s not clear it should even be called a cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tKQgesCcTc

 

 

Great Voices (10): Diana splits the world open

 

 

My previous posts on Diana Ankudinova featured some of her performances when she was 14 and 15.  If you haven’t seen them, it’s worth checking them out.  You’ll see the emergence of a unique talent:

 

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/12/great-voices-9-shaman-diana-ankudinova.html

 

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-mysterious-case-of-diana-ankudinova.html

 

 

This post contains only one clip.  It features Diana, now 18, performing “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, originally made famous by Elvis Presley, for an audience of professional singers.  This is one of those covers that is so different that it’s not really a cover.  The performance itself is less than three minutes long, but I have a lot to say about it.  Of course, if you prefer, feel free to skip to the link.

 

Arrangement: Diana transposed this into a minor key, and stripped out most of the lyrics, turning an innocent love song into something much darker.  A simple but ominous piano intro sets the tone.  The song goes through four distinct stages, each turning up the emotional intensity.  She keeps repeating one line, giving it an obsessive quality.

 

Vocal:  Diana starts in the high baritone register, with the hollow resonance that is her signature sound.  Then she jumps an octave, up into her head voice.  She pushes a lot of extra air without increasing the volume, giving this passage a rushing sound, like wind in the trees.  Then she swoops up into her soprano register, and turns up the intensity.  Even this high, her tone retains the thickness of her lower range, which is extremely unusual.  Finally, she drops back into a full belt in the tenor register, and pours on the power.  Her ending high note made me wonder if the world was splitting open.

 

Staging: They start with Diana alone in a spotlight on a dark stage, and then build an abstract light show around her, finally framing her in something that looks like a closeup of the sun.  The use of the fan adds a touch of madness to her intense expression.  It is a simple, minimalist approach to staging in a world of chronic overproduction, and it is all designed to make the most of her natural stagecraft.

 

Ok, all of this is just by way of trying to convey a sense of how this performance came about.  There is, of course, nothing like seeing it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w06R8iI0dg0

 

 

When the cover is better than the original (4): Hendrix does Dylan, EJ does Hendrix

 

This is my fourth post on covers that are at least worthy of the originals, if not better.  I want to thank a few of you including Jonathan M, Russell S, Arun H., Daniel G, Chris B., Ed W., and Alan Y. for contributing to this topic.  If you disagree with these choices, blame me, because I'm only posting suggestions I agree with!  If you remember suggesting something and I left you out, please message me or leave a comment.

 

I can think of three kinds of covers: First, when the performer is trying to sound as much as possible like the original.  This is what bands that play at weddings do, if they’re good.  Second, when the performer is faithful to the original, but tries to make it their own.  Almost everything Elvis did falls into this category.  Third, when the performer takes the original idea and makes something completely new.

 

Jimi Hendrix:  “All Along the Watchtower” (Bob Dylan)

One of those which is more than a cover.  Hendrix just warped it into something completely new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY

 

 

Eric Johnson:  “Are you Experienced?” (Jimi Hendrix)

This is more a tribute than a remake.  But it’s a tribute that, in my opinion, surpasses the original.  EJ is one of the few guitarists technical enough to pull this off.  What I love most, however, is his unique, fat, ringing tone.  No one else sounds like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77PuXrU6H2Y

Rock (6): Back to the Golden Age

 

 

Between 1965 and 1975, it’s as though western popular music didn't just change, but it vanished altogether and was replaced by something entirely different.  It happened in soul and blues, but I think the most radical changes were in rock and roll.  Music snobs who had rejected rock as musically primitive were forced to reconsider, in the face of increasingly sophisticated compositions and rising standards of virtuosity.

 

 

It's a Beautiful Day:  “White Bird” (1969)

They were never as big as Jefferson Airplane or the Doors, but they were a core part of the San Francisco sound. This song is a hallmark of the Haight-Ashbury era.  Founder David LaFlamme is a classical violinist who soloed with major orchestras before starting the band. They pioneered folk/rock fusion and use of the violin as a rock instrument.  Original vocalist Patty Santos died in a car crash in 1989 but the band  are still performing today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q918fs4RAto

 

 

Mountain:  “Nantucket Sleighride” (1971)

Mountain were the American answer to Cream. The two bands were rooted in blues, and had direct ties: Felix Pappalardi recorded studio tracks and did production for both bands; Jack Bruce of Cream and Leslie West and Corky Laing of Mountain formed a band together after those bands split up.  Mountain’s songs tended to be romantic and nostalgic, while Cream leaned heavily into psychedelia, but both bands were central to the emergence of virtuoso rock and, eventually, heavy metal.  This deceptively dreamy song is about a young crewman on a whaling ship, who was sacrificed by his crewmates after their ship was rammed and sunk by their quarry.  It's based on a real incident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPlxsQn5xBI

 

 

The mysterious case of Diana Ankudinova

Diana Ankudinova is often compared with Dimash Kudaibergen, the reigning king of Olympian vocals.  (I have previously posted one of his performances.)  They are both otherworldly talents, capable of mind-blowing vocal gymnastics, but the similarity stops there.  Dimash is more polished technically (he’s also nearly a decade older).  However, Diana channels something far more strange and elemental.

 

In case you didn’t see it, here’s my first post on Diana, featuring her breakout performances, when she was 14.

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/12/great-voices-9-shaman-diana-ankudinova.html

 

 

Here is Diana’s performance of “Blizzard” from her second season on “Ты супер”.  She is 15 here, and her depth, range and resonance have all developed significantly since the first season. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_4lFqKM3GA

 

 

Here she performs “Human”, in the finals of the second season on “Ты супер”.  An ironic choice of song, given that some have suggested she can't be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KgD
666fRtY

 

 

More Diana to come.

The Warning

 

This Mexican trio first made a splash posting youtube covers recorded in their parents’ basement.  Since then, they have released two albums, opened for Def Leppard, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper, done their own U.S. tour, and are finally headed out on their second tour, which had been postponed because of the plague.  We’ve gotten to watch them evolve from kids (the youngest was 9 when they first went viral) into a top-tier rock band.  

 

 

“Enter Sandman”—Metallica cover

This was the one that broke them to the world in 2013.  Last year, they were invited to re-imagine it for the 30^th anniversary Metallica tribute album “Blacklist”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1boUYB9LFJY

 

 

“Choke”  (original)

This is what seven years will do for you when you are in your prime growth years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlOy0XbFVlM

 

 

If you are interested in seeing them live, here is the link to their tour calendar:

https://www.thewarningband.com/tour

Best wishes for the New Year: A song about the power of music

 

As we teeter on the edge of destroying our world and ourselves, it sometimes feels (to me at least) that music might be one of the secrets to saving it all.  Why not?  From the Arctic Circle to the forests of Africa, there are tribes that believe the universe was sung into existence. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwz7-h9LCDU