21 April 2015 - Body Count - Institutionalized

It's not a faithful cover, lyrically.   But Ice-T does a great job capturing the spirit of Suicidal Tendencies, translating it into adulthood.   It might even be JUST A LITTLE ANGRIER than the original......

30 March 2015 - Tyler Ward & Lindsey Stirling - Thrift Shop

I admit it.

I've been looking for an excuse to post the very talented violinist Lindsey Stirling for weeks.  I really had no reason to include Tyler Ward, who does hold up the swagger of Macklemore very well.... I mean, he's really talented, and does have his own album out.

....but I'm all about the hip hop violin here.  That's what steals the show.  And I chose this song because it's not a song where you would expect violin to work well....... and yet it does.

25 March 2015 - Lennon and Maisy - Boom Clap

As many of you are aware (if you read my other blog), I am a little bit of a Charli XCX fan.  But not everything she does is gold, even if I write a post about it.

So, when I stumble upon a cover that makes me like the original more, I am going to pay attention.  The best parts of Nashville, the Stella sisters have taken an EDM-heavy song and made it into a beautiful masterpiece of harmony.  They've done it before.   I'm glad they still do.

And, to answer your question, Charli sent them heart-shaped suckers, so I think she's a fan.

16 February 2015 - Eve's Plum - If I Can't Have You

Did you know this song was written by the Bee Gees?  Made famous in the 70's by Yvonne Elliman, but she didn't write it either.

I always liked Eve's Plum's version. As far as I can tell, it's the last thing they did together before the current VP of Music at Nickelodeon, Colleen Fitzpatrick, left to be a pop star as Vitamin C. 

(That whole VP thing is true, by the way)

9 February 2015 - Five Seconds of Summer - What I Like About You

I have to admit, I was a little surprised by this cover.  I didn't expect these guys to understand 80's music so well.  Were any of them born in the 80s? 

And yet this cover is spot-on.  Far more energy than the Romantics original..... and, in a bit of an ironic twist, a bigger US hit. 

5 February 2015 - The Vaccines - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

I never intended this comeback for this blog to be Taylor Swift city.

And yet here we are.  Two days in a row.

However, this pop-rock cover is more homage than reworking.  Why mess with perfection, they seem to be saying.

4 February 2014 - Jessie J - I Knew You Were Trouble

The original version of this song was following me around a little bit last week.

Jessie J takes Taylor Swift's foray into EDM and turns it into a torch song.  Should any of us be surprised that she did an absolutely sublime job at covering this?  And yet it's completely surprising.