I’ll confess that behind the scenes I can sometimes get a little “stats” obsessed, as I pour over the detail of how many views I’ve had and from what country these views originate from.

I was recently going through this slightly neurotic process and I happened to note that my Power of the Playlist series seemed to resonate most with the casual reader, which makes perfect sense because music is an essential part of most peoples lives.

Personally crafted playlists are an integral part of my existence because they allow me to individually cherry pick the sweetest songs, rich with complimentary harmony and flavour. Not to mention there will never be a day when Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Sam Smith, Luther Vandross, Miguel, Carrie Underwood and Jazmine Sullivan work together on an album, so a harmonious playlist allows me to imagine that my selected artists of choice have come together for a fictional concept album.

In previous posts I held each playlist accountable to a common theme so The Power Of The Playlist was a series of songs complied to engage subtle seduction. The obviously  titled The Power Of The Playlist (Part II) was a collection of songs that dealt with the complexity of relationship break up (or break down) and the equally more obvious post titled The Power Of The Playlist (Part III)  was a love letter to some of the greatest female power ballads of all time…or at least the ones in my opinion.

The only limitation I had set was that each playlist contained a song selection of about 4- 6 songs and was no more than about 30 minutes in total running time.

I realise there are more compelling issues in the world that should attract my attentions but oddly enough one of the things that infuriates me most is listening to bad cover versions of songs, which has increased with the rise and dominance of You Tube. I don’t quite know why but if I hear such an awful assault on my ear drums it can turn a bright sun shiny day into a dark one.

Why waste time attempting to cover a classic if you can’t bring anything new to the original? Although a cover version deserves more accolades if the song can be interpreted and re-imaged in such a way that it makes the original redundant.

There are soooooo many worthy mentions that didn’t make the cut for this blog post or this paragraph like Aretha Franklin’s version of Respect, Mariah Carey’s Without You, Bobby Womack’s California Dreamin‘, Ellie Goulding’s Your Song, James Vincent McMorrow’s Higher Love, Birdy 1901 and Al Green’s How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.

So without any further delay I present you with a small sample of some of my favourite cover versions of all time and never forget there is real power in a great playlist!

Until next time.

  • Aretha Franklin – Son Of A Preacher Man
  • Ray Lamontagne – Crazy
  • Amos Lee – Like A Virgin
  • Sam Smith – How Will I Know
  • Luther Vandross – A House Is Not A Home