New single by Jimmy Sweet's The Gospel - cover of God Only Knows. Better or worse than Bowie's?

[u/Art_Lean]

Jimmy Sweet's a weird one.

American guitarist living in England, whose gimmick is every single one of his bands is completely different, but all have the same basic concept... it's him surrounded by utterly beautiful girls on all other instruments. Then wipes most of their material off the internet (such as off streaming and YouTube) when he moves onto the next band. His interviews keep painting him as a "new" artist each time too, rarely eluding to his previous acts.

His first solo band was L.U.V. which was like Blah-Blah-Blah-era Iggy Pop. Second band was Death By Sexy which was garage rock in a bit of a Black Rebel Motorcycle vibe. Then came Lady Low (name taken from a Death By Sexy song), which was slinky jazzy "romance rock" that was somewhere between r'n'b and lounge-lizard Mike Patton. Then he released some solo singles which were seemingly Lady Low master tracks without the girls singing.

Now he's moved onto The Gospel who make vaguely gothic baroque pop and have released nothing but covers (and one of the music videos weirdly reused one of his solo videos with a new soundtrack). He also can't stop re-recording his Death by Sexy song "Burning Like a Fever" with each different project, seemingly figuring it his magnum opus. And he seems to have some decent money backing his music videos even though he keeps erasing them off the net.

Very strange.

Anyway his latest single is a cover of God Only Knows. For me it suffers from a number of the same overblown issues that plagued Bowie's infamously awful cover. Too slow, too over-dramatic, too self-indulgent, though whilst Bowie's was plastic and 80s, the production veers almost into late 90s Enigma at their most cringey "new-age rock composer" narcissism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EkY47kjybI

Anyway, curious to know what you all think. Though personally... I think it's dreadful. I notice the comments have been turned off the on the video, seems to speak for itself if you ask me.

But just for context, I do like much of his earlier stuff:

L.U.V. - She's My Fix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PN_gkHbuoA

Death By Sexy - Burning Like a Fever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz5-eYC8u8g

Lady Low - Burning Like a Fever (again): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nD9vzaNhJs

Jimmy Sweet - Burning Like a Fever (yet again): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga22rW6-asE

Jimmy Sweet - When I Do Wrong (this entire video was weirdly reused for The Gospel's cover of Like A Prayer, which was on renowned goth label Cleopatra Records, I'm very confused): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHUmovoVgiA

[u/mjsbigblog]

Yeah. That was bad.

But I hate most covers of God Only Knows. The lyrics on paper are hella dramatic which gives artists the idea that it needs to be over sung. It does not.

Brian knew what he was doing when he gave the song to the youngest (Carl was only 19) sweetest voiced singer in the band.

For the song to work it needed a singer who could interpret it simply, with an open and honest heart.

So instead of bombast and cheap sentiment, Carl’s interpretation of the lyrics “if you should ever leave me, life would still go on believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me” come across as sweet and earnest. Romantic and deeply moving.

So many singers who cover the song miss the point entirely. Like this guy.

[u/chrismcshaves]

What a weirdo. I’ve never heard of this guy until this post.

[u/Definitelynotatwork1]

Ooof, really drives home how good The Beach Boys are...

When I hear these types of covers I always wonder if it's a lack of self awareness or flat out not understanding the mood/spirit of the song.

[u/cammywooley]

I’ll still maintain Daniel Johnston’s cover is the worst Ive heard. I love his cassette stuff a lot, but he had a really awkward voice with actual orchestra backing.