How should a band approach a cover? As with most things, I’m torn. Nothing is simple. Life is a multiplicity of ideas and realities.
Sometimes I like a cover that is very straightforward and true to the original. But why, you might ask, when we already have the original? I don’t know. Sometimes I like it when an artist has extended the idea of the cover the same way a composer might reinterpret another classical composition. But if it’s too exotic, well, sometimes that doesn’t work for me. I don’t know. I don’t know why I bother with covers, when there’s always the original. I guess it’s a need for novelty, from time to time. I guess it’s because some bands really do a good job of paying tribute to a band or a song they really love. Maybe that’s it: love.
Love looks everywhere. Or it at least looks. Because it is hopeful.
I hope you enjoy these new playlists. You can find me on Spotify as Tim Lane and follow my playlists.
I am especially fond of covers of The Cars song, “Drive.” Be sure to scroll all the way down for the vid of Soccer Mommy covering this tune.
This playlist is a companion to my 80s coming-of-age novel, Your Silent Face. Stuart Page is a protagonist obsessed with 80s New Wave and Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Divison. All of the tunes and bands in the playlist get a mention in the novel. The novel is available on Amazon.