Covers that are better than the originals!

[Foxhound]

Shakin' All Over by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates was released in June 1960:



And it was pretty good. But it was Guess Who?(Chad Allan & the Expressions) who took the number to the stratosphere with this cover in 1965:

[dwill123]

[Foxhound]

That I take it is Stop by Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield. Who though recorded it first and when?

[dwill123]

Originally Posted by Foxhound

That I take it is Stop by Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield. Who though recorded it first and when?

This was my bad, I should have posted it this way as a James Gang cop:

[Foxhound]

Bring It on Home to Me by Sam Cooke was released on 8 May 1962:



Cooke's version was very smooth, but I prefer the version the Animals released as a single on 20 March 1965:



I'd say the Animals' take was more intense.

[dwill123]

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[Foxhound]

The Shirelles' version was good and reached number eight on the charts in 1961:



But it was Smith that took Baby It's You into the stratosphere with this soulful cover in 1969 that reached #5 on the Billboard charts:

[Foxhound]

Back in 1963 John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned a tune for an up and coming British band they liked:



With Brian Jones' great guitar licks, the Stones made iI Wanna be Your Man sound like an Elmore James original. The Stones released it as a single on 1 November 1963.

The Beatles then recorded their own take on the song and included it on their With the Beatles LP which was released on 22 November 1963:



While the Beatles were indeed the better band in late 1963, I'm not so sure that the Beatles' version of the track was the better one.

[dwill123]

.

[Foxhound]

Denise, Denise from 1961 by Randy & the Rainbows was good:



Blondie though smoked it with this cover released in February 1978 entitled Denis:




Love the French lyrics! Another video since Deborah Harry always merits a second look:

[Foxhound]

Pete Seger's Turn, Turn, Turn recording was released in 1962:



Here it is from that same year by the Limeliters:



Both simply horrible. But the Byrds' cover that was released 1 October 1965 was elysian:

[dwill123]

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[Foxhound]

Here's a great song by the Exciters from 1962:



And here's the great cover by Vonda Shepard released 5 May 1998:

[Foxhound]

Johnny Rivers could certainly rock with the very best. Chuck Berry's Memphis, Tennesee was released in 1959:



It got to #6 in the U.K, but not until 1963!

Johnny Rivers' great cover hit record stores in May 1964 and got to #2 on the Billboard charts:

[Foxhound]

One of the tracks Bob Dylan included on his The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan LP released on 13 August 1963 was Blowin' in the Wind:




Peter, Paul and Mary wasted no time covering it and released their version three weeks later as a single:




It became a smash hit and reached #2 on the Billboard charts.

[Foxhound]

The original of Hello Stranger from March 1963 written and sung by Barbara Lewis got to #3 on the Billboard pop chart:



Yvonne Elliman covered the song in 1977:




Elliman's cover was very similar to Lewis' original recording but only got to #15 on the Billboard charts. Nonetheless I'm giving a very slight edge to Elliman's cover because I prefer the instrumental and vocal backing on her version.

[Foxhound]

Eddie Cochrane's rockabilly classic Summertime Blues was released on 21 June 1958:



While it peaked at only #8 on the Billboard charts, it was nonetheless ranked #73 in Rolling Stone's March 2005 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

In 1967 the Who recorded a pretty good cover in the studio but it wasn't released until the remastered edition of Odds and Sods hit store shelves in 1998:




Blue Cheer's excellent cover was released in 1968 and was arguably the first heavy metal song to ever make the pop charts:

[Foxhound]

The Righteous Brothers had several great hits. But this one released in May 1963 isn't among their very best:





Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels though took the song to where it truly belonged in 1966: