Tune du Jour: “The Tide Is High” – The Paragons
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Gear Daddies vs. Gregory Isaac vs. Skafarie
VOTE, COMMENT, then DO SOMETHING NICE FOR YOURSELF
CoverMeImpressed.blog CoverMeImpressed.blog CoverMeImpressed.blog
This is another one whereby I was surprised as to its origin. Took it for granted that this was Blondie’s song.
The Original
The Paragons:
Most Popular Cover
Blondie:
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
Gear Daddies vs. Gregory Isaac vs. Skafari
Gear Daddies:
Gregory Isaac:
Skafari:
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On!??!
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
cover me impressed 
This was not shaping up to ber a fair fight. HUGE fan of the Gear Daddies. Love Martin Zellar’s vocals. Such fantastic original material with a lot of solid covers mixed in and their shows are somewhat legendary in the Minneapolis music annuls. One of my big regrets is that I never saw these guy rock out, although, I understand that they do occasionally get together for a Minneapolis show now and then. Might have to make that trip … Anyway, here they do their usual fun take on a classic.
Of course Gregory Issacs excels on this number. How could he not?
Skafari surprised me with just how good they were. Somethin about their name that turned me off but these characters can lay it down!
In a shocker, Skafari stole this one …
I knew about the original by The Paragons, and much prefer it to Blondie’s version.
I didn’t know the version by Gear Daddies, which surprised me cuz they only made three albums, which I have on CD. This is from a five song EP I didn’t know about. Allmusic says: “Their version of Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” is competent, but taken out of the context of a surprise live cover, this version falls a little flat.”
Also didn’t know about the Gregory Issacs cover. I’ve got some good stuff by him in my collection, but he’s been very prolific over the decades. I know a song by him called “My Number One” that’s unrelated. Looks like he changed the lyrics somewhat, but that voice shines through, and earns the vote today.
Never heard of Skafari, but that was interesting. They bring substantial energy and spirit, not bad, but perhaps a little too frenetic to receive the vote.
Do we have any right to expect credible reggae from the tundra? Would you expect a side of curry goat from the Paul Bunyan Diner with your reuben omelette? With some wah wah pedal and rock band backing maybe a bit reminiscent of SLF doing Doesn’t Make It Alright or Mr. Fire Coal Man. The juxtaposition of this and jungle fighting from Predator was a distracting fail. Gregory Isaacs is so consistent that I don’t recall hearing a bad track yet this sounds like an anonymous backing track rather than a real group behind him and featuring more harmonica than I’ve ever heard in a reggae song. Still not bad but I feel like I had every reason to expect more. Skafari got the horses to the gate and when the gun went off it was very infectious. That was energy that was very welcome following four other versions of this.