I have long been fascinated by all the R&B, soul, funk, and soul jazz covers of Beatles songs. They’re almost the only Beatles covers worth your while — a few of them rival the originals. For example, check out the Stevie Wonder clip above.
The Beatles’ original version of We Can Work It Out is practically perfect, with Paul McCartney taking the major-key “try to see it my way” optimistic parts, and John Lennon handling the minor-key “life is very short” parts. Fantastic pop song. That said, Wonder’s cover is so so so killer. Inspired. If I’m Macca or John hearing that for the first time, I’m freaking out with delight.
But soul covers of pop songs don’t always work. Or, at least, they really have to take a sidestep. I think this is the reason that the kind of Beatles covers attempted by soul outfits is quite a bit different than those done by other pop bands. In my record collection I have cherished covers of deep cuts like Blue Jay Way and The Inner Light. I even wrote about it once HERE.
Today, though, we’re going to look beyond The Beatles at some perhaps-odd choices of songs for soul artists to cover. Specifically, rock songs. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they do not. I’m gonna go through a bunch I’ve rounded up and let you know whether this particular cover is a keeper or one to bury in the yard.
This particular genre is pretty uncommon. I got a good bunch of songs together, but it took quite a while. When it comes to covers by atypical artists, it’s way easier to find metal, punk and rock covers of just about anything. There’s even swaths of bluegrass, baroque, country, jazz and 8-bit covers of just about anything you can name.
Here are some highlights from my playlist:
Sunshine Of Your Love | Ella Fitzgerald
THUMBS UP: Ella Fitzgerald was 51 years old when she recorded a live album in The Venetian Room of San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel in 1968. The aim of the show, and subsequent 1969 live album, was to show off the First Lady of Song’s ability to handle contemporary material. To that end, the album opens with her rendition of The Beatles’ Hey Jude, which was only a little more than a month old at the time. But the real gem here is the album’s title track, Sunshine Of Your Love. The bluesy riff-rock anthem by Cream had been out for nearly a year in the U.S., but less than a month in the U.K. In any case, she nails it.
Tales Of Brave Ulysses | Rotary Connection
THUMBS DOWN: I’m rather shocked that this cover of another Cream song is hokey and forced. It shouldn’t be. Rotary Connection were put together by Marshall Chess of Chess Records, specifically to expand their artist catalog beyond blues and soul acts, and target fans of psychedelic music to his label’s new subsidiaries Cadet and Concept. When I say he put the group together, I mean it: He snagged the receptionist at Chess to be one of the vocalists — Minnie Ripperton. She went on to have a pretty successful solo career. Members of Rotary Connection were the backing band on the killer psychedelic blues album Electric Mud by Muddy Waters (1968) and the similarly styled The Howlin’ Wolf Album (also 1968). These two albums are essential to anyone’s collection, and both appeared on Cadet in an attempt to revive the careers of the 50 year-old bluesmen whose songs were being routinely covered by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, and soon, Led Zeppelin. Rotary Connection made a handful of albums, but none even come close to the two records they made with Wolf and Muddy. This is from their third, Peace (1968) which was the best-charting album, reaching No. 24.
96 Tears | Big Maybelle
THUMBS UP: I love Big Maybelle, and have three of her albums. Maybelle Louise Smith was only in her early 40s in 1967, but her career was in steep decline. Nearly 300 lbs and addicted to heroin, she managed to record a fantastic cover of ? & The Mysterians’ big 1966 hit, 96 Tears. It was her last hit single. She died penniless in a diabetic coma in 1972, only 47 years old. A while back I reviewed a very special double LP which compiles some of the recordings she made during her final years. So good. Read about it HERE. Her most successful period was 1955-1960, when she recorded Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On two years before Jerry Lee Lewis, headlined at New York’s Apollo Theatre, the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, and shared billing with Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson.
The Pusher | Nina Simone
THUMBS UP: Nina Simone recorded her cover of this dark anti-drug anthem in 1971 — eight years after it was written by (believe it or not) Hoyt Axton, and three years after Steppenwolf’s version was included in the film Easy Rider. Like Steppenwolf, Simone’s more soulful version succeeds in making the song dark and direct via a restrained arrangement. It wasn’t included on one of her albums until her last album for RCA, It Is Finished in 1974. She didn’t make another album until she was persuaded to go back to the studio by CTI boss Creed Taylor in 1978. Incidentally, that album — titled Baltimore — included a cover of Hall & Oates’ Rich Girl. Anyway, The Pusher was recorded during the time when Simone was quietly taking anti-psychotic medication for her bipolar disorder, and around the time she decided to relocate to Barbados without her husband or manager — eventually facing tax evasion charges and carrying on an affair with the Barbadian prime minister before relocating again to Liberia, where her abusive behaviour caused her daughter to become suicidal and return to live with her father in New York. This is one of three Steppenwolf covers on my playlist. The others are Wilson Pickett‘s very Pickett 1969 version of Born To Be Wild, and Billy Paul‘s ridiculous 1971 take on Magic Carpet Ride.
Changes | Charles Bradley
THUMBS UP: One of the most-inspired covers of all time, in any category. The Screaming Eagle of Soul didn’t find any success until he was in his 50s, and only started performing in his late 40s as a James Brown impersonator, calling himself Black Velvet. This is when he got noticed by Daptone Records, who signed him and released four studio albums between 2011 and his death in 2017. This exquisite Black Sabbath cover features Bradley backed by The Budos Band. It was the title track of his third album Changes (2016) but was first released in 2013 as a Black Friday Record Store Day standalone single.
Won’t Get Fooled Again | Labelle
THUMBS DOWN: This one is pretty ill-advised, but certainly not half-assed.
This Who cover opens Labelle’s second album, 1972’s Moon Shadow. And yes, they also cover Cat Stevens’ Moonshadow… for more than nine minutes. That one opens Side 2, but doesn’t count because it’s not a cover of a rock song. Anyhow, there’s a lot going on here; it’s the pre-disco era disco with those ’70s strings, tight and light. It’s a gawdawful choice of song to treat this way. Confounding, even. Their next record, Pressure Cookin’, is better, and the one after that had their big hit Lady Marmalade on it. During this time, Elton John managed to wrangle Labelle into a recording studio to help him out with the opening medley on Rock Of The Westies. Speaking of medleys, there’s one on Pressure Cookin’ where they mash up Thunderclap Newman’s Something In The Air with Gil-Scott Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
Psychotic Reaction | Benton Wood
THUMBS UP: This one’s crazy. Benton Wood’s debut album Oogum Boogum came out in 1967. The title track was a hit, and Wood (Alfred Smith) wrote every song on it except this cover of year-old psychedelic garage-rock banger Psychotic Reaction by Count Five. This band were so young that two members were still in high school when they cut the record. I have no idea how or why Wood decided he needed to cover this, but I’m glad he did. His soul treatment just makes the otherwise frenetic incel song kinda fun. Goofy, even. Wood was certainly not someone who took himself too seriously.
Welcome To The Jungle | Etta James
THUMBS DOWN: Nobody in Guns N’ Roses lived harder than Etta James, but this fantastic choice of a cover is mired by a strait-laced band, boring arrangement and a seriously ailing 73-year-old vocalist. As the only contemporary song, this track stands out from the array of Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Johnny “Guitar” Watson covers on 2011’s The Dreamer. It was James’ last album, released two months before her death in hospital where she was battling a strep infection, leukemia and Alzheimer’s disease. So she couldn’t have been in top form. All this came after decades of addiction to heroin, then methadone and painkillers, which naturally led to a series of arrests, incarcerations, rehab stints and involuntary commitments. Even with all this craziness, she managed to put out eight albums in the ’60s, six in the ’70s, two in the ’80s before a stint in hospital, seven in the ’90s and six in her final decade — basically, 30 albums in 50 years. Oh, and she played around 500 concerts, too. So, she totally is this song, and it should have been better. I can’t help but imagine what it would have sounded like if she hadn’t produced it herself, but instead had someone like Jack White, Rick Rubin or Dan Auerbach involved. Anyway, knowing what you now know about Etta James in the mid-’70s, check this out:
Whole Lotta Love | Tina Turner
THUMBS UP: In 1975, Tina Turner got to step out of her husband Ike Turner’s shadow somewhat. She appeared as The Acid Queen in the film version of The Who’s Tommy. That’s where her 1975 solo album got its name. It turns out Tina recorded the title track twice — one version for the film and another for this album. The entire first side is cover songs, and all of ’em pretty rockin’ ones: two by The Rolling Stones, two by The Who and the Led Zeppelin cover here. Ike still weaseled his way onto the record, of course. He produced and arranged the entire second side and even shared vocal duties with Tina on the album’s first single, Baby Get It On, which he wrote. By this time, Ike was heavily into cocaine and abusive. She left him a year after this album came out. Her version of Whole Lotta Love is fantastic and scores in all the places Etta James’ GN’R cover fails. Whole Lotta Love breathes. It takes ages for the vocals to come in. It’s heavy and not too fast. It doesn’t swing, and doesn’t entirely do away with the middle section. It’s an excellent choice for her voice, obviously.
• • •
Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
