A 1920s-style cover of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"

boing
1

Originally published at: A 1920s-style cover of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" | Boing Boing

…

3 Likes
2

I always got the impression Ian Gillian really wanted to sing “some shithead with a flare gun” but sang “stupid” so the song could be played on radio.

6 Likes
3
1 Like
4

Richie Blackmore is rolling over in his grave - and he isn’t even dead yet.

4 Likes
5

I have seen Deep Purple a couple times. Mr. Gillian comes off as too posh for profanities.

They finish a song, and he says in a sprightly tone, “Superb! Superb everyone!”

3 Likes
6

That wasn’t a bad song, but it wasn’t Smoke on The Water.

3 Likes
7

I came across this; I can recognize it as Smoke on the Water, but Anderson’s rendition seems too far rremoved.

5 Likes
8

Unfortunately, the best part of the song is the dirty guitar riff, so this misses the mark.

2 Likes
9

The first rock concert I went to was to see Deep Purple in the Astrodome.
There was no floor seating, just regular seating.
When the lights dimmed for their opening, everyone flooded onto the floor.
It was the only time I’ve seen the Dome from that viewpoint, & I hope it doesn’t get torn down.

I enjoyed this version of “Smoke on the Water”, though.

10

While I love a good cover, I need really good covers to do two things:

  1. Capture some of the feeling/spirit/je n’ais ce quoi of the original.
  2. Make it something different. Not just strings vs. metal, but change it in an interesting way.

This did neither (for me). I wasn’t familiar with Robyn Adele Anderson, but did a quick rabbit-hole into her Youtube catalog. There is a sameness to most of them, and I don’t get that, “ooohh - that’s a neat way to interpret that song” feeling from her tracks. Postmodern Jukebox does similar work, but I think they are more successful in reinterpreting popular songs in this way.

3 Likes
11

But only because Blackmore has gone even further back in time to another imaginary musical era.

2 Likes
12

There it is. Was looking for the Postmodern Jukebox reference. They do stellar work, but they always seem to find a unique style of music that transforms the original while still fitting it somehow. Not everything they do works for me, but most of it does.

2 Likes
13

Do you all know the Bob Wills “smoke on the water”? Its a totally different song and it’s a bit of a WW2 ra-ra war rallying song. Take that as you will. But it’s pretty catchy. Smoke on the Water - YouTube

14

I must say I much prefer Señor Coconut’s version.

(video seems to be from several live performances, but the audio is probably the album version)

2 Likes
15

And for the more electronically inclined, may I suggest the Sieg über die Sonne remix?

1 Like
16

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.