Rhino's Got You Covered

It’s Wednesday, so it must be time to take another dip into the Rhino catalog and trot out a new quartet of cover songs that you may or may not have heard before. Let’s get started, shall we?

•    Buck Owens, “Johnny B. Goode” (1969): When an artist releases a live album, it’s generally not seen as an LP that likely to produce a hit single, but leave it to Buck to be one of the exceptions to that rule. When he issued his concert record BUCK OWENS IN LONDON in ’69, not only did his cover of this Chuck Berry classic turn out to be a hit, but it actually topped the Billboard Country Singles chart.

•    Guadalcanal Diary, “And Your Bird Can Sing” (1987): It’s not like there aren’t thousands upon thousands of Beatles covers out there, but this one by Guadalcanal Diary stands out for two reasons: it’s not a song that gets covered very often – although Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs subsequently recorded a version of it – and the band dared to change the tempo of the song. (Thankfully, it works.)

•    Conway Twitty, “Baby I’m-A Want You” (1985): Once upon a time, it might’ve seemed odd for a country artist to record a cover of a Bread song. Then again, once upon a time, the idea of the lead singer of Bread becoming a successful country artist would’ve sounded ridiculous, and yet that’s exactly what David Gates did. However you approach this situation, though, the end result is the same: a solid version of a classic tune by an all-time country great.

•    Goo Goo Dolls, “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” (1990): Before the Goo Goo Dolls smoothed the edges of their sound and starting released platinum-selling albums, their albums tended to be a heck of a lot harder and a little bit quirkier. Case in point: their decision to bring in a Buffalo-based lounge singer named Lance Diamond to croon a couple of tunes on their LPs. While this Prince cover is unexpected, it’s also quite awesome.