Greetings and salutations, good Hivers. It's time for another Evening Groove / Three Tune Tuesday post. I'm really starting to enjoy these. Hope you all are as well.

As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation.

As always, I've tried to mix it up and make all three songs different genres. Trying to keep switching things up to stay interesting. One theme I went with today was covers. All three of these songs are covers of the original. Although the original is often the best, a good cover can add enough of a twist that we can enjoy it just as much. Some rare covers are even better than the original. After Joe Cocker's incredible cover of With a Little Help from My Friends, for example, John Lennon famously commented that it was so good it was his song now (or maybe it was Paul who said that... I forget).

Anyway, let's get this show on the road.

Diana Krall - Blue Skies

Let's start with a jazz classic. One of the many many classics written by Irving Berlin. I'm sure most of us have probably heard one of the many older versions of the song, probably by Bing Crosby or Ella Fitzgerald. This cover by Diana Krall was for her 2017 album Turn up the Quiet. The arrangement is different enough to be interesting and her voice is fantastic. See what you think.

If you liked that, her entire album is well worth listening to!

Here's the Ella Fitzgerald version which may be the definitive version.

Guns N' Roses - Sympathy for the Devil

It's hard to compare with the Stones in their original recording of this, but Guns N' Roses made a great effort. They made the song more hard rock than the samba it was before which is many ways suits the lyrics a little better.

This was one of the last songs they did before breaking up. In fact, Slash has been quoted as saying this song is "the sound of the band breaking up". Which I guess kind of goes with the tone of the song. Bad karma for singing it?

Here is the original. It's clearly better, but the cover added a nice twist on it. I like them both for different reasons.

Danish National Symphony Orchestra feat Tuva Semmingsen - Who Wants to Live Forever

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra rarely disappoints. They have covered TV music, movies, video games, many other genres, and of course classical. They always perform flawlessly. This one is no exception.

Most of you are probably familiar with this song. It was written by Brain May for Highlander and it was sang by him and by Freddie Mercury with his amazing voice. While there is no replacing Freddie, Tuva Semmingsen does a phenomenal job trying and I'd say this is the best cover of it I've ever heard.

Just in case you are one of the two people on the planet who haven't heard Freddie's original, here you go. Geez, I don't know. Watching it again, Tuva's version may even be better. They are both amazing.

So what's your favorite?

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.