COCKTAILS WITH TERRY

like Shawn’s “Cover Girl,” or the tribute variety, in which multiple artists provide their interpretation of a song from the catalogue of a single artist. Examples of the latter include various artists contributing to “A Tribute to Joni Mitchell,” or keeping with Joni, “River: The Joni Letters,” a jazz inflected studio album by Herbie Hancock and various vocalist.

And as I am writing in Sweden, Erasure’s “ABBA-esque” EP must be mentioned, if for no other reason than it is ABBA, but also because it provided Erasure with their first and only number one in the UK singles chart and became a number-one hit in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, and, of course, in Sweden.

Elvis Costello released “Almost Blue,” an underappreciated album of country covers recorded in Nashville, which only now is being reassessed and appreciated as it should. And then there is Todd Rundgren’s Faithful, in which Todd does not really cover, but rather reproduces, in a manner “faithful“ to the original, to what purpose is possibly the most important question. While possibly an example of the most devotional extreme of this tendency is Ryan Adams’ “1982,” replicating in its entirety Taylor Swift’s album of the same name.

Cover albums recorded by those artists who are most covered by other artists add yet another twist. I think of Dylan’s recently released “Shadow Kingdom,” revisiting earlier recordings of his to great effect. However, in my mind the greatest results have come from Joni Mitchell’s cover albums, “Both Sides Now” and its follow-up “Travelogue.” Her rendition of “Both Sides Now” from the album of the same name provides for me a far richer experience than Judy Collins’ cover or even Joni’s original recording, with her voice having shifted into a deep alto providing gravitas that is further supported by the swirling strings of the accompanying orchestra.

And don’t get me started on orchestral versions, either with the band being supported by a symphony or simply a symphony orchestra playing instrumental arrangements. Efterklang’s performance of their Piramida album with the Copenhagen Philharmonic, resulting in the “Piramida Concert “album, comes immediately to mind, transcending an already remarkable album. Similarly, Noordpool Orchestra’s “Radiohead: A Jazz Symphony” offers an intriguing set of remakes, with a standout track being their version of “Weird Fishes, a song covered by many others. This is in addition to the myriad of other equally satisfying Radiohead cover recordings that are available. Or maybe Nirvana, themselves providers of great covers, on cellos might appeal. Well then, take a listen to Redi Hasa’s “My Nirvana,” a demonstration quality disc brought to my attention by Mark Alcock, of UK distributor Karma AV.

An offshoot of this orchestral tree are the recent recordings reworking classical works, the best example being Max Richter’s reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s

Four Seasons as part of the Deutsche Gramophone’s “Recomposed” series, with the opening “Spring 1” being simply sublime. But I said we would not be considering classical, so will move on.

Translation of a song into another language yields an additional wrinkle to the cover story, with an example of “Gloria” by Laura Branigan being originally an Italian song by Umberto Tozzi. Branigan’s version isn’t a straight cover, though; her Gloria is lonely and promiscuous, with lyrics that are sarcastic and contemptuous, while Tozzi’s original gushes almost worshipfully about a woman who is well out of his league.

More recently, Metallica’s ‘The Unforgiven’ has been transformed by Inuk musician Elisapie, who sings in indigenous Inuktitut, on her ‘Inuktitut’ album, which features similar interpretations of songs by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Cyndi Lauper, and others, each with a personal story behind them. The album represents Elisapie personal journey, tied to specific times in her life, and as a result the songs are informed by a more introverted and meditative interpretation.

Some covers and remakes fall painfully flat and uninspired, such as Tom Jones partnering with The Cardigans to cover Burnin’ Down the House, while others may be overly inspired, such as William Shatner’s more than cringe worthy spoken word versions of Tambourine Man and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds from the cover album The Transformed Man.

Ultimately a pattern can be seen in that the most effective original or cover, tend to be the slower, more thoughtful and considered, more emotional versions. Significantly, it is when the cover becomes a remake, reworked by the artist so successfully that they effectively own the song, making it their own.

The best example of this may be Joe Cocker’s transformation of The Beatles “With a Little Help from My Friends,” bringing a level of desperate despair simply not found in the jaunty original “mop-top” version.

Similarly, “Hey Joe,” the Billy Roberts’ song that gained fans in the Los Angeles music scene of the mid-1960s, led to fast-paced recordings in 1965 and 1966 by The Leaves, the Standells, the Surfaris, Love, The Music Machine, and The Byrds, to be transformed into a slowed down and more contemplative rock classic of brilliance and power by Jimi Hendrix.

The original recording of “Highway 61 Revisited,” as so often with Dylan, is a court jester’s satirical burlesque where Dave Alvin’s remake deftly mines the menace that lies within the song.

“Such Great Heights,” originally recorded by The Postal Service, was covered by Iron and Wine, prominently featured on the Garden State soundtrack,