There are tribute bands and there are bands that earn their gold doing miserable and sloppy versions of popular songs, but countless covers abound that are weird and truly beautiful. You probably didn’t know most of these are actually versions so be prepared for a top 10 of the most underrated and bizarre covers ever. Start the journey!

11. Ken Boothe – Puppet on a String

There are times when a version really out-dates the original, and this is one of the cases. The first album from the Jamaican Ken Boothe features great Jackie Mittoo on the piano (and arrangements), and is a landmark of the Rocksteady genre. Sure, Jamaica was overwhelmed with North-American Soul and most of the hits from the 60s and 70s were covers, done in their perfect sun-kissed way. Sandie Shaw was no hit-wonder but this was her breaktrough, winner of the 1967 Eurovision contest. Weirder? Paul Mariat’s instrumental.

9. Devo – Satisfaction

Are We Not Men? No, they aren’t. Devo stands as the true weird band. Their mythology is as urgent as ever. They’ve done some pretty originals themselves but this version of the classic Rolling Stones tune is too wonderful to be put to words. The groove is tight, hints at some sunkissed reggae and turns the tune into a really desperate and insane scream. The way is should have been, initially.
There are also some other brilliant versions of this, Cat Power, Britney Spears (???) and a really great one by David McCallum.

8. Natacha Atlas – I Put a Spell on You

Really, the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic is one of the most haunting songs written, reportedly recorded over a night of partying and girls at the studio so Hawkings could record his spooky voice just like it sounded live. The Natasha Atlas version is something that words cannot describe, truly bad vocal rendition (la la la la la la….), interesting instrumental part (that has nothing to do with the original), some record scratching (wtf!!!), really overrated. Still it’s the weirdest version of the original, horrible or not.

There are truly bizzare versions of this song, but Atlas version outrates them all for being the stupidiest. The best rock cover is Credence Clearwater Revival’s rendition, from their first album. Arthur Brown’s version is wonderfully haunted as well, Buddy Guy’s Santana produced cover is also great, although a bit too guitar-wanking for my tastes. Speaking of guitar-wanking, David Gilmour also has a weird version of this, as well as The Animals. Other known version is by Marylin Manson, but you knew that.

It’s Nina Simone that tops the charts for making it her own, as well as everything the lady touched. Gold.

7. Jane Rossi – In the Year 2525

You know, I just had to have some italo in this selection. The Zager & Evans 2068, sorry, 1968 song is a truly weird composition, well know but still underrated in its haunting vision of the future. Talk about cyberpunk, man. Anyway, there are some horrible versions of this, Ian Brown has made it kind of cabaret, Fields of Nephilim turned it into a dark metal ensemble, Visage made it even cheesier, Venice Beat just simply fucked it up for the new millennia (don’t listen to it, you’ll regurgitate), Pete Stark does it the same way but even cheesier than Visage, Mystic turned it into a good Disco party, and Kitbuilders… well, fuck, just listen to it. But this Jane Rossi version exhales the sweet cheese that was Italo and Hi-NRG back in the day, making it happier but haunting as well. And bizarre. And with a great instrumental bit that makes 98% of the song. But even weirder is Robin’s 1969 chord-by-chord Finnish version, you just have to listen to it. And if you’re into translations, check up The Sounds rendition. Bliss.

6. Colorado – California Dreamin’

Okay. Disco. When you think of Covers and Disco, it’s Boney M you want. They have versions for almost everything but nothing like the Mamas & the Papas original gospel. Shame that this is only the Top of the Pops short version, on record it sounds more epic and even cheesier, the kind of good cheese. Rocks every dance floor. It’s not Santa Esmeralda, by the way. Heck, they’re British. This is taken from an album of covers that include a disco medley to Rolling Stones songs. Bliss!

Now for even weirder versions. Japan’s Hi-Standard wank this beautiful song into an hardcore bowl of screams. Just plain vomit. Life-time sentence for them. Of course, Beach Boys have a hit version of this, but check out Michael Chapdelaine’s finger-picking wonder, all-instrumental. Gorgeous. Even more perfect is Mr Bobby Womac’s version, that almost nears the original in its beauty. But it’s Jose Feliciano that rocks the bunch; sings it in a desperate tone, backed up by some gorgeous strings. Heaven. Check out the Carpenter’s rendition, just for some Karen caressing.

5. Carlos Bastos – Hey Jude

Pretty sure you haven’t heard this. Beautiful version of the ever-so-popular Beatles classic in glorious Fado. Carlos Bastos sings it in an ironic bad english. Yes, it’s a joke. Bastos has a version of (I can get no) Satisfaction as well. This is pure delight and a great arrangement by António Chainho on the Portuguese guitar. A really underrated classic. The Temptations have a really weird and wonderful vocal rendition to the classic, these guys could do whatever they wanted with their voices.

4. Goldfrapp – Yes, Sir, I can Boogie

Everybody knows that the Eurovision hit by Baccara is a beautiful love boogie, it doesn’t need any versions. But as scarse as they are, each of them is intensely exciting. Goldfrapp’s thing turns the boogie into plain raw sex, has a strong build up and never fails to be as sexy as the original, in it’s own peculiar contemporary way. Forget about Denice French’s eurodance cover or Sophie Elis Baxtor version. Goldfrapp is the true thing.

3. Flying Lizzards – Money (that’s what I want)

More bizzare than this version of the Barret Strong’s 1959 classic is the way this was a new-wave hit. Flying Lizards were a truly weird ensemble dwelling on minimal and experimental music. This version is tasty pop, with a razor sharp experimental edge, perfect for the new wave crowd. Check out their version of Great Balls of Fire, also bizarre. Also, check out Led Zep’s rendition, that doesn’t really sound anything like the original or Zep.

2. Iggy Pop – Family Affair

A hidden gem from the stooge, the original is no less weird and beautiful, in fact, it’s one of the greatest songs ever. Sly Stone recorded this for the 1972 album There’s a Riot Going on and his original is no less muddy and moody. The album sounds like it was picked from an underwater shipwreck, as the tapes he used for the final versions were erased and recorded countless times due to a year of cocain fueled late night sessions. Parties at Sly’s crib were famous, the funk master did hire security to prevent people from bringing outside stash, it was his own stuff, the way he wanted. A landmark album.

1. Grace Jones – She’s Lost Control

Joy Division are (unfortunately) very extensively covered, as if every hip head suddenly started to like one of the most beautiful weird bands ever, and the best of them. Truly bad covers were made of Love Will Tear us Apart, 99% of them suck, specially Nouvelle Vague’s. She’s Lost Control is another brilliant song from their debut, Unknown Pleasures, and in 1995 somebody decided to release A Means to an End, a collection of versions. Girls Against Boys angst-ridden and teenage riot version is the best of the compilation, but it’s Grace Jone’s version that tops them all. Eight Minutes of pure crazy dub.

The brightest star has left us alone. Alex Chilton never achieved fame, neither any of his bands or solo work was universally aclaimed as it should, yet you can hear the profound influence of Big Star’s power pop in almost every contemporary pop band. Out of time and place, plaged by bad management and promotion but critically aclaimed: wich fame would you choose? Chilton chose none: he kept playing, producing, an ocasional special appearence on stage and, recently, a re-formed Big Star that would be playing on 2010′s South by Southwest’s main venue. Alex Chilton now joins Chris Bell, the friend and guitarrist/composer from Big Star that died in 1979 in a car crash. That’s the beautiful and tragic thing about music, the people die but the songs live on. And what great songs.

Chilton was also the singer from the Box Tops, the 60s pop outfit that had the no.1 song, The Letter. After their end, Chilton tried to go solo but his bad luck seemed to follow every footstep. In 1971 he formed Big Star with Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens, a reformation of Bell’s Icewater. The “quintenssencial power pop band” was born.

What’s so special about Big Star? The crafted melodies inspired by The Beatles and the British Invasion, carefully constructed around their painfully melodic guitars, too soft to be just rock and too deep to be just pop. #1 Record is the most accomplished record of the three 70s albums Big Star gave us; it’s more sober than the beautiful Radio City and less fractured than Third/Sister Lovers. Bell and Chilton playing their hearts out, after all they were very young. This is the record that also gave us Thirtheen and September Gurls.

After Radio City, the band’s second album, the trio split for good, Bell was already gone after a depression and several fights between the band mates. Chilton took Stephens, the remaining Big Star, and recorded their final effort by himself. The resut, Third/Sister Lovers, is a deranged yet beautiful showcase of emotion. It’s the record that gave us Holocaust, probably the most heartfelt song ever recorded. A perfect moment that truly sums Chilton’s career: playing music against blank walls.

What’s so wonderful about the music Big Star gave us? Their pop sensibility with an edge, these guys were having fun. They produced their records all by themselves, and the result is raw but lush, intricate yet poppy, always with a certain tension and sadness in every chord. The songs are imortal.

They say that the despair, sadness and depression always makes the better music; if everything is okay why bother?, but that can be quite misunderstood. Playing music with the heart is more than a therapy and Big Star saved our lifes. Alex Chilton was the one that made three Big Star records possible, and his legacy is untouchable. The low-profile guy, always witty in his dark humour: a man with so much to give achieves a cult status that is the synonim for Big Star, a secret you almost want to keep to yourself.

Below is a selection of songs from Big Star’s three studio albums, from the 1970s. Thank you, Chilton.

Big Star - The Ballad of El Goodo (from #1 Record)
Big Star - Thirteen (from #1 Record)
Big Star - Try Again (from #1 Record)
Big Star - What's Going Ahn (from Radio City)
Big Star - You Get What You Deserve (from Radio City)
Big Star - Jesus Christ (from Third/Sister Lovers)
Big Star - Holocaust (from Third/Sister Lovers)

There’s always need for some mental cutting, some specific scenery for despair and letting the heart bleed. Music helps you get in the feeling you want, when you heart is bleeding, when your heart is full of love, when happiness fills your day. Today I make my own personal list of heartbroken, desolated, windswept love songs for all those moments where a tear is not enough.

Stay tuned for a specific podcast regarding this beautiful and painful song list. And also for the top 10 happiest love songs, somewhere soon. Meanwhile, some of these might save your heart.

10. Kim Wilde, Cambodia

This is a little cheesy gem from the german pop artist. Truly heartbroken synthtetised loss, naive and easy but remarkably beautiful.

9. Noiserv, Bullets on Parade

Fellow Noiserv delivers some beautiful child pop for us, direct from his bedroom. Bullets on Parade is about a lot of confusing thoughts that come all at once and become less and less confusing. The song keeps growing and growing, becomes so hypnotic and sad that you almost cry for its purity. Just fucking beautiful. And I love the camera sound. It’s as gorgeous as it can get. It’s not directly about heartbreak or loss, but the feeling is so right.

8. Lhasa, De Cara a la Pared

Lhasa de Sela is beautiful. Every note from her voice is love. Her debut is all sung in Spanish and it’s truly remarkable. Cabaret and late night losses and gone lovers, sometimes aggressive and most of the times truly heartfelt. The opening song, De Cara a La Pared is devastating, takes you on a smooth ride between the veils of desperate love.

7. Brian Eno – By This River
(from The Son’s Room)

The master of sonic and synth landscapes can also be some heartbreaker. The Son’s Room deals with suicide, loss and painful memories. The room of the dead son is a personification of all things who are not right, a sanctuary of an almost evil entity. Moretti’s way of surpassing all these bad thoughts has it’s fuel in this song. It’s both utterly beautiful and utterly painful, overwhelming.

6. PJ Harvey, Who Will Love Me Now

(from The Passion of Darkly Noon)

The first time I saw The Passion of Darkly Noon it was really late at night and I wasn’t really sure I was awake. I was pretty sure I was dreaming, each sequence becoming more and more dream-like, as it reached its climax. I watched it in a trance. It blew my mind, but what truly woke me and kept me dreaming was the ending. Polly-Jean’s beautiful voice woke me up, as she sang “In the forest / there’s a monster / and he has done terrible things”. I can never dissociate the music from the film and the film from the music. It’s absolutely beautiful. It has an ethnic and noir vibe, so haunting. Just like the movie. Perfect.

5. Joy Division, Decades

Joy Division’s Ian Curtis is the absolute personification of a tortured soul, and its cult and legacy are overwhelming. Of all the songs, Decades stands as an immortal one. It’s the last song from their last album, Closer, and it’s an epic. Of course, Love Will Tear Us Appart and New Dawn Fades are equally heartbreaking, but Decades has nostalgia all over it.

4. Blonde Redhead, Messenger

Blonde Redhead’s music may be mostly about sadness in beautifully painful sonic landscapes, altogether in a faux-rock way. This wonderful trio delivers album after album some of the most beautiful songs in history of pop, and they stay as alternative as they can be. Their last effort, 23, is the most open and perhaps happiest record they created, yet, Messenger from Misery is a Butterfly stands out as one of my favorite heartbroken songs, so fragile so intimate and so delicate, it crawls into your skin like the blood that flows into your heart. Well, most of Blonde Redhead’s albums serve just as well this particular feeling, each of them particulary painful and truly beautiful, so I suggest you go digging for it – it will be a happy discovery. Here’s an interesting video rendition to the song, as there is no official video.

3. The Cure – Siamese Twins

The Cure’s Pornography is hailed as a desperate masterpiece, something so gothic and melancholic it hurts every chord. Every second of this record screams pain, loss and heartbreak. Siamese Twins perhaps better exemplifies this, a haunted tale of an unusual first time. Smith’s moaning lyrics and tortured singing are almost impossible to listen soberly. The Cure never got as desperate as this, the whole album is a personification of everything lost, of broken lifes and the end of it all. Still gives me the chills all this time.

2. Low, Shame

Paired with Red House Painters slow and narcotic desperation, Low’s music is deep and hypnotic, and incredibly and beautifully sad. Shame takes us to the corners of our broken hearts, it’s desolate and truly beautiful. There is a certain appeal to pain and loss that makes desperate love songs feel so intimate, and this is one of the best examples. Haunting.

1. Red House Painters, Katy Song

What’s to say about this utter desperation? Maybe Mark Kozelek is the personification of heartbreak, he is also capable of delivering some of the most melodic demonstrations of love, pain and loss. Katy Song’s 8 minute escalade of pain is a roller coaster, slow, deep, hipnotic. There’s nothing more beautiful as this, speaks from the heart straight into your own personal despair.