Does This Singer Do Stevie Nicks Better Than Stevie Nicks?
Is it rock n’ roll blasphemy to say… maybe?
When a cover song is better than the original, it’s usually due to the arrangement. Gary Jules’ cover version of the Tears for Fears song “Mad World” is preferred over the original by many because it turns the typical 80s pop tune into a haunting ballad that seems to fit the lyrics better. That’s just one of many examples that prove that in music, the original is not necessarily the best.
But what happens when a band attempts to perform a cover song and sound just like the original recording?
I heard about this cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” — my all-time favorite Fleetwood Mac song — and the controversy over some people saying this girl sings it better than Stevie Nicks.
I didn’t believe it until I heard it.
Let’s give a listen to Annalise Mahanes, lead singer of IMY2, and their cover of “Dreams.”
When I first watched that video I thought she was lip-synching to the recording from 1977. But as the song goes on, it becomes clear it’s not the original. Annalise sounds a lot like Stevie, but not quite.
But why would I, or anybody, say she’s better?
Personally, I like Stevie, but I’ve always been bothered by her nasal twang. Despite liking many of her songs, I’ve actually spent years contemplating whether or not we can actually call what she does for a living “singing.” Her voice seems to come from her nose more than from her throat.
Annalise Mahanes doesn’t have the nasal quality, which results in “Dreams” sounding almost exactly the same, but clearer, and, well — better.
But she’s not in any way a Stevie Nicks tribute singer. IMY2 (if you have trouble remembering that, it’s “I Miss You Too”) has covered many songs by different artists. Here they are doing Radiohead’s “Creep.”
I might like that better than the original as well. But I can’t say the same for IMY2's rendition of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This.)” It’s a perfectly fine cover, but nobody can touch Annie Lennox’s near-perfect voice.
But there’s no doubt that this girl can sing, and here she is proving it by singing the hardest song in the world:
Could Stevie sing the Star-Spangled Banner like that? I think not.
Prove me wrong!
Sure, there are countless great singers, but when someone can make “Dreams” sound better than Stevie on the original 45, which I played over and over so many times when I was 11 that it’s amazing it didn’t get ground down to dust — I’m impressed.
But Stevie fans need not hate me too much, because “Dreams” might be the only Fleetwood Mac song that I think Annalise does better. She’s good in the following two songs, but not as good.
Hair color subject to a different shade of blue in every video.
But there’s just something about “Dreams,” which has such a hypnotic quality to begin with, that Annalise does perfectly.
Maybe if I could hear Annie Lennox sing it I’d really be gobsmacked.
