Its rare i say this. Probably on one hand i can count them. But recently I stumbled on this beauty. Kinda incredible.
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Yes, I love hearing covers but so rarely are they transformative. And when they are, rarer still that they keep the intent and driving emotion of the original.
So many tracks just take the core lyrical content, drop the bpm, drench in reverb and detached, breathy vocals (recited word for word but neither emoted nor phrased to emphasize meaning)
It’s certainly the case where someone enjoys the songcraft and dutifully repeats the catchiness, spins it off themselves, but the meaning gets lost in the gloss (my least favorite part of covers.)
Songs like Everything Counts or Running Up That Hill spark a lot of inspiration but few are willing to put themselves in a place where they can reinforce the ideas, politics, vulnerability of the writers.
The Gary Jules cover of Mad World is a pretty well known counter-example to the above complaints, where the phrasing and sparseness and phrasing absolutely serves the original.
I guess my biggest sin with covers is stripping the vocals of nuanced phrasing and not adding at least as much of themselves back when “hitting the beats”, and skimping in the places where the song lyrics should hold gravity when emphasizing love, loss, the most experiential and human points of connection. Over “oh hey, i liked this song.”
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Ohmann , i wished it was like this from the beginning. It made this album so much better.
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This one is also really a nice cover.
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The classic. Both are excellent ofc. But this so close to his death just hits that little bit harder:
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Scritti Politti - She’s a Woman (Beatles cover)
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That was my pick too 
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Always On My Mind - Pet Shop Boys
Original by Gwen McCrae; you may know it from Elvis’s version.
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Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Original by Robert Hazard; but It’s Cyndi, how can you not like.
If you would like a breakdown on gear used, production techniques etc; check out this thread on Gearspace
Whilst we’re on the subject of Cyndi…
I Drove All Night - Cyndi Lauper
Originally a Roy Orbison number; but I don’t think his was released till after Cyndi’s? (and posthumously at that)
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This was vastly better even before Morrissey revealed his true (ghastly) colours
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I don’t like all those slow breathy sombre versions of tracks used on tedious tv adverts …
If I were needing an advert made and a marketing bod suggested such a lazy option for background music they’d be sacked .
I didn’t realise Step on by happy Mondays was a cover.
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