Fong Songs 101 All-Time Covers: #35 to 29

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Just joining us?
I'm counting down 101 of my all-time favourite covers before packing this blog away in the attic.
Read my countdown preamble here.
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A Set of Standards
Standards are tricky since these are the ones that have been done a zillion times, but then again, no one generally cares how zany and original you get with it. The songs have stood the test of time and have been performed so often, most people have probably never even heard the "original", if such a recording even exists. In fact, we may have only ever heard most standards through cover versions! These are few of my favourite versions of my favourite standards.

35. The Arcade Fire - Brazil [originally by Ary Barroso]
I love the wonderfully sinister strings in this brooding rendition from recent chart-toppers The Arcade Fire. Fittingly, Brazil director Terry Gilliam filmed their recent live show at Madison Square for an online broadcast with the potential for future collaborations. Got my floor tix to see them with guests Calexico at the end of September here in Vancity. Should be a good one!

34. Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad - After You've Gone [originally by Turner Layton & Henry Creamer]
Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad is my favourite album of jazz standards, which might not be saying much considering I can't think of another that I listen to with any regularity. In any case, I love the soothing, Billie Holiday-esque vocals from Katharine Whalen of the Squirrel Nut Zippers backed by an ace band that included a couple fellow Zippers. The disc was recorded during a dark period for the Squirrel Nut Zippers with band acrimony, legal troubles, and a split on the horizon, but you wouldn't guess it from the jaunty and light-hearted renditions of tunes like Deed I Do, My Baby Just Cares For Me, and Sugar. Though perhaps the gloomy and regretful Yesterdays (also great!) serves as more than a tribute to Billie Holiday.

33. Sammy Davis Jr. - The Lady is a Tramp (Live) [originally by Rodgers & Hart]
I'm guessing Sammy Davis Jr. must have sung this song hundreds of times with numerous recordings, but it's this particular version that has stuck with me, perhaps because it was simply the first I heard. It's from a compilation called Live From Las Vegas that I borrowed once from the library. It included cuts from Tom Jones, Louis Prima, and Nat King Cole, but where in Vegas and which year, I have no clue. I love how this starts... with some sort of gaffe that makes Sammy restart the song with a faux stern warning to the flutist (I think). He vocally races back to where he left off with a laugh and soon the full band kicks in with a bang. The rest of the song is just killer. Every time I hear this version it makes me wish I could've seen his show live.

The Rolling Stones
32. Choro Azul - Paint It Black [originally by The Rolling Stones]
From the Japanese compilation A Tribute to the Rolling Stones comes this reinvention of Paint It Black as a Brazilian samba with Nina Simone-like vocals.

31. Ruth Copeland - Gimme Shelter [originally by The Rolling Stones]
This is an epic tour-de-force of funk with British folk/blues singer Ruth Copeland backed by George Clinton and members of Parliament. I'm going to just reprint what I previously wrote about this cover once upon a time:

"Eschewing the trademark rhythm guitar opening, it starts off with just the drums, before the main chords are dramatically pounded out on a piano. Then, enter the fuzz. Warbling, wah wah, fuzzy guitars featuring a blistering Jimi-like lead by Parliament's Eddie Hazel. And Ruth Copeland's soulful wails of War! Children! Rape! Murder! cement this as the winning cover. Halfway through, the drums crawl to a stop, replaced by a slow organ with whispered vocals of the chorus, which swell to a chaotic climax as the band bursts back in and "love's just a kiss away" is repeatedly chanted like it's the end of the world."

Yes, that was my favourite Gimme Shelter cover for a long time, but it was eventually eclipsed by the next cover...

30. Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter [originally by The Rolling Stones]
Everyone's heard Merry Clayton's blistering vocals opposite Mick on The Rolling Stones' original Gimme Shelter, but she doesn't get nearly the recognition she deserves. A year after the original, Clayton released her own solo version, which starts off similarly before the awesome awesome horn section comes in (and you know I love the horns). She actually recorded the original version of The Shoop Shoop Song, remarkably when she was just fifteen years old. Covers-wise, Clayton also does an incredible Bridge Over Troubled Water and a stunning version of Neil Young's Southern Man. Oddly enough, she sang back up both Neil's self-titled debut AND Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama. She was born with an incredible voice and it's a wonder she never became a superstar, but luckily I'm not the only one rooting for her comeback... Aeroplane, a Belgian/Italian DJ duo that is now simply an Italian solo act after an amicable split, tracked down Merry Clayton to provide her still wicked vocals on a track called I Don't Feel. The debut album We Can't Fly is due in September.

29. RLM & Katsuhiko Sakamoto & Ikuko Harada - 19th Nervous Breakdown [originally by The Rolling Stones]
This jazz trio + flute cover comes from that same Japanese Stones tribute as Choro Azul's Paint It Black. With a near incomprehensible accent, the lead singer here sounds like he learned the song phonetically (perhaps with the wrong lyrics sheet to boot) but bonus points for unabashed enthusiasm!

Taking a break this weekend to visit the Island. The Fong Songs 101 countdown will continue on Monday with (count 'em) 1, 2, 3, 4 numbered-themed covers.

Fong Songs 101 All-Time Covers: #101 to 96

As I mentioned last week, starting today I will posting every day as a last grand gesture before Fong Songs goes into hibernation, counting down my 100 all-time favourite cover songs. Make that 101. I went up and down this list and could just not make that last cut. It goes without saying that this will be a very personal list. There will be no covers of Hallelujah of any kind and no Hurt from Johnny Cash. Also, unless I am a huge fan of that particular cover there will be no historically significant or other chart-topping covers such as Jimi's All Along the Watchtower, Aretha Franklin's Respect, or Soft Cell's Tainted Love. Sorry, but there are plenty of other lists out there that cover that well-trodden territory. I should mention however that a different cover of Tainted Love did indeed make the list...

The process was unscientific and unwieldy. I started with a list of 4 and 5 star cover songs in iTunes and started whittling the list down methodically, factoring in playcounts and often using the criteria of "how likely am I to skip this song when it comes up on shuffle?" when faced with some tough cuts. A few were chosen because I think they represent the best of what a cover song has to offer, although at the same time I find there is no clear formula or pattern to what constitutes a great cover. There is something about each of these covers that resonates with me in some way, be it nostalgia (misplaced or genuine), the head bob factor, or some intangible quality that is hard to pinpoint. You might call it heart, but even that might not even necessarily apply. You'll find the list runs the gamut from straight up punk cover to funky instrumentals to Russian folk a cappella. You may also notice that I am partial to adding a horn section to any cover song, so expect some Mark Ronson later on.

As I found out this weekend, putting 100 songs in any sort of meaningful ranking is a futile process. Other than the top ten (and even that's up for debate), every other cover song on the list can be shuffled around and re-arranged depending on my particular mood that day. Instead I've grouped covers #101 through #11 into "sets" of three or more songs using very loose headings such as 80s, Showtunes, or simply Duets. I ruled against including mash-ups and remixes, though in one instance I did allow a remix of a cover. I attempted to limit artists to one cover on the list unless I absolutely had to include it. I also attempted to choose only one cover to represent any given song, though again there are some exceptions to that as well.

With all of that in mind, I think we're ready to get started with...
FONG SONGS 101!

Animal Crackers
101. The Damned - White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane]
The first time I heard Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, one of my immediate thoughts was that it practically demanded a cranked up rock cover. The Damned more or less fulfilled this pressing need for me.

100. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Hey Bulldog [originally by The Beatles]
Subbing in an electric guitar for the recurring piano riff and upping the tempo, Toad the Wet Sprocket bring a slight edge to the proceedings while remaining faithful to the original.

99. OK Go - Antmusic [originally by Adam Ant]
I love OK Go's lead singer Damian Kulash's delirious vocals on this cover, coupled with the loud electrorock vibe. While known primarily for their wildly creative internet music videos, I think their underrated for their dabblings in the world of cover songs that are generally a cut above your average band. From a live acoustic cover of ELO's Don't Bring Me Down to a wonderful take on The Zombies' This Will Be Our Year, their not shy about wearing their influences on their sleeves, most notably the Pixies who they've covered multiple times and whose Surfer Rosa gets name-checked in their hit Here It Goes Again. We'll be hearing from OK Go again (much) further down on this list...

Covers for She & Him
98. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Elenor [originally by The Turtles]
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes are like the Weird Al of punk covers: they do what they do so well, other punk covers are often misattributed to them by default. While their tongues are definitely planted firmly in cheek, they perfected the arrangement of pop punk covers, staying surprisingly faithful to unlikely sources (e.g. an album of R&B covers or broadway musicals) while making them their own as well. It helps that they've got the musical chops and cred with band members from NOFX, Foo Fighters, and Lagwagon among others. Lead vocalist Spike Slawson has a go-for-broke quality with an unexpectedly range and ability to sing songs from any genre . There are at least ten of their covers that could have easily made this list (I Only Want to Be With You or Save the Best For Last come to mind), but I chose their cover of The Turtles' Elenore (different spelling), which also incorporates the opening riff from The Clash's London Calling. The Gimme Gimmes are clever like that.

97. Tori Amos - Angie [originally by The Rolling Stones]
Tori Amos' austere piano and vocal covers boil down a song to its essence. Her 1992 Crucify EP featured similarly arranged covers of Nirvana and Led Zeppelin while her 2001 concept album Strange Little Girls takes it to the next level with 12 covers of songs originated written and performed by men. Her version of Alice Cooper's Only Women Bleed is also worth checking out. This is definitely not the last Stones cover that we'll hear before I'm done this list.

96. Crispin Glover - Ben [originally by Michael Jackson]
Crispin Glover is often labelled as a "weirdo" or at the very least an outsider for his eccentric film roles and a very notorious appearance on David Letterman. In conjunction with his title role in the remake of the killer rat horror movie Willard, how perfect then is it to have Glover cover Michael Jackson's ode to a rat? The original song was MJ's first solo hit outside The Jackson 5 and served as the theme song to Ben, the sequel to the original 1971 Willard. What makes this cover great even beyond simply the greatness of its bizarre concept is that Glover sings it faithfully with all the poignancy and sincerity it deserves as if he completely identifies with that special human/rat relationship.

Tomorrow the Fong Songs 101 countdown continues with covers of Hendrix and Pink Floyd, covers by AC/DC and The Beatles, plus a set devoted to everyone's favourite Italian plumbers.

Tasty cover samples from eTown

I briefly talked about the eTown radio show in a February post when I posted the Barenaked Ladies and The Ditty Bops teaming up to cover Johnny Mercer's I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande (merged with the theme to Welcome Back Kotter, no less). What I neglected to mention was that these cover collaborations are more the rule than the exception in eTown, where they generally play host to two musical guests who play separate sets then are brought together for a big cover finale alongside the house band, The eTones. This part of the show reminds me of a CBC radio show that was regrettably canceled a few years ago called Fuse that also brought together unlikely combos to make wonderful music.

eTown, based in Boulder, Colorado, was founded by the husband and wife team of Nick and Helen Forster in 1991, a socially conscious radio show recorded live as a sort of variety show with musical performances and in-depth conversations with the artists and other guests that range from authors to scientists to politicians to citizens in the community. Another aspect of the show is the E-Chievement Award, a listener-nominated award to "remarkable individuals who are working hard to make a positive difference in their communities and beyond".

There's a bittersweetness to these covers since every one of them is accompanied by the end-of-show patter over an instrumental break and in a few cases, the song is prematurely truncated. But it's a small price to pay to hear some wonderful, wonderful covers! Needless to say, I also dig the Canadian content that makes its way into the show via guest artists or the cover choices. You can subscribe to the eTown podcast in iTunes with a new show every Wednesday and visit etown.org to peruse the extensive show archives.

These are just some of the awesome cover collaborations that have blessed the eTown stage:

Cake & Chuck Prophet - Sympathy for the Devil [originally by The Rolling Stones]
This is the one I most regret not being able to hear in its full unedited glory.

Barenaked Ladies & Catie Curtis - Yellow Submarine [originally by The Beatles]

Big Head Todd and the Monsters & Kathleen Edwards - Long May You Run [originally by Neil Young]

Michelle Shocked & The Bad Plus - Heart of Gold [originally by Neil Young]

Crash Test Dummies & Celeste Krenz - Theme from Gilligan's Island [originally written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle]

Imogen Heap & Gregory Alan Isakov - We Will Rock You [originally by Queen]

BeauSoleil & Ben Kweller - Have You Ever Seen the Rain? [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival]

DeVotchKa & Au Revoir Simone - Tender [originally by Blur]

Jakob Dylan & Danny Barnes - The Letter [originally by The Box Tops]

You Can't Always Get What You Want: The NHL Edition

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals was last Friday with the Pittsburgh Penguins taking home the Stanley Cup over the reigning champion Detroit Red Wings. One of the many storylines surrounding the series, which was a rematch of last year's finals, concerned forward Marian Hossa who had been with the Penguins during last year's series and had joined the Red Wings in the off-season as a free agent in pursuit of the Cup. In theory, a promising idea since the Red Wings are proven contenders every year, but unfortunately Hossa found out the hard way you can't always get what you want. I imagine it stings that much more to lose to many of his former teammates. Ouch.

Earlier this season the NHL had a nifty ad campaign with several stars literally stepping out of photographs to say a few über-serious words about The Game. This one with the Penguins superstar captain Sidney Crosby is particularly great considering how the finals played out:



And here's a little follow-up spoof I put together a couple days ago for his former teammate Marian Hossa:



Honestly, I feel a little bad for the guy. On the flipside, I have no sympathy (because I'm a bitter old Oiler fan) for Ty Conklin who has unbelievably been in the Stanley Cup Finals (as back-up goaltender) in three of the past four years with three different teams with no Cup ring to show for it. Triple ouch. Coincidentally, another former Oiler goalie Mathieu Garon was traded to the Penguins halfway through this season and got to hoist the Cup before him, heh heh.

Exuma - You Can't Always Get What You Want [originally by The Rolling Stones]

...but sometimes you can get what you want. For a long time I've been meaning to a commission a drawing from Alex Robinson, the most excellent comic book artist of Box Office Poison, Tricked, and Too Cool To Be Forgotten. So last week I finally sent him my proposal for Jane and Stephen, two of his characters from Box Office Poison, to re-enact a notable album cover. Any long-time reader should be able to guess what band's album cover I asked him to "cover". Yesterday I got an e-mail from Alex with a scan of the brilliant result and it'll be in the mail to me today! Check it out! By the way, Alex and fellow comic book artist Mike Dawson (Freddie & Me) have a podcast called The Ink Panthers-- now on iTunes. It's basically two friends riffing on a variety of random topics (i.e. identical triplets, prerequisites to calling oneself a Rush fan, safety of baby bike trailers) without, say, the obnoxiousness of morning radio DJs on a classic rock station. They're only three episodes in and still working out the kinks, but it frequently makes me chuckle maniacally to myself on the bus to work.

80s Cover Weekend Redux (Re-post minus links + ominous tidings)

***ATTN: LINKS REMOVED!***
Landmark day here at Fong Songs... I received my first dreaded "cease & desist" letter from Blogger:

"Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message."

The e-mail almost reads like spam with a link to something called http://www.chillingeffects.org, until I checked my site and that saw that my latest post had indeed been purged. Mother of mercy, is this the end of Fong Songs? I sure hope not. The complaint was specifically in regards to this 80s Cover Weekend Redux post, though I'm not sure which is the offending song. Was Kevin Rowlands mad I poked fun at Dexys? I've re-posted without the mp3 links and now I'm going to lay low for a bit because this sort of thing freaks me out.

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I've got one last 80s-themed cover post for you with a slight twist. As cover enthusiasts would probably know, a handful of big one-hit wonders of the 80s were in fact covers themselves: Soft Cell's Tainted Love, Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes, and Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now, to name a few off the top of my head. While I focused previously on newer covers of 80s songs, today's post features covers that are by artists primarily known for their 80s musical output, either released in the 80s or otherwise.

Soft Cell - You Only Live Twice [originally performed by Nancy Sinatra]
"You only live twice or so it seems, one life for yourself and one for your dreams..." That's seems sadly appropriate and prescient lyrics to be sung by any one-hit wonder act. Is there life after one-hit wonderdom? After being listened to and enjoyed by millions worldwide, what do you do after you become a pop culture footnote? Go back to your day job? While known as a one-hit wonder in the US, Soft Cell actually had ten Top 40 hits in their native UK after the fact. Soft Cell's Marc Almond and David Ball parted ways in 1984, but they continued working on solo projects and collaborations before reuniting as Soft Cell in 2001. They're still active to this day, believe it or not. As previously alluded to, a cover trip through the James Bond theme collection is heading your way in a few weeks, but You Only Live Twice is already well represented so I don't mind dropping this one early.

Dexys Midnight Runners - Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) [originally by Van Morrison]
Known most popularly for Come On Eileen, Dexys Midnight Runners actually reached #5 on the UK charts with this Van Morrison cover. Lead singer Kevin Rowland switches it up by swapping the original's ding-a-ling-a-lings for too-dle-lang-a-langs. Don't look now but sometime in the last couple years they've dropped the Midnight Runners and have reinvented themselves as just Dexys according to their official myspace site, which also contains this amazing fact about the band's history: "The problem was though that in many ways, they were ahead of their time, they were visionaries." Uh huh. Their myspace page also streams Dexys' cover of The Four Seasons' Rag Doll, unexpectedly venturing into Hey Jude territory with a running time surpassing 8 minutes! I repeat: an 8+ minute cover of Rag Doll. I think the world still isn't quite ready for Kevin Rowland and Dexys.

Twisted Sister - Leader of the Pack [originally by The Shangri-Las]
I love this oddly faithful cover flipped to the perspective of the leader of the pack himself and it's the girlfriend who meets a tragic end on a rain-slicked road. Best part? The tell me more, tell me more Grease-like cronies that sing back-up vocals.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Born to Run [originally by Bruce Springsteen]
Presumably like most people, I've only heard of Frankie Goes to Hollywood from their 80s hit Relax, which makes this Springsteen cover all the more surprising.

Tiffany - I Saw Him Standing There [originally by The Beatles]
Tiffany was 16 when she hit it big with her cover of I Think We're Alone Now from her self-titled debut. New Kids on the Block were her opening act on tour! This Beatles cover with a distinct Prince flavour is from that same debut album. I have got to stop reading wikipedia before writing up each of these entries because I waste so much time scrolling through pages of "Where are they now?" factoids about bands/artists that I assumed ceased to exist 20 years ago. Seriously, Tiffany released an album of cover songs just last year! Check out that winning album cover too.

Def Leppard - No Matter What [originally by Badfinger]
Like most aging rockers who've fallen out of the spotlight, an album of cover songs is inevitable and Def Leppard is no exception. The blandly titled Yeah! came out in 2006 and featured covers of artists such as Sweet, ELO, T. Rex, and Bowie. Here's a decent, if straight forward rock cover of Badfinger. Recently, for reasons unclear, the NHL ill-advisedly booked Def Leppard to help kick off the new hockey season by having the band perform during the Toronto Maple Leafs game against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Lead singer Joe Elliot proceeded to basically give hockey fans the middle finger when he hoisted the Stanley Cup, the holy grail of hockey, over his head then put it down upside-down on a table. Yikes. Funny more than anything, it simply underlined the glaring question as to WHY Def Leppard was hired to kick off the NHL season in the first place? I mean, even the launch party of Fallout 3 featured a 90 minute set from the Foo Fighters! Score one for the geeks!

Duran Duran - The Needle and the Damage Done [originally by Neil Young]
Duran Duran's inevitable cover album Thank You came out in 1995 with bizarre cover choices such as Public Enemy's 911 is a Joke and Grandmaster Flash's White Lines, which I probably shouldn't like but I do. This Neil Young cover was not on that album, but it appeared as a b-side to the single Perfect Day, a cover of Lou Reed.

Styx - I Can See for Miles [originally by The Who]
Styx's cover album Big Bang Theory came out in 2005, though without their original lead singer Dennis DeYoung who was replaced in 1999 by Canadian Lawrence Gowan (who had a successful solo career as under the stage name Gowan). I have to admit I quite like this cover and their take on The Lovin' Spoonful's Summer in the City from the same album.

Jill Johnson with Kim Carnes - Tumblin' Dice [originally by The Rolling Stones]
Swedish country singer Jill Johnson recorded this duet featuring the unmistakable raspy vocals of Kim Carnes for her 2007 album Music Row. Of course, Kim Carnes is best known for her cover of Bette Davis Eyes from 1981.

Huey Lewis - Oh! Darling [originally by The Beatles]
One of my favourite Beatles tracks. You just can't beat Paul's howls, so thankfully Huey doesn't even really try to replicate them.

Daryl Hall & KT Tunstall - Something to Talk About [originally by Bonnie Raitt]
Daryl Hall, the Hall of Hall & Oates, had bloggers buzzing earlier this year when he teamed up with Montréal electrofunk duo Chromeo for an episode of his web jam sessions Live from Daryl's House, available for free on his site. Last month featured Canadian rock group Finger Eleven and previous guests have included Nick Lowe, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, and Oates himself! This is a lively cover duet with KT Tunstall of Bonnie Raitt's 90s hit Something to Talk About, which was actually penned by Canadian singer-songwriter Shirley Eikhard.

Originals from Rudy Clark

Ever heard of Rudy Clark? I hadn't until writing this post, but I know you know a couple of his songs.

James Ray - I've Got My Mind Set On You
A hit for George Harrison in 1988, take a listen to the drastically different original version from 1962 written by Rudy Clark and performed by James Ray. And that's not the only obscure original penned by Rudy Clark...

Merry Clayton - The Shoop Shoop Song
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss), also a Rudy Clark song, was a hit for Betty Everett and has been covered numerous times over the years by artists such as The Supremes, Linda Ronstadt, The Hollies, and of course, Cher. Yet I was surprised to learn recently that the original recording of the song was by Merry Clayton, most famous for her intense wailing opposite Mick Jagger on the Stones' classic Gimme Shelter.

Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter [originally by The Rolling Stones]
Despite having sung on the original, my gut instinct tells me this counts as a cover. An awesome soul version with some sweet horns, this is a strong contender for number one Gimme Shelter cover, though Ruth Copeland has claimed that spot in my books.

Stones! Covers! They're just a click away, they're just a click away...

I saw Shine a Light a couple days ago and have come to the conclusion that I don't particularly like watching concert films, though as far as concert films go, it's pretty awesome. My main beef is that I was just sitting there with my arms alternately folded or propping up my head on the armrest. IMAX, larger than life, like being there... except you're not. It's missing the exhilaration of watching a LIVE performance unfold before your eyes and ears, and simply being engulfed in the music. Maybe it was just me. A woman next to me distractingly danced in her chair, and by "dance" I mean she made little fists and awkwardly moved them up and down to no particular beat. Luckily she only danced for the songs she knew, which were not many. And this was to the great benefit of the film too, as their big hits were limited to the beginning and end of the film. I was somewhat surprised by the diversity of the set, expecting mostly hits to be churned out. If you were to use the Forty Licks album as a template for their greatest hits, only seven of those were played, which makes up less than half of Shine a Light. Before the concert, we see Mick Jagger poring over pages and pages of potential songs that he uses to compile setlists. The songs are amusingly listed under headings of "well-known", "medium known", and "songs we should never play live". So it was a treat to hear the lesser known songs come out to play. But even the songs that have probably been played and rehearsed to death, they still manage to make electric.

The easy comparison is to the last Imax concert film I saw, U2 3D, and there's quite a difference. The Rolling Stones are more lively for one thing. Watching Mick Jagger is remarkable; he's got more moves and energy than people half his age (and then some). At one point Keith Richards remarks that when he's out on stage he stops thinking and just feels. The intimacy of Shine a Light shares that sense of feeling the music. Sure, the Stones occasionally wink at the crowd or do the ol' "I can't hear you" shtick, but other times, particularly when Buddy Guy joins them for a stunning Muddy Waters cover, the crowd seems to fade away and they are just plain having a blast on stage with each other. Special guests Jack White and Christina Aguilera inject some excitement to an already buzzing show, even if they're just a marketing ploy to pull a younger demographic into the seats. And guess what, it worked. Cut Scorsese and White from the credits, and I probably would not be inclined to check it out.

Be warned that even though the concert was being directed by Martin Scorsese with a crack team of Oscar-winning/nominated cinematographers (There Will Be Blood, The Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, Children of Men, Kill Bill, The Aviator, etc.) with 16 cameras covering every angle, like any concert these days it is not immune to idiots proudly holding up their crappy cell phone cameras to snap blurry 2MP close-ups of Mick or even worse "filming". You're in the front row, people-- enjoy it!

Now, a handful of my all-time favourite Stones covers.

Ruth Copeland - Gimme Shelter
Even though Gimme Shelter appears in three Scorsese films (Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed), I guess it just didn't make the setlist this time around. Gimme Shelter has been covered numerous times by the likes of Merry Clayton (the female vocalist on the original), Patti Smith, Grand Funk Railroad, Angélique Kidjo with Joss Stone, Mitch Ryder, and most recently the Stereophonics. But my favourite cover of Gimme Shelter has has got to be singer Ruth Copeland backed by George Clinton and members of Parliament. Copeland, a British folk/blues singer, was a co-producer on Parliament's debut album Osmium and her association with George Clinton and Parliament extended to her first two solo albums Self Portrait and I Am What I Am, both later collected and released as Gimme Shelter: The Invictus Sessions. At just over 8 minutes, it's an epic funk tour-de-force. Eschewing the trademark rhythm guitar opening, it starts off with just the drums, before the main chords are dramatically pounded out on a piano. Then, enter the fuzz. Warbling, wah wah, fuzzy guitars featuring a blistering Jimi-like lead by Parliament's Eddie Hazel. And Ruth Copeland's soulful wails of War! Children! Rape! Murder! cement this as the winning cover. Halfway through, the drums crawl to a stop, replaced by a slow organ with whispered vocals of the chorus, which swell to a chaotic climax as the band bursts back in and "love's just a kiss away" is repeatedly chanted like it's the end of the world.

Choro Azul - Paint It, Black
RLM & Katsuhiko Sakamoto & Ikuko Harada - 19th Nervous Breakdown
The blandly titled Japanese compilation A Tribute to the Rolling Stones is paradoxically filled a bunch of good to great Stones covers that play unexpectedly with several over-covered Stones hits. I love this Choro Azul cover that transforms Paint It, Black into a Brazilian samba with Nina Simone-like vocals. And I love this 19th Nervous Breakdown cover, an upbeat piano jaunt with liberal use of a flute. With a near incomprehensible accent, the lead singer sounds like he has heard the original so many times that he knows the lyrics down pat by sound, if not necessarily meaning.

Alicia Keys featuring Adam Levine - Wild Horses
I'm going to reveal my ignorance of Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine... when I first heard this cover, I thought the initial voice heard singing was Alicia Keys. Only when the clearly female vocals kick in for the second verse did I realize that oops, that was Adam Levine earlier. Gender bending vocals aside, I really like this piano-based cover-- even that curious key change every time they sing "...couldn't drag me away".

Moist - Miss You
Mid-90's Canadian rockers Moist ditch the disco vibe of the original.

Tori Amos - Angie
In 2001, Tori Amos released Strange Little Girls, a cover concept album where she re-interpreted twelve songs written by men. The 1992 EP for the single Crucify also featured three covers that would have fit the bill: Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, Led Zeppelin's Thank You, and this cover of The Rolling Stones' Angie.