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Post by Chippa on Aug 4, 2019 19:15:06 GMT
Soooooo...Escape(The Pina Colada Song) gains a controversial win and will move on.
Up to round seven, where we see the mega-hit Africa do battle with the sunny Summer Breeze. Just for fun, and to show that we're voting for the song and not the artist, I'm posting covers of both songs in this round. Remember to vote in the poll or your vote won't count.
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Post by eloneen on Aug 4, 2019 19:58:07 GMT
Summer Breeze gets my vote.
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Post by BSJ on Aug 4, 2019 20:38:05 GMT
Africa! The urgency in the songs chorus. And a wonderful funky beat.
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Post by BIuebird on Aug 4, 2019 21:21:28 GMT
I had to go with Africa, always liked that one.
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Post by unomusette on Aug 4, 2019 21:38:35 GMT
If its summer it has to be Summer Breeze, it's so evocative of long sunny days
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Post by BSJ on Aug 4, 2019 21:43:10 GMT
But, it's almost always summer in Africa! (Unless you're staying over night on the Sahara)
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Post by nobodyschild on Aug 4, 2019 22:17:14 GMT
I think that a lot of times the song is unavoidably tied to the artist though...take for example, Mr Blue Sky. I absolutely love that song, but I haven’t liked any cover I’ve ever heard of it. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that when you’re comparing songs, you do have to take the artist into account, since different artists can have very different takes on songs (ELO’s version of Great Balls of Fire vs the Jerry Lee Lewis original) and you can just prefer a certain artist’s typical style (and therefore, usually, their songs) better than another’s. Might just be misinterpretation but I always figured that when people commented they were voting for whichever artist it was because they were either just referring to the song by the artist or because they liked that artists style and therefore that song better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Post by Helmut83 on Aug 4, 2019 22:19:26 GMT
Good point, nobodyschild . But I still don't like Mr Blue Sky (and I'm a Jeff Lynne fan).
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Post by Helmut83 on Aug 4, 2019 22:25:59 GMT
I love Weezer, but that's not the reason I'm voting for "Africa" (in fact I think it doesn't suit their style at all). Be it by them or TOTO, I like it just a little bit better than "Summer Breeze".
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Post by eloneen on Aug 4, 2019 22:31:21 GMT
I understand what you're saying nobodyschild, but I know that I can be especially unforgiving when a favorite artist disappoints me with a particular song or album, when I'm convinced that they can do so much better!
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Post by Chippa on Aug 4, 2019 22:47:17 GMT
I think that a lot of times the song is unavoidably tied to the artist though...take for example, Mr Blue Sky. I absolutely love that song, but I haven’t liked any cover I’ve ever heard of it. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that when you’re comparing songs, you do have to take the artist into account, since different artists can have very different takes on songs (ELO’s version of Great Balls of Fire vs the Jerry Lee Lewis original) and you can just prefer a certain artist’s typical style (and therefore, usually, their songs) better than another’s. Might just be misinterpretation but I always figured that when people commented they were voting for whichever artist it was because they were either just referring to the song by the artist or because they liked that artists style and therefore that song better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I totally respect that view, and actually agree somewhat. I just felt for this round I'd do something different. I could probably think of ten cover versions that are better(IMO) than the originals, though. Not saying either of these are, but that's the case when it comes to a lot of songs.
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Post by nobodyschild on Aug 5, 2019 0:21:33 GMT
It’s cool to shake things up a bit. I typically dislike covers but there are some covers, mostly songs ELO or The Beatles have covered, that I prefer to the originals. As most people probably know, I’m very picky with my old music, songs from the 1950s era that I used to hear all the time as a kid, I really only like whichever version I grew up with, whether that version is the original or not. Like Fly Me to the Moon, even if covered by a very skilled and respected artist that I like their other songs, can only be Frank Sinatra. Volare? Gotta be Dean Martin. The only exception to this is Beyond the Sea—for years I couldn’t really listen to any other version except Bobby Darin, which was the version I grew up with, so even Frank Sinatra doesn’t cut it on that one for me—but Jeff Lynne’s cover of that is simply amazing and on the level of Darin’s, so I love them both. But anyways I got off-topic... My vote is for the Africa cover. I prefer the original Summer Breeze to the original Africa, and the original Africa to its cover, but the Summer Breeze cover just doesn’t evoke the same feel that the original does.
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Post by Helmut83 on Aug 5, 2019 7:12:42 GMT
In my opinion, most of Bob Dylan's songs sound better when covered by someone else than in their original version by Bob (or intepreted by him, because some of his songs don't seem to have an official original version).
It's an exception to the rule though. For me the author, even when he's not a brilliant interpreter, has that something else, a way of understanding and feeling the song that no one else has because he has conceived it, and in it's conception he has envisioned it as a whole: it's details, the way it should sound, and what feelings pushed him to write it and should be conveyed in the song. So even when he's not the best interpreter possible he will often make better versions than artists who cover it.
As an example: the most well known version of "Me and Bobby McGee" must be the one by Janis Joplin. Now, I think we can all agree that, in relative terms, she's a much better singer than Kris Kristofferson. However, a couple of years ago I hear for the first time a version by Kristofferson, the author of the song, and I liked his version better. Even when he wasn't such a good singer as Joplin (or as Waylon Jennings or Joan Baez), you could tell that he felt the song in a deeper way than any other, that he understood why every note was that note and not another one, why their length, why the pace of the song, and as a whole he understood the whole feeling where it came from and the way to convey it better than any other.
Hope the whole idea makes sense, even if not shared.
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Post by 88keys on Aug 5, 2019 15:39:06 GMT
I was gong to say Africa,but that version of Summer Breeze is amazinnnnngg!
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Post by queenofthehours on Aug 5, 2019 18:06:24 GMT
'Africa' but not that version. I'm not so keen on 'Summer Breeze' because you hear it on many tv ads.
The thing I don't like about cover versions is when the cover sounds exactly the same as the original. This is either because the cover band have no original sound themselves so can't do their OWN version or because they seem to think you aren't allowed to alter the original song.
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