Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)
The Battle of
The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest, where the one
that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1st
and/or 15th of every month), give a listen, and cast your vote in the comment section. Votes will be tallied, and the winner will be revealed on or about 8
days later.
It has come
to my attention (thank you, Stephen T.!) that in all the busyness of “best-laid
plans” for a quick trip to the mountains last month, I forgot to post the
results of my last battle! I apologize,
my friends. If not for all of you, your votes, and thoughtful comments, there’d be nothing but static echoes of stony silence here, at Landmark Sounds, and I sure wouldn’t want that. So, here’s how it all went down:
The song was “Every
Kinda People.” The contenders were the jiving Mint Juleps, who garnered a single vote (though not for lack of talent or trying), and Britain’s own sharp-dressed man, Robert Palmer, who easily snagged seven votes (including mine) for the win.
Thank you all for playing along!
Now, about today: Hey, hi! Happy May! In honor of summer actually showing signs of showing up, my song choice for this battle was written by George Harrison in 1969 after he too, must have experienced a long winter ;-) As the story goes, he used Eric Clapton’s guitar and “magical” inspiration provided by Clapton’s sunny garden ;-)
Song
title: “Here Comes the Sun”
Contender #1 Sheryl Crow
Contender #2 Richie Havens
There you
have it, folks! Which do you like best? And how come? Let me know in the
comment section below. Oh! And, before you go, hop around and see the rest of
today’s battles (participating sites are located in the top right sidebar of
this page)
Cheryl Crow gets my vote - love her version! Have a bandtastic day, Deidre. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ma'am!
DeleteHave you noticed May seems to be a popular month for songs by the Beatles?
I was pretty impressed by Richie Havens when I first heard him in the early 70s. But I prefer the original Beatles version of this song and since Sheryl Crow stays with the spirit of their original then my vote goes to her.
ReplyDeleteLee
Another vote for Sheryl - thanks, Arlee.
DeleteI wasn't familiar with Richie Havens before now, but you're right, he is impressive ;-)
Hi diedre! I figured Robert Palmer would win your last battle. ☺ We are so happy that May (and spring) is upon us! A little early for summer here, but one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteConfession: I have never cared for Sheryl Crow's voice and, while her rendition was true to the original, I much preferred the rich baritone of Richie Havens.
Hi Debbie! Spring can never come too soon for me ;-) It seems to me that Sheryl is known more for the company she keeps. Not such a bad thing, I guess.
DeleteA vote for the richness of Richie Havens! Thanks, my dear.
I've always liked the way Richie Havens did this, so I'm giving him my vote.
ReplyDeleteAnother vote for Richie! Thank you, John!
DeleteVOTE = Richie Havens
ReplyDeleteSomehow, Richie's version feels more organic, authentic, simple, honest, and humble. Sounds funny to say, but the instrumentation in Sheryl's version is too close to the original, and her voice sounds like a child in this track? In any case, I much preferred Richie. ~Ed.
Thanks for such a descriptive commentary on your vote for Richie, Ed!
DeleteYou know, the "childlike" feeling might stem from the children's movie Sheryl recorded the song for. I haven't seen it (my kids are grown) but now I'm curious ;-)
I vote for Ritchie who made this his own plus love the guitar. I could easily see George jamming with him.
ReplyDeleteWow! Now that you mention it, that would be an awesome duet, wouldn't it? Thank you, Birgit!
DeletedEAR dIEDRE ~
ReplyDeleteOrdinarily, I am neither a Beatles nor an old Crow fan. But I did kind of like her cover of this song. Nevertheless, as I wrote in my last BOTB Results post:
In the '80s, my musical tastes began to change drastically and I eventually came to love Jazz far more than Rock. And that's why today, with only some rare-ish exceptions (e.g., The Beach Boys & The Carpenters), I'm more about the arrangement and instrumentation than I am the vocals. ... As usually occurs, the music won out over the vocals for me...
And that same thing happened again here. Although I liked the old Crow's vocals better than Richie's, I enjoyed Richie's rhythms far more than Sheryl's instrumentation. So, my vote goes to MR. HAVENS. (I think I had one of his classes back when I was in high school. If Mr. Havens isn't a teacher's name, I don't know what is.)
Judge Al Bondigas happened to be in the room with me while I was listening, and he said that it was pretty close, but he'd be "rulin'" for Sheryl.
So please give one point each to the Old Crow and the School Teacher. Gracias!
~ D-FensDogG
Haha! 'Havens' does sound like a teacher's name ;-) Two votes, one for each of 'em duly noted. Thank you, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAs the crow flies, Havens is soaring ahead ;-)