In the 1950s a 'Cover up' was a song recorded by a record label to eclipse the release of the same song by a rival label. Here's our selection of cover versions (or remakes as some music historians would rather they were known), that we feel in some way bring a fresh take on the original.
Flipping the backwards thinking 50s concept of a cover version, this belter of a track was originally a hit for writer John Fogerty and his band Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969, and nearly as successful for Ike and Tina in 1971. Their Rock and Roll rendition has one of the greatest slow builds of any record ever recorded!
Written in 1953 by Gene De Paul and Sammy Cahn, this was a huge hit for Dinah Washington in 1954. Nancy Wilson's sultry version was used to great effect on the recent (and awesome) chess series The Queen's Gambit.
Apart from Miss Jones, Peggy Lee, Marcia Hines, Englebert Humperdink and Bing Crosby all released a version of this show tune (from a Chorus Line) in 1977! Grace's uptempo version was produced by Disco supremo Tom Moulton.
This was Public Image Ltd biggest hit @ number 5 in the UK charts. Nouvelle Vague famously invited female singers who had never heard the originals to record these tracks... and created an easy listening cover version phenomenon that none of us knew we needed back in the early 2000s!
The original is by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (who also wrote the lyrics to My Funny Valentine, Blue Moon, The Lady is a Tramp and Manhattan amongst many others). This version was recorded by the Supremes as their 11th studio album for Motown, following a TV special about Rodgers and Hart from 1966, where none other than the great Quincy Jones was musical director.
This song was a Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune from the musical South pacific. Dylan's version is a cover of a cover (!), as Dylan does Frank Sinatra, from his 2014 release Shadows in the Night.
The French classical composer and conductor Thomas Roussel has worked with many orchestras and musicians from different spheres including a co-production with techno God Jeff Mills. Here he covers Justice's classic bangers to great effect.
Sophie Winder's joyous illustration promotes this week's theme of togetherness, duality and harmony, something all of our chosen acts have demonstrated this week in droves.
A star studded collaboration, with Robyn and Channel Tres's vocals adding something wonderful to newcomer (and Concord Music Publishing signing) SG lewis (and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs's) clubby production.
A trippy collab with an excellent number of dogs in the video! In the video (worth a google), the UK producer meets the ex Late Of The Pier frontman head to head, as they lay down in the park for some canine shenanigans and deliver a lovely dose of skippy synth pop.
First rate Aussy electronic producer enrols Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon to add some sunny sparkle to her brilliant bouncy party jam.
Crossbreed Records founder Kiwi teams up with Daniel Avery collaborator & James Greenwood AKA Ghost Culture,(Concord Music Publishing signing) for this minimal electronic instrumental with epic synth action.
The band had already recorded this track with a mumbling vocal, when they then heard Devin sing on Jamaican TV show Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall, loved his delivery, wrote and sent him some lyrics and the result is the very special guest appearance.
Grammy award winning, Kendrick Lamar, Q-Tip, Herbie Hancock and Anderson.Paak collaborating Glasper, invites legendary singer/songwriter (and Playlister favourite) Jill Scott to partner up on this conscious and delicate song. This shoulda/coulda been in our Valentine's playlist... it's a rare and poignant love letter to a decent man!
Two of the dark side's greatest troubadours cover Louis Armstrong's 1967 classic and create the world's greatest wobbly rendition of this timeless ode to the beauty of mother nature. These kindred spirits (probably whisky) ditched their bands (The Pogues and The Bad Seeds) to deliver their (at times) surreal but ultimately wonderful shot at the coveted 1992 UK Christmas number 1 spot.
Valentine's is a day we long for, or long to see the back of. Whatever your romantic inclination this year, here's 7 songs devoted to the notion of love.
A jazz standard with lyrics written by Englishmen Eric Maschwitz (under the alias Holt Marvel) with music by Jack Strachey. Maschwitz cited "fleeting memories of a young love" as inspiration for the song, although various women in the author's life have claimed ownership of this ode to love and memory.
Fuelled by coffee and vodka, the verse and three choruses were written by Maschwitz over one Sunday morning at his flat in London. The song has been covered by many of the greats with memorable versions by Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole, and was recorded 3 times by James Brown.
The infamous music video tells the tale of an acting teacher (Richie) having an unrequited love for a blind student (Laura Carrington) until he discovers she is sculpting a likeness of his head in clay, and maybe feels the same way! Richie's album Can't Slow Down which features this huge hit won the 1984 Grammy for Album of the Year, and is the biggest-selling album in the history of Motown Records.
Chosen today for obvious reasons, this jazz standard has been recorded by over 600 artists and appeared on over 1300 albums!
It became Chet Baker's signature song (he recorded it over 100 times) and we love this version the best.
It’s actually a love song written from the perspective of a woman to a man... his ‘figure’ is ‘less than Greek’ (i.e., not the Olympian ideal of masculine beauty) but with Baker's laconic drawl and wonderful delivery, this song transcends gender and just evokes a feeling of love.
Lyrics:
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But don't change your hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is Valentines day
Written by George Harrison and widely viewed by music historians as having marked his ascendancy as a composer to the level of the Beatles' principal songwriters, Lennon and McCartney, this most romantic of the Beatles songs was written for Harrison's then wife Patti Boyd. In her 2007 biography she wrote "He told me, in a matter-of-fact way, that he had written it for me. I thought it was beautiful."
Written and recorded between 1991 (when he was just 18 years old) and 1995, this neo-soul classic from the album of the same name made D'Angelo a star and a heartthrob to millions. Co-produced by such luminaries of the scene as Raphael Saadiq and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest), the song personifies his love of smoking weed and compares it with his love of a woman.
Lyrics:
Let me tell you 'bout this girl, maybe I shouldn't
I met her in Philly and her name was Brown Sugar
See we be makin' love constantly
That's why my eyes are a shade, blood burgundy
And whenever you let me hit it
Sweet like honey when it comes to me
Skin is caramel with the coco eyes
Even got a big sister by the name of Chocolate Ty"
Jacob's career is a thing of recent music industry legend; From uploading homemade split screen videos (incorporating his harmonisation and multi instrumentation skills) on youtube in 2011, to being signed by Quincy Jones, to opening for Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2015 at the age of 19, to beginning working on Djesse, a four-volume, 50-song album featuring more than two dozen artists and ensembles in 2018, and now nominated for Album of the Year at this year's Grammys as well as Best R&B performance and Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals for tracks from Djesse Vol. 3.This track premiered as part of one of his TED talks.
This awesome track, mournful and urgent but with a brilliant production from SebastiAn, with lyrics that read like a set of classic wedding vows, is one of the team at Playlister's favourite tracks of 2017. “This song mixes wedding vows with an offbeat tone,” Gainsbourg said. “I wanted to express the idea of a lifetime engagement; a couple running to church, from childhood to old age, a lifetime path. The album 'Rest' also features collaborations with Paul McCartney, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Owen Pallett, and Connan Mockasin.
From classic R&B, Hip hop & grime, this is our first collection dedicated to rhyme.
Today is the 26th anniversary of the release on Def Jam Records of this debut single from Montell Jordan. Representative of the hip hop/soul style popular at the time, Jordan sings over an enhanced sample of Slick Rick's "Children's Story" which in turn samples Bob James' "Nautilus". The rap demonstrates some very old school lyrical tropes:
'This is how we do it, all hands are in the air
And wave them from here to there
If you're an OG mack or a wanna-be player
You see the hood's been good to me
Ever since I was a lower case G
But now I'm a big G
The girls see I got the money
Hundred dollar bills, y'all'
This track from DJ Shadow features verses from American rap duo Run the Jewels. The song was first a part of Run the Jewels' Record Store Day release, which was a virtual reality cardboard viewer that included a digital download code for the song. It also acted as the lead single from Shadow's fifth studio album, The Mountain Will Fall (2016).
Shadow chose El-P and Killer Mike as collaborators due to their vocal style fitting with the song's killer instrumental.
Lyrically this track veers between hilarious juvenilia and some dark imagery!:
'We the best
We will cut a frowny face in your chest, little wench
I'm unmentionably fresh, I'm a mensch, get correct
I will walk into a court while erect, screaming
"Yes! I am guilty motherfuckers, I am death"'
Stone Cold Rhymin' was the debut album by rapper Young MC and was released in 1989 on Delicious Vinyl. Young was born in London, to Jamaican immigrants and emigrated to NYC aged 8.
He earned a degree in economics from the University of Southern California where he met Michael Ross and Matt Dike from Delicious Vinyl. Young rapped over the phone for Ross and Dike, who ended up delivering a record contract to his college dorm room.
'Now I wrote this record for when I perform,
from the nights inside a university dorm,
I put pen to paper with a paper and pen,
for the times I'm rockin' the mic in front of women and men,
The song famously begins with the line "Don't call it a comeback/I've been here for years." Before "Mama Said Knock You Out" was released, critics felt that LL Cool J's career was waning. The story goes that his grandmother told him to "knock out" all his doubters!
She is featured in the closing scene of the music video, saying: "Todd! Todd! Get upstairs and take out that garbage.”:
West premiered this self-professed theme song from his album Yeezus on May 18, 2013 on Saturday Night Live. Featuring some stripped down production with the help of Rick Rubin, the lyrics to this track reference West's relationship with the media and his relationship with Kim Kardashian.'Enter the kingdomBut watch who you bring homeThey see a black man with a white womanAt the top floor they gone come to kill King Kong'
Formerly known as Common Sense, this rapper, writer, activist and actor has consistently written provocative, poetic and conscious lyrics for his tracks since his album debut in 1992.
Pray these words may hug you, baby
Look into the mirror and say "I love you" daily
Remember your light when the world seem shady
You're born with it, adorned with it
A gift to the world, go on, give it
South London rapper Che Lingo credits Chip and Wiley with teaching him about cadence and personality in his MCing, and claims to have learned everything about diction and multi-syllabic rhyming from P Money, Ghetts and Dot Rotten. His style is uniquely UK rap but has also been influenced by soulful Hip Hop and R&B from the US. Despite a tough time in his teens, he found salvation in music and lyric writing:
“Throughout all that time, I was in the studio. No matter what happened, no matter where I was, no matter how good or bad my situation was — there were literally times when I had to sleep outside — I would always find time to get to the studio. It was just paramount to my whole life. It was like second nature.”
As anyone who's ever enjoyed a nightclub looks to the moment we'll throw shapes together again, here's our first in a series of uptempo dance tracks from the Concord catalogue.
Despite Kanye's stage invasion during the presentation, this banger won MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video in 2006. The 2015 Zac Efron movie about an EDM DJ We Are Your Friends took its title from the track.
Written in 1998 and first released as a single in November 2000 and later included in their 2001 album Discovery, this was a commercial success as well as a critical hit. Rolling Stone listed it at number 33 of their top 100 songs of the decade (2000–2009) as well as number 307 on its amended "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in May 2010.
Described by critics as an "indie anthem", the song was not initially a huge success in Australia where the band originate from, but it fared better in Japan and Europe. It generated fresh interest after it was included in the soundtrack for the 2009 film 500 Days of Summer—eventually reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in the United States.
Created by electronic musician Quentin Dupieux better known as Mr. Oizo, Flat Eric began life as a character in some short films and gained a cult following in the UK and France. His popularity (and the love of this dance track) soared when Levi's featured Flat Eric in an ad for Sta-Press clothing in 1999. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Flat Beat" at number 175 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever."
Written by Henry Smithson (better known as Riton) and featuring vocals from Nigerian singer-songwriter Kah-Lo, this club/pop crossover was up for Best Dance Recording at the 59th Grammy awards.
Having previously remixed Depeche Mode, Dua Lipa and Gorillaz between them, these are producers who know what works on a dancefloor, inside out and upside down. This club cut was released in December 2020 on Anjunadeep.
Released to acclaim in 1978, named number 37 in MTV's 'Top 54 songs of the disco era' in 1998 with a subsequent return to form in 1994 when featured in the film Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, this is a gay anthem and one of Disco music's survivors.
Music that describes the complexities of human emotions and relationships.
This track is dedicated to Syd Barret, and was based on a poem that Roger Waters wrote about Syd Barrett’s drift away from reality. A love song to a fallen friend.
Perhaps written from the perspective of someone wanting to take a friendship to the next level, this classic song expresses that aching feeling of the uncertainty of love.
An ode to bad relationships! Loving a bad guy is such a sin, yeah! He's got me all won, can I get him?
A song about how everyone is imperfect... how perhaps sometimes we must admit our faults and be honest, to hold on to the relationships that mean the most to us."I never wanted you to see this part of meI wish you would've told the truth. Oh, than make us settle, "Cause even when it's wrong, you'll see that it's what you need."
Always On My Mind is a heartfelt ballad completed in 1971 by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher and Mark James. It was voted the number-one song of Elvis Presley's recording career in a 2013 poll and Willie Nelson's beautiful version won 3 Grammys in 1982. A song of yearning; of mistakes made to a lost love.
This song was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, in collaboration with Lori Leiberman after she was inspired by a Don Maclean concert in 1971.Its lyrics take the perspective of a singer being emotionally floored by another singer's delivery of a song. This version won a Grammy for the band in 1997.
The original tale of a tragic love affair. This evocative piece has become an iconic work in its own right, "Dance of the Knights" is meant to accompany the fateful encounter between the two warring clans of Shakespeare's romantic drama, then follow the action to the Capulets' masquerade ball, where Juliet first encounters Romeo Montague. In the decades since its premiere, "Dance of the Knights" has been used in many film and television shows, sampled by musicians like Tribe Called Quest and Sia, and used for the video game "Civilization V."
To celebrate Martin Luther King day 2021 (Jan18th) we’ve chosen songs of protest, freedom and positivity.
Revival Written in 1969 in protest to the Vietnam War, the song references rich people who orchestrate wars and then draft poor to fight in them. The track features in many movies and montages about the war, most famously Apocalypse Now.
Regularly featuring on Barack Obama's 2008 campaign playlist, and sampled on EPMD's 1990 track Give The People, this track's lyrics feel as poignant now as they must of then.
Used in movies Pineapple Express and Slumdog Millionaire and co-written by Diplo, this track was inspired by Mathangi Arulpragasam's struggle with homeland security when trying to enter the US. It plays on the image of a threatening, violent illegal immigrant and was banned in some clubs and TV shows for the use of gunshot sound effects.
Lyrics 'So where you gonna be when this freedom comes?' To celebrate Martin Luther King day we've chosen a track with a title relevant to his message and the movement he inspired, as important today as it was in the 60s.This track was released in October last year as part of the album Portals, and recorded by the artists whilst on a month-long retreat at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios.
An uplifting message of positivity from everyone's favourite choir-robe-wearing 20+ piece band!The band formed in 2000 and first came to the UK as part of David Bowie's Meltdown festival in 2002. This song is the most used in UK advertising, and has featured in movies and TV shows including Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind, The Lorax and Scrubs as well as being performed live at the Oscar De La Renta 2008 catwalk show in NYC.Lyric: 'Follow the day and reach for the sun!' 'Reach for the bright side!'
A protest against police brutality and systematic oppression for black people in the US. It's been featured in multiple movies and TV shows such as La Haine, Attack The Block and Brooklyn 99, and samples Sing a Simple Song by Sly and The Family Stone, and Inside Looking Out by Grand Funk Railroad.
Commissioned by scotch brand Johnnie Walker, this impassioned cover of Rogers and Hammerstein's classic from the musical Carousel becomes and inspiring message to stick to one's values... as the strap line from the advert says “to encourage you to be confident on your own path, and always remember that wherever you are on your journey, the most important step isn’t your last… it’s your next.”
7 songs of love and blues, dreams of people and places, imagined and real.
Dearie's love letter to the city she called home. Dearie's voice and songs have been heard on many tv shows and movies including The Artist, The Squid and the Whale and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Her vocal style was described by the New Yorker as a "childish treble" yet she brushed off these criticisms. "I have never been a singer who could stand up and sing like a theatrical singer. I sit down, and I've always used a microphone. I have a kind of microphone technique.”
Written by Big Bill Broonzy this version was recorded by Witherspoon for his 1963 album Blues Around The Clock. Lyrics: "Oh I just lay awake and dream, people, About that place, way across the sea, oh yea. Where I was raised, where I was born, Place that means so much to me."
Written by Sammy Cahn and Nicholas Brodszky for the 1955 movie Love Me Or Leave Me and sung by Doris Day, this track has been covered by many artists over the years including Bing Crosby, Andy Williams and Dinah Washington. It was also used in the popular UK tv show The Saint starring Roger Moore in the episode The Saint Sees It Through. Jamal's sublime instrumental version was from his album Happy Moods released in 1960 on the Argo label.
Written and produced by Frank Ocean and Daniel Aged and released as a 7-inch single on March 25, 2020, Dear April consists of an "acoustic" version as side A, and a remix by Justice as side B. An intimate track with minimal instrumentation and a beautiful vocal treatment.
Lyrics: "I believe that no matter
What it makes us new
Take us through it
And wake us up again"
Lyrics: "Go on, fill your heart up with gladness" A founding member of Portico Quartet, Mulvey has enjoyed a successful solo career since 2011. As the title track to his 2014 EP, Fever to the Form is a fine example of a distinctly British type of uplifting and positive modern folk music.
Critic Richie Unterberger describes it as "as close to the roots of acoustic down-home blues as the Stones ever got."
It was released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed.
Written and recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937, the song uses a departing train as a metaphor for the loss of his lover Willie Mae.
This is a catalogue anniversary and was released 36 years ago today, in 1985. According to Phil Collins (on VH-1's Storytellers) Sussudio is an imaginary girl's name. The song is about having a crush on someone when you are young. He used Sussudio as a name to encompass any girl.
This week we celebrate International Women's Day with a collection of tracks that champion the female story in all it's diversity and power.
Flipping the backwards thinking 50s concept of a cover version, this belter of a track was originally a hit for writer John Fogerty and his band Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969, and nearly as successful for Ike and Tina in 1971. Their Rock and Roll rendition has one of the greatest slow builds of any record ever recorded!
Taking inspiration from the dawn of a precious new year following a pretty terrible 2020, we present songs from the Concord catalogue which evoke a feeling of positivity and hope, and most importantly, new beginnings.
One of our favourite all-time classics and positive lyrics from the Concord Music Publishing Catalogue to kick of Music Seen for 2021. "Little darling, the smile's returning to their faces". Onwards and upwards!
Lee was nominated for 12 Grammy Awards in her lifetime. This song is an uplifting masterpiece that does exactly what it says on the tin.
A part of the native tongues collective, known for their like-minded Afrocentrism, positivity and eclectic sampling, it was NME's review that stated "This is not rap, this is perfection."
"I think it's so groovy now, that people are finally getting together". It goes without saying that this is a lyrical message we're all dreaming about in some shape, way or form'
This song is described by James as being about "after a certain amount of time, somebody becomes too precious to lose, and now you want to protect them in any way you can," referring to his girlfriend Jameela Jamil.
Today is the 63rd anniversary of Come Fly with Me, One of Frank Sinatra's most beloved hit songs.
Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist covers classic Apple Records track from 1969. Synced for major TV show, Love Island this is a credible reimagining of this track originally written by Jackie Lomax.