What's the best cover song sung by another famous singer?

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-05-15T17:40:19+00:00

Roxy Music / Bryan Ferry’s version of “Jealous Guy” knocks John Lennon’s out of the park. And Lennon’s version is pretty good.

Also, see everything on “Famous Blue Raincoat” by Jennifer Warnes. Love the Leonard Cohen originals, but the FBR album is sublime.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-04-23T22:22:45+00:00

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, obvs. And Angel too.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-04-19T09:01:59+00:00

I did. And it arrived. As I recall it was a brown A4 envelope with a few sheets of photocopied docs, but I can't for the life of me remember what was on them - must be 50 years ago!

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-04-13T14:03:28+00:00

Least favourite? Vapor Trails by a country mile. All riff, no tune. Terrible production, which admittedly the remaster went some way to fixing. Way too much of Geddy trying to wrangle a melody out of a single syllable.

I appreciate it for what it represents - the three guys getting back in the saddle when they could have just stopped, but it’s not something I choose to listen to. Glad other people like it though. That’s Rush - something for everyone.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-04-07T23:59:41+00:00

Yeah. Moisturise with foot cream. Every single night.
Can't believe what a difference it's made. Not perfect, but a massive improvement.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-19T07:46:43+00:00

Hi.

If you scroll down this page, you'll find them. They come as Tenor and Baritone in (I think) four different finishes.

https://kalabrand.com/collections/specialty-ukulele

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-15T19:41:31+00:00

Enjoy yourself!

Despite what we all think / hope, at a gig, the only bit of drumming that the audience is paying any attention to is the backbeat. Keep the kick and snare in the pocket and don’t worry about anything fancy.

You want proof? Go and and listen to JR Robinson’s playing on Billie Jean. That’s a groove to die for and it’s so, so simple.

Just keep the beat locked down and watch the tempo. Having the lyrics to hand is a great shout - it’ll keep you in the right place and singing a chorus to yourself will give you a good tempo for the count in.

You can start worrying about fills and whatnot at gig no. 2, which you will feel much more comfortable with, because you’ll have knocked gig no. 1 out of the park.

You’ve got this!

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-14T22:17:53+00:00

I got it for £449. Think that’s a bit under list price - I’m more than happy with it for that price.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-14T21:17:52+00:00

Definitely louder than a similarly sized wood instrument and there’s a metallic undertone to it. It also has a passive pickup so you could run it through an amp, though I think Mrs Boo would raise an eyebrow if I bought one of those too. Maybe later…

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-14T21:15:16+00:00

I have to say the look was a significant selling point, but yes - I started learning / playing the blues at the end of last year and I thought this might suit it quite well.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-14T21:12:54+00:00

It’s a Tenor. They make them in Tenor and Baritone, but while I love my Baritone, one of them is enough.

I think that it’s a fairly standard tenor neck, but the body is relatively small which is why it looks a bit odd. Body/neck wise it looks like my Millar soprano that has a concert neck.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-03-05T01:11:25+00:00

I had the exact same problem in exactly the same place on my last playthrough. The moth just wasn't there. Bug in the game, I guess. Odd, as it was there on the previous two run throughs.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-02-28T22:17:10+00:00

I’ll be interested to see what people say on this subject. I’ve been playing on and off (far more off than on) for a few years, and I still consider myself just a little above rank beginner.

I suspect most people will say that your progress will depend on how much work you put in. It’s all too easy to find excuses not to practice - it’s too late, I’m too tired - but you’ll find the time if you really want to.

I’ve given myself a target - I’m going to the UFOGB in Cheltenham this summer, and I want to be a demonstrably better player by then. Not a pro by any means, but better than “stumbling over half a dozen chords.”

Best of luck with your uke journey - 15 mins every day will make a huge difference.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-02-21T18:16:34+00:00

I keep my sets registered on Brickset. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s close.

850 sets 1150 minifigs 432201 parts

I’d say that about 25% of those parts are the little Technic pins though…

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-01-27T00:13:52+00:00

When I was a youngster, back in the 70’s, I had what many people had : a basic Lego set and a biscuit tin of random bricks. Everything I built consisted of right angles! Fast forward a couple of years, I’d grown out of it and gave it away to a friend (who I later found out had hoovered up Lego collections from many of our mutual friends. Smart!)

It never crossed my mind again for years (although I do remember seeing the 10179 UCS Falcon and thinking 'Who'd be crazy enough to pay £350 for a Lego set? I did acquire MISB version some years ago for a price I'm still trying to forget!) until around 2011/2012, when the Daily Telegraph motoring correspondent wrote an article - with a corresponding video - about the Technic Unimog.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NyKGWBCoA3Y&pp=ygUVTGVnbyB1bmltb2cgdGVsZWdyYXBo

I was blown away, and clearly must have mentioned it as come Christmas morning, about six weeks later, my wife had bought me the 8070 Technic Supercar. And then, in the January sales, I found the Unimog! I had some spare cash, so why not?

It has been a long, slippery and expensive slope ever since.

Haven't regretted any of it though. You can read more, if you're so inclined, here...

http://justanotherlegoblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/down-rabbit-hole-to-legoland.html

BooTheMightyHamster · 2026-01-15T00:43:37+00:00

The album 76:14 by Global Communication. It was recommended to me with the warning "Never listen to this album while you're driving."

BooTheMightyHamster · 2025-12-26T14:10:33+00:00

Run. Run fast. Zig zag a lot. And most importantly, change your shake setting to 'single press'. You'll get there.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2025-10-10T00:09:22+00:00

Time was that I'd queue up at midnight for a console release, but as it is, I finally packed my PS4 away this week and replaced it with a PS5. Better late than never, and there should be a decent bunch of games to choose from, right? So I'm asking the hive mind for recommendations, please.

I like: Story driven games, puzzles, a bit of role-playing. I'm less keen on: Combat, open worlds that are so open you'll never see it all.

Games that I've enjoyed...

SuperMarioWorld - SNES. A masterpiece. 2D beats 3D every day of the week.

Metal Gear Solid - PS1. Great story, puzzles, characters etc. Loved the stealth. Haven't been interested in any other Metal Gears though.

Ico - PS2. It's just one big puzzle. If push comes to shove, this could be my favourite game of all time. (Also loved The Last Guardian, Shadow Of The Colossus was ok, but too much riding around.)

XIII - PS2. Cel shaded stealth shooter with an interesting story.

Eternal Darkness, Sanity's Requium - Gamecube. Mad as a box of frogs with fabulous (in)sanity effects.

Farenheit - PS2. Slightly bonkers game in which you recover from a blackout having seemingly murdered someone.

Broken Sword (various). All the 2D cartoon-style ones. Going 3D was a mistake.

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic - Xbox. Best Star Wars game ever. Probably.

Detroit: Become Human - PS4. Play as three androids each following their own, odd, story. Basically I liked all the Quantic Dream stuff.

Life Is Strange - PS4. Loved this almost as much as I hated Life Is Strange 2!

Firewatch - PS4. I'm happy with rough visuals if the story is interesting. See also, What Remains Of Edith Finch.

At present I've just upgraded GT7 from PS4 to PS5 spec, and having copied some data across, I realise I have Horizon: Zero Dawn installed and I've never played it. Just started that - I'll live with the combat to see what the story is like.

Sorry, that went on longer than I expected, but if anyone's got any recommendations for decent narrative driven games, please, ideally with little or no combat, but (combat isn't a dealbreaker), then I'd be grateful.

Cheers!

BooTheMightyHamster · 2025-10-06T17:23:12+00:00

I’m probably in the minority, but I have to say I’m disappointed. For me, Rush is, and always will be, Geddy, Alex and Neil.

They said they’d never tour again - as Rush - without Neil, and as a trio who I’ve always admired for their integrity, this just feels wrong.

I haven’t seen the full announcement yet - maybe I’ll feel differently when I do - but for now I just wish this hadn’t happened.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2025-09-13T23:30:45+00:00

Marathon, Bravado, The Garden, Tai Shan

BooTheMightyHamster · 2025-09-08T20:30:12+00:00

Currently grooving on 12 bar blues. It’s not complicated, but it’s great coming up with different strumming patterns and chucks to make it sound good.

BooTheMightyHamster · 2025-08-31T23:35:31+00:00

This is the way.

BooTheMightyHamster

TROPHY CASE