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BAD COVER VERSION #68: THERE’S TOO MUCH CONFUSION
Way, way back when I started this series, the inspiration for it was Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”, which is widely regarded as the ultimate example of a music artist taking someone else’s song and making it definitively their own – even Dylan was so impressed with Hendrix’s take that his future live performances were based more on Hendrix’s interpretation than his original recording.
One thing I didn’t mention the first time around is that Hendrix wasn’t the first to cover the song.
That honor supposedly belongs to the Nashville Teens (who weren’t from Nashville, but Surrey), who released a cover version in March 1968.
Then there’s this version by The Alan Bown, which came out later that year.
Confusingly, this version is said to have been a direct influence on Hendrix’s take – but it came out after Hendrix’s version, and Hendrix actually began working on his version at the start of 1968. But as near as I can tell, Hendrix was influenced by their live version, which they had incorporated into their stage show. So in that sense, you could say The Alan Bown were arguably the first to do a cover version of the song on stage, but not the first to release a recorded version.
In any case, of these two, I rather like the Alan Bown version. It’s not as good as the Hendrix version, of course. And frankly the horn section gets a little weird. But it’s an interesting interpretation. By comparison, the Nashville Teens version seems a little stiff.
The hour’s getting late,
This is dF
One thing I didn’t mention the first time around is that Hendrix wasn’t the first to cover the song.
That honor supposedly belongs to the Nashville Teens (who weren’t from Nashville, but Surrey), who released a cover version in March 1968.
Then there’s this version by The Alan Bown, which came out later that year.
Confusingly, this version is said to have been a direct influence on Hendrix’s take – but it came out after Hendrix’s version, and Hendrix actually began working on his version at the start of 1968. But as near as I can tell, Hendrix was influenced by their live version, which they had incorporated into their stage show. So in that sense, you could say The Alan Bown were arguably the first to do a cover version of the song on stage, but not the first to release a recorded version.
In any case, of these two, I rather like the Alan Bown version. It’s not as good as the Hendrix version, of course. And frankly the horn section gets a little weird. But it’s an interesting interpretation. By comparison, the Nashville Teens version seems a little stiff.
The hour’s getting late,
This is dF