Each set in this Who Sings It series has had at least a remake or two:
But this Volume 5 could well be the most backward-looking.
Not only are six of the tracks remakes, but two others lean heavily into their samples to create fascinating takes on their foundations.
The album Rhythm, Country and Blues was designed to pair artists from country and R&B on cover versions.
From it come Sam Moore and Conway Twitty’s take on Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia…”
…and Al Green and Lyle Lovett’s version of the Willie Nelson composition “Funny How Time Slips Away.”
Another high-concept album, A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield…
…features the master singer-songwriter himself teaming with The Repercussions on a version of “Let’s Do It Again,” a Number 1 hit in 1975 for The Staple Singers.
Vocal group Take 6 reworked and added a gospel touch to “Biggest Part of Me,” the Top 3 pop hit of a previous vocal group, Ambrosia.
The pop reggae group Big Mountain scored their only Top 40 hit with a rendition of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way.”
And saxophonist David Sanborn’s take on Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” became a hit on the smooth jazz format. It featured vocals from former Shalamar vocalist Howard Hewett.
When it comes to new work on old foundations, US3’s jazz-meets-hip hop track, “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),” sampled Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island.” The result was a Top 10 pop hit.
Not quite as successful, but still mind-blowing, was the act Beautiful People, who took more than a dozen samples from the late guitar legend Jimi Hendrix and built new songs around them.
The single “If 60’s Was 90’s” included a sample from Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9.” It missed the Hot 100 but went top five on the dance chart.
Aside from the remakes and re-imaginings:
Haddaway’s “What Is Love?” hit the Top 40 years before becoming ubiquitous via a Saturday Night Live sketch and a subsequent movie, A Night at the Roxbury.
Also getting a second chance through film were The Proclaimers, whose “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” entered the U.S. pop Top 5 due to exposure in the movie Benny & Joon – five years after its global release.
Lisa Keith, a noted session singer who shared vocals with Janet Jackson on Herb Alpert’s “Diamonds,” had a hit of her own with the effervescent “Better Than You.”
England’s Clive Griffin never fully caught on in the U.S., though he did have a Top 40 duet with Celine Dion. His one solo Hot 100 single, “Commitment of the Heart,” scraped the bottom at No. 96.
Paul Carrack, whose voice graced hits by Ace, Squeeze, and Mike and the Mechanics as well as solo efforts, guested on Beth Nielsen Chapman’s “In the Time It Takes.” It stiffed on the Hot 100 but went Top 25 AC.
The two tracks that are only available on YouTube are “Here We Are, My Friend,” a country pop ballad by Billy Dean from the TV soundtrack One Life to Live…
(The video is evidently a fan’s tribute to Xena.)
And:
“Regular Thang,” the sole charter for Ovis.
Here’s the Spotify link for the rest of this set:
Which ones do you like? Hate?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
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I can bring only two of these to mind, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” and “What Is Love,” but I know I’ve heard most of the rest. I do remember liking “Cantaloop” and I’m sure I’ll listen and about 15 seconds into each say, “Oh, yeah, I remember this.”
Thanks, Chuck! There goes my morning’s productivity.
I’m down for 3 of these, again. I loved “Cantaloop” when it came out. I had never heard Herbie’s “Cantaloupe Island” and now that I do know it, I prefer to hear it in original form, but I still can appreciate what US3 did at the time, which sounded fresh and different from what was out there.
“What is Love?” by Haddaway is a karaoke favorite of mine. It will be forever associated primarily with the SNL series of skits that used it, but it’s a banger of a song all on its own and sometimes I wish it wasn’t tethered to that.
“I’m Gonna Be” is cloying and bothersome. Maybe I liked it the first couple of times I heard it, but I doubt it. After walking 500 miles twice, I highly doubt anyone is going to be of much use to anyone, so what is the point of that? Seriously.
I was going to say the same thing about “Cantaloupe Island” in that US3 was my gateway to the original which I still listen to regularly today. Good stuff!
That era of more commercially accessible jazz is fantastic all around.
I assume that the excessive exertion is to prove how much they love her but you’re right. The reality of having to care for an exhausted Scotsman falling down at your door is more of a chore.
Clive Griffin never quite made it at home either. UK chart peak of 56.
Beautiful People is my wow moment of today. Haven’t thought about them since 1994. There was a brief moment of hype about them due to the Hendrix samples. If 60s Were 90s underperformed, landing at #74 and they were swiftly consigned to history.
Haddaway always raises a smile. Though not for his music. In the Geordie vernacular of where I grew up ‘haddaway’ is an invocation for someone to depart the area, or is used to express disbelief. To express disbelief verging on incomprehension this can be expanded to ‘haddaway and shite’.
As in being told that Backstabbers is anything less than a 10, the correct response from the Geordie music fan would be a belligerent; ‘haddaway and shite’.
The Proclaimers were two of the unlikeliest looking pop stars. I’ve always preferred their debut hit; Letter From America. It may not have reached your shores but there’s plenty more longing and emotion than in 500 Miles. And not so ubiquitous that it’s worn out its welcome.
https://youtu.be/yy9GmieAEaQ?feature=shared
You’re right. That is better. I had only ever heard the one song from them.
They’ve had a lengthy career. Letter From America was 1987 and they’re still going now.
They’re well known enough here that there’s been a musical based on their songs; Sunshine On Leith, which was turned into a film in 2013.
90% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes – highly recommended (not by me, I’ve not actually seen it despite owning their greatest hits).
I’ll have to check into it!
I’ve always loved the Green/Lovett duet. Things I didn’t know about it that I should have: written by Willie Nelson way back when (’60? ’61?); Green recorded a solo version back in ’73; he won a Grammy for this latest version. Never listened to the whole of the Rhythm, Country and Blues album. Will do so now. Great stuff as usual, M. Small.
Why it’s always good to double- and triple-check: I was shocked to hear that the Beautiful People track on Spotify is not the one I remember (or have on my iPod). This is the version I remember, which turns out to be the PM Dawn American remix of the track. I like it far more than the Spotify track, which to me sounds like generic Eurodance from the mid-90s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrecaB_K2qo