Cover Ten ... Better

One other riff on Kuff for the day. His taste in music is woefully lacking. Well, once you get past our shared affinity for The Donnas, that is. Here's a better list of ten cover tunes to get you through any day of the week:

1. Science Fiction/Double Feature - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes ... if you're going to lead off a list like this, ya may as well start off strong.

2. Kids in America - Bouncing Souls ... this is a pretty raw version of the original. But to my way of thinking, that's what makes it great.

3. Piece of my Heart - Rough Cutt ... some obligatory heavy metal here for ya. Rough Cutt was one of my favorites from the 80s and it's a shame they never had a hit song to call their own. Paul Shortino's voice was impeccably suited for covering Janis Joplin.

4. Annie's Song - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes ... clearly, I could do a Top Ten that included nothing more than the Gimme Gimmes. They're that good. But it doesn't get much better than their album of country & western covers. You can ask a dozen people what their favorite is off of this one and I think you'll get a dozen answers.

5. People Get Ready - George Lynch & Oni Logan ... originally from the hard-to-find Jeff Beck tribute CD. Now also available on a George Lynch CD of his outtakes and other random efforts. I could likely get accused of playing favorites with the heavy metal guitar wizards of the 80s here, but I'm prepared to defend the notion that this version far exceeds even Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart's classic cover version. Not that I'm that big of an apologist for George Lynch, though ... I just think this is the one song he nails perfectly in the course of his career.

6. Follow You - Geoff Moore ... some obligatory CCM for ya, also. Two things I admired about this song. One, it was a cover of an obscure tune that Glen Burtnik recorded on a vastly underrated CD from his vastly underrated career (which involved keeping Styx alive for a while in the 90s). Moore's voice treats this song incredibly well. I probably like the Burtnik original a bit better, but Moore's heart for the song gives this something entirely new that makes it fun to listen to all over again. Second thing is just that this was easily Geoff Moore's best CD ... again, in his vastly underrated career.

7. Country Roads - Jason & the Scorchers ... tough to pick just one from these guys. But what's not to love about heavy guitars and country twang vocals on top of some John Denver lyrics?

8. Reason to Believe - Eddie Money ... another tribute CD item, this one covering Rod Stewart tunes. In fairness, Jani Lane's version of "I Was Only Joking" deserves some special attention here as well. What made the entire CD worthwhile was that it wasn't just a bunch of heavy metal guitarists riffing on their favorite guitarists from another band. There's a bit more depth in this tribute CD that I think got overlooked.

9. Too Fast for Love - The Donnas ... what can I say, I'm more a fan of their earlier work. Still, one of my fondest memories of the band is waiting in a wayyyy too long line outside of Fitz's listening to the gals do a late soundcheck to Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight."

10. Linus & Lucy - Gary Hoey ... some early recorded brilliance by Gary Hoey. It's telling that Hoey's most notable work has been cover tunes, though. Great player, but the world has only so much need for the surf & turf tunage that he's otherwise fond of. This is a heavier treatment of the Peanuts classic and strikes me as a far superior interpretation than any other.

There's lots more where this came from. I mean, I haven't even listed a single Ramones or Van Halen number. Clearly, I'm tying one arm behind my back here.