Showing posts with label cover versions only. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cover versions only. Show all posts

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Covered: Van McCoy, Best Of: 1962-1985

Here's another artist for my "Covered" series. To remind you, this highlights the talents of songwriters by collecting cover versions of their songs. This time, the focus is on Van McCoy.

These days, McCoy is probably seen by many as a one-hit wonder, because he had one huge hit under his own name: "The Hustle." This instrumental was a huge hit in 1975. It went to Number One on the main U.S. singles chart, as well as on the soul chart. It reached at least the Top Ten in most other countries as well, including hitting Number Three in Britain. 

That was his only Top 40 hit in the U.S., so technically that makes him a "one-hit wonder" in that country. But he did have other hits in other countries. For instance, he had three more Top 40 hits in Britain. But more important, he had a very long and successful career as a songwriter and producer. The focus here will be just on the songwriting part though.
 
McCoy was born in Washington, D.C., in 1940. He started playing piano and singing in a church choir at a young age. He began writing songs at the age of 12. Eventually, he would have 700 of his songs recorded and released by himself or other musical artists. He started to study psychology at Howard University, but dropped out in 1960 to pursue a music career. 
 
He formed his own record company from the very start. He had a little success with his own recordings. His first single, "Mr. D.J.," was a minor hit in 1960. But he soon found more success writing and producing songs for others. He mostly concentrated on that, though he continued to release singles under his own name. His first really big hit as a songwriter was "Baby, I'm Yours." Singer Barbara Lewis took it to the Top Ten in 1965. He continued to write many more hits in the 1960s and 1970s. I've included the ones I liked the best here. Note these aren't necessarily all the biggest hits on the charts.
 
In the 1970s, he began focusing more on his own career. In the 1960s, he only released one album under his own name. But in the 1970s, he released ten. His solo career really took over after his 1975 hit "The Hustle." But he continued writing and producing songs for others as well. Unfortunately, his career was cut short, because he died of a heart attack on June 29, 1979, at the age of 39.
 
Here's his Wikipedia entry if you want to know more. It's surprisingly detailed compared to other similar entries:
 

This album is an hour and nine minutes long. 

01 Stop the Music (Shirelles)
02 Getting Mighty Crowded (Betty Everett)
03 Giving Up (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
04 Baby, I'm Yours (Barbara Lewis)
05 It’s Starting to Get to Me Now (Irma Thomas)
06 Where Does That Leave Me Now (Nancy Wilson)
07 Before and After (Chad & Jeremy)
08 Let It All Out (O'Jays)
09 Stop and Get a Hold on Myself (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
10 When You're Young and in Love (Marvelettes)
11 You're Gonna Make Me Love You (Sandi Sheldon)
12 The Way to a Woman’s Heart (Billy T. Soul)
13 I Get the Sweetest Feeling (Jackie Wilson)
14 So Soon (Aretha Franklin)
15 Lost and Found (Kenny Carlton)
16 Nothing Worse than Being Alone (Ad Libs)
17 Right on the Tip of My Tongue (Brenda & the Tabulations)
18 Let Me Down Easy (Derrick Harriott)
19 The Hustle (Van McCoy)
20 This Is It (Melba Moore)
21 Heavy Love (David Ruffin)
22 Baby Don't Change Your Mind (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
23 Sweet Bitter Love (Aretha Franklin)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/pgC1na27

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/6J8Pg2jDSyrxSmE/file

The cover photo dates to 1975. I assume it's from an awards ceremony, but I don't know the details. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the help of the Kolorize program.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Elton John - Cover Versions, Volume 6: 2008-2017

Here's the sixth and last album in a series of albums of cover versions by Elton John. I had started posted this series back in 2023, but I stopped for a couple of years due to problems with the copyright police. But they seem to be going easy on me lately, so I'm finally finishing off the series.

Only four of the songs here are unreleased. "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Birthday" are from a bootleg of a joint concert John did with Billy Joel in 2009. (He's done a lot of those over the years.) Unfortunately, the sound quality of those two songs are lower than the rest, despite my best efforts to make some audio editing improvements. "Streets of Philadelphia" is from a 2013 MusiCares tribute concert to Bruce Springsteen that I've posted in full on this blog. "Gravity," a duet with Sara Bareilles, is from a 2014 concert.

Pretty much all the other songs are from John's appearances on albums by other musical acts. Check the mp3 tags for more details. The one exception is "I Love You All the Time," which was released as an A-side in 2016.

This is probably going to be the last album in this series because, rather surprisingly, I can't find any good cover versions he did after 2017. Mind you, he's done lots of songs on his studio albums, but these albums only collect covers that aren't the versions from his studio albums. If anyone knows of covers I've missed from this time period, or after, let me know and I'll probably add them in to this album. 

This album is 45 minutes long. 

01 Joseph, Better You than Me (Killers, Elton John & Neil Tennant)
02 Back in the U.S.S.R (Elton John & Billy Joel)
03 Birthday (Elton John & Billy Joel)
04 Snowed In at Wheeler Street (Kate Bush & Elton John)
05 Oh Well, Part 1 (2Cellos & Elton John)
06 Streets of Philadelphia (Elton John with Raphael Saadiq)
07 The Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson & Elton John)
08 Gravity (Sara Bareilles & Elton John)
09 I Love You All the Time (Elton John)
10 Where Do the Guilty Go (Elton John & Frankie Miller)
11 Alone Again, Naturally (Pet Shop Boys & Elton John)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/5co2GBbS

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/MyoGx6JEfwTVUTa/file

The cover image is from a concert at the Manchester Evening News Arena, in Manchester, Britain, on December 20, 2008.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Michael McDonald & Friends - A Tribute to Motown, PBS Soundstage, Nashville, TN, 6-2005

Here is another episode of the great "PBS Soundstage" T.V. show. This one stars, Michael McDonald, but it has a bunch of special guests as well: Billy Preston, Toni Braxton, Take 6, and Indie.Arie. All the songs they performed are covers of Motown classics from the 1960s and 70s.

McDonald has been on the Soundstage show quite a lot. He was a key member of the Doobie Brothers when they hosted the show in 1979. He also hosted it in 2003 with some other guests. And he was a guest on an episode hosted by Kenny Loggins. And I believe he will be on at least one more episode that I have yet to post.

In this case, I would bet the show had him back because of the Motown theme to the episode, meaning that the songs were different from the ones he played on other episodes. At the time he was going through quite a Motown phase. In 2003, he released an all covers album just called "Motown," And in 2004, he released a sequel called "Motown 2." The special guests were not on those albums, with the exception of Toni Braxton. The duet she sang here with McDonald, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)," also appeared as a duet on his "Motown 2" album. 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent.

An hour and six minutes long. 

01 I Second That Emotion (Michael McDonald)
02 talk (Michael McDonald)
03 I Was Made to Love Her (Michael McDonald & Billy Preston)
04 talk (Michael McDonald)
05 What's Going On (Michael McDonald & Billy Preston)
06 I Heard It through the Grapevine (Michael McDonald)
07 talk (Michael McDonald)
08 All in Love Is Fair (Michael McDonald)
09 talk (Michael McDonald)
10 Stop, Look, Listen [To Your Heart] (Michael McDonald & Toni Braxton)
11 talk (Michael McDonald)
12 Baby I'm for Real (Michael McDonald)
13 talk (Michael McDonald)
14 Tracks of My Tears (Michael McDonald & Take 6)
15 talk (Michael McDonald)
16 Since I Lost My Baby (Michael McDonald & Take 6)
17 talk (Michael McDonald)
18 Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever (Michael McDonald)
19 talk (Michael McDonald)
20 You're All I Need to Get By (Michael McDonald & India.Arie)
21 Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Ain't Nothing like the Real Thing (Michael McDonald & India.Arie)
22 talk (Michael McDonald)
23 Nowhere to Run (Michael McDonald & Billy Preston)
24 talk (Michael McDonald) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/vR3Pfbkj 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/4RldNOOrxv6NA5X/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. It shows Toni Braxton standing in the foreground and Michael McDonald sitting at the keyboards further back. 

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 10: 2023-2026

Finally, here's the tenth and last volume for the Neil Young "Covered" series. A big thanks again to Fabio from Rio for doing most of the work to put these together.

Before I go to Fabio's notes about the songs, I want to mention something. My rule here was to include only one cover version of each song (and no versions performed by Young himself). We kept to that, except for two songs, "Heart of Gold" and "Cortez the Killer," where we had two versions. Now that I'm posting this last volume, you can look over all the volumes and see just what songs we included or didn't include. Let us know if you think there are any great Young songs that we didn't include a cover for.

Also, Fabio says he's going to make a kind of "extras" album or albums, consisting of cover versions that he liked that didn't make it here. That's a good opportunity to have second covers of some songs, instead of just one. So if you have ideas of covers that you don't see here, please post them in the comments. I'm sure Fabio will look those over and take that feedback into consideration for his "extras."

One more thing. Fabio wanted this to end on a strong song Young wrote in recent years, specifically "Green Is Blue." But we didn't have a good cover version for that one. So Fabio reached out to the Neil Young "Rust" community. A person named Jeff Winter stepped up and recorded a version of that song just for this collection. So thanks to Jeff as well.

Now, here's Fabio's comments about this time period. 

More than sixty years after Neil Young first emerged in the folk clubs of Toronto, Canada, and later with Buffalo Springfield in the mid-1960s, his songs continue to travel across generations, genres, and continents. The covers gathered throughout these ten volumes show how Young's catalog has become a kind of shared musical language: interpreted by classic rock veterans, indie artists, folk revivalists, Americana performers, and even bedroom musicians recording from home studios.

In recent years this process has only accelerated. Streaming platforms, Bandcamp releases, and fan communities have made it easier than ever for musicians to reinterpret songs from every era of Young's career - from the fragile acoustic ballads of the early seventies to the politically charged songs of his later decades. At the same time, Young himself has continued to release new music and expand his archival releases, ensuring that both longtime fans and new listeners keep rediscovering the depth of his songwriting.

This final volume works almost like an epilogue to the project: a reminder that Neil Young's songs remain very much alive, constantly finding new voices and new meanings. Even when he will no longer be with us - after all, we are all mortals - as long as musicians keep picking up guitars or sitting down at a piano, these songs will continue their journey.

As a final note, I'd like to add that putting together this collection has been both a challenge and a pleasure. Revisiting more than six decades of songwriting made it clear once again how remarkably durable Neil Young's music is: the same songs can survive countless reinterpretations while still retaining their emotional core.

My thanks go to Paul for the idea, the patience, and the many suggestions along the way - and also to the worldwide community of fans, collectors and musicians (the "Rusties") who keep discovering, performing and sharing these songs. Without that ongoing enthusiasm, projects like this would hardly be possible.

Most of all, this collection is simply a tribute to one of the most distinctive songwriters of the last sixty years. As long as people continue to listen to, perform and sing these songs, Young's music won't burn out nor will it rust. And his legacy will never fade away. 

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together.  

This album is an hour and six minutes long.

01 Ten Men Working (Enrico Di Bella)
02 Berlin (Jens Thomas)
03 There’s a World (Sufjan Stevens)
04 Hitchhiker (Minus 5)
05 Out of My Mind (Minus 5)
06 Crime in the City [Sixty to Zero Part 1] (Paul Besselle)
07 No More (Gil Michael)
08 One of These Days (Kassi Valazza)
09 Borrowed Tune (Chris Eckman)
10 Lookin' for a Love (Jeffrey Martin)
11 Philadelphia (Brandi Carlile)
12 White Line (Kurt Vile)
13 Cowgirl in the Sand (Anders Osborne)
14 Here We Are in the Years (Sharon Van Etten)
15 Sail Away (Tyler Ramsey & Carl Broemel)
16 Green Is Blue (Jeff Winter)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/HHUvHraJ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NxLoGxoSibb70Jq/file

The cover photo is from 2019. 

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Bonus Volume: Foriegn Language Versions, 1964-1967 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the finale for guest poster Mike Solof's collection of all the songs Dionne Warwick sang that were written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. This is a bonus volume. That's because, while Mike was putting his collection together, he noticed that Warwick sang a number of Bacharach-David songs in foreign languages. There weren't a lot, but it's enough for a short album. 

Everything here is from 1964 to 1967. She sang three songs in French, then two songs in German, and finally four songs in Italian. All were released as singles in those countries. So this is an interesting curiosity, especially if you speak any of those languages.

This album is 28 minutes long. 

01 Un Toit ne Suffit Pas [A House Is Not a Home] [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
02 Reach Out for Me [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
03 How Many Days of Sadness [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
04 You'll Never Get to Heaven [If You Break My Heart] [German Version] (Dionne Warwick)
05 Walk On By [German Version] (Dionne Warwick)
06 A House Is Not a Home [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
07 The Windows of the World [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
08 Walk Little Dolly [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
09 Walk On By [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bD6LzqHD

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Mcve2ptBTCaZJi9/file

The cover photo was taken near the Nice Jazz Festival in Nice, France, on July 11, 1987. Since this is a foreign language version album, we wanted a photo of her in one of the foreign countries here, though unfortunately you totally can't tell that from the photo.

Monday, March 23, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 9: 2020-2022

Here's the ninth volume of the "Covered" series for Neil Young. We're getting near the end, with only one more volume after this. Once again, thanks to Fabio from Rio for doing most of the work putting this together. Here's Fabio's summary of this time period:

The early 2020s brought an unexpected new chapter in the long afterlife of Neil Young's songs. During the Covid pandemic years, musicians around the world turned to home recordings, livestream performances, and online collaborations. In that environment, Young's catalog proved once again remarkably adaptable: intimate acoustic songs worked perfectly in stripped-down home recordings, while his electric epics continued to inspire roots-rock and Americana bands. At the same time, Young himself remained a visible cultural figure, both through the expanding Neil Young Archives project and through public debates about streaming platforms and artists' rights. The covers in this volume reflect that moment: a mixture of independent artists, online collaborations, and established performers revisiting songs from every phase of Young's long career. 

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and three minutes long.

01 Razor Love (Brandon Wolfe Scott with Stacey)
02 Unknown Legend (Mandolin Orange)
03 Eldorado (Sioux 13)
04 No Wonder (Blue Raincoat)
05 Lookout Joe (Marc Ford)
06 Be the Rain (Gil Michaels)
07 I'm the Ocean (Dark Wrangler)
08 It's a Dream (Cody Simpson & Ben Harper)
09 Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze (Rust for Glory)
10 Comes a Time (Jeff & Laura)
11 When God Made Me (Ronnie Drew & Eleanor Shanley)
12 Love in Mind (Cowboy Junkies)
13 Mother Earth (Zach)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZPTnfKq1

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/0UJlGzqGtEBdyJz/file

The cover photo is from 2015. 

Saturday, March 21, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 7: 1987-2012 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I'm back from my two week vacation from Peru. It got off to a rough start due to the plane flight there, which I posted about. But everything else since then went great, with no more problems. :) I even had good weather the whole time, despite it being the rainy season there.

Here's the last album in a series that contains all the songs written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Though note that there's a bonus album of sorts still to come that will be explained later.

As I mentioned in Volume 6, the Bacharach-David songwriting partnership broke up around 1973, and they didn't collaborate for a long time after that. The second half of Volume 6 consisted entirely of songs written by Bacharach and another successful songwriter, Carole Bayer Sager. (In fact, Bacharach and Sager were married for a few years around this time). 

The Bacharach and Sager collaboration continued for a little while. The first songs are from a 1987, and are all co-written by those two. One song, "Love Power," was a hit. After that, there are a bunch of songs from 1989 to 2011, one song per year with many years skipped. "Sunny Weather Lover" from 1993 is a key song here, because it's the first song Bacharach and David wrote together since about 1972. However, that was a rare collaboration. Their songwriting partnership didn't reignite after that. (They also co-wrote two songs for the 2000 movie "Isn't She Great," but Warwick didn't sing them.) Furthermore, both of them were simply getting older and didn't write songs nearly as often as they used to. 

So the rest of the songs were written by Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" was a Number One hit in the U.S. for Christopher Cross in 1981, and was written by Bacharach with Sager and two others. Track 101 is an unreleased live version by Warwick recorded in 2005.

The last four songs are from a 2012 album called "Now." It was billed as a celebration of Bacharach and David songs. However, it mostly consisted of rerecordings of old hits. The four new songs, presented here, were written by either Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "99 Miles from L.A." was written by David with Albert Hammond, and was a hit for Hammond in 1975. 

Hal David died in 2012, so that ended the chance for any more songs written by both of them. Bacharach died in 2023.

While I was on vacation, a commenter noted that a song, "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" was included on Volume 4 of this series, despite neither Bacharach nor David being involved in writing it. Now that I'm back home, I was able to repost that album with that song removed. That also means that the numbering of all the songs after that has been fixed as well. So you might want to redownload Volumes 4, 5, and 6 if you're a stickler about such things. Also, since I had complaints about the cover art for Volume 1, I've posted an alternate version of the cover at the bottom of my write-up for that album that uses the original black and white photo, in case anyone wants that.

Thanks again to Mike Solof for putting this together.   

This album is one hour long. 

092 Take Good Care of You and Me (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
093 Love Power (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
094 In a World Such as This (Dionne Warwick)
095 Heartbreak of Love (Dionne Warwick & June Pointer)
096 On My Own (Dionne Warwick)
097 Sunny Weather Lover (Dionne Warwick)
098 Captives of the Heart (Dionne Warwick)
099 If I Want To (Dionne Warwick)
100 On My Way (Dionne Warwick)
101 Arthur's Theme [Best That You Can Do] (Dionne Warwick)
102 Keep Me in Mind (Dionne Warwick)
103 99 Miles from L.A. (Dionne Warwick)
104 Is There Anybody Out There (Dionne Warwick)
105 It Was Almost like a Song (Dionne Warwick)
106 Love Is Still the Answer (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ieF2gBUW

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/DKTsSUgj9dgKC43/file

The cover photo shows her in concert in an unknown location, in February 1989.

Friday, March 20, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 8: 2016-2020

As I write this, I’m sitting in an airplane, about to fly back to the U.S. I’m glad to see my plan to keep posting albums while on vacation has worked out. 

Here’s the next album in the Neil Young “Covered” series. There are two albums to go after this one. Once more, thanks to Fabio from Rio from doing most of the heavy lifting for these albums. Here is the intro to his notes:

By the late 2010s, Neil Young's songwriting had fully entered the digital age of reinterpretation. Covers were no longer limited to traditional tribute albums or major-label releases. Many now emerged through independent recordings, Bandcamp releases, streaming platforms, and fan communities online. At the same time, a younger generation of indie-folk, Americana, and roots musicians continued to rediscover Young's catalog, often gravitating toward the emotional honesty and melodic simplicity that have always defined his best work. Meanwhile, Young himself remained active both musically and politically, releasing albums that addressed environmental and social issues while also opening vast portions of his archival material through the Neil Young Archives project. The performances collected here reflect that ecosystem: established artists, roots musicians, and independent performers revisiting both classics and deep cuts from across his remarkable career.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and three minutes long. 

01 Country Girl (Sanford Markley & Paul Cronin)
02 Hangin' on a Limb (Lars Hall & Saga Eserstam)
03 Don't Be Denied (Norah Jones)
04 Long May You Run (Sarah Jane Scouten & the Paperboys)
05 My My, Hey Hey [Out of the Blue] (Keller Williams)
06 Alabama (Tedeschi Trucks Band)
07 Nothing Is Perfect (Change Partners)
08 Time Fades Away (Harrison Clock)
09 Heart of Gold (Charles Bradley)
10 Flying on the Ground Is Wrong (Kelley Suttenfield)
11 Vampire Blues (Rayland Baxter)
12 Sample and Hold (Joi Noir)
13 Buffalo Springfield Again (Danielle Brilo)
14 Everybody's Alone (Cajsalisa Ejemyr)
15 Through My Sails (Jeff Rosenstock & Laura Stevenson)
16 Light a Candle (Scott the Hoople)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ecwseiSw

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Xksq9yF5XQbz0kc/file

The cover photo is from 2008.

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 6: 1972-1985 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Things changed drastically for this volume of all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Since the start of Warwick’s hit-making years in 1963, she was signed to Scepter Records. She was their biggest star by far. But in 1971, her contract ended and she signed a new deal with Warner Brothers Records. (Scepter Records went bankrupt a couple of years later.)

For her first album on her new label, released in 1972, all seemed well, because all the songs were written by Bacharach and David. But in 1973, the two songwriters wrote the songs for the movie “Lost Horizon,” without Warwick’s involvement. This turned out to be a disaster. The movie was a flop and so was the soundtrack. But worst of all, Bacharach and David had a falling out during the making of the soundtrack. They wouldn’t write songs together for many years, and both of them had much less success without the other one. To make matters worse, Warwick’s new record company expected her to have most of her songs written by Bacharach and David. When that couldn’t happen anymore, that resulted in more lawsuits, including Warwick suing the songwriting duo.

Decades later, Bacharach wrote about this dispute in his autobiography: "It was all my fault, and I can't imagine how many great songs I could have written with Hal in the years we were apart. So I now know that on every level, it was a very bad mistake." But at other times, he suggested that both he and David were somewhat creatively exhausted, so they probably wouldn't have been able to keep their streak of hit songs going much longer anyway. That can be seen by the fact that the two of them had wrote very few hits for most of the rest of the 1970s. 

The first seven songs are from 1972. The eighth song, "One Less Bell to Answer," is from 1977, but was written in the 1960s. The Fifth Dimension had a hit with it in 1970. Warwick didn’t have much success without Bacharach and David for most of the 1970s, but she resumed having hits in 1979. 

In 1985, she resumed performing some songs written by Bacharach, but not David, since Bacharach and David wouldn’t reconcile until later. Instead, Bacharach was cowriting songs with Carole Bayer Sager at the time. The rest of the songs here are written by those two, from 1985. One of those songs,”That’s What Friends Are For,” was a massive hit, helped by Warwick being joined by some other big stars. Not only did it reach Number One in the U.S., it was the biggest selling song in 1986. 

Warwick had this to say about working with Bacharach again in 1985: "We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been."

This album is 55 minutes long.

078 Be Aware (Dionne Warwick)
079 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Dionne Warwick)
080 Hasbrook Heights (Dionne Warwick)
081 I Just Have to Breathe (Dionne Warwick)
082 If You Never Say Goodbye (Dionne Warwick)
083 The Balance of Nature (Dionne Warwick)
084 One Less Bell to Answer (Dionne Warwick)
085 Early Morning Strangers (Dionne Warwick)
086 That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
087 Extravagant Gestures (Dionne Warwick)
088 Finder of Lost Loves (Dionne Warwick)
089 How Long (Dionne Warwick)
090 Stay Devoted (Dionne Warwick)
091 Stronger than Before (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ku4tY3Qr

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/msqzMLVw1J3DQje/file

The cover photo shows her at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, on February 9, 1972.

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 7: 2012-2016

Here we go with another Neil Young “Covered” album. Since I’m still on vacation, I’ll keep this short. Once again, thanks to Fabio from Rio for putting this together. And here’s his comments:

By the early 2010s, Neil Young's influence had spread even further across musical generations. Indie folk, alt-country, and singer-songwriter circles were openly embracing the emotional directness and melodic simplicity that had always defined Young's songwriting. At the same time, the digital era had changed how tribute recordings appeared: covers increasingly emerged from online projects, independent releases, and small tribute compilations rather than traditional label-driven albums. Young himself remained highly visible during this period, releasing politically engaged records and increasingly speaking out on environmental issues, while continuing to inspire younger artists discovering his catalog for the first time. The recordings in this volume reflect that diverse ecosystem: indie reinterpretations, roots-oriented performances, and the occasional stylistic surprise.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and five minutes long.

01 Goin' Back (Beth Orton)
02 Southern Pacific (Jeff Monkman)
03 Thrasher (Andy Hill & Renee Safier)
04 Prime of Life (Gov't Mule)
05 On the Beach [CFCF Remix] (Joakim)
06 Stringman (Stevie Pling)
07 On the Way Home (Ocean Colour Scene)
08 Out on the Weekend (Lee Ann Womack)
09 Revolution Blues (Gov't Mule)
10 Sea of Madness (Ida Sand)
11 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Bluebeaters)
12 Motion Pictures (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
13 Silver and Gold (Frank Fischer & Lavina Williams)
14 Bandit (Melanie Age)
15 Who's Gonna Stand Up (Anne Rynne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZoVDZ7hx

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/M0xS0KCNUbFXyzb/file

The cover photo is from 1993. Peter Buck of R.E.M. was leaning up against his shoulder, but I removed him using Photoshop. 

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 5: 1969-1970 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here’s another album of Dionne Warwick singing all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Once again, thanks to Mike Solof for putting these albums together.

Warwick, David, and Bacharach had a great thing going from about 1963 until 1970. They had hit after hit after hit. The end of this album marks the end of that golden era. The three of them would still collaborate together, but much more intermittently. There are two more volumes dealing with those later years.

This album is 53 minutes long.

061 I'll Never Fall in Love Again (Dionne Warwick)
062 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (Dionne Warwick)
063 Dream Sweet Dreamer (Dionne Warwick)
064 Knowing When to Leave (Dionne Warwick)
065 Let Me Go to Him (Dionne Warwick)
066 Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets (Dionne Warwick)
067 Paper Mache (Dionne Warwick)
068 The Wine Is Young (Dionne Warwick)
069 Check Out Time (Dionne Warwick)
070 Make It Easy on Yourself (Dionne Warwick)
071 The Green Grass Starts to Grow (Dionne Warwick)
072 The Very First Person I Met [In California] (Dionne Warwick)
073 They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes (Dionne Warwick)
074 Walk the Way You Talk (Dionne Warwick)
075 The Look of Love (Dionne Warwick)
076 Who Gets the Guy (Dionne Warwick)
077 Only Love Can Break a Heart (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nMDebKmr

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/4j7hPKMNNw5COdY/file

The cover photo shows her on the Engelbert Humperdinck TV Show some time in 1969. 

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 6: 2007-2011

Modern technology is amazing: I’m writing this while sitting in an eco lodge deep in the Amazon jungle in Peru (with a huge rhino beetle on the floor about five feet from me). Anyway, not much time to write, but here’s another Neil Young “Covered” album, since I have more of those to post than Dionne Warwick albums while I’m on vacation.

As usual, here’s the write up by Fabio from Rio:

By the late 2000s, Neil Young's catalog had entered yet another phase of rediscovery. While earlier generations of alternative rock musicians had embraced his influence during the grunge years, a new wave of indie-folk and Americana performers began revisiting his songs with quieter, more introspective arrangements. At the same time, the Internet was transforming how music circulated among fans: live recordings, tribute performances, and previously obscure interpretations were now easier to find and share among the global community of "Rusties." Young himself remained prolific, releasing ambitious projects such as "Chrome Dreams II" and "Le Noise." The covers in this volume reflect that diverse landscape - a mixture of indie artists, roots musicians and veteran performers exploring both well-known classics and deep cuts from across Young's long career.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together.  

This album is an hour and four minutes long. 

01 Walk On (Heidi Gluck)
02 Sleeps with Angels (Astrid Young)
03 Too Far Gone (The Brooke)
04 Soldier (Tara Angell)
05 World on a String (Nils Lofgren)
06 War of Man (Ann Wilson & Alison Krauss)
07 Mellow My Mind (Simply Red)
08 Don't Cry No Tears (Nils Lofgren)
09 Human Highway (Crosby, Stills & Nash)
10 Ambulance Blues (Lisa Miller)
11 Journey through the Past (James Mercer)
12 You and Me (Trappers Cabin)
13 Cortez the Killer (Veda Hille)
14 Let's Roll (Irish Zeyez)
15 Transformer Man (Veda Hille)
16 From Hank to Hendrix (Joe Chaplain)
17 The Losing End [When You're On] (Elvis Costello)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/QpTvfJej

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/do1ntAZnPtweGgz/file

The cover photo is from 2006. I used the Krea AI program to improve the detail.

Saturday, March 14, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 5: 2005-2007

Here’s another “Covered “ Neil Young. Since I’m on vacation, I’ll keep this short. Once again, Fabio from Rio wrote some notes, so here they are:

By the mid-2000s, Neil Young had fully achieved something rare in popular music: he was simultaneously a living legend and an active creative force. His catalog had by then become a kind of common language shared across genres. Indie rock bands, folk revivalists, alternative country singers, and even pop performers were freely exploring different corners of his songwriting. Meanwhile, Young himself continued releasing ambitious work, from the politically charged "Living with War" to the reflective "Prairie Wind."

The covers gathered in this volume illustrate how widely his influence had spread. Younger artists approached the songs with fresh sensibilities, sometimes transforming well-known classics into intimate acoustic performances, while others revived deeper cuts that had long been favorites among the devoted "Rusties." In several cases, the reinterpretations reveal how remarkably adaptable Young's compositions are: sometimes, the same song can thrive equally well as a folk lament, a rock anthem, or a stripped-down indie confession.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and one minute long.

01 Shots (Constantines)
02 The Needle and the Damage Done (Pretenders)
03 Deep Forbidden Lake (Bentonio)
04 For the Turnstiles (Be Good Tanyas)
05 Little Wing (Elizabeth Mitchell)
06 Rockin’ in the Free World (Ann Vriend)
07 Burned (Veruca Salt)
08 Cinnamon Girl (Melissa McClelland)
09 Hey Hey, My My [Into the Black] (Hard Lessons)
10 I Am a Child (Britta Phillips)
11 Ordinary People (Steve Dahl)
12 Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown (Trews)
13 Natural Beauty (Tara MacLean)
14 Bad Fog of Loneliness (Justin Nozuka)
15 A Man Needs a Maid (Dala)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/N34zZ6KK

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/9Ofxt1M2qePGlwY/file

The cover photo is from 1982. Boy, does he look different from the cover of Volume 4! He's almost unrecognizable in this one, in my opinion. This is an actual untouched photo, no AI help this time. You can find similar ones if you look for other photos from 1982, the only year he looked like this.

Friday, March 13, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 4: 1968 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I am posting this while waiting in an airport for a flight inside Peru. So far, my vacation is going great after a rough start getting here. This is another volume of Dionne Warwick singing songs written by Hal David and/ or Burt Bacharach. At this point, their songwriting partnership was going strong and they were still writing all their songs together.

Thanks again to guest poster Mike Solof for putting these albums together.

This album is 45 minutes long.

048 As Long as There's an Apple Tree [Extended Version] (Dionne Warwick)
049 Do You Know the Way to San Jose (Dionne Warwick)
050 Let Me Be Lonely (Dionne Warwick)
051 Odds and Ends (Dionne Warwick)
052 Promises, Promises (Dionne Warwick)
053 The April Fools (Dionne Warwick)
054 Reach Out and Touch - All Kinds of People (Dionne Warwick)
055 This Girl's in Love with You (Dionne Warwick)
056 Wanting Things (Dionne Warwick)
057 Where Would I Go (Dionne Warwick)
058 Who Is Gonna Love Me (Dionne Warwick)
059 Whoever You Are, I Love You (Dionne Warwick)
060 Walkin' Backwards Down the Road (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PQUwnfKQ

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/VBcAZtk0uWxyYgh/file

The cover photo shows her on an unknown TV show in London, in 1968.

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 4: 1999-2005

Here’s the fourth album in the Neil Young covered series. Once again, thanks to Fabio from Rio for doing most of the work. I also want to mention that I have a long list of songwriters that I want to make Covered albums for. Many of the biggest ones, like Dylan, Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richard’s, Ray Davies, etc… are still to come. I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten around to Young for a couple more years. But Fabio’s involvement and energy brought this one to the front of the line.

Here are Fabio’s comments about the time period of this volume:

By the turn of the millennium, Neil Young's songwriting had become a shared reference point for several generations of musicians. Musical artists from the folk revival, alt-country movement, and indie rock scene were all revisiting different eras of his catalog - from the fragile acoustic songs of the late sixties to the electric epics recorded with Crazy Horse. During this period, Young himself remained remarkably active, releasing albums such as "Silver and Gold" and "Greendale" while continuing to tour extensively. The covers gathered here reflect that generational dialogue: younger singer-songwriters, Americana performers, and alternative rock musicians rediscovering both famous classics and some of the most obscure corners of Young's songwriting. 

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and one minute long. 

01 Piece of Crap (Slobberbone)
02 Pushed It Over the End (South Ontario)
03 Long Walk Home (MrChuck)
04 I've Been Waiting for You (David Bowie)
05 Running Dry [Requiem for the Rockets] (Steve Von Till)
06 Albuquerque (Walkabouts)
07 Pocahontas (Gillian Welch)
08 The Old Laughing Lady (Thea Gilmore)
09 Old Man (Wilson Phillips)
10 I Believe in You (Patricia O'Callaghan)
11 Helpless (k.d. lang)
12 Barstool Blues (Maria McKee)
13 Broken Arrow (Kate Rogers)
14 Last Trip to Tulsa (Leo Koster)
15 Roll Another Number [For the Road] (Mike McClure)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Xf8w1vjE

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/gOxKn9CnBpD1cQF/file

The cover photo is from 1975. The original was in black and white. I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program. I also used the Krea AI program to improve details. 

I got a complaint that the cover image was ruined by AI. I don't think so. Here's the unaltered black and white original. As I've said elsewhere, I typically only use Krea AI to make minor changes, mostly with color and contrast. If you don't like the colorization and other changes, feel free to use this version. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 3: 1966-1967 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here’s another Dionne Warwick album in Mike Solof’s series of all the songs she sang written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. I’ll keep my comments short. But I’ll note I think the three of them were peaking around this time until the end of the 1960s, with songwriting, production, and singing.

This album is 39 minutes long.

035 I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself (Dionne Warwick)
036 Go with Love (Dionne Warwick)
037 Message to Michael (Dionne Warwick)
038 Trains and Boats and Planes (Dionne Warwick)
039 Here, Where There Is Love [Alternate Version] (Dionne Warwick)
040 What the World Needs Now Is Love (Dionne Warwick)
041 Alfie (Dionne Warwick)
042 The Windows of the World (Dionne Warwick)
043 Another Night (Dionne Warwick)
044 The Beginning of Loneliness (Dionne Warwick)
045 Walk Little Dolly (Dionne Warwick)
046 I Say a Little Prayer [Alternate Version] (Dionne Warwick)
047 [There's] Always Something There to Remind Me (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/oLsc5LBu

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NEh31dMotYhnVFJ/file

The cover photo was taken backstage during an engagement at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City, on May 2, 1967.

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 3: 1995-1999

I had a rough start getting to Peru, but I’m finishing my second full day here and I’m having a good time. Since Fabio from Rio wrote the notes as well as doing most of the work putting these albums together, once again, here’s Fabio:

By the mid-to-late 1990s, Neil Young was enjoying one of the most respected phases of his long career. After the grunge generation had embraced him earlier in the decade, Young reinforced that connection with the raw "Mirror Ball" album collaboration with Pearl Jam in 1995 and continued releasing strong albums that balanced electric noise with acoustic reflection. At the same time, a new wave of alternative, indie and Americana artists began rediscovering older corners of his catalog — not only the famous songs, but also deep cuts from albums like "Zuma," "Tonight's the Night," and "On the Beach." The covers collected in this volume reflect that moment: a mixture of roots musicians, indie rock artists and cult performers exploring both the best-known and the more obscure sides of Young's songwriting.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and three minutes long.  

01 After the Gold Rush (Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris)
02 Words [Between the Lines of Age] (Lifter & Campfire Girls)
03 Wrecking Ball (Emmylou Harris)
04 Don't Cry (Kristen Barry)
05 Grey Riders (Sand Rubies)
06 Campaigner (Snares & Kites)
07 This Note's for You (Colourful Dreams)
08 Down to the Wire (Grip Weeds)
09 When You Dance I Can Really Love (Continental Drifters)
10 Expecting to Fly (Sonya Hunter)
11 Danger Bird (27)
12 Tonight's the Night (Chris Cacavas)
13 Harvest Moon (Elliott Smith)
14 Midnight on the Bay (Red House Painters)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Smet6uBw

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/DHwYlnhyO9LQLYH/file

The cover photo is from 1969. The original was in black and white. I colorized it with the Kolorize program. I also used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality. 

I got a complaint that I ruined the cover with AI. Here's the unchanged original, after it was colorized. (I didn't keep the black and white version.) In my opinion, the changes are minimal but improve the image quality. But you may feel differently.

Monday, March 9, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 2: 1965 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the second volume collecting all the songs Dionne Warwick written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. Like all the other albums in this series, this was mainly put together by guest poster Mike Solof.

Since I’m writing this on vacation, I’ll keep the comments short. Enjoy.

This album is 44 minutes long. 

019 Are You There [With Another Girl] (Dionne Warwick)
020 Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Dionne Warwick)
021 Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So (Dionne Warwick)
022 Forever My Love (Dionne Warwick)
023 If I Ever Make You Cry (Dionne Warwick)
024 Here I Am (Dionne Warwick)
025 Is There Another Way to Love Him (Dionne Warwick)
026 Wives and Lovers (Dionne Warwick)
027 Looking with My Eyes (Dionne Warwick)
028 In Between the Heartaches (Dionne Warwick)
029 Only the Strong, Only the Brave (Dionne Warwick)
030 Window Wishing (Dionne Warwick)
031 How Many Days of Sadness (Dionne Warwick)
032 That's Not the Answer (Dionne Warwick)
033 How Can I Hurt You (Dionne Warwick)
034 Long Day, Short Night (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dC4gq6mc

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/eODweEN1JWe1Yrp/file 

The cover photo was taken in Hyde Park, in London, in 1965. 

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 2: 1990-1995

Phew! I had a hell of an adventure getting to Peru yesterday. Perhaps I’ll vent and explain what happened when I have some time. But I’m here and things are back on track, which is what matters. Anyway, here’s some more Neil Young. I’ll try to post another Dionne Warwick album next, when I have a chance.

The rest of the notes here are written by Fabio from Rio. Take it away Fabio:

By the early 1990s, Neil Young was experiencing a somewhat surprising cultural resurgence. After a creatively uneven decade in the eighties, he had his own creative revival starting at the end of that decade. Around the same time, a new generation of alternative rock musicians began openly citing him as a major influence. Bands associated with the emerging grunge and indie scenes embraced both the raw guitar power of albums like "Rust Never Sleeps" and the emotional directness of his acoustic work. Young himself responded by reconnecting with heavier sounds and younger audiences, eventually earning the affectionate nickname "the Godfather of Grunge." The covers collected in this volume reflect that moment of rediscovery, when artists from alternative rock, indie folk and roots music revisited Young's catalog and helped introduce it to a new generation of listeners.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and five minutes long.  

01 Powderfinger (Cowboy Junkies)
02 Cortez the Killer (Matthew Sweet & the Indigo Girls)
03 Interstate (Sand Rubies)
04 Heart of Gold (Lawrence Gowan)
05 Don’t Let It Bring You Down (Amanda Marshall)
06 Tell Me Why (Hemingway Corner)
07 Harvest (Jeff Healey Band)
08 Pardon My Heart (Malcolm Burn)
09 Barefoot Floors (Nicolette Larson)
10 Fuckin' Up (Pearl Jam)
11 Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (Breits)
12 Tired Eyes (Cowboy Junkies)
13 Down by the River (Indigo Girls)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dUYRqpqy

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/6xQ6ddT3EFOars0/file

The cover photo dates from 1967. I used the Krea AI program to improve some details. Note that when I first posted this album, I used a cover image that got some complaints. I decided I could do better, and found a different photo. I replaced it about two weeks later.

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 1: 1962-1964 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

In the last album I posted, I mentioned that I'm leaving for a two week vacation to Peru, starting tomorrow morning. But while I'm gone, I'm hoping to keep post albums from time to time. Most or all of the albums will be from two big musical projects, one by Fabio from Rio, and the other by Mike Solof. I've gotten them ready in a kind of assembly line fashion, and they take little extra work for me. That's the plan anyway.

So you already know the Fabio project: Covered albums for Neil Young. This Mike Solof project attempts to collect all the songs Dionne Warwick sang that were written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. The vast majority were written by both, until the last couple of albums.

A couple of weeks ago, Mike came to me with the idea for this collection. I was delighted, because I already made a bunch of "Covered" albums for the Burt Bacharach and Hal David songwriting team. But when I did that, I deliberately avoided including any Warwick versions, because otherwise those albums would have probably been more than half her versions. So this collection perfectly complements that one. So a big thanks from me to Mike for making these albums. I did the cover art and some other minor things, but he was the one who collected all the songs.

Mike managed to find enough music for seven albums, plus a bonus album we'll explain later. If you want to know more, check out Mike's PDF included in the download zip. In fact, it's the same PDF for all the albums in this series.  

By the way, note that the song numbering begins with 001, 002, 003, etc... That's because Mike wanted the numbering from the end of one album to continue with the beginning of the next one. That way, you can put all the songs in one mega-album if you want. Since there's over a 100 songs, we have the extra zero at the same of each number. 

This album is 54 minutes long. 

001 Don't Make Me Over (Dionne Warwick)
002 I Smiled Yesterday (Dionne Warwick)
003 Wishin' and Hopin' (Dionne Warwick)
004 I Cry Alone (Dionne Warwick)
005 Make the Music Play (Dionne Warwick)
006 It's Love that Really Counts (Dionne Warwick)
007 The Love of a Boy (Dionne Warwick)
008 This Empty Place (Dionne Warwick)
009 A House Is Not a Home (Dionne Warwick)
010 Land of Make Believe (Dionne Warwick)
011 The Last One to Be Loved (Dionne Warwick)
012 Reach Out for Me (Dionne Warwick)
013 Anyone Who Had a Heart (Dionne Warwick)
014 Any Old Time of Day [Alternate Version] (Dionne Warwick)
015 I Could Make You Mine (Dionne Warwick)
016 Please Make Him Love Me (Dionne Warwick)
017 Walk On By (Dionne Warwick)
018 You'll Never Get to Heaven [If You Break My Heart] (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/75y7xMfQ

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/5blQU4ahwkF5DEG/file

The cover image shows, from right to left: Hal David, Dionne Warwick, and Burt Bacharach. I don't know the details, but it's from some time in the 1960s. The original was in black and white, and very poor quality. I got it in somewhat decent shape colorizing it with the Kolorize program, then cleaning it up and adding detail with the Krea AI program.

Since some people didn't like the transformation I made of this image, here's the totally unchanged black and white version, in case you want to use that instead. As you can see, the AI program made some changes as I tried to improve the quality. I wasn't happy with those, but I preferred the end result over the rough original. If anyone can do better, please do, and post it here.