For some reason, the music industry has long conflated singer and songwriter as if the acts of creation and expression were one job. But 2014 saw many artists take inspiration from the pens of others, resulting in some remarkable and incredibly diverse covers albums.
Check out our Top 10 Covers Albums of 2014 below, but don't forget to head over to our 2014 in Lists section to see more of our Year-End coverage.
Top 10 Covers Albums of 2014:
10. Bryan Adams
Tracks of My Years
If you've ever listened to the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" or the Beatles' "Any Time At All" and asked yourself what those songs might sound like topped off by Bryan Adams's raspy, emotive voice, 2014 was a good year for you. On his first studio album in six years, the quintessential Canadian rocker reached way back into his past to resurrect an album's worth of material that inspired his teenage self. And even if you didn't know you wanted to hear expertly produced, Adams-led renditions of Muddy Waters, Creedence Clearwater Revival or Chuck Berry songs, there's no denying they come straight from the heart.
9. Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics
With nearly 40 albums over a 60-year career, Aretha Franklin is better poised to be covered than to be the coverer. But in October, the Queen of Soul dropped Sings the Great Diva Classics, which saw the entirely able 72 year old put her stunning, soul-filled touch on ten classics by divas she's both inspired and been inspired by. A juxtaposed one-two punch of Etta James's "At Last" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" opens the record, followed by the likes of Alicia Keys' "No One" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Not that we needed any more proof Aretha is a great diva herself.
8. Tony Dekker
Tony Dekker Sings 10 Years of Zunior
In 2004, Canadian drummer and entrepreneur Dave Ullrich thought he'd create a label and online store called Zunior to release and sell his friends' music. As August's Tony Dekker Sings 10 Years of Zunior proves, Ullrich had some pretty talented buddies. To mark the site's 10th anniversary, the Great Lake Swimmers frontman lent his gentle voice and guitar to some of his favourite tunes by artists like Old Man Luedecke, Chad VanGaalen, Cadence Weapon, Ohbijou and Jim Guthrie that found a home on the site. Besides being a resonant and incredibly skilled tribute to the musicians it covers, the album is a testament to the lasting integrity of Zunior.
7. She & Him
Classics
Only Zooey Deschanel could record a cover album of mid-20th century hits that sounds as vintage as the source music itself. Alongside a 20-piece orchestra and Portland guitarist and songwriter M. Ward, the other half of retro-pop duo She & Him, Deschanel croons her way through 13 touchstone tunes by Sinatra, Costello, Presley, Armstrong, Fitzgerald and more (they weren't kidding when they called the December record Classics). The song selection is unsurprisingly stellar — these tunes' shelf life alone speaks volumes — and there's perhaps no act more fit to revisit them than She & Him.
6. Neil Young
A Letter Home
When Neil Young released A Letter Home in May, less attention was paid to the songs that the Canadian icon covered (is it all that surprising that Young wanted to play 11 songs by inspirations and contemporaries like Dylan, Lightfoot, Springsteen and Nelson?) than the sound quality of the record itself. Young recorded the album of solo acoustic performances in a restored 70-year-old Voice-O-Graph vinyl recording booth at Jack White's Nashville studio. To describe the muffled, crackling aesthetic of A Letter Home as "lo-fi" would be an understatement. But its gloomy rawness is precisely what makes it so powerful.
5. Flaming Lips
With a Little Help from my Fwends
Luckily, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is too good a record to be ruined. Otherwise, Wayne Coyne and his motley crew of Oklahoma psychedelic space-rockers might have managed to do just that with their October track-by-track remake of the classic Beatles album. That's not to say that the band's reimagining — which features glitched-out production, a series of sci-fi sounds and contributions from the likes of J. Mascis, Foxygen and Miley Cyrus — isn't interesting. But it's also incredibly incoherent, somewhat scary and downright weird. For many, it'll sound like their favourite Beatles record being vivisected, converted in confetti and endlessly trampled by an army of men in plastic bubbles.
4. Justin Rutledge
Daredevil
The prospect of recording an album of Tragically Hip covers is daunting for many reasons: What songs to choose? How to do Gord Downie justice? How not to infuriate Hip lovers? Seasoned Toronto singer-songwriter Justin Rutledge managed to release April's Daredevil, ten covers of "golden era" Hip tracks ("Courage," "Grace, Too" and "Locked in the Trunk of a Car" all made the cut), relatively unscathed. The project has its critics, but the stripped-down renditions are a humble homage and a chance to marvel at the poetry of Downie's lyrics.
3. Cur de Pirate
Trauma
In CanCon-quota-crushing fashion, every season of CBC's Francophone medical drama, Trauma, has featured a soundtrack from a Quebecois pop singer. In January, Cur de Pirate (aka Montreal's Béatrice Martin) left her mark on the TV series with a dozen hushed interpretations of tracks that traverse contemporary music history, from Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" and Kenny Rogers' "Lucille" to The National's "Slow Show" and Bon Iver's "Flume." Relying primarily on a muffled piano and Martin's tranquil voice, the record possesses an appropriately serene bedside manner.
2. Oh Susanna
Namedropper
The title of Suzie Ungerleider's cover album, Namedropper, is as much descriptor as confession. At the urging of her producer and collaborator Jim Bryson, the Toronto-via-Vancouver alt-country singer-songwriter, who performs as Oh Susanna, asked some of her musician friends to pen tunes for her to sing on the record. Those contributors comprise a coast-to-coast checklist of roots songwriters: Joel Plaskett, Ron Sexsmith, Amelia Curran, Jim Cuddy and Luke Doucet, to leave out plenty of recognizable names. To Ungerleider's credit, the slow-burning compilation feels notably coherent, playful and, perhaps most importantly, entirely free from gimmick.
1. Soft Pink Truth
Why Do the Heathen Rage?
Consider black metal's fanaticism and grim lyrical content — murder, hate crimes, church burning — and recasting the genre as campy dance music might seem like a dangerous move. That didn't stop the Soft Pink Truth (aka Drew Daniel of Baltimore electro duo Matmos) from creating June's Why Do the Heathen Rage?, a homoeroticized collection of techno covers of black metal songs by the likes of Venom, Mayhem and Hellhammer. Though a few growls and squeals remain intact, the record strays wildly from its sources, throwing retro synths, female dance vocals and a sample of "I've Got the Power" into the mix. It's equal parts tribute, parody and trolldom — and all entertaining.
Check out our Top 10 Covers Albums of 2014 below, but don't forget to head over to our 2014 in Lists section to see more of our Year-End coverage.
Top 10 Covers Albums of 2014:
10. Bryan Adams
Tracks of My Years
If you've ever listened to the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" or the Beatles' "Any Time At All" and asked yourself what those songs might sound like topped off by Bryan Adams's raspy, emotive voice, 2014 was a good year for you. On his first studio album in six years, the quintessential Canadian rocker reached way back into his past to resurrect an album's worth of material that inspired his teenage self. And even if you didn't know you wanted to hear expertly produced, Adams-led renditions of Muddy Waters, Creedence Clearwater Revival or Chuck Berry songs, there's no denying they come straight from the heart.
9. Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics
With nearly 40 albums over a 60-year career, Aretha Franklin is better poised to be covered than to be the coverer. But in October, the Queen of Soul dropped Sings the Great Diva Classics, which saw the entirely able 72 year old put her stunning, soul-filled touch on ten classics by divas she's both inspired and been inspired by. A juxtaposed one-two punch of Etta James's "At Last" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" opens the record, followed by the likes of Alicia Keys' "No One" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Not that we needed any more proof Aretha is a great diva herself.
8. Tony Dekker
Tony Dekker Sings 10 Years of Zunior
In 2004, Canadian drummer and entrepreneur Dave Ullrich thought he'd create a label and online store called Zunior to release and sell his friends' music. As August's Tony Dekker Sings 10 Years of Zunior proves, Ullrich had some pretty talented buddies. To mark the site's 10th anniversary, the Great Lake Swimmers frontman lent his gentle voice and guitar to some of his favourite tunes by artists like Old Man Luedecke, Chad VanGaalen, Cadence Weapon, Ohbijou and Jim Guthrie that found a home on the site. Besides being a resonant and incredibly skilled tribute to the musicians it covers, the album is a testament to the lasting integrity of Zunior.
7. She & Him
Classics
Only Zooey Deschanel could record a cover album of mid-20th century hits that sounds as vintage as the source music itself. Alongside a 20-piece orchestra and Portland guitarist and songwriter M. Ward, the other half of retro-pop duo She & Him, Deschanel croons her way through 13 touchstone tunes by Sinatra, Costello, Presley, Armstrong, Fitzgerald and more (they weren't kidding when they called the December record Classics). The song selection is unsurprisingly stellar — these tunes' shelf life alone speaks volumes — and there's perhaps no act more fit to revisit them than She & Him.
6. Neil Young
A Letter Home
When Neil Young released A Letter Home in May, less attention was paid to the songs that the Canadian icon covered (is it all that surprising that Young wanted to play 11 songs by inspirations and contemporaries like Dylan, Lightfoot, Springsteen and Nelson?) than the sound quality of the record itself. Young recorded the album of solo acoustic performances in a restored 70-year-old Voice-O-Graph vinyl recording booth at Jack White's Nashville studio. To describe the muffled, crackling aesthetic of A Letter Home as "lo-fi" would be an understatement. But its gloomy rawness is precisely what makes it so powerful.
5. Flaming Lips
With a Little Help from my Fwends
Luckily, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is too good a record to be ruined. Otherwise, Wayne Coyne and his motley crew of Oklahoma psychedelic space-rockers might have managed to do just that with their October track-by-track remake of the classic Beatles album. That's not to say that the band's reimagining — which features glitched-out production, a series of sci-fi sounds and contributions from the likes of J. Mascis, Foxygen and Miley Cyrus — isn't interesting. But it's also incredibly incoherent, somewhat scary and downright weird. For many, it'll sound like their favourite Beatles record being vivisected, converted in confetti and endlessly trampled by an army of men in plastic bubbles.
4. Justin Rutledge
Daredevil
The prospect of recording an album of Tragically Hip covers is daunting for many reasons: What songs to choose? How to do Gord Downie justice? How not to infuriate Hip lovers? Seasoned Toronto singer-songwriter Justin Rutledge managed to release April's Daredevil, ten covers of "golden era" Hip tracks ("Courage," "Grace, Too" and "Locked in the Trunk of a Car" all made the cut), relatively unscathed. The project has its critics, but the stripped-down renditions are a humble homage and a chance to marvel at the poetry of Downie's lyrics.
3. Cur de Pirate
Trauma
In CanCon-quota-crushing fashion, every season of CBC's Francophone medical drama, Trauma, has featured a soundtrack from a Quebecois pop singer. In January, Cur de Pirate (aka Montreal's Béatrice Martin) left her mark on the TV series with a dozen hushed interpretations of tracks that traverse contemporary music history, from Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" and Kenny Rogers' "Lucille" to The National's "Slow Show" and Bon Iver's "Flume." Relying primarily on a muffled piano and Martin's tranquil voice, the record possesses an appropriately serene bedside manner.
2. Oh Susanna
Namedropper
The title of Suzie Ungerleider's cover album, Namedropper, is as much descriptor as confession. At the urging of her producer and collaborator Jim Bryson, the Toronto-via-Vancouver alt-country singer-songwriter, who performs as Oh Susanna, asked some of her musician friends to pen tunes for her to sing on the record. Those contributors comprise a coast-to-coast checklist of roots songwriters: Joel Plaskett, Ron Sexsmith, Amelia Curran, Jim Cuddy and Luke Doucet, to leave out plenty of recognizable names. To Ungerleider's credit, the slow-burning compilation feels notably coherent, playful and, perhaps most importantly, entirely free from gimmick.
1. Soft Pink Truth
Why Do the Heathen Rage?
Consider black metal's fanaticism and grim lyrical content — murder, hate crimes, church burning — and recasting the genre as campy dance music might seem like a dangerous move. That didn't stop the Soft Pink Truth (aka Drew Daniel of Baltimore electro duo Matmos) from creating June's Why Do the Heathen Rage?, a homoeroticized collection of techno covers of black metal songs by the likes of Venom, Mayhem and Hellhammer. Though a few growls and squeals remain intact, the record strays wildly from its sources, throwing retro synths, female dance vocals and a sample of "I've Got the Power" into the mix. It's equal parts tribute, parody and trolldom — and all entertaining.