Brett's Collection of Random Covers Thread :)

[Brett]

So because I don't sleep well anymore, I find myself tinkering with these covers late at night. For some reason mixing this stuff at the end of the night tends to relax me. I've got a bunch of covers that I've done over the last several months (even years) or so that didn't really fit in to any particular group or anything, just songs I found decent backing tracks for that I decided to do for no particular reason. So they're kind of all over the map. I have others I've done that I'm still working on making sound decent, so I'll just add them to this thread when I can. Seems to make the most sense.

Enjoy!

Barracuda - Heart
Tried doing this one a bunch of different ways, never sounded good. Finally came up with some guitar sounds that worked better and were sort of closer to the real recording. No I didn't use a real single coil sound, it didn't sound good for me. I did do the solo on a single coil, and then the outro stuff too. Backing track is OK, singer is no Ann Wilson so don't expect much.

Battery - Metallica
I did this a while ago, was never really happy with it. I don't particularly like the backing track, or my performance in some places, as it's not as tight as I like to get things. But I know I'm not going back to it at this point, so it is what it is. May as well share it!

Call Me - Blondie
I like Blondie. And I was watching TV and that American Gigolo movie came on and made me think about this song, so I decided to cover it. There actually aren't any keyboards on it, I removed them all, and did everything on guitar, including the solo. I did leave one of the synths in the background during the bridge to beef it up, but everything else is guitar.

Heading Out To The Highway - Judas Priest
There aren't a lot of good Judas Priest backing tracks out there. This one is actually really good, and I love this song, but it also is all together so I can't separate out the vocals from the drums, etc. to mix them individually. I just had to stick my guitars on the entire backing track the way it was and make it work. I must have watched a ton of YouTube videos on the right way to play the harmonies in the solo and nobody does it right, and even the band doesn't do it the same way live as on album. So what I did worked, but I don't think it's exactly the same as the record. I recorded it so many different ways, but this sounded the best. Now the second harmony in the last verse I know is right.

Just What I Needed - The Cars
I am not a big Cars fan at all, but I do like this song and I think Eliot Easton is a pretty underrated player actually. The solo on this is very cool, and even his rhythm part is cool. I tried to use guitar tones that had a 70's power pop sound to them, but as I don't often play these kinds of songs it was hard to dial that in exactly. But in the end, I think what I did worked and came out pretty good.

Lil' Devil - The Cult
I know there aren't too many Cult fans on the site, but I like Electric and Sonic Temple. This song is from Electric, was also in that Robert Downey Jr. movie where he dies...Avengers: Endgame...haha I mean Less Than Zero. Not too much to this song, but I was really just focused on making it sound good, more than caring if it was difficult or not. I'm actually working on Fire Woman too. That song is a little more involved, has lots more parts.

Mr. Brownstone - GNR
I can play this song in my sleep I have played it so much in the last 30 years. Never actually tried recording it until recently. Wasn't really happy with the backing track sound, it was weird and kind of screwed the guitar sound up. So I had to kind of mix it weird so it sounded like they were actually the same recording. I'm not thrilled with how the guitars sound, but I don't feel like going back to mess with it. I know the playing is right, and that's all that matters.

[Dave's Dreidel]

I like The Cult too, mainly because they are well written songs that in most cases are damn easy to play, and dare say...fun.

[BlindtotheWorld]

I love the that heavy version of Call Me. Always loved that song but that cover rocked.

[Simon Ribeiro]

Whoa!!! Great stuff there, Brett.

Call Me is damn fine and heavier just like BTTW mentioned.
Apart from the acoustic intro, Battery sounded decent, IMHO.
I'm a big fan of JP's Point of Entry so I obviously enjoyed your version.
I think you did a great job covering The Cars and The Cult since those are some cool tunes.
(I didn't know posters here do not enjoy The Cult - How can it be? They kick!!)
Is it me or the track you got for Mr. Browstone sounded a little confused at its very beginning?
After that intro, seems like things get the right way and the song sounded better. Nice tone there.

Thanks for sharing these covers, man! Me like'em all!

[Brett]

Whoa!!! Great stuff there, Brett.

Call Me is damn fine and heavier just like BTTW mentioned.
Apart from the acoustic intro, Battery sounded decent, IMHO.
I'm a big fan of JP's Point of Entry so I obviously enjoyed your version.
I think you did a great job covering The Cars and The Cult since those are some cool tunes.
(I didn't know posters here do not enjoy The Cult - How can it be? They kick!!)
Is it me or the track you got for Mr. Browstone sounded a little confused at its very beginning?
After that intro, seems like things get the right way and the song sounded better. Nice tone there.

Thanks for sharing these covers, man! Me like'em all!

Hey thanks man, appreciate the comments as usual!

Yeah Battery is ok. I just wanted it to come out better but I just lost patience with it.

Yeah I’m not sure what the deal with Mr. Brownstone’s intro is. Maybe it’s the way I’m muted the strings.

[Dave's Dreidel]

Really like the Lil' Devil cover Brett.

[japeape]

I LOVE The Cult, especially Love, Electric & parts of Sonic Temple.

I liked "Wild Hearted Son" also, which i believe was on the album after that.

Great idea to cover the "Blondie" tune.

Another great one by them is "Atomic," which was around the same year, as
"Call me."

[Dave's Dreidel]

One Way or Another maybe would be a good one.

[PrideofPasadena]

Great job on all those, Brett!
I've got some of these on my "learn" list.