A great cover is hard to come by. When making a covers album, artists have two hurdles to overcome. They have to uphold to their own standard of music quality, plus they have to make a song that is respectable to the artist’s original track. This creates an even bigger double edge sword because the artist doing the cover has to honor the original track by not completely bastardizing it but they have to put their own stamp on it by making it their own. Not everyone can be Jimi Hendrix covering Dylan or Cake covering Gloria Gaynor but they need to have their own voice. The homespun duo of Sweet and Hoffs recreates classic tracks like Baez and Simon on a road trip through our AM psyche. Their newest ’80s offering promises to turn our MTV up to 11, so until then, let’s flashback to the summer of sixty, um, seventy, um, yeah.
Here are the 11 Best Covers By Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs:
- You’re So Vain (Carly Simon, Under the Covers Vol 2)
- And Your Bird Can Sing (The Beatles, Under the Covers Vol 1)
- Different Drum (Stone Poneys, Under the Covers Vol 1)
- Maggie May (Rod Stewart, Under the Covers Vol 2)
- You Can Close Your Eyes (James Taylor, Under the Covers Vol 2 Bonus Disc)
- Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac, Under the Covers Vol 2)
- Peace Love And Understanding (Nick Lowe, Under the Covers Vol 2 Bonus Disc)
- Melissa (The Allman Brothers, Under the Covers Vol 2 Bonus Disc)
- Hello It’s Me (Todd Rundgren, Under the Covers Vol 2)
- Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead, Under the Covers Vol 2)
- Care of Cell #44 (The Zombies, Under the Covers Vol 1)
By Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs new album, Under The Covers Volume 3…now!