Bad taste advisory: the Axis of covers

I discovered the art of stupid covers about 12 year ago in the USA with Richard Cheese. The self-proclaimed loudest lounge singer in the world may not be the first one to turn covers upside down –Soft Cell’s version of Tainted love is pretty far from the original by Gloria Jones– but his choice of focusing on alternative rock and hip-hop songs really does justice to the lounge sound. My favorite remains Cypress Hill’s Insane in the brain transformed into:

Europe has its fair share of mythical cover albums, like the Leningrad Cowboys‘ Happy together, but since I already reached the Godwin point with the title, here’s my axis of covers.

Not your oma’s schlager

Max Raabe & Palast Orchester play in a music style popular during the Weimar Republic and are very professionnal about it, but they do indulge in a little bit of very stupid covers. Several of their albums are just badass, and cover everything from Eurodance songs to US hits, from Queen to Britney Spears. I just love the dinner jacket and the crooning: the only reason I ever bought a shirt with a broken collar was thanks to Max Raabe.

Italodisco?

Dressed like Max Raabe on the album cover but with a queer twist, Gennaro Cosmo Parlato also performs original songs but covered all kinds of classics in his 2006 album Remainders. I have mixed feelings about his style, as the voice goes from nasal falsetto to husky and arrangements from pedestrian to very creative. So let’s stick with the latter, like this version of Cindy Lauper’s True Colours:

Big in Japan

So for the axis to be complete, what about the Japanese? Thanks for Brian Ibbott’s Coverville podcast, I discovered this gem, obviously targeted at my demographic.

The English-speakers among you will have recognized December, 1963 (Oh what a night) by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, but for all French-speakers, this is the 8-bit version of Cette année là by French yéyé/disco legend Claude François, from the album Cloclo made in Japan. Not all of it sounds like video games, but it’s a must have for any Cloclo hater.

OK, enough glitter for the day, next time I’ll be back with a piece on a very interesting French rapper.