Poopot's Cover Challenge #23 - J - Voting

flying_pie

It's time to vote on the letter J

you can hear all the tracks in the playlist:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/poopots-cover-challenge-23-j


All that is required is to pick your top three and post them in the thread below.

Points are awarded as follows - 5 points for first place, 3 points for second place and 1 point for third place.

There is a bonus 5 points for covering the specified track which was I'll Be There by The Jackson 5

Entrants obviously aren't allowed to vote for themselves. Voting closes at 11.30pm on  Friday 30th June 2023

The entry with the most points gets to pick the next song to be covered. In the event of a tie for first place then all those tied will choose a song.

ALL ENTRANTS PLEASE HAVE YOUR IDEAS READY FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE. YOU WILL HAVE ONLY 48HRS AFTER VOTING CLOSES TO MESSAGE ME WITH YOUR SONG CHOICE. IF YOU FAIL TO DO SO THEN I'LL END UP CHOOSING IT FOR YOU! 

Good luck

Bezzer

Had half an hour so had a listen. Some top work again all, some really interesting takes and very close call for me. (quite nice to not have skin the game for a change too ) ... Going with:

5 points : @thecolourbox - really interesting take and nicely presented. Kept me properly engaged.
3 points : @idiotwind - For Jolene really, like both but this reminded me of Nick Cave having some down time and that appealed.
1 point : @Habanero - this third slot was hard to choose so I went with points for weirdness. Absolutely bizarre take but it made me smile so...

As I say, really could've gone anyway ... and maybe on a cooler day the mood would have swung differently. Good work all.

thecolourbox

That's very kind thank you Bezzer. I agree it's a tough one to judge this time I think as some good and varied work across every one of them.

Bit of background for mine:

• Inspired by somebody commenting in the thread about Ren saying that anybody with two brain cells could do that type of music, I though that given I'm somebody with approximately 2 brain cells I'd see if I could. So the rapping was kind of trying to be influenced by his style of rapping. My original drafts were just the guitar parts on acoustic accompanying myself, in the style of the Hi Ren video. But my playing wasn't up to doing it all through in one go whilst rapping as well so I decided to piece bits together instead.
• I wouldn't say I know how to rap but Eminem and UK Garage was big while I was at school so I kind of tried to back then. I can still do a rendition of The Real Slim Shady without the words in front of me, should that ever come up in the cover challenge...
• What i didn't realise though, is that whilst most British people rapping seem to adopt that kind of mock london accent, I seem to rap with a Nottingham/Derby type accent. Which is weird as when I talk I don't really have any accent,  if there are any hints of an accent for certain words, then they betray my Black Country heritage. Weird.
• I didn't want to rip off the Van Halen Jump note for note, not least because I really hate that song, but I wanted to include it as a nod to what would have been the obvious J song choice for a guitar forum... So I just put the theme into the minor key and did a different tune for the lyrics of that bit.
• Guitar parts are my Squire Mustang into Helix Native.
• Vocals are double tracked with a standard SM58 type and a Wasaphone lo-fi mic (website http://www.wasaphone.co.uk/wasaphone-mkii), the sm58 on a stand and the Wasaphone held by me just underneath it so I could sing into both at the same time.
• Bass drum beat is just an electro drum kit thing.
• The tempo changes were a pain in the arse to piece it altogether - I had to do each bit separately at the right tempos, then turn off the tempo track and just drag (and hope) them into the right places. Annoying but I do like the result

flying_pie

I've sent in a late entry

As a bit of daft fun it's an attempt at House Of Pain in the style of White Zombie. I reckon I'd need about 6 months of constantly redoing the vocal to really get what I was after but that's all I could manage in a few takes this afternoon. Turns out it was a bad idea to try and snarl the rap at a much quicker tempo than the original.

Looking forward to listening to the all the entries

Bezzer

@flying_pie ... God damn it! If I'd known you were pending I'd've ... um ... pended.

I'm a huge Zombie fan so you'd've have definitely got on the list. Only criticim is you've got far too much "note" in your vocals for Rob   Fucking great fun mate, enjoyed it a lot!

flying_pie

Bezzer said:

@flying_pie ... God damn it! If I'd known you were pending I'd've ... um ... pended.

I'm a huge Zombie fan so you'd've have definitely got on the list. Only criticim is you've got far too much "note" in your vocals for Rob   Fucking great fun mate, enjoyed it a lot!

Haha. I tried monotone mumbling but it made it too hard to keep the rap going. In the same vein I didn't have enough time at the tempo to do the Hetfield-esque "pack it up, pack it in-AH!" at the end of every phrase

I did consider doing a live version where Rob only says around 4 words and just wanders about the stage playing up to the crowd instead

IMC1980

Very tough to pick a top 3 this time around!

My votes go to:

5 points @stratman3142 - First time you put vocals down and hopefully the start of many more! Nice Dave impersonation as well and a tasty solo to top it all off, great job!
3 points @thecolourbox - Quite unnerving to listen to, which I enjoyed, very inventive as well. Also as someone from Nottingham, the accent feels a bit more Yorkshire, particularly "I ain't going out like no punk bitch", you've earned your flatcap with that delivery! 
1 point @flying_pie - it was a battle between you and thecolourbox for second place and if I had typed this up later on it may have gone the other way. A full on audio assault with some very nice lead breaks on there.

Well done to everyone, sorry I couldn't get an entry in, I will plan ahead a bit better for the next one.

Habanero

Getting my votes in now, as may not have time the rest of the week.

5pts : @idiotwind (Jump) - I have a feeling DLR would be pleased with this himself

3pts : @flying_pie - moves the original more into Beastie Boys territory

1pt : @mrkb - really good version of a bar room classic

Enjoyed all the other entries too chaps, and hope to see you all on the 'K' round.

stratman3142

5 points : @flying_pie : Mean and heavy. Loads of power and energy. Meaty guitar sounds. I really enjoyed it.

3 points (Jump) : @idiotwind :  Great fun. Perfectly captures an old country feel and sound. Turns the original into a completely different song.

1 point : @thecolourbox : Nice alternative take on the original.
 

flying_pie

5 points @idiotwind for Jump - Just brilliant. Brought a huge smile to my face. I also enjoyed Jolene but this for me was the most creative

3 points @thecolourbox - again really creative and very well executed. Loved the addition of a second song to break up the repetitive nature of Jump Around

1 point @mrkb for some nice sleaze




Sorry @stratman3142 - I think if it had more length then it would have done it for me (that's what she says). Great to hear some vocals - I'd encourage more of that as well as your quality instrumentals

@habanero - loved the crazy approach for a song with the most ridiculous lyric ever - "there's going to be a jailbreak somewhere in the town" (I wonder where. Could it be at the hairdresser's, the vets or perhaps the jail?). BTW I almost did it as The Beastie Boys in a No Sleep Til vibe but figured heavier would be more fun for the guitars

@fnpt - great song choice and well executed. Could well have got into the points if the track was a bit clearer and which I'm guessing wasn't helped by the new equipment 

Habanero

@flying_pie and @Bezzer ;

I arrived at my bizarre interpretation when I was sat on holiday, planning ahead, and scrolling through my iPod song list of 'J'. I found 'Jailbreak' but decided my left hand wasn't up to the solo of a close version, so decided on a different 'style'. Initial thought was 'The Police' who are always called during a breakout!

However, the hotel had nightly entertainment, and the bands were all very fond of a Bob Marley cover. So 'The Police' style evolved into the more generic reggae style which was the basis for many of their songs anyway.

Knowing little about reggae I dug out my ancient BBC 'Rockschool' book and found the original video on YouTube. I have a new found respect for those reggae guitar players, as I found the playing so repetitive I kept losing where I was.

thecolourbox

IMC1980 said:

3 points @thecolourbox - Quite unnerving to listen to, which I enjoyed, very inventive as well. Also as someone from Nottingham, the accent feels a bit more Yorkshire, particularly "I ain't going out like no punk bitch", you've earned your flatcap with that delivery! 

Thanks IMC1980 - yes I was hoping for a bit of a sinister feel to the music, I think my poor ability at staying in time helps in that respect as well as it creates just slight clashes here and there with the beat, so often sounds like it's about to fall over but not quite. I've stopped trying to fight that with better timing technique now and just accept it as my playing style.
Apologies for the misplaced accent - it's very odd as I was consciously trying not to do any accent at all which is all the weirder really

fnpt

Here goes:

1. @stratman3142

2- @flying_pie ;

3- @mrkb

idiotwind

5pts to @flying_pie ;
3pts to @mrkb ;
1pt to @thecolourbox ;

I think.  All quite close

flying_pie

@snap belatedly added to the playlist

mrkb

Will give them all a good listening to tomorrow and get votes in before deadline.

flying_pie

Reminder that voting closes tonight at 11.30pm

mrkb

My thoughts - some great entries, good variations on the theme (even though I dont like the song), I prefer the rockier versions

1st - Jump Around 65 - not sure whos that was
2nd-  @idiotwind - Jump entry
3rd - @thecolourbox ;

flying_pie

mrkb said:

Jump Around 65 - not sure whos that was

That would be  the Muppet who didn't add his own username when he uploaded it to The Fretboard SoundCloud account. I'll update that for him. The Muppet 

Snap

5 points for the Muppet - love it
3 points @stratman3142 ;
1 point @thecolourbox ;

All three cracking interpretations of the original

thecolourbox

My votes are as follows

5 points to idiotwind for Jolene (I liked your playing on Jump also but I really REALLY can't stand that song).

3 points to flyingpie.

1 point to fnpt, for those lovely lead line tones and rhythm bass.