There's been much discussion about Covers here lately. "Should people be allowed to do them", "is Prince a hypocrit for doing them and them being critical of them", etc.

I'd like to be positive for moment and acknowledge those covers that have been done well, and have been respectful to the original versions. When done right, covers can be a good thing and pay homage to a great song or artist

I'll start with Prince:

I'm only going to touch on the covers that he has actually recorded. His many live covers are to numerous to list and it's unlikely that everyone has heard all of them.

None of his covers of "I cant Make You Love Me, Betcha By Golly Wow, LaLaLa Mean I Love you", are not better than the originals imo, but all are generally well done.

"One of us" is generaly considered his best cover. I never really liked the song to begin with, but I agree with the critique.

"Winding Road" was funky, but I think he altered the song way too much, especially towards the end with the vocals by Larry Graham. Just overdone.

Covered Prince Songs:

First of All I'm not counting all the Time, Sheila E, NPG, Family songs, since Prince actually performed on most of those tunes.

I won't get into the bad ones because, there are just too many to list, but these are some that I felt were well done.

With You - Jill Jones

If I was Your Girlfreind -TLC

How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore - Stephanie Mills

Shhh - Tevin Campbell

I feel For U- Chaka Khan(yeah I know it had Melle Mel on it, but it also had Stevie Wonder, so it's a wash! Plus it was jammin!)

She's always in my Hair - D'Angelo

Honorable Mentions:

Leanne Rhimes -Purple Rhimes. Yeah, she's country, but she does a good job on vocals. Kinda sounded like Patti Labelle.

When You were Mine - Ani Difrano(live w/Maceo Parker). Performed as much slower piano peice, but still was nice.

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Conner. Say what you want about her, she put this song on the map and got Prince a Grammy to boot. Prince himself didn't even start performing the song until after she did it.

Get It Up - TLC. An ambitious choice, but solid effort. It's kind of obscure. I think it was on a soundtrack or something.

These are just opinons, and I'm sure many will differ.
Holler.

This is truly a great topic! Sadly, one I covered already.

Peep this:

http://www.prince.org/msg...&tid=10855

U raise many good points, but Leanne Rhimes' Purple Rain???

2 me, the fact that u put her rendition of Purple Rain in the "honorable mention" catagory makes all ur other points extremely questionable.

That has 2 b the worst "cover" ever.

Oh well, that's just my opinion...or is it?!?

Randy Crawford's version of "purple rain" is beautiful

June7 said:

Obviously, opinions will vary. Leanne Rhimes' Purple Rain wasn't great, but there plenty of worse Prince Covers. "Private Joy" by Latoya Jackson, "When Doves Cry" by Genuwine, 17 days by Living Coulour are all far worse than Leann IMO.

But again, it's all subject to personal taste and preference. I appreciate you candor.

Cool...I was just giving u a hard time...y do I do that?!?



Mine remain:

I Feel 4 U - Chaka Kahn
Manic Monday - Bangles (it's my cell phone ring tone! lol)

and my fave "cover",

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Conner.

yes the TLC version of get it up was the best!! followed by chaka khan and then sinead. every song that prince covered i think he upgraded and made them better. well except for winding road. i liked the first one better. of course his best covers are done in concert..he does them so well you think that he wrote the original.

jnoel said:

It's funny how many country artist have covered Purple Rain. I've never heard Randy Travis' version, but he's a pretty good artist, so it doesn't surprise me that his would be good.

June7:

I read your initial post of the topic you created. You made some of the exact same points that I did! C'mon man, cut me some slack on the Leann Rhimes thing!

June7 said:

No harm, no foul. I've read a lot of your posts on other topics, and more often than not, we have similar opinions on most things.