Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part III: Guitar Hero Edition

In our first post on Ten Bold Cover Tunes, we defined "bold" this way: 

*In choosing to cover a song already identified with another artist, the cover artist risks professional humiliation. Just DARING to cover certain songs is an act of boldness.

*Taking the original version of the song and performing it in a unique way is one of the boldest moves an artist can make. When done well, the cover version takes on a life of its own and almost sends the original into obscurity.

Part II can be found here. 

In part III we venture into a new area of cover tune boldness. Specifically, we examine cover tunes performed by standout guitar greats. As we will see (hear?), in each case the guitar hero(ine) brought some new life to tunes that were not even in particular need of it. That's bold. 

Instead of a drum roll, let's have a Bo Diddley Beat: 

#10: Leo Morachioli's and Mary Spender's Cover of Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing" : If guitar god Mark Knopfler had never recorded another song after 1978's "Sultans of Swing," that tune by itself would have been enough to cement his status as a rock legend. Instead he and his band Dire Straits went on to become one of the powerhouse rock bands of the 1980s. 

Norway's Leo Morachioli, a zany multi-instrumentalist, performs heavy metal versions of classic songs on his popular YouTube channel. He recruited guitar goddess and YouTuber Mary Spender for a rockin' duet cover of "Sultans of Swing." At around the 3:40 mark the two of them just start to wail on lead guitar. 

#9:  Brian Setzer's cover of Santo and Johnny Farina's "Sleep Walk": Santo and Johnny's 1959 classic emerged at a popular time for instrumental music. The great rockabilly revivalist Brian Setzer, who coincidentally was born in 1959, actually won a Grammy Award for his performance of "Sleep Walk." I personally like the version of it he did at Woodstock '99, a guitar and big band tour de force that unfortunately got overshadowed when dumbassification and dickheadism--in the audience and on stage--ultimately took over that concert weekend. 

#8:  Les Paul's and Chet Atkins' cover of Duke Ellington's "Caravan": Juan Tizol composed the jazz standard "Caravan," and it was first performed in 1936 by Duke Ellington and his orchestra. 

Les Paul and Chet Atkins, two of the most innovative and groundbreaking guitar players of all time, recorded two albums together in the 1970s. By that time period numerous guitar gods--from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, had received votes for guitar GOAT (greatest of all time.). My belief has always been that Les and Chet, already in advanced years by the mid-1970s, recorded together at least in part to show the world who were the REAL monsters of guitar. 

#7: Steve Vai's Cover of Frank Zappa's "Sofa": The late musical genius and activist Frank Zappa passed away in 1992. A wonderful tribute album featuring many of his former band mates, "Zappa's Universe," was released the following year. One of the most stunning pieces on the recording was Steve Vai's rendition of Zappa's "Sofa." 

Steve Vai ended up winning the Grammy that year for best rock instrumental performance. Much deserved for such a bold performance. 

#6: The Samantha Fish Band's cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You": Hawkins' 1956 original of "I Put A Spell On You" is widely considered to be one of the foundational songs in the history of rock-and-roll. And considering the spectacular covers of it by Nina Simone and Creedence Clearwater Revival, it's amazing that anyone else would even DARE approach the tune. 

Kansas City born Samantha Fish, an award winning blues guitarist, does a blistering live version of the tune that has become a staple of her performances. She's even got all the right guitar heroine facial expressions. It's too bad that modern FM commercial radio is so awful, because Samantha Fish ought to be on it every day. 

#5:  Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart's cover of Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions' "People Get Ready": Released at a time when the twin evils of racism and white supremacy seemed determined to defeat even modest strides toward equality, Curtis Mayfield's 1965 soul classic "People Get Ready" became an anthem of the civil rights movement. 

Twenty years later Ronald Reagan provided a lifeline to those still yearning to "make America great again." Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck's version of "People Get Ready" did not become an anthem of a resurgent civil rights movement, but it did honor the spirit of the original and exposed Beck's guitar theatrics to a whole new generation of listeners.

#4: Johnny Winter's cover of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 
Revisited: Speaking of great recordings from 1965, Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" album that year represented the folk singer's most overt move into blues inspired rock. The title song, filled with biblical imagery and colorful characters, became an archetype of the kind of song Dylan would write for the rest of the 1960s, and remained a staple of his live performances for many years. 

Blues/rock giant Johnny Winter's 1976 version of the song from his "Captured Live" LP is quite simply ten minutes of pure, unadulterated guitar anarchy. The tune became a staple of HIS live performances more than Dylan's. 

#3: Carlos Santana's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman": Few other than wonky rock-and-roll nerds realize that before they became the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham led pop sensations, Fleetwood Mac was actually a kick-ass blues-rock band. Founder and lead guitarist Peter Green is a rock and roll Hall of Famer and recognized as one of the greats. Green's "Black Magic Woman" charted in the UK in 1968. 

Two years later Carlos Santana tackled the tune, and the results helped define FM rock radio for the next decade. I would argue that the last 90 seconds or so of Santana's version, with its frenetic guitar wailing over a Latin rhythm, might be the most spectacular ending to a rock song in history. 

#2:  The Art of Noise Featuring Duane Eddy cover of Henry Mancini's "Theme From Peter Gunn": Renowned conductor and jazz giant Henry Mancini claimed that the 1958 "Theme From Peter Gunn" was actually a rock and roll song. However we define the theme, it surely set the standard for what a TV spy drama intro tune should sound like. 

In 1986 the English synthesizer-pop band The Art of Noise recruited Duane Eddy, the legendary king of "twang" guitar, to join them for a rendition of the "Theme From Peter Gunn." They ended up winning a Grammy that year for best rock instrumental performance. Watching that 1980s collaboration between an old-school guitar legend and an MTV dance band is still highly endearing. 

#1: Orianthi Panagaris' cover of Jimi Hendrix "Voodoo Child":  Jimi Hendrix's 1968 album "Electric Ladyland" and especially the song "Voodoo Child" were so far ahead of their time in terms of rock music innovation that they still put most of what's today called rock-and-roll to shame. Ladyland is one of those albums that gets more "HOW THE FUCK IS HE DOING THAT?" responses than any other piece of recorded music in history. 

Imagine then the shock when Orianthi, the Australian female guitar wiz brought into the public sphere when Michael Jackson recruited her for his band, performed a blistering version of "Voodoo Child" that almost outdid Hendrix's own live performances of it. I'd place Orianthi's version slightly ahead of Stevie Ray Vaughn's, which is amazing because his was pretty great too. 

There you have it: ten bold cover tunes by guitar heroes and heroines. Music appreciation is of course subjective, so I completely get that you might place different guitar centered covers on your list. These are simply ten of many that I find myself coming back to frequently. 

America's Children Need UN Intervention (Update)

Here's an update of a rant originally posted in March of 2018, with a new video added: https://tpmediarants.blogspot.com/2018/03/americas-children-need-un-intervention.html 

America's children are traumatized by gun violence, the FEAR of gun violence, and many other things that we as a society are not willing to address meaningfully. 2019 is the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United States government needs to be brought before an international body to answer for its shameful inattention to the physical, mental, and emotional health of its  youth. The situation should be considered desperate. 


TONY'S MEDIA RANTS from Old Man River Storytellers Group on Vimeo.

Bernie's Media Rant

Lots of politicians will tell you that they understand and appreciate the problems confronting modern American journalism, but rarely do they do more than provide lip service toward solutions. 

At some level it makes sense that fixing what's wrong with journalism is not at the top of the priority list for mainstream pols. Think about it: if journalism was truly fixed, it would be eminently pro-democracy and hold all elected officials and candidates--from village and town boards to president of the United States--to much stricter and rigorous standards of accountability. Few pols want that, even those who self-identify as liberals. 

The Hill's Krystal Ball exposes some pretty clear anti-Bernie media bias. Sanders' media reform proposals, if enacted, would not mean criticism of him would be reduced. Rather, the criticism of him and ALL candidates for president would more likely be grounded in real journalism values as opposed to entertainment and trivia.

That's why it was somewhat refreshing to see Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders reveal a plan to fix journalism that is rooted in a clear comprehension of the problem, that proposes wide ranging solutions, and that is unapologetically pro-democracy. The fact that Rupert Murdoch's New York Post immediately bashed the plan as "horrible" ought by itself be enough evidence to show that Sanders is on to something. 

Sanders' plan is outlined in an op-ed he submitted to the Columbia Journalism Review. In laying out the problem, Sanders is in Media Rants mode, saying things that have been articulated in this blog for many years. Some of my favorite quotes from the piece: 

*Real journalism is different from the gossip, punditry, and clickbait that dominates today’s news. Real journalism, in the words of Joseph Pulitzer, is the painstaking reporting that will “fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, [and] always fight demagogues.” 

*When we have had real journalism, we have seen crimes like Watergate exposed and confronted, leading to anti-corruption reforms. When we have lacked real journalism, we have seen crimes like mortgage fraud go unnoticed and unpunished, leading to a devastating financial crisis that destroyed millions of Americans’ lives.

Corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have decimated independent and local news.

We'll protect independent news and a free press by enforcing antitrust laws, empowering journalists to form unions and increasing investment in local public media. https://t.co/xO7Kd9Kkw9

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 27, 2019

*At precisely the moment when we need more reporters covering the healthcare crisis, the climate emergency, and economic inequality, we have television pundits paid tens of millions of dollars to pontificate about frivolous political gossip, as local news outlets are eviscerated. 

*Today, after decades of consolidation and deregulation, just a small handful of companies control almost everything you watch, read, and download. Given that reality, we should not want even more of the free press to be put under the control of a handful of corporations and “benevolent” billionaires who can use their media empires to punish their critics and shield themselves from scrutiny. 

*We need to rebuild and protect a diverse and truly independent press so that real journalists can do the critical jobs that they love, and that a functioning democracy requires.

Watch the heads of the Fox Business News' "conservatives" explode as they talk about Sanders' media reform plan. Sanders' plan would actually strengthen the First Amendment, and in that sense is quite conservative (thinking of conservative in its original sense as those policies which uphold the Constitution and Bill of Rights.). 

Sanders specific plans for reform (summarized by Jake Johnson) include: 

• Impose an immediate moratorium on federal approval of mergers of major media companies; 
• Require media corporations to disclose whether their corporate transactions and mergers would cause significant layoffs of reporters;

Right-wing columnist @Jeff_Jacoby berates @BernieSanders' plan to rebuild independent media & protect reporters from billionaires owners. He slams Bernie for "trashing entrepreneurs & investors" who own media. 

Unsaid: the columnist is employed by a billionaire-owned newspaper. pic.twitter.com/5inggK96gF

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) August 30, 2019

David Sirota is a long time progressive journalist now working as a speech writer for the Sanders campaign. Not sure if Sirota ghost wrote Sanders' Columbia Journalism Review op-ed, but the piece does reflect ideas that progressive journalists have been espousing for many years now. Many can be found on FreePress.Net. 

• Require that employees "be given the opportunity to purchase media outlets through employee stock-ownership plans";
• Block federal merger and deregulation moves that harm people of color and women;
• "Reinstate and strengthen media ownership rules" with the goal of limiting "the number of stations that large broadcasting corporations can own in each market and nationwide";
• Enforce anti-trust laws against tech behemoths like Facebook and Google "to prevent them from using their enormous market power to cannibalize, bilk, and defund news organizations";
• Increase funding for federal programs that support public local media "in much the same way many other countries already fund independent public media."

Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur are favorable towards Sanders' plan. While the plan may or may not be "amazing," it does represent the first attempt by the the candidate for president of a major political party to make media consolidation and other threats to the First Amendment a campaign and future governing priority. 

Near the end of his op-ed, Sanders links his proposal explicitly to our founding documents: "Our constitution’s First Amendment explicitly protects the free press because the founders understood how important journalism is to a democracy. More than two centuries after the constitution was signed, we cannot sit by and allow corporations, billionaires, and demagogues to destroy the Fourth Estate, nor can we allow them to replace serious reporting with infotainment and propaganda." 

The Columbia Journalism Review has invited all candidates to submit media reform plans. I have not yet endorsed Sanders or any candidate, but it will be difficult to support anyone who cannot enthusiastically support reform proposals that could rescue journalism from the grasp of greed. 

So far, not one other candidate has submitted a plan to the Columbia Journalism Review or any other source. Should such plans arrive, I'll update this piece.