What's your take on these?
Depending on your mood, it may be the original and nothing else, but sometimes when an artist takes a cover of another's work they actually do a better job, or its more well known than the original. One of the more common ones I can think of would be "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". I can almost guarantee more people know the version by Marvin Gaye and would say the song is good. That's a cover. The original artist actually was Gladys Knight, and in this case, I like Gaye's version better, and have not been a big follower of Knight. Perhaps a more common example is "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and most have likely heard Clay Aiken's version. That's been covered before (I know LeAnn Rimes has done it) and the original artists are none other than Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Aiken brought a breath of fresh air to the song with his ability to extend and hold notes, Rimes took it very slow and saultry. In this case I like all three versions.
Remixes are another story since they're often made for dance floors or something like that, and meant to give a different character to a song someone already knows. Madonna did dance remixes (sorf of) of songs found on her "Like A Prayer" album and the drum thumping and different instrumentation were released on a later cd. The earlier version was like a gospel choir, and the later ones come across the type you might hear in a disco. I don't know if that's a true remix, but they certainly address different listeners, and I do favor both versions when I'm interested in different moods of music.
