Originally Posted By: Joe V
There are definitely 2 camps of listeners - the average listener, IMHO, likes to hear the song the way the producer arranged it on the record; when I like I song - I'm as in love with the arrangement as I am with the harmony, melody, and words.

Many musicians, however - much prefer to change it and put their own stamp on it. Generally, IMHO, the AVERAGE listener would prefer the recorded arrangement. The REALLY good musicians (and I know we have a few on here) - they can change it around and put their stamp on it, and the song will STILL sound really good. But the average musician is not as good at this - and will put their own stamp on it because they really have no choice - they are not good enough to copy it closely to the recorded version, and their rendition is often not equal to or better than the original production/arrangement.

...just one man's opinion....but who else agrees with me ?


I have to disagree with you on this one Joe. Certainly I may be one of those musicians who does not have the musicianship to be able to reproduce the exact note for note arrangement of a cover. To be quite frank I do not want to sound like the original. (This would disqualify me from covering all of John Denver, Bob Dylan and many other male artists whose songs I like to sing.) I want to sound like ME. I don’t want to sound equal or better than the original. I want to sound like ME. I love to produce these songs and I love to perform them and if there are only 10 people in the world who like my music, so be it.

Just think of an artist like Eva Cassidy. She is a great guitar player but I doubt very much she would have the musicianship to able to play Stairway to Heaven note for note and if she had tried I doubt we would ever have known about her. You can also bet your bottom dollar that when she started out she was not able to produce her outstanding interpretations of popular classics. The jury is probably still out about whether her versions are "equal to or better than the original production/arrangement" depending on whether people like the music of EVA CASSIDY (not the music of John Lennon, Sting or the multitude of artists whose songs she choose to cover).

My opinion is a little like the Nike advert, Just do it. Don’t try to copy. Do your own thing and do it with conviction and the chances are it will rub off on others.

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