the hayes list

2025 was a good year for reissues, including a treasure trove from The Boss, more from Joni, Simply Red, Madness, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake and the Fourth Beatles Anthology. And there were some great covers too.
The playlist starts with two from Bruce Springsteen, each from a different reissue. The first one is from Tracks II the Lost Albums. Seven lost albums and 83 tracks. It’s a treasure trove of brilliance and it begs the question, “ why weren’t they released earlier?”. You never get the sense that the reason was quality. Atlantic City, on the other hand, is from Nebraska ‘82. The version of Nebraska that was originally released was acoustic but they did record a band version. And as a bonus, it also qualifies as a cover!
I loved the Buckingham Nicks album when it came out and it still sounds good today.
The Tedeschi Trucks and Leon Russell cut is from a live show recorded in 2015 that was just released. The Susan Tedeschi vocal is amazing, as always. And the next three vocalists are also amazing. I have to give extra props to Aimee Mann for covering Karen Carpenter; that takes guts. The Beatles released Anthology 4 and what’s interesting is the outtakes like Which My Guitar Gently Weeps. Cat Stevens had to cancel his 2026 North American tour due to visa issues. The tour was in support of his latest ironically called On the Road to Find Out. Emmylou Harris re-released her 1998 live album Spyboy with some extra cuts that were left out originally. Paul Dempsey is the leader of Australian band Something for Kate. Joni Mitchell released Joni’s Jazz, and I included Kyle Eastwood’s version of Trouble Man. I first heard Dry the Rain when I saw High Fidelity in 2000. John Fogerty to me is a sad story. He led CCR to massive success in the late sixties and early seventies and the band broke apart, something not all that uncommon. The sad part is the legal battle and emotional toll it took on Fogerty. He had some solo success but nothing like CCR. He lost publishing rights to his songs due to a bad contract, again something not uncommon (see Tommy James). Anyway, he just got the rights back and to celebrate he re-recorded some of his biggest hits pretty much note by note. Play this version of Born On The Bayou back-to-back with the original CCR version and see if you can hear a difference. It’s an interesting idea and I can remember one other album that did something similar. Squeeze released an album called Spot The Difference about 15 years ago but generally when artists re-record songs the arrangements are different.
As always, enjoy!

1. Bruce Springsteen - Waiting On The End Of The World

2. Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City 

3. Buckingham Nicks - Long Distance Winner

4. Madness - You Keep Me Hanging On

5. Simply Red - Heaven 

6. Tedeschi Trucks Band & Leon Russell - Darling Be Home Soon 

7. Aimee Mann - Rainy Days and Mondays 

8. Susanna Hoffs (feat. Rufus Wainwright) - Happy Together 

9. Kate Bush - Rocket Man

10. The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps 

11. Cat Stevens - The First Cut Is The Deepest 

12. Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts (Live)

13. Paul Dempsey - If I Could Turn Back Time

14. Kyle Eastwood (feat. Joni Mitchell) - Trouble Man 

15. The Beta Band - Dry the Rain 

16. John Fogerty - Born On The Bayou

17. Patti Smith – Gloria

18. Nick Drake - 'cello Song 

19. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)

20. Wilco – Hummingbird

LISTEN on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2uk8Nwzn92PYEpvTikvdjX?si=-j_dZcYgT8e1A4JL2HZaJw

LISTEN on Apple Music:

https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/best-2025-covers-and-reissued/pl.u-4JombobI27gxe