Covers

So a controversial topic – covers. I really quite like Adele at the moment (a bit daggy to admit, I know, but ‘Rollin in the Deep’ is amazing) so saw that she did a cover of ‘Black and Gold’ by Sam Sparrow. I didn’t mind this song, so downloaded it, and was blown away. She has a great voice, the guitarist that is accompanying her is very good, it just works.

With this ringing in my ear, I saw on hype that one of the most popular downloads at the moment was in fact Kate Perry doing a version of Black and Gold as well. I thought, interesting comparison to play them back to back. I also decided to download the original version as well, just to listen to them all in sequence and have a Black and Gold overdose.

Well as you can guess, my favourite remained Adele. Kate Perry’s voice is very good and she really let’s go on this version, but it’s a bit too whinny and I didn’t really enjoy it as much. Sam is a little too understated in contrast, with obviously a lot more production than the other two, so I maintained my conviction towards Adele.

So I hate myself. Why? Well I always think that covers aren’t really as good as the original. Indeed, I often feel cheated by covers if I’ve not heard the original – I always like to get back to the base. That being said, there some amazing covers going around (like ‘What Goes On’ by Sufjan, or ‘All along the Watchtower’ by Jimmy), but I always like think the original has to be the best as it has created the interest for people to make their own interpretations of the song. Some people produce amazing interpretations of the song, but it is off a great base, so the original has to be the best. This argument is obviously flawed as in a lot of cases the artist who produced the original has not necessarily written it, or produced a version that reflects how the writer intended it, but that’s my argument and that’s what I’m going to stick with.