Rick Beato, a master music explainer, offers his take on Adele's magical formula for music. We talk about her world-conquering version on "Make You Feel Me Love" in this episode.
He may be, just as he always was, one of rock's most grating and grumpy troublemakers, but we'd put Van Morrison's version of "Just Like a Woman" from 1974 at Winterland up against almost any other by anyone. Stick with the other Van versions for even more virtuosity.
Richie Havens still stands as one of the most wonderful interpreters of Bob Dylan's catalogue. Coming of age in the folk scene alongside Dylan, his sound and sensitivity shine in this version of "Just Like a Woman."
We've said it before and we will say it again: Nina Simone does exquisite work in her version of "Just Like a Woman" that reassembles an already classic ballad into a song of longing and liberation for the ages.
Another knock out punch, Rise Against's version of "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" leaves nothing to the imagination except the question of how it's possible that a family could be so bereft of hope in the United States of America.
We close the book on these notes with Iggy Pop and the Stooges bringing home "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" with all of the abandon he and they have been known for since the start. We're partial to this version from 1977 at the Agora, Cleveland's rock and roll mecca from the Golden Age of the Rock and Roll Empire. No mistakes on the lake here.