BB Steve (Hi, Steve!) over at the PowerPop blog recently posted a cover of Los Shakers' "Always You" that was performed by one-man-band wunderkind Nick Martellaro, a New Yorker in his twenties who adores the music of the 1960s.
(That sentence was way too long. Many apologies, grammar nerds.)
I enjoyed Nick's cover a lot, so I went to his YouTube channel to see/hear what other songs he'd covered.
The answer: Plenty. Nick's speciality seems to be Beatles songs, but he assiduously recreates (and occasionally reinterprets) 1960s songs from other bands as well.
I liked his Beatles tracks most of all, and I'll put a couple of them here shortly, but first here's the Los Shakers song in case you don't know it (or don't visit the PowerPop blog):
Los Shakers - "Always You" (1965)
Nick Martellaro - "Always You" (2001)
Splendid.
And now here are some of Nick's Beatles covers:
Nick Martellaro - "Hello, Goodbye" (2012)
Nick Martellaro - "I'm Only Sleeping" (2012)
Nick Martellaro - "Baby's In Black" (2012)
The originals:
The Beatles - "Hello, Goodbye" (1967)
The Beatles - "I'm Only Sleeping" (1966)
The Beatles - "Baby's In Black" (1964)
The kid's phenomenal, but unless I'm very much mistaken his version of the Rascal's "Good Lovin'" has a minor chord where it was a major on the original.
ReplyDeleteYep, the version by The Rascals uses A major, whereas Nick's version uses A minor.
DeleteAs for the choice of chord, Nick said:
"I used a minor V chord (Am) as opposed to an A major, like the Rascals. If you listen to the original versions of this song, and early covers (The Who), you'll hear the Am in all those versions. It's how the song was written, and I prefer the bluesy feel."
Nick's right:
• Lemme B. Good - "Good Lovin'" (1965) (the original)
• The Who - "Good Lovin'" (Live at the BBC) (1965)