Friday, January 04, 2008

An Obvious Plug

For some reason, I get the feeling that everyone knows about Coverville. But maybe I'm wrong. So - if you don't know, Coverville is a great, diverse, always-worth-a-listen podcast consisting of nothing but cover songs. And, for the most part, strange, obscure, indie, unknown cover songs. The podcaster and proprietor, Brian Ibbitt, does a great job of making selections without bias, featuring folk, dance, acoustic, metal, hip-hop, country, bluesy, a-capella, and many other types of covers. He's just finished his annual best-ever cover countdown, which is well-worth checking out. To give you a sense of the types of music he plays, and that his listeners vote for, the top ten were:

10. "Bizarre Love Triangle" (originally by New Order) - Frente!

9. "Lithium" (originally by Nirvana) - The Polyphonic Spree

8. "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) - Jeff Buckley

7. "Don't Stop Believing" (originally by Journey) - Petra Haden

6. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (originally by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg) - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

5. "Hot in Here" (originally by Nelly) - Jenny Owen Youngs

4. "Hurt" (originally by Nine Inch Nails) - Johnny Cash

3. "Common People" (originally by Pulp) - William Shatner

2. "Baby Got Back" (originally by Sir Mix a Lot) - Jonathan Coulton

1. "Romeo and Juliet" (originally by Dire Straits) - Monte Montgomery

Until Whenever

3 comments:

R.A. Porter said...

Funny! I've been listening to the final portion of the countdown this very day. :)

I'm surprised you didn't mention the double dose of "All Along the Watchtower" at 14 and 11 on the countdown. I was *shocked* Bear's version came ahead of Jimi's, though it is more recent and quite good.

Tosy And Cosh said...

Jimi's seems like the only "traditional" great cover to make it, really. Which is cool and all, but made it less surprising, I thought. I do wish he'd play some more jazz/vocal artists. Audra McDonald does some great things on her latest with Randy Newman and Neil Young, and Cassandra Wilson has done some really awesome covers.

Roger Owen Green said...

You've made me famous - see Coverville post for episode 413