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100 best covers: #43 Ministry “Lay lady lay”

<< #44    |    #42 >>

Though I haven’t really followed them for a very a long time, I was actually quite the Ministry fan back in the early half of the nineties. I enjoyed so much of their early work, right up to their fifth album, 1992’s “Psalm 69”, but by the time they finally followed it up four years later, I had mostly moved on from my industrial kick. However, I still checked out “Filth pig”, borrowing a copy from my good friend Rylan. After a few listens, I recorded two songs that caught my ear for a mixed tape, one of which was this this rocking tune called “Lay lady lay”. It had this wicked ticky-tack drum line, a menacing melody and a shout-along chorus. I had no idea at the time that it was a cover.

I heard the original for the first time a year or so later when my friend Meagan, also one of my housemates at the time, got up to stop said mixed tape in the middle of this tune. “I know this song,” she said, as she popped in a CD and handed me the jewel case. It was some Bob Dylan compilation album and of course, I immediately spotted the song title in the track listing but the song she put on wasn’t quite reconcilable with the Ministry tune I’d rocked along to on countless evenings. It took some time before I was able to put the two in the same room together and I think it was the drum line that finally did it.

Bob Dylan originally wrote “Lay lady lay” way back in 1969 and it appeared on his ninth studio album, “Nashville skyline”. There is a definitely country feel with plenty of slide guitars and Dylan’s crooning vocals that sounds a bit different than on the popular classics I’d previously known by him. He’s imploring a lovely lady to stay with him the night, likely quite suggestive material back when it was released. It has been covered a great many time over the years but according to Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, Dylan found their version particularly “badass”.

I tend to agree. And I have to go with Ministry’s cover over the original on this one. Not my favourite Dylan recording at all.

Cover:

Original:

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.

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100 best covers: #44 Blur “Maggie May”

<< #45    |    #43 >>

I’ve already written about the Help Warchild album on these pages* and tagged it as my favourite ever compilation. Another one that I really liked was Ruby Trax, a 3 CD set released by the NME in celebration of its fortieth anniversary. They collected together 40 covers of number one hit singles from over the years done by current artists of the day. I remember finding a used copy of it at the long defunct Penguin Music on McCaul street, four or five years after its release, and didn’t hesitate to open my wallet for it. I wasn’t looking for it because, lord knows, I never thought I would see it here in Canada, but I certainly recognized what I had in my hands immediately. A friend of mine** had put this cover of “Maggie May” by Blur on a mixed tape for me and being a pretty huge fan of said band, just had to know of its provenance.

“Maggie May” was originally recorded by Rod Stewart for his debut solo album. It was released as a b-side to what was supposed to be his first single, “Reason to believe”, a song I’m reasonably sure I’ve never heard. The b-side started get more play on the radio and has since become his best known song. The album version of this song about a young man’s affair with an older woman starts with this out-of-place acoustic guitar solo. But once it gets going and the hammond organ meshes with the 12-string guitar and the mandolin, it reminds you why it’s a classic, especially with Rod’s inimitable vocal chords providing the words.

Blur’s cover sounds like Blur right at the height of Britpop… because… of course, it was. Rowntree’s loose drumming, James’s bopping baseline, Coxon’s wailing and feedback-laden guitars, and Albarn’s freewheeling organs and cheeky vocal turn. It’s trimmer than the original and at four minutes, feels perfect.

Sure, theirs is not the original but they put their own stamp on it. And well, I love their stamp. Sorry Rod the Bod fans, I’m going with one of my favourite bands on this one.

Cover:

Original:

*In fact, a couple of its tracks have already graced this very list at #74 and #53 and we’re not near done yet.

**That same friend who had made a personal favourite mixed tape of retro 80s tunes.

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.

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100 best covers: #45 Jane’s Addiction “Sympathy”

<< #46    |    #44 >>

Jane’s Addiction were one of those bands that I got into just as I was getting into ‘alternative’ music and my introduction was their commercial breakthrough, 1990’s “Ritual de lo habitual”. Of course, we now know that this was their ‘final’ album* before disbanding the following year. At the time, though, I was super excited about them and listened to both of their albums on cassette tape ad nauseum.

I later learned that they also had a self-titled live album that the band released a year before their major label debut, solely because they wanted their first release to be on an independent label. It was recorded at a small club in L.A. a bit before they had started generating a buzz and was later produced and mixed in-studio, including the addition of an applause track on some songs from another band’s live recording. Their performance is a bit messy at times but it aptly captures the excitement and energy of their live performances that garnered them such a following and for this reason, it’s still a favourite of mine and I included when I counted down my top ten albums for 1987. The track listing includes early versions of classics that would later be re-recorded for their proper debut, “Nothing’s shocking”, as well as a couple of covers: Velvet Underground’s “Rock n roll” and this one, The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the devil”.**

The original recording is probably my favourite ever song by The Rolling Stones, not that I really consider myself a huge fan of that band. I purchased a copy of “Hot rocks” on cassette tape when I was a teenager and that’s really only the material of theirs that I know. I do know that “Sympathy” is a rocking tune that really changed public perception of the band – for better and for worse – and has been covered by more than a few bands since then. Jane’s Addiction’s version feels somewhat faithful to the feel of the original, even including hand drums and maracas. Of course, Perry Farrell is not Mick Jagger. Their vocal styles are not quite diametrically opposed but they are different enough that it changes the overall feel. The cover is a lot more raw and angry than the original, perhaps a less slick devil but definitely not less sexy. And of course, there’s the live element as well that makes you think that everything might just fall apart at any given moment.

I still prefer The Stones’ original version of “Sympathy for devil”, it’s probably one of my favourite ever tunes, but Jane’s Addicition definitely makes it run a little faster and harder for the prize.

Cover:

Original:

*Final until they reunited more than a decade later and released a couple more.

**Listed simply as “Sympathy” on the album’s track listing.

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.