It’s always fun to watch and listen to famous bands do cover songs for others that have come before. The Dave Matthews Band has cultivated their own sound and enjoyed their own fan base for years now, but they’ve also gone the way of doing cover songs of other bands and the effect is pretty cool to listen to. With some songs it seems important to get everything just right and stick to the original as close as possible, but with others it seems as though the band has gone down their own path and it’s impressive to hear. So long as the song isn’t butchered it usually comes out pretty good, and the Dave Matthews Band is one of the best at recreating the songs of other bands in a way that’s both respectful and impressive.
Here are a few just to show you how good they are.
5. Money-Pink Floyd
This is spot on and it’s awesome. This is definitely a song that you want to get right and not deviate too much from the original since it’s a classic and a lot of people might stop listening if it got butchered in some way. It seems like a fairly simple song in regards to each individual part, but the manner in which they bring it back is something special since they definitely respect it.
4. Burning Down the House-Talking Heads
This is one that they put a little more pep on and to be honest it was a little hard to really understand at first, but given that it’s a live performance it could be that they put this much more on it just to make it something of their own creation. It’s a lot harder than the original and in some ways kind of takes off on its own journey past what The Talking Heads might have thought about. The people still like it though.
3. Sledgehammer-Peter Gabriel
This is one of my favorite songs of all time just because it’s so much fun and moves along so easily. The music video was pretty fun too despite the fact that it’s pretty dated now. That didn’t and still doesn’t diminish the fact that this song is that great. The band seems to have a good time with this one and recreates it perfectly to the enjoyment of the crowd.
2. All Along the Watchtower-Jimi Hendrix
This is a song you definitely don’t want to deviate from that much since it’s one of the absolute classics of music and would cause a band to be shredded to pieces in reviews if they dared to mess with it too much. Of course the band still needs to have their own sound, but they need to pay respect to the song that they’re playing as well, which they do in this version of one of the greatest songs ever made.
1. (Don’t Fear) the Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult
Here’s another one that can’t be messed with that much if you want to remain a credible band. The Dave Matthews Band has proven time and time again that they’re one of the most legitimate and awesome bands around, and their cover versions of other songs, such as this classic, are one of the main reasons they can claim as much.
Awesome, just awesome.
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Great stuff- but with all due respect…
Watchtower is Dylan!!!
Not Jimi.
Yes Jimi has an incredible version but come on….
:)
I like the Dead’s version too but Dave has an incredibly passionate and multifaceted version that cannot be ignored. Probably my favorite version.
Thanks for the article!
Yes, you are very right and I do apologize. I grew up hearing it from Jimi and only in the last few years realized it was a Bob Dylan song. I do apologize that’s my mistake. It’s simple habit that leads me to credit Hendrix for that song. My bad. Thanks for calling me on it though.