My name is Eric, I'm 43-years-old and I like the Backstreet Boys. It started innocently enough in 1996 when I was working for a Top 40 radio station. I played "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and as much as I really didn't want to like it, I couldn't help loving it.
The addiction grew as more singles were released: "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", "As Long As You Love Me" and "I Want It That Way".
By the time "Larger Than Life" came out in '99, I was in full BSB hysteria. (I even collected the action figures from Burger King and had them prominently displayed on my desk at work.)
Yesterday I noticed this message from BSB's Kevin Richardson on my Facebook news feed: "A cover of one of my favorite artists of all time. Cover 2015 coming soon..." It was then linked to a video of him singing Billy Joel's "She's Got A Way". (I also happen to love Billy Joel, although I don't have his action figure. )
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go squee!
More from Kevin Richardson can be found on his website and Facebook.
Here in Utah, a man by the name of Michael McLean does a Christmas show every year called "The Forgotten Carols". Basically, they are Christmas songs that are not played on the Christmas radio station every 13 minutes, but have the same general feeling of "Peace on Earth" that the overplayed songs do.
So I decided - with all due respect to Mr. McLean - to do a segment called "The Forgotten Covers". Pretty much, these are covers that came out years ago that have have either fallen off the radar or just never really took off for one reason or another.
For this one, I have to go a little personal.
I was on a small bus in a suburb of Santiago, Chile when I first heard it. I didn't recognize the tune, and the bus was noisy so I couldn't hear the lyrics all that well, but every once and awhile I would catch a lyric that sounded vaguely familiar: "When will those dark clouds disappear?"
It was driving me nuts. I wanted to yell "Shut up!" to the people on the bus so I could hear it better.
"You can't say we never tried."
Then it hit me. This was a cover of The Stones' "Angie".
A couple of days later, I was walking past a music store and I heard the song blaring from their sidewalk speakers, so I stopped in to ask who was singing. The man told me it was a group from Chile called La Ley. (The Law) I had heard a few of their songs - all in Spanish - and I liked their stuff. Their then-lead singer, Andrés Bobe, had a voice that kind of reminded me of Morten Harket of a-ha. So I purchased the CD for 5,000 pesos and went back to my apartment and listened to "Angie" again.
I have always said that what makes a good cover is when the covering band makes the song their own, without totally destroying the feeling of the original. La Ley definitely made this song their own. It's arguable whether they kept the feeling of the original because the music is so different, but no make mistake about it, Andrés is singing like a man who is in love with Angie.
