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A cover band comprised of Alice Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, and actor Johnny Depp, plus a rotating cast of other well-known rock musicians, this is their version of my personal favorite David Bowie song, with Depp on vocals:
Thanks for the alert to this version. The original guitarist Robert Fripp and his wife Toyah Willcox have also been covering it. Right now I'm inclined to prefer their version, I think because the guitar line there retains a drone-like continuity, as if an instrumental melisma, and indicating something of its roots in minimalism; whereas HV's version loses the line a bit in the mix (e.g. 2'38"f) in the service of a mainstream rock/rave-up orchestration. And Fripp/Willcox's is generally more distant from Bowie's than HV's, and if nothing else that helps its distinctiveness come into focus :
Thanks Brian, an interesting instrumental cover for sure. Depp has a competent voice (that surprised me) but of course can't match Bowie's by a long stretch.
Honestly, it's much better than I expected. I appreciate the upright bass, even if it's electric, too. I confess that I am on the fence about Fripp. Early Crimson is a phenomenon, for sure, but he is in a way the Richard Posner of rock guitarists, who tries to deliver too much for his own good.
It's hard to pick a favorite Bowie song, but on a lark I'd take "Ziggy Stardust"…the cover by Bauhaus.
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