For a minute, I lost myself....

Hello friends and welcome back to Rush Delivery.  Today I will be comparing/contrasting 2 songs.  One original and the other a cover of said original they shall both be judged by criteria consisting of quality, timbre, rhythm, and a jumble of other terms used in class.  The song I chose is:

Karma Police – Radiohead-àhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uYWYWPc9HU

And the cover:

Karma Police - Easy Star All-Starsàhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edNNvg-NBzY

            I have always loved everything Radiohead has come out with. Thom Yorke is a lyrical genius and Johnny Greenwood is an incredibly talented guitarist and musical arranger.  First looking at the lyrics of both tunes it’s clear they are the same (no wonder, it’s a cover song).  However they do differentiate in the way the lyrics are presented.  Radiohead gives the song a very mellow vibe due to Yorke’s falsetto tones and almost hypnotic voice.  Radiohead also does a great job with very soft and harmonic background vocals by keeping it to very simple vocal patterns such as the “oooooohhs” during the chorus.  Easy Star All-Star’s approach is very similar keeping an overall relaxed mood with a slightly harsher tone found in lead singer’s (Shelton Garner Jr.) voice.

            Karma police has a very slow and steady rhythm in both versions.  In the original performance Radiohead keeps things moving with a consistently droning bass backed by a slow steady 4/4 beat on the drums.  This really gives the song a slow-steady pacing feel, making it relaxing and intriguing.  The Easy Star All-Stars keep the steady pace but give the tune a completely new feel using their unique sound blending reggae and rock.  The riddim is set by the light poppy drums and the bass highlighting the 1^st and 3^rd beats.  They also add in the “skank” guitar commonly found in reggae, which brings out the 2^nd and 4^th beats making it hard to not swing your hips to.

            The song’s level of intensity rises and falls about the same in each band’s rendition.  There’s a nice rotation of verse/chorus/verse/chorus that slowly and surely builds until climaxing right before the bridge, which is the mellowest section of the song.  Radiohead drops all instruments except Yorke’s acoustic guitar and a piano only to bring the band right back, giving you a nice contrasting sound.  Easy Star has the same idea, but instead of leaving in some sound they drop out everything but the lyrics before taking it to the bridge, where the electric organ drives the rhythm.      

            An interesting comparison between the two is each band’s use of timbre.  Radiohead utilizes a very clean cut repertoire of instruments for this song, which is not their usual plan.  Keeping everything clean and steady allows Yorke’s voice to emulate the emotions they’re trying to convey.  When looking at Easy Star however we see a different story.  Right off the bat you can hear an organ being run through a myriad of effect pedals, as well as an echoed guitar, and a bottom-boosted bass.  Also later in the song horns come bursting in at an octave or two higher than normal meaning more manipulation of timbre.

            In both versions tension and release play a major role.  The entire song creates tension continuously until the bridge.  Radiohead achieves this by adding a soothing melodic piano right before kicking it to the bridge and starting those infamous lyrics of “for a minute, I lost myself.”  Easy Star uses the same principal by keeping the guitar skank and therefore the main rhythm right before the bridge.

            The final comparison is in active and didactic sound qualities, but mainly active.  Both bands use active sounds throughout the song to keep the pace moving and have the melody continuous.  Not too much didactic sound found in either version.

            I love both versions of the jam as well as both bands but as for my winner I choose the Easy Star All-Star’s rendition.  The heavy bass and reggae drums are something I am obsessed with and who doesn’t love the beautiful skank of a twangy, echoed guitar?  As a huge reggae follower I feel that any cover done by the Easy Star All-Star’s is always done with taste, originality, feel, and excellent musicianship.