Just like everything, covers come in all sorts of forms. The good, the bad and the ugly, so to speak.

Was playing The Corrs' Unplugged album last night, which contains two covers I'd definitely classify under 'the good' : Jimi Hendrix' Little Wing and Phil Lynott's Old Town. Both work really well with Andrea Corr's voice as well as that little bit of Irish folk in the music. Especially Little Wing becomes a bit more dreamy than the original. The third cover on the album, REM's Everybody Hurts, doesn't impress me nearly as much. As usual, it might have something to do with me not liking REM very much in the first place, but it comes across less inspired.

If we're talking bad covers, Tori Amos' version of Slayer's Reign In Blood springs to mind. I've mentioned it long ago, but I can't help it. It's one of the few covers by genuine artists that come across as dreadful.