So many albums that I've got, when I look at them, covers just jump out at me. One of the first albums I remember buying was Slade Alive! back in the mid 70's, and that has a version of Born To Be Wild on it. Originally recorded by Steppenwolf and brought to real prominence throught the film Easy Rider.
It has been covered by many artists, many you could guess may have done a version, like Bruce Springsteen, Status Quo, Slayer, Ozzy Osbourne and Blue Oyster Cult. Others wouldn't spring to the front of the queue, the likes of Etta James, Wilson Pickett, Jess Greenberg or Kim Wilde.
Sometimes you just like the original because it's the one that is most familiar to you, sometimes it's the one by the band that you are maybe most fond of. Slade covered it originally on their first Album, as Ambrose Slade, Beginnings (1969) probably because they liked the original and it helped to fill the album, maybe the lyrics struck a chord (no pun intended), but it was never released as a single, they were too good at writing there own stuff to cover others until many years later.
Covers don't always come to light until they are a hit and you see who wrote it, then you find that it was a track on an album from years before by someone quite obscure. The artist with the hit has probably been influenced by the original artist and been listening to them for years, using the song as a mark of respect and acknowledging the other artist. Others do covers simply because they like and admire the original artist. The Jam's early albums are littered with covers of The Who, no surprise there!
But Paul Weller's song writing talents are now legendary. Although not many artists cover Jam songs, well not as Singles as I'm sure that anyone who liked The Jam would be hard pressed to find a better version of any of their songs. Weller himself plays some of them live, but that's slightly different and they are fairly true to The Jam Live versions.
Some songs get covered many, many times, a great example of this is Unchained Melody. It first hit the charts in May 1955, by the end of May there was a vesion at No.1 (Jimmy Young) and a version at No.2 (Al Hibbler), but also in the chart was a version by Les Baxter and his Chorus, they only got to No.10. Whilst all these were in the charts, Liberace decided to release his own version of it but he only got to No.20 and only stayed there for one week, but it meant that for one week in July 1955 4 different artists had the same song in the Top 30.
It of course has been in the charts another half a dozen times since by various artists, such as Leo Sayer, Robson and Jerome and strangely enough, even Elvis Presley did a cover of it (although never released as a single)! But the one that anyone about my age would know is the version by the Righteous Brothers, first in the 1965 and then again in 1990 when it was used in the film Ghost and reached No.1.
One of the songs that has been covered and charted more than most is the Lennon/McCartney song Yesterday. The Beatles have been covered well over 2000 times by a whole range of artists on albums or singles, Yesterday, by more than 75! It first charted in 1965, firstly by Matt Monro and then Marrianne Faithful, The Beatles didn't chart with it until 1976. A total of 5 artists have charted with it, but we have to go back to Unchained Melody for the song that has been charted by the most artists. 8, and two of those charted it twice!
Much as I like The Beatles and of course The White Album, the first version of Helter Skelter that I really remember is the Siouxsie & The Banshees version on their 1978 Album, The Scream. Having heard them sing it live as well, it is my favourite version. Others obviously have done versions of it, including U2 on Rattle and Hum and Oasis as a B side on Who Feels Love (12" and CD).
In 1987 Siouxsie & The Banshees released an Album of covers, Through The Looking Glass, with some very good and creditable versions of some very well known songs, including Bob Dylan's This Wheel's On Fire (which they released as a single and it reached No.14), Iggy Pop's Passenger (also released as a single), The Doors You're Lost Little Girl and an acclaimed version of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit. Not unknown to the covers market where they had previously covered Dear Prudence, another Beatles song!