The Wily Filipino

I love that album especially Sonic Youth's take on 'Superstar.'

OMG. I loved this album, but I lost it somewhere during my many moves across the country--and that shonen knife track rocks. Thanks!

not bad (& i like Knife) but "best cover ever"?

what about the Carpenters' Klaatu cover song "Calling All Occupants" (or whatever it's called)?

m.

You hit a right note on this. When i was in college i play this song in the car and hum along as i breeze through the boulevard and the girls just kept at it..."Im on a top-of-the-world--....its creation...one thing i can find...its the love that ive found.... ever since youve been around" The song become even more melodic and juicy.

I'd have to agree with m. "Best cover" is a seriously tall order. Much as I adore the shonen knife cover, I'd take a long hard look on kazaa... oops.. torrent.. or maybe just Mojo back issues, before proclaiming a winner. Don't think there will ever be one.

I'd put in a vote for Polyphonic Spree's cover of "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (both the song + reprise). Happiest pop group in the world covering one of everyone's favourite childhood memories? Bliss. (am biased, cos i saw them last Thurs. in Sydney! Signed up and got my cult membership card that very night... heheh)

i dunno sunny. i think a contender for best cover ever may be the commodores' "easy," covered by faith no more.

love that faith no more cover.

i particularly like johnny cash's version of nick cave's "mercy seat"...

speaking of nick cave... his cover of "what a wonderful world" is pretty damn great. he and shane mcgowan sound utterly drunk... it's fantastic. that's my vote.

or my favorite cover of all time, yo la tengo's version of daniel johnstone's "speeding motorcycle"...

i wish you'd post also the cover of YESTERDAY ONCE MORE from that album. pretty pls?

"Yesterday Once More" performed by Redd Kross was the best cover off that Carpenters' tribute CD!

Wow, a lot of comments! Hang on:

Mark: Apparently practically all the artists on the album wanted to do "Superstar;" SY just beat them to it. It is indeed a great cover, all spooky and drugged out.

Graywyvern: This may sound like a bit of a cop-out, but of course I'm exaggerating. A little. The best of *anything* -- especially only one - totally depends on the context in which one experiences it. The best cover songs are those that make the new material sound totally their own, but not just radically changing it. Shonen Knife makes an already-sweet song even sweeter; by the time you get to the end you're just *filled* with a huge sense of joy.

I would probably add (off the top of my head) 10,000 Maniacs' "Everyday Is Like Sunday," Superchunk's "100,000 Fireflies," and... ah, I'll think of more stuff. Oh, and Iron & Wine's "Such Great Heights" (that one's better than the original, like Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower").

This is only for the singer-songwriter period, though, with no so-called "standards;" I'd have a tough time trying to figure out whose version "My One and Only Love" would be best.

Which I guess means that Tom Waits's version of "Somewhere" won't count -- now *that's* an incredible version.

Krangsquared: I've never seen the Polyphonic Spree in concert, and they're coming to SF in a couple of weeks. Worth it?

Barb: Haven't heard that one!

Karen: Haven't heard that one either! (I have a hilarious cover of "Hey Ya!" by YLT somewhere here...)

Garrr: Maybe. =) Just get the disc! It's a buck-seventy used on Amazon. No, really: it's probably one of the best tribute albums period, and that's a pretty weak genre anyhow. Most tribute albums are usually pretty lazy (check out all those horrible goth/punk tributes, where the object is to play one song really really slow or really really fast). But If I Were A Carpenter is solid all the way through, and not at all Beck-ironic. Aside from that great Sonic Youth cover, Matthew Sweet does a heartbreaking "Let Me Be The One," American Music Club does a drunkenly morose "Goodbye to Love," and so on. Even the contributions from the Cranberries and 4 Non Blondes are actually pretty good.

I saw that you had up the seona dancing song- more to lose- in your archives. I was wondering if you could put up their other song bitter heart. I can't find it anywhere. And I have heard a snippet of it and it sounds pretty good.

Jaim:

That's about the only song I haven't removed from my site... I'm afraid I don't have the other one (you're not the first person to ask either!).