Some cover versions are just pointless waterd-down versions of an original (Westlife doing Uptown Girl for example).  Others are almost pointless because they are very decent facsimiles of the original – very handy on Spotify because some of the covers of AC/DC, Metallica and Pink Floyd are the closest you can get to the real thing on there.

And then there are the ones where a tune has been re-done in a totally different style.  In some ways they might as well be a new song but they give you that familiar-yet-unfamiliar feeling.Some of my favourite are:

• Rock el Casbah by Rachid Taha.  Actually quite faithful to the Clash version, but with Arabic lyrics and with Arabic drumming and strings added.
• Log Distance Runaround by The Bad Plus.  A jazzy, lounge-y version of the Yes song.  Their repertoire also includes similarly styled versions of Nirvana’s Lithium, Comfortably Numb, Tom Sawyer, Heart of Glass, Karma Police, and Iron Man.
• Where the streets have no name by Tony Allen.  The legend of afrobeat turns the U2 song into the soundtrack of the No. 1  Ladies Detective Agency. There is a whole album of U2 songs done by African artists.
• I will survive by Cake.  The indie version. Surpassed only by the John Otway version.
• Jailhouse rock by Telex.  This Belgian electropop version sits well alongside their other covers of Rock Around the Clock and La Bamba.
• Bitches Ain’t Shit by Ben Folds.   He did the Snoop Dogg song in a melodic stripped down style to satirise the misogynistic nature of the lyrics. Doesn’t make it any less funny though.
• Dancing Queen by Glow.  Works very well as a US punk-style song.
• The Model.  Kraftwerk’s classic madeover as a reggae track by Papa Dee and a polka/tango by Tickled Pink as well as the classic string version by the Balanescu Quartet.  Sadly the versions by Senor Coconut & his Orchestra and Spizzenergi are not available on Spotify yet.