Classic Rock Bottom

I create playlist ideas in iTunes often, some sit empty until the time is right, some are so compelling that I take great care in populating them and ordering the songs just right so that I can share with you sooner than later. And then there are a handful that I throw songs into as I come across them. Cover tunes is one of those playlists…


This week’s Hidden Treasures playlist is somewhat of a subset of my living and growing Cover tunes playlist. The other day I had put a specific tune in the playlist and then went into it and started looking at what I had accumulated. I noticed a theme… There was a good chunk of Chuck Berry’s tunes in there. So I did some quick research on what else in my song list was a Chuck Berry covers and I was surprised at what I owned.


So in order to avoid this playlist turning into one tribute after another, I thought I’d loosen up a dreadful Classic Rock January and have some fun! So...  Chuck Berry covers it is! Enjoy…


PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/a1m82ilf


REO Speedwagon
Nine Lives
1979

1 - Rock and Roll Music

"Rock and Roll Music" is a 1957 hit single written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry. The song has been widely covered, and is recognized as one of Berry's most popular and enduring compositions. In the fall of 1957, the song reached #6 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart and #8 on the Hot 100 chart. The song has been recorded by many well-known artists, including Bill Haley & His Comets, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, REO Speedwagon, Mental As Anything, Humble Pie, Manic Street Preachers and Bryan Adams. Berry performed his song on December 16, 1957, on ABC's short-lived variety program, The Guy Mitchell Show.

Electric Light Orchestra
II
1973

2 - Roll Over Beethoven

Along with its predecessor it is the least commercial sounding album the band released, although ironically it did reach the British Top 40 album chart, whereas its more concise follow-up, On the Third Day, did not; an edit of "Roll Over Beethoven" was a Top 10 hit in Britain and received radio airplay in America too. In 2006 the album was remastered and expanded in the US, with a slightly different running order to the UK 2003 EMI version, with both versions sharing the same Hipgnosis album art for the first time. The British and American sleeves differed, as did the title; in the UK it was released in a gatefold sleeve titled ELO 2 with a painting of a light bulb travelling through space with the wording ELO2 on the base of the bulb, while in the US the cover featured a more ornate light bulb against a night sky and was titled Electric Light Orchestra II. For reasons unknown "Roll Over Beethoven" was slightly edited in length compared with its US counterpart.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Live Bullet
1976

3 - Let It Rock

The psychedelicized days of Ramblin' Gamblin' Man are long gone on Live Bullet, leaving behind a rocker who loved the Stones for their toughness, Dylan for his honesty, and Chuck Berry for his narrative -- and one who found his own sound when the Silver Bullet Band came into its own through countless tours. Two of the songs on the album are actually medleys. "Bo Diddley" is a medley of "Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?", while "Let It Rock" is a medley of "Let It Rock" and "Little Queenie" with some minor lyrical changes.

AC/DC
TNT/Bonfire
1975/1997

4 - School Days

T.N.T. is the only Australian AC/DC studio album for which there is no international counterpart. However, seven of its nine songs comprise the international version of High Voltage, released in May 1976. The other two, "Rocker" and "School Days", saw worldwide release as part of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap's international version (1976/1981) and the Bonfire box set (1997) respectively. The versions of these songs included on the 2009 box set Backtracks are credited as being the original Australian versions. However, the songs actually fade out later than their international counterparts.

Views: 82

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Nice!

Agree, nice indeed. I'll listen later on today.

The first, that came to my mind was "Johnny B. Good" from Judas Priest' RAM IT DOWN.

When I got that REO album in the early 80's, I thought it was great except for one song, and this is the song. It totally ruined the flow of the album for me, and it still does. It just doesn't fit. But, as we all know, this album has one of the greatest album closers of all time and luckily someone had the foresight, BEFORE ANYONE ELSE, to do a playlist of album closers. It's my favorite REO album, except for this song.

ELO I've hears so many times that I'm a bit sick of it. I think I was sick of it the first time I heard it as well.

I used to own this BS album. Haven't heard anything from it for 30+ years. Well, except for probably that one song. Did you know that the grocery store that he shops at closed down a few months ago? Yeah, the one about a mile away from us. Wonder if he now shops at the grocery store across the street from the closed one now. I'll let you know. This is a nice version of the original songs.

I actually have T.N.T. on vinyl. I like this version as well because it sounds like......AC/DC. Imagine that.

You're right about the flow of Nine Lives, the song is a bit out of place and that closer is A-One!  But they did do a nice cover of it, and I like it rocked up like they did it....

I usually pass up on a Seger song because I know he's not in your wheelhouse, but this had to make the final cut!

You need TNT remastered and on CD...

Nah, I have most of the songs elsewhere so no big deal. I think there's two off that album that I don't have so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

1. Well, it's a great song, but I prefer the Beatles-version. This is fine, but like many, many cover-versions, it's very indifferent to me. I always say: "If you can make a version as good or better than the original, then fine by me, otherwise stop wasting my time". Since I've heard better, this was a waste of my time, well kind of.

2. This is much better, not a better song, but ELO's version of this song is as good or maybe even better than the original imo, and it suits the band just fine. That's how you make a cover-version. Make your own original "fingerprints" on the song. Oh, and this version is actually better than Beatles-version, perhaps because it was a very young George Harrison, who sang it. George only got better and better in The Beatles, though.

3. This is how you play Chuck Berry! Great live-version of this song. I think the man himself would approve, even though I've read he's a mean bastard. With that said, this is not music I usually hear at home, especiall not live, but it's nice to listen to at times.

4. I'm not sure, I've heard this one before? It's not one of my favorites written by Berry, but you can almost see Angus doing the duck-walk. I understand why they left this cover of the international albums. It's got the fingerprints of AC/DC, so it's a good cover in my book, but the song itself is pretty weak. A lot of Berry's songs sounds the same to me.

Very interesting topic this time around, Scott.

So you liked the Seger cover!  Cool, I would think that Bob Seger is one of those very American bands much like The Alarm is very European.  Maybe that's true, and its just a good tune!

It has been a couple of days since I listened to this.  Sorry it took so long to get my thoughts in.

I have come to like Chuck Berry lately.  I've never really given him much thought before, but since I bought and posted one of his albums last year, I've realized he was quite an icon.  I think the best cover here is the AC/DC cover of School Days. I've often thought about picking up the Bonfire or Backtracks box set, just haven't done it.  It's probably a worthy purchase.

My least favorite cover here is the REO cover.  It just doesn't do anything for me.  The ELO cover and the Seger cover are both very long.  Too long for me to find them enjoyable, although I don't dislike the cover itself.  But it is what it is. 

I think, possibly, that the best cover of a Chuck Berry song that I've ever heard is Promised Land by Elvis.  He just owned that song.   But I'd love to hear covers of You Two and You Never Can Tell.  The latter is just an awesome song.

Good job.  I think you should visit some other artists from time to time with this cover theme.  You could even take an artist that recorded a lot of covers and feature some of their covers.

RSS

Question Of The Week

CRB Features (Click photo to visit)

Birthdays

There are no birthdays today

CRB Staff Members

 

In Memory Of

Norma Jean Fox
(11/30/1945-9/7/2010)

Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

Videos

  • Add Videos
  • View All

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by RJhog (Admin).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service