The Return of Cover Songs III

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Okay, this is fantastic. It is a group of Welsh singers who work in London's West End doing a lockdown cover of "From Now On" from The Greatest Showman. Some amazing singing in there (I would expect no less from a Welsh group). They even slip some Welsh in near the end.


Which raises the question, given that I have Welsh blood and a Welsh surname, why does my singing kill small animals from 100 paces and send people screaming from the room?:cautious:
 
Welsh of the West End again, this time with the magnificent "Seasons of Love" from Rent by the late Jonathan Larson.


The real hero is the guy who is mixing all this. It really comes out sounding like they were together on a stage or studio.
 
Who knew soul legend Bill Withers’ death at the end of March would lead to an all-star Canadian charity cover of his seminal song, Lean On Me?
 
The Bangles were one of two all-female acts to hit it big around the same time in the eighties (the other being the Go-Gos). One of their biggest hits was Manic Monday, written by none other than Prince. Here it is given a rock rendition by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day with a little help from the woman who sang on the original recording, Bangles singer and guitarist Susanna Hoffs.

 
Who knew soul legend Bill Withers’ death at the end of March would lead to an all-star Canadian charity cover of his seminal song, Lean On Me?

One of the better all-star celebrity songs I have heard. Can't say I knew everyone in there, but was happy to see some favorites joining in.
 
This cover is so good. One of Walk Off the Earth's final shows before lockdown was at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. So, naturally, they paid tribute to one of that country's rock legends by recording a cover of Thunderstruck by AC/DC. And, damn, they nailed it. I never thought of Sarah Blackwood as a blue shouter but that's exactly the voice she channels here as she steps into Brian Johnson's huge shoes and fills them. And the opening guitar riff on a uke? Go Gianni!

 
The kid on drums isn't bad given he looks like he just started school.
 
Agreed, and the other son on bass is seriously competent as well. Just a really nice talented family, by all appearances, honing their craft while isolated.
 
I first encountered this song in a cover by the a capella group The Flying Pickets and fell madly in love with it. Here, a quartet of Voces8 members handle it beautifully. This is an older video and only one of this group (Andrea, the dark-haired soprano on the left) is still in Voces8 today.

 
This is cute. Dad is the musical star, but daughter steals the show.


More Quarantine Kids, this time they cover The Who. And the little girl doing Pete Townsend's signature "pinwheel" is so cute.


They do say a bit about them in the description for this one. Colt is a professional musician, so clearly he's passing that love on to his kids. The kids are home-schooled normally, not just during Covid. Their mother is behind the camera.
 
Voces8 may have developed and refined their harmonies singing madrigals, hymns, and cantatas, but those skills are also applicable to classic pop and rock like, say, The Mamas and The Papas.


They also do a lot of Simon and Garfunkel, and I think their magnificent version of Sound of Silence is in another music thread somewhere.
 
I am hoping beyond hope that the collaborations between Voces8 soprano Eleonore Cockerham and singer-songwriter Sarah Beattie are the start of something because they are so good. Here they cover a Beatles classic.


I think one of the reasons this pairing works is that Eleonore's soprano mixes well with Sarah's lower mezzo or maybe even alto voice.
 
And more Quarantine Kids with Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London. It's a perfect song to do with kids due to the "howling".

 
It's not often you hear a cover of a song from a fairly new songwriter like Faouzia, but this came up in recommendations tonight and I am quite impressed. A thirteen-year-old chose Faouzia's Tears of Gold as her audition piece and proceeded to nail it. She even sings in a powerful, throaty alto similar to Faouzia's.

 
For comparison, here is where I posted Faouzia's original in Random Acts of Music.

 
I first came across Morgan James through her appearances with Postmodern Jukebox. Morgan has B.Mus. in opera and classical voice from Juilliard. In her performing career, she has appeared in several Broadway show, and recorded jazz and jazz-inflected pop covers on her own and with groups like PMJ. During lockdown, Morgan has been putting out videos of pop-rock covers and standards accompanied by her husband Doug Wamble, a jazz guitarist and producer who sings occasionally, too. A couple recent samples:



 
And another married couple, Pomplamoose (which consists of Nataly Dawn on vocals and husband Jack Conte on keys with various friends added as needed), with a cover of a Hal David-Burt Bacharach hit that I know from a hit eighties cover by synthpop group Naked Eyes. Pomplamoose credits it to Dionne Warwick, but Wiki says she sang on the demo and it was Lou Johnson who first took it to the charts. It's a terrific song (as so many David-Bacharach songs are) and I love this version. One of my favorite Pomplamoose recordings of late.

 
Evanescence is a bit of a fluid concept as a band. Only singer-pianist Amy Lee remains from the original lineup and to some degree, Evanesence is her personal band now. This video features Amy with current guitarist Troy McLawhorn covering a Bananarama hit from the eighties. They really give it a different feel from the original, while retaining the basic melody. And the stripped down arrangement allows Amy to show off her piano chops a little. She's one of the most powerful voices in modern rock, hitting operatic levels at times, but she is also an accomplished pianist.

 
REM's "It's the End of the World As We Know It", with it's propulsive chanted verses, has to be a singer's nightmare. Still, for those willing to take it on, it is a rewarding song to cover. Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose avoided a jaw cramp by recruiting a couple friends to help. And I love Jack's (her husband) little outro at the end.

 
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