this is so unfortunate.

choderama wrote:
depends on your definition of 'better', right?

i'd argue that 'better' generally translates to 'more popular' and there are hundreds of covers that are clearly more popular than the original.

off the top of my head:
the most obvious is Louie Louie - written and first recorded by Richard Berry & The Pharohs - popularized by the Kingsmen. The Kingsman version is (or was in years past) consistently named as one of 'the greatest rock songs of all times'. i doubt the Richard Berry version would even be mentioned in footnotes had it not been for the Kingsmen.
Red Red Wine - written written and first recorded by Neil Diamond is - UB40 version is far more popular
One of my favorites is Sister Morphine - written and first recorded by whatsername (Marianne Faithful? - i think i've heard it here on RP?) - made 'better' by the Stones.
Black Magic Woman - by Fleetwood mac, popularized by Santana
any of 8 to 10 songs 'by' Led Zeppelin are 'covers' of old blues songs (at least the lyrics are covered)
the list is really huge and, in many cases, the cover is so poular that people don't even know that there was an 'original' (like when people hear Bob Marley sing I shot the Sherrif' and ask why all the great classic rock songs get turned into Reggae tunes...)

choderama wrote:
"Ska" is a music form which started in Jamaica in the late 1950's and early 60's. It was a forerunner of reggae . The fact that the recording was made by some Jamaicans does not disqualify this song form being considered "ska". From the Toots and The Maytals website:

Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are considered legends of ska and reggae music. Their sound is a unique, original combination of gospel, ska, soul, reggae and rock.

I guess it still comes down to one's opinion of what ska and reggae sound like.

In reference to the debate about what genre this song is in, I've always thought if it had horns it had to be ska, even if i sounded like it was reggae. A bit over-simplistic I guess, but I found this article on google which agrees, although it includes other differences as well: Difference Between SKA and Reggae

Toots Hibbert Jamaica's Otis Redding

choderama wrote:

At the risk of being pedantic, you do know what ska is, right? He's not talking about ska punk.

This album includes tracks redone as reggae, ska, and dub. And this track is most definitely in the vein of ska.

I would love to hear some tracks from their Dub Side of The Moon LP played on RP. Good stuff that will surely stir the pot.

jbunniii wrote:
Ahhhh.. no. Radiohead's is better.

That is almost never true, where the cover is better.

Technically it should never be true... because even on very rare occasions where the cover is 'better' (improves) on the original... it is still a cover, and the orignal artist(s) still did the hardest job of writing the song - even though your, or my, personal opinion is that you like the song more.

fredriley wrote:
I'd say this is more raggae than ska.

I'm not one to play stereotypes, but there is a Jamacan flag on the album.. with a Jamacan dude on the front... and the album title has the word 'dread' in it... not to mention it just plain sounds like a raggae song and not a ska song.

Ha, this is at least as good as the original!

Tippster wrote:
As it happens, this is ska, at least to my uneducated ears. And if reggae is any sort of music, it's religious and political, though pretty much any musical genre (apart from Goth, maybe) can be happy, sad, political, apolitical, danceable, undanceable {insert adjective of choice}

Hysterical! I love it!

love this song & LOVE this remake..

Reggae is happy music? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

There are some happy Blues songs as well, I guess, but "3 Little Birds" et al. was the exception, not the rule.

This is funny for once, but I'm afraid my rating will drop each time I hear it again.

TheKing2 wrote:
Fixed that for you.

rdo wrote:

Best version ever. hell yes, this puts you in the moood....

Nutty.

I'm gonna make myself a drink with lots of tequila and pour it in my lap.