Welcome to the Cover-Song Showcase Showdown, which allows you, the Idolator audience, to decide on the best take on a beloved favorite. Today, we're going to look at Love's 1967 psych-pop classic "Alone Again Or," which has been taken on by many an ambitious pop outfit; four versions of the song are below, and it's up to you to tell us which one is the standout.
The Boo Radleys - Alone Again Or [MP3, link expired]
Calexico - Alone Again Or [MP3, link expired]
The Damned - Alone Again Or [MP3, link expired]
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Alone Again Or [MP3, link expired]









Comments
The correct answer is:
UFO's version, from 1977's "Lights Out" LP
J DTZR is correct!
And the best version of "Lights Out" is on the "Strangers in the Night" live record. I do love the arena rock trick of seamlessly incorporating the name of the town you are playing into the song. "Lights Out, Lights Out Chicago..." *BIG HUGE APPLAUSE*
As a young early high schooler that enjoyed punk, goth, and Metal more than psych pop, the first version I heard was the Damned's. I didn't realize it was a cover until a few years later when I discovered Love. I think that version is still my sentimental favorite.
I'm with noam - that Damned album, Phantasmagoria, was on constant rotation during my high school years and I had no idea that this wasn't their song until much, much later. So they get my vote.
this is one of those songs that's impossible to cover and really do anything with. which is to say that the original is put together so tightly that you can't really take anything away from it or change it. and the point of a good cover is to make the song new somehow.
current dream: "alone again or" done by the residents.
Susanna Hoffs is one of my guilty pleasures! I had to go with that version.
e) NONE OF THE ABOVE. The shame is that I liked the Calexico version right up until the vocals began.
is that nikolai dunger on the calexico track??
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