Covers or re-makes you didn't expect to like, but loved

[Gingernaut]

Jeremy Brett was the perfect Sherlock, but Benedict Cumberbatch did a brilliant job.

Simon & Garfunkel were the only people to sing Bridge Over Troubled Water, but

The Beatles' by Gregory Porter was a lovely surprise

and Simon & Garfunkel's was over the top gorgeous

Is there film or song that you liked the first time round, but now love now it's been redone?

Joe Cocker covering A Little Help From My Friends and Willie Nelson with You Were Always on My Mind - both are so heart rending

@7ofNine

Futureheads version of Hounds of Love is amazing Pet Shop Boys Always on My Mind Jimi Hendrix All Along the Watchtower The Killers Romeo and Juliet

Basil Rathbone was the best Sherlock Holmes- Jeremy Brett was a remake!

I actually prefer the killers version of Romeo and Juliet to the original!

Easy stars all stars radiodread.
Love the whole album.

Will Young does a good line in cover versions. I wouldn’t say his version of Running Up That Hill is better than Kate Bush’s but it’s different enough to be amazing in its own right. I also love the Hounds of Love cover others have mentioned.

I’m not really a Jamie Cullum fan and I’m a massive Radiohead fan but I do quite like his version of High and Dry. Again it’s so different it doesn’t feel like a cover.

I love Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt.

Bastille - Of the Night is a cover of Rhythm is a Dancer. I like it!

I'm with The Disturbed cover of Simon and Garfunkel's sound of silence and they do an excellent cover of Genesis land of confusion!
I also like Stone Sours version of Wicked Game, Corey Taylor's voice is amazing cx

Placebo 'Running Up That Hill' is better than the original.

Loving Weezer's Africa

Just discovered it this week but Panic At The Disco's Bohemian Rhapsody is very impressive!

@Ginger1982

Placebo 'Running Up That Hill' is better than the original.

Agreed!

I love Gwen Stefani's cover if It's My Life as much as the original

Ooh no actually I think my all time favourite cover is the Futureheads doing Hounds of Love, completely their own take on it and I love it just as much as the original

Aztec Camera's cover of Van Halen's Jump - absolutely love it

Am currently sitting in a car wash but when home I'll be playing those mentioned I've not heard.

Just remembered another, a cover of Elton John's Daniel by Wilson Phillips

I love Roxy Music's version of Jealous Guy

Love FATM's version of Halo, even though I love Beyonce.

Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt". So good that NIN said "it's his song now".

Concrete Blonde’s version of Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows

Lemonheads’ Mrs Robinson

Rage Against the Machine’s cover of Dylan’s Maggies Farm... although if we start on covers of Dylan we will be here all night...

Generally the best cover versions tend to be into rock. Rock gets the spirit and meaning out of a great song without going OTT wailing or the whispery, whimsy traps that are too common.
Disturbed are a great example. The Sound of Silence is so musically and vocally rich which is easy to underestimate in their usual territory (fantastic stuff for parkrub pbs though )
Marilyn Manson knows how to put his own take on a song too.

And then there's Wierd Al Yankovic. The master of the cover.
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away...

Godhead’s version of Eleanor Rigby

Jeff Buckley- Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

Scisor Sisters- Pink FLoyd's Comfortably Numb

The Carpenters- Beatles's Ticket to Ride. I love the Beatles but think Macca sings this one way too cheerfully. Karen Carpenter puts the heart into the song.

"Tainted Love" by Soft Cell is the ultimate cover version.

Someone upthread mentioned Roxy Music's version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" and I think it's so much better than John's.

I always enjoyed the Mike Flowers Pops version of "Wonderwall"

Japan's version of "I Second that Emotion" suited their style.

Simple Mind's lyrical version of "She Moved Through the Fair" is called, "Belfast Child" and it hit #1 in 1989.

Sorry, that’s Rihanna’s Stay covered by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

I also like Dancing On My Own covered by Kings of Leon and Wrecking Ball covered by London Grammar.

And Say Something covered by Jacob Banks

@BearSoFair Brendon has some set of lungs.

Panic! At The Disco In To The Unknown is just amazing.

I didn't expect to like sherlock either with cumberbatch, because I detest Di caprios romeo and Julie. But I loved it.

The remake of aladdin. I thought I would hate will smiths genie even though I love will Smith, but it's robin Williams' role! But I actually liked the whole film surprisingly. It worked well.

Ruth Lorenzo singing Purple Rain