Covering Cover songs

Hey everyone, hope you've been well.
Thought I might do a (semi) written post today. So....what to write about?
Well, I thought I'd write a bit about covers.

For some reason Japan likes cover songs. Or maybe it's just an easy way for companies to make money? Who knows. Whatever it is, it is a fact that their music industry churns out heaps of cover albums. Way more than America.....probably anyway. They can sometimes be nice, and around 70% of the time be awful. That's probably because the original song is usually such a  good song that it's hard to improve it, or the covering artist is some random unknown struggling one employed for half a buck. The remaining 30% however, tend to be pretty good and can become an interesting fusion of the original and (at least a bit of) the covering artists' own musical style. I find it pretty fun finding good cover songs, and especially nice if I don't even like the original song, but that's pretty rare. Anyhow, this post is just going to mention a few cover tracks that I liked.

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ELLIE MY LOVE
RAY CHARLES / SOUTHERN ALL STARS



Wait what? I thought this was supposed to be a Japanese song list? Well it is, or was, originally. Here it is sung by the legendary Ray Charles but it actually a cover of the song "Itoshi no Ellie" by the Southern All Stars. I've talked about this group a few times already so on this blog so....it's kind of a pain to do it again, but they are one of the most successful and influential bands ever in Japan. They are said to be the artists that paved the way for 'J-pop', a more Western sounding style of Japanese music, from the previous 'Kayoukyoku' style pop music, which was slightly different and more suited to Japanese phonetics. Both versions of this song were huge hits in Japan and in my head.




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HARMELN 
BUCK-TICK/ LA-PPISCH



BUCK-TICK have quite a strong following around the world among J-Rock fans but I wonder if many know of this song by them? It's off a tribute album for the musician/songwriter called Ueda Gen that was created after his death. He was a former member of a Ska/rock band called La-Ppisch, who made this song. They've impressively made it their own song without straying away from the original, which is nice. Maybe the song suited them in the first place but they still deserve credit for what they've done.




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LUPIN THE 3RD -LOVE THEME-
IMAI MIKI



This is the love theme from the popular anime, "Lupin the 3rd". I'm not sure who the first person to sing it with lyrics was so I can't really compare it but it's still a very nice song. Although this is a slightly different version to the one I have (it's only piano and voice) but it's more or less similar. Imai Miki has a gentle and soothing singing voice which matches this slow tune perfectly. There was also a version by the anime theme singer, Mizuki Ichiro on youtuve while I was looking for this video. That was also quite nice and slightly different because it's a male voice. I suppose it helps that the original song is a really nice one. Well that depends on what kind of music you like, but this is my opinion so yeah~



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I LOVE YOU
UTADA HIKARU/ OZAKI YUTAKA



This is a very famous song originally by the male singer, Ozaki Yutaka. Back in the 1980's he burst onto the scene with the song "Juugo no yoru" (The Night I was Fifteen) which was about teenage rebellion and all that pubity stage stuff making him an icon among adolescents at the time. He was one of the biggest stars until his sudden and unexpected death at the young age of 26, leaving many fan girls (and boys) in tears. The song that I've posted  is the song "I Love You", covered by the pop queen, Utada Hikaru. I actually found this rendition by chance a few days ago (can't remember how) but was very impressed. As usual she has a very clear and melodic voice.



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AUTUMN LEAVES
SHIINA RINGO/ EDIT PIAF




I seem to chuck on Shiina Ringo somehow on every list that I'm able to. That's what it feels like anyway. Well that makes sense, since she's one of my favourite musicians. Originally by the legendary French songstress, Edith Piaf, which is also a very awesome song. I'm kind tired writing so I'll be lazy and stop here. lol





Well I hope you found something here that you liked. I was going to write about how much variety that this list has but then I realised that most of them are ballads so.......I won't lol......

I was originally planning to have a few different styles but they ended up being pretty similar since I wasn't thinking that much as I was writing. Oh well. In anycase, I hope you discovered a song that you fancy....