Original vs Remake (Tainted Love)

Gloria Jones

1965

Failed to chart in the US and UK

Soft Cell

1981

#1 - UK Top 40

(2 weeks)

(The #1 selling single in the UK for 1981)

#8 - Billboard Hot 100

Marilyn Manson

2001

#5 - UK Top 40

#30 - Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart

Original vs Remake (True Colors)

True Colors
(Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly)

Cyndi Lauper

October 25th 1986

1 week at #1

True Colors

Phil Collins

1998

#2 (Billboard AC Chart)

#26 (UK Top 40)

Original vs Remake #34 (A Groovy Kind of Love)

A Groovy Kind Of Love
The Mindbenders
(written by Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager)

1965

Billboard Hot 100 - #2
UK Top 40 - #2

Phil Collins

1988

Billboard Hot 100 - 

October 8th #1 (1 week)

UK Top 40 -

September 4th  #1 (1 week)

Original vs Remake #33 (Turn the Page)

Turn The Page 

(Bob Seger)

Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band 

from the album - Back in '72

(live version from Live Bullet in 1976)

Metallica

Garage Inc.

1998

(#1 on the Mainstream rock chart for 11 consecutive weeks)

Original vs Remake #31

Kentucky Woman

(written by Neil Diamond)

Neil Diamond
1967
Billboard Hot 100 - #22





Deep Purple
(from the album "Book of Taliesyn")
1968
Billboard Hot 100 - #38

Original vs Remake #29

Take Me Home, Country Roads

(written by John Denver, Taffy Nivert, Bill Danoff)

John Denver reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Canada with this 1971 single from his album Poems, Prayers and Promises.




In 1973 Olivia Newton-John released her version of Take Me Home, Country Roads and went to #15 in the UK and Top 10 in Japan but never cracked the Hot 100 in the US.

Original vs Remake #26

Here we finally get to an Elvis song and remake, most remakes of Elvis songs leave me cold but this one I will admit is a favorite.  I had never heard the original Elvis version until I had the box set of Elvis 60s master recordings.
"Suspicion" was recorded in March of 1962 but never released as a single, it was on the Pot Luck album and that is where Terry Stafford (a great Elvis soundalike) heard it and decided to record a version himself.

The Terry Stafford version became a hit and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Elvis' version finally became a hit single in 1976 and made it to #9 on the UK Top 40.

Original vs Remake #23

Last week on December 6th the music world lost Dobie Gray after a long battle with cancer.  Well tonight we give him the "O vs R" treatment for his trademark song "Drift Away" from 1973.
Dobie's original peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #5 and became a center piece for classic hits, oldies and classic rock stations ever since.

The most successful cover of "Drift Away" came in 2003 with a version by, of all people, Uncle Kracker. It reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 but set a record on the Adult Contemporary chart by staying at #1 for 28 nonconsecutive weeks, June to December of 2003.   Dobie made a special appearance and sang along with the last verse on the Uncle Kracker version.

Original vs Remake #18

Today's song was one of the biggest hits in 1970 for the Hollies, who released their version of
  "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother"  just before Neil Diamond got his to the airwaves.

Featuring Elton John on piano the Hollies reached #3 in the UK and #7 in the US.   The song was re-released in the UK in 1988 jumped to the #1 spot on the UK Top 40 for 2 weeks in September and October.

Neil Diamond's version made it to #20 on the Billboard Hot 100

Original vs Remake #16

Today's remake looks at the 1972 hit from the Rolling Stones "Tumbling Dice". 
The original Rolling Stones version would reach #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the UK Top 40 chart.  Although there is rehearsal footage of the Stones singing the song at Montreaux, as usual its hard to understand any of the lyrics and not as good as the single released from the classic LP "Exile on Main Street"



In 1977 Linda Rondstadt was still riding a wave of chart success and decided to release her cover version of "Tumbling Dice" as a B side to "I Will Never Marry".
She and her band had done the song as a sound check for her concerts but no one knew the words.  She contacted Mick Jagger and ask him to write them down and on his suggestion that she sing more rock oriented songs she started using this more in her concerts.
Her version reached #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 but still gets plenty of airplay on "classic hit" radio today.

Original vs Remake #13

Our journey into the land of remakes takes us to the country side this week. 
First up is the original version of "I Swear" by John Michael Montgomery from 1994.
This was the #1 country song of 1994 and later that year it was remade by the R&B group All-4-One and they were even more successful on the pop charts.
They were at #1 on the Hot 100 for 11 consecutive weeks in May, June and July.  This was the #2 song of 1994 and the #9 song of the decade and was #78 on the Top 100 Songs list for the 50th anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100.
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Original vs Remake

Tonight's face off is between a superstar singer and the most successful band in music history.


Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - The Beatles
From the 1967 "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album


Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - Elton John
A #1 smash for Elton that topped the Billboard Hot 100 the first 2 weeks of 1975.