Decius wrote:
] Does anyone know of a good cover of Paint it Black by the
] Rolling Stones? This is a brilliant song, one of my all time
] favorites, but when I listen to it the 1960's instrument and
] production technology always bothers me. The frequency
] spectrum isn't fully utilized. A modern Industrial or Metal
] band could take this song and really fill up the sound-space
] with it. I wonder if anyone has?
]
] I did some digging on Google but I mostly came up with
] questionable references to songs that did not seem to be
] commercially available.
]
] Anyone know of anything?

This is a good question for Rhapsody, which provides the following response to a Track search for Paint It Black:

Vanessa Carlton, on "Be Not Nobody"
U2, on "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
Eric Burdon & The Animals, on "Best Of Eric Burdon & The Animals"
Chris Proctor, on "Steel String Stories"

The Rolling Stones, on "Hot Rocks 1964-1971", "Aftermath", "Singles Collection: The London Years", "Flashpoint", "Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)"

Despite the fact that the track entitled "Paint It Black" has a different track length on each of "Hot Rocks 1964-1971", "Aftermath", "Singles Collection: The London Years", "Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)", they all seem to have the same 1960's feel that you're trying to avoid. The track on Flashpoint, which was released on Virgin Benelux in 2000, is a live cut. Of the Flashpoint album, the Rhapsody reviewer had this to say:

"More live Stones from the period that came about 20 years after their third wind. If you like the way Mick Jagger's voice sounds these days, and the way Keith's guitar sounds when it's being run through some electronic sanitizing device, then here you go. In a bizarre twist, the new songs actually sound better than the old ones."

Regardless, if a digital-clean studio cut of "Paint It Black" is what you're after, I didn't find one from the Stones themselves.

About the Vanessa Carlton cover: "Forget the Alicia Keys comparisons -- Vanessa Carlton shines on her own. Her involved keyboard athletics are plenty ambitious (check out the seemingly Danielle Dax-inspired version of the Stones' "Paint It Black"), but like a figure skater going for a daring move, Carlton pulls off each song with impressive grace."

The U2 single for "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", released on Polydor in 1992, is a relatively straightforward rendering of the song, as you might anticipate it from U2 in the "Achtung, Baby" days. (The single also includes a cover of CCR's "Fortunate Son".)

The six minute, twenty second track from the Eric Burdon & the Animals album, released by Universal Special Markets at some unspecified date, reminds me in parts of what "downtempo" might have sounded like if it existed in the 1960's. (FYI, Eric Burdon, once affiliated with the band War, is filed under "Blues Rock.")

The Chris Proctor track is an instrumental version, played on the steel guitar. It's probably not what you're looking for.

Another good place to ask this question is the All Music Guide, which I blogged some time ago. It reports the following artists have a song entitled "Paint It Black":

Africa
Agony Scene
Al, Aboud Abdel
Animals
Anti Nowhere League
Anvil
Armann the Brainchi
Azucar Moreno
Band of Susans
Blackwell, Kenny
Blast, Peter
Brothers of the Bal
Bryant, Ray
Burdon, Eric
Burn It Down
Butlers
Byrne, Pete
Carlton, Vanessa
Chalice
Comelade, Pascal
Cooper, Mike
Da Capo Players
Daycare Swindlers
Deep Purple
Deep Six
DJ Jacqueen
Earth Crisis
Echo & the Bunnymen
Essex, David
Eternal Afflict
Farlowe, Chris
Feelies
Fennesz
Firewater
Fister, Steve
Flamin' Groovies
Four on the Floor
Gob
GOB
Gravity Crush
Harris, Johnny
Hrvatski
Inkubus Sukkubus
Joe Trio
Krewmen
Lang, Jonny
Lawrence, Tracy
Liebert, Ottmar
London Symphony Orchestra
Lucky Devils
Marduk
Masturb-8
Meteors
Mighty Lemon Drops
Mind Garage
Modettes
Mopeds
Nashville Superpick
Opium Jukebox
Quakes
Rage
Rolling Stones
Screaming Dead
Seven Shot Screamer
SFL
Skinnerbox NYC
Slapping Suspenders
Smack
Soulful Strings
Standells
Stereotype Writer
Stone Jazz
Taetre
Tarry Trousers
Tea Party
Truitt, Brent
Trust
U2
Ventures
Vicious Rumors
Wakeman, Rick
War
WASP
Waterdogs
X

RE: Query: Good Rolling Stones, Paint it Black covers?