Monday, November 22, 2021

My Music Monday

Covers of Covers, 'tis the theme. 

I'm finding I have a lot of covers that went on to be covers, but not as many that are the covers of those covers. 

Eurythmics is an example. They covered "am & Dave's "Wrap it Up", but the Fabulous Thunderbirds kicked their version up into the charts about four years after Annie & Dave. 

Rachel Sweet is another one. Oddly, she seems the first to cover the Velvet Underground's "New Age" a decade after they recorded it. And it would be another decade before the like of Tori Amos or Peter Yorn would touch it. 

That said, Sweet did have some good covers, probably of covers:  "I Go to Pieces" or "B-A-B-Y".  But she also tried and semi-succeeded at the attempt for a commercial breakthrough with a cover of "Everlasting Love". 

Before her release (and a duet with Rex Smith!) in 1981, "Everlasting Love" had been done by Love Affair (twice!)....and you know that version (or one of them) and in '73 by someone named Carl Carlton (his parents had to have hated him). 

Sweet and Smith were on the same record label at the time and both had the song as a co-joined release. It was PR assistant's dream and you know a kind of nightmare for listeners. 

I mean, it's not bad, but I had liked Sweet for year and well, she had some indie cred and this just reeked of a publicity grab.  Not to discredit Rex Smith, but..............c'mon.......he had a minor hit, but the draw for sales was he was co-host of Solid Gold.  He was a name. She wasn't. 

Here's now much of a name she wasn't..........her name doesn't even appear in the YouTube title of the video.   

Ouch. 


2 comments:

Blobby said...

......and YOU'RE welcome!

dithyrambs said...

Sucker.