'You Can't Cover Marley!'
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Artist:
This was my thinking for many, many years, but the song posted here changed my mind. This is Alana Davis covering a Bob's Nice Time, a song thankfully spared the humiliation of being included on Legend. I post this song, not only because it just works when conventional wisdom says it shouldn't, but of how I came to hear it.
My first post featured a Steady Ups song that I mentioned was included on an annual party mix that I am chartered with each Memorial Day weekend. I started making CD's for guests at the party back in 1997 as a sort of musical trojan horse to ensure that I could spend one of my favorite days of the year listening to music I loved. The series, inexplicably, became pretty popular with the rest of the guests and in 1999 I added a CD to let them participate better. It was dubbed The People's Choice Album. Here is how it works:
- Everyone submits up to 5 songs per person (or couple if you are into that sort of thing)
- Of the 5, at least 1 is selected to be on the compilation guaranteed
- If anyone wanted to they could submit only one song - this has become known as "shotgunning" a pick
- Some caveats around the acceptable length of each track and deadlines that songs needed to be submitted to me by.
After I got the 100 to 120 songs, I would select the best for the mix and burn them in the order that I thought sounded the best while trying to avoid similar songs in back-to-back tracks. On the cover (MDM: People's Choice 2007 is pictured here) each person would be credited with whatever song was chosen. This led to many conversations amongst the revelers, many of whom didn't know each other, about the music and their songs. After one year it was pretty clear that the People's Choice Album had to stay and it soon became a time honored and highly anticipated tradition.
It's always a blast for me. I get exposed to great music that I wouldn't otherwise and get the editorial control to put them into an order that sounds the best for me. There are always lemons that need to dealt with and covered for, but most submissions don't go below the "mediocre - acceptable" level. A few times, like the example I've posted, you get something like this - a great musical gift that makes the whole process worthwhile. The funny thing about this song is that it was submitted by a close friend's wife whom I never gave a second thought to musically. Most of her previous picks were traced to a Pottery Barn collection - even classics like an Ella Fitzgerald - and that bugged me. Not this year, this song was picked from the LA airwaves and it's proof of the power of the mix. She heard this and knew that it fit into the party's soundtrack. It was a great pick.
One very interesting byproduct of doing this for 8 years now is how the divergent opinions have evolved into what amounts to a common sound that everyone associates with the party. I'll try and explain that in more depth in a future post,but for now please enjoy the covered stylings of Alana Davis as she takes Nice Time and makes it her own.
I'd welcome any reccomendations for other artists that have done Bob justice in the comments.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (6)
Wow, not shabby at all. I'll bet some of the boys will dig up some good covers of the Great One for you out of their crates.
Ok the best covers of BOb have to be from his children or fellow reggae artists. They seem to have enuff respect if you know what I mean, I don't think many others can do him justice. My favourite is Horace Andy Natural mystic
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The original of this was released on Wail N Soul M about 1968, with Clancy Eccles at the controls, and Gladdy's All-Stars as the band
As for other good covers of Bob Marley tunes - off the top of my head
Marcia Griffiths - Bus Dem Shut (Xterminator)
Jennifer Lara - Natural Mystic (Studio One)
Black Uhuru - Sun Is Shining (Jammys)
Johnny Clarke - Crazy Baldhead (Bunny Lee)
Most of the tracks on "Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers" and "Tribute" are worth a listen
Cocoa Tea and Cutty Ranks - Waiting in Vain (Xterminator)
I knewyou guys would come up with some good ones. Clancy Eccles is a favorite at this address. In fact, Mrs. Chillen' vetoed my request for Clancy if we had a son.
Baudolino - do you like each and every one of those covers? there are some that I'd take a pass on.
Which ones do you not like?
The Gladiators and U-Roy made a decent fist of "Small Axe" for Prince Tony back in '77 - mind you Albert Griffiths was a great admirer of Bob as a songwriter.
Probably favourite still has to be Marcia Griffith's "Hurting Inside" though, produced by Sonia Pottinger for her High Note label
That Gladiators is something I'd be very interested in hearing. I love them and I love the song.
I love Hurting Inside, but never heard the Griffth cover.
I like some Cocoa Tea (Come Again is a favorite), but his version of Waiting in Vain was a pass - although that probably has as much to do with the song itself as CT. I am also not crazy about Black Uhuru's Sun is Shining. I've neveer heard the Johnny Clarke one.