Voice & instrument October 7, 2011 3:21 PMSubscribe
What are some of the best stripped-down performances of songs?
Bon Iver's performance of Beth/Rest on NPR got me craving some songs performed in a similar manner. The more breathtakingly beautiful the better, obviously.
The Flashbulb's cover of California Dreaming. Totally disposes with vocal harmonies and backs his whispered vocals up with a drum track, piano, and some subtle field recordings and processing. posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:30 PM on October 7, 2011
My favorite musical performance of all time is this stripped-down, slowed-down version of "In This World" by Moby (compared to the original). The original version is a cool and heartfelt song in itself, but the slow acoustic version is hauntingly beautiful. posted by datarose at 3:33 PM on October 7, 2011
The only version of Thunder Road that anyone should ever listen to (and the version that, after decades, made me finally understand that Springsteen is a genius). posted by The World Famous at 3:40 PM on October 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you are unawares of Black Cab Sessions, well, you're in for a treat. Mostly indie stuff, but still a lot of beautiful stuff. Here's the Bon Iver one. My favorites:
Oh, also in line with the Black Cab Sessions, The Airborne Toxic Event released a series of videos of stripped-down acoustic in situ versions of their album. My favorite's probably Does This Mean You're Moving On?, because car roof as drum is endearing and hilarious. posted by carsonb at 4:44 PM on October 7, 2011
Sorry, I promise this is the last one.... for now:
Cat Power's version of the Velvet Underground's I Found a Reason is about as stripped down as it gets.
The Watson Twins turn in a nice version of the Cure's Just Like Heaven that's pretty stripped bare (and largely acoustic). posted by Gilbert at 5:13 PM on October 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
(I also posted a stripped down cover of Maniac to MeFiMusic once but it doesn't fit the "breathtakingly beautiful" aspect of your question very well) posted by burnmp3s at 5:18 PM on October 7, 2011
OK, if we're including artists doing stripped-down covers, then allow me to suggest Clem Snide's version of Beautiful. posted by carsonb at 5:21 PM on October 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sting's version of Come Down in Time from the Elton John tribute album Two Rooms.
Are you looking for breathtakingly beautiful performances by singer/songwriters? Or stripped-down versions of songs that are usually not?
The first half of Gal Costa's double-live Fatal: Gal A Todo Vapor is acoustic, and fantastic. "Vapor Barato" (video nsfw) gives me chills every time (although her band comes in after not too long.)
More Jens Lekman: His cover of Arthur Russel's "A Little Lost." You might like the original; it's just Russel, his cello, and effects. posted by hydrophonic at 5:28 PM on October 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
Seu Jorge's covers of Bowie from The Life Aquatic are lovely as well: Changes (follow the related videos for all of them). posted by carsonb at 5:35 PM on October 7, 2011 [6 favorites]
Seconding Devils Rancher's suggestion of Here Comes the Flood. (Scroll past the Gurdjieff, if you must.)
John Wesley Harding's cover of Like a Prayer. Heard this way back in the twentieth century when Brent Bambury hosted Brave New Waves on the CBC. I thought it was a Costello demo when I first heard it.
I've always been partial to Bruce's acoustic version of Born To Run. posted by auto-correct at 6:07 PM on October 7, 2011
Marie Digby does a lot of acoustic covers. My favorite is her cover of Rihanna's Umbrella posted by alittlecloser at 6:10 PM on October 7, 2011
if we're gonna talk about Bruce, something that NEEDS TO BE HEARD are the demos from the Nebraska sessions that ended up being Born in the USA tracks. NEED TO BE HEARD. posted by radiosilents at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
James Blake's cover of Feist's "Limit to Your Love" is hauntingly minimal, in a more electronic than acoustic way. Link here. Turn the bass up. (Sorry if that link is weird - doing this from my phone.) posted by en forme de poire at 6:16 PM on October 7, 2011
if we're gonna talk about Bruce, something that NEEDS TO BE HEARD are the demos from the Nebraska sessions that ended up being Born in the USA tracks. NEED TO BE HEARD.
The 2007 reissue of Prefab Sprout's 1985 album Steve McQueen (known as Two Wheels Good in the U.S.) includes newly recorded acoustic versions of eight of the original songs. Some of them are staggeringly beautiful; I'm especially fond of Desire As. posted by bassomatic at 8:56 PM on October 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
Yet another cover of Skulls, this time by Evan Dando. posted by Gilbert at 8:58 PM on October 7, 2011
Also, here's Mark Kozelek performing the Bon Scott-era AC/DC song "Up to My Neck in You" as an acoustic number, from his 2001 album of the same name. Not all of the songs on this album work, but this one is genius; musically it's a complete reinvention, and it shines a light on some surprisingly good lyrics. posted by bassomatic at 9:04 PM on October 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
Aztec Camera's version of Van Halen's Jump. In the cover there's just no expectation of success at all. posted by Francolin at 9:12 PM on October 7, 2011 [3 favorites]
It's always bothered me that the audience applauded at the end, instead of silently staring, slack-jawed and awed at what they just witnessed. posted by richyoung at 9:44 PM on October 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
the demo version of Harry Nilsson's cover of "Save the Last Dance For Me" will kill you to death. so good.
(ignore the video part of that link. and then find the real mp3, which, pricelessly, has nilsson wrapping up the take by saying, "let's do one more; that was close.") posted by flod at 10:25 PM on October 7, 2011
Two favorite acoustic duos:
1. Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debut 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' on KCRW's 'Morning Becomes Eclectic'.
2. The Sundays' Harriet Wheeler and David Gavurin perform an acoustic version of 'When I'm Thinking About You' posted by prinado at 12:22 AM on October 8, 2011
Here's Beck covering Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End." Of course, Johnston himself often keeps things minimal. posted by hydrophonic at 4:37 AM on October 8, 2011
[If anyone's interested, we have the Japan import CD that has a better, IMO, version of the acoustic.] posted by evening at 5:59 AM on October 8, 2011
Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker - Hey Ya cover
Graham Gouldman, Neil Finn and Roddy Doyle - I'm not in love - this is from an episode of Songwriter's circle that is pretty much made of awesome. Follow the related links from this video. posted by crocomancer at 6:30 AM on October 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
On Sussex Downs — Patrick Wolf (Larrikin Love cover; this is obscure, but lovely. If you like Patrick Wolf's music, there's an incredible trove of acoustic recordings that I prefer to most of his recorded stuff)
Owen Pallet (formerly known as Final Fantasy) is really good at these covers too: This Modern Love (orig. by Bloc Party), and Fantasy (by Mariah Carrey). Oh, and Bloc Party's own acoustic version of that song is pretty great too.
Also, Owen Pallet's "remix" of Your Ex Lover is Dead, orig. by Stars is incredible, and strips the original song down to its core. Calling it a remix is a bit of a disservice, because it's a gorgeous violin/piano composition that happens to use the vocals from the original song.
St Vincent's cover of Dig A Pony (Beatles) is arguably better than the original.
Of Montreal do a surprisingly good stripped-down cover of Trouble by Lindsay Buckingham.
Avril Lavigne did a surprisingly great acoustic EP back in 2004, but it seems to have vanished into the ether.
this cover of "You Spin Me Round" by Dead and Alive was posted to Mefi Music a few years back, and i think i could listen to it pretty much infinite times before i'd have to stop:
http://music.metafilter.com/228/You-Spin-Me-Round posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 4:31 AM on October 16, 2011
posted by edgeways at 3:24 PM on October 7, 2011 [2 favorites]