strongoxman1 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Yet there was another guy whose name totally escapes me that did a cover of that and it was great.

Mitch Ryder?

That's him.

MUSE

"Sign O The Times"

OH!

AND!

Missile Command

"Manic Monday"

[Edited 9/20/22 8:54am]

Randy Crawford´s "Purple Rain" is special to me. And I really love Marcin Wasilewski Trio´s instrumental version of ´Diamonds and Pearls´. There are others that were already mentioned, like Chaka´s ´I feel for you´ and Muse´s "SOTT" who are some of my faves too.

.

Last but not least, Miles Davis version of ´Penetration´ is so funky

GustavoRibas said:

Randy Crawford´s "Purple Rain" is special to me.

That Bob Belden album is 60% decent.

Cyndi Lauper - When You Were Mine

Chaka Khan - I Feel for You

Tina Turner - Let's Pretend We're Married

Bruce Springsteen - Purple Rain

nayroo2002 said:

MUSE

"Sign O The Times"

OH!

AND!

Missile Command

"Manic Monday"

[Edited 9/20/22 8:54am]

I hadn't previously heard Muse's SOTT. I think they absolutely nail the music, but I'm not sure the singer vocals do the song justice.

jazzz said:

In addition to some of the covers already mentioned, Nina Simone's version of SOTT is quite special [Edited 9/20/22 15:54pm]

I never knew of this cover - I love the musical arrangement, alas her singing/spoken words are not really to my liking. Must have been recorded in her ultimate years, when her before amazing voice was not so good anymore.

But who am I to criticize Nina Simone !!! Love me or leave me...

Krid said:

there is something about many prince songs, maybe his most famous ones actually, that makes covering them hard. partly thats the production but also just that certain prince songs get by on prince being the one singing them. not everyone has that same personality to pull off particular lines. if you were being critical you could say maybe theyre not as rock solid in terms of writing as say many beatles songs (to use an obvious pop example), but ultimately i think its that prince usually wrote just for prince, its not like a motown writing team, so if youre not prince, it might not work for you lol

theres this album too which no ones mentioned yet -

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6478-if-i-was-prince/

[Edited 9/22/22 7:34am]

Usually they turn out poorly, but Bila's cover of Sister was amazing. HER with The Beautiful Ones was alright, but that one Prince tribute album Shockadelica: 50th Anniversary Tribute To The Artist Known As Prince had some gems in it that I can dig. Dump's cover album also had a few good ones.

Wait - I just realized, are we talking song covers, or album covers? Cuz in that case, it's handsdown this:

I was at the Grammys Tribute when Gary Clark Jr covered The Cross. Phew.

Darling Nikki and Pop Life by Foo Fighters was a finger-horns, head nodding JAM

Dave Matthews doing Sexy MF was a trip

[Edited 9/22/22 14:01pm]

nayroo2002 said:

Odd. I linked both, but I think one of the URLs went weird. It was fine when I was typing and compiling it.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

there is something about many prince songs, maybe his most famous ones actually, that makes covering them hard. partly thats the production but also just that certain prince songs get by on prince being the one singing them. not everyone has that same personality to pull off particular lines. if you were being critical you could say maybe theyre not as rock solid in terms of writing as say many beatles songs (to use an obvious pop example), but ultimately i think its that prince usually wrote just for prince, its not like a motown writing team, so if youre not prince, it might not work for you lol

theres this album too which no ones mentioned yet -

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6478-if-i-was-prince/

[Edited 9/22/22 7:34am]

.

- This is true. It´s hard to cover Prince. But on the other hand, it´s one of the few ways to keep his legacy alive. You mentioned the Beatles...there are Beatles cover bands in each city, and they are always being remembered.

jazzz said:

Another special one: How Come you don't call me by Joshua Redman

.

One of my faves! Joshua Redman with the great Brad Mehldau on the piano

No one ever brings up Pointer Sisters cover of "I Feel For You," whether they like it or not. It was on the same album as "I'm So Excited," So Excited. (The song was later put on a re-release of Break Out, but this was its original release. "I Feel For You" was tucked neatly onto side B.

The studio covers all suck.

D'Angelo's NyQuil-infused plodding deconstruction of a bonafide classic might just be the worst of all. cool intro tho.

Live okay, once in a blue moon they're good.

Santana's "The Last December" is ace,

This Ardenal Big Band live in Normay doing "I Hate You" is solid,

Love the Muse one and that's one of the worst bands ever.

I'll even give it up to Mr. Mumbles himself, that live "Sometimes It Snows in April" by D'Angelo. Now normally the Ambien-esque singing style of his-- what do you call this, "mumble-soul"? -- normally it detracts from any and all enjoyability that could be gleaned from his minimalist microgrooves, but this version with just the piano, that moment in April., the mumbles enhance it, it conveyed sadness that night, the whole Prince fanbase was having trouble mumbling through it that night themselves... One of the better live covers/versions. Absolutely.

Otherwise people need to stop covering "Purple Rain".

[Edited 9/23/22 22:51pm]

im a pretty big dangelo fan but his SAIMH cover suffers from weak production. waaaaaay too weak. that voodoo sound didnt work for everything. he can do great covers though - e.g feel like makin love.

How could I forget Cory Henry´s cover of ´Purple Rain´?

.

https://www.youtube.com/w...8j7XJxew7s

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

im a pretty big dangelo fan but his SAIMH cover suffers from weak production. waaaaaay too weak. that voodoo sound didnt work for everything. he can do great covers though - e.g feel like makin love.

My theory is the intro hooks 'em. It's such a cool intro, not one moment of the following 6 minutes of meandering is even 1/100th as cool as that intro.

That intro is the highlight of D'Angelo's studio career.

TrivialPursuit said:

Wait - I just realized, are we talking song covers, or album covers? Cuz in that case, it's handsdown this:

What was the concept supposed to be for this one exactly? Did the designer just finish a Return of the Jedi rewatch and decide "ForceGhost" Prince was something the fanbase would embrace? Did the "Purple Yoda" line inspire this?

[Edited 9/24/22 20:08pm]

[Edited 9/24/22 20:08pm]

RJOrion said:

Honestly, Lovesexy cover might win this one. As a teen it was embarassment, basically Prince softcore porn, now it's like. Who else but Prince pulls that shit off with his chest out like that? Even prior sorta similar covers / more explicit like your Lennon/Ono Two Virgins whatever don't have them fully basking in the imagery with the same commitment or zeal. It's very much his artistic personality dialed to 11 at least as far as his LP covers go... and I only used to be embarassed about owning it CD-sized, imagine coming home to the fam one afternoon clutching the huge vinyl sleeve.

SOTT is the coolest, ATWIAD most artistic, but Lovesexy might indeed be the best (or at least the most) Prince (LP) cover.