The Kill Bill soundtrack has a 10 minute Latin-ish cover of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Santa Esmerelda.

It's my feeling that covers should never be recorded straight (concerts are a different beast altogether). It's disrespectful and shameless to peddle another musician's wares as one's own - even if you claim it's in "tribute". Can you imagine if Picasso had painted a copy of Van Gogh's Starry Night? Well, the inbred patrons of art would probably have clapped very loudly and pulled some bars of gold out of their cavernous belly buttons to pay Picasso with. But Picasso... Picasso would have laughed all day in those shorts he wore in some of the David Douglas Duncan photos. On the other hand, if Picasso had fractured Starry Night, we'd have an actually interesting piece of work. It's how Dada and Pop Art fed their extended families.

So, my advice to all the ambitious bands out there that would like to do a cover or two... Listen to the original and add something to it. Change its focus, change its flavor, find something inside of the song that the current emphases hide. People will love you more for it.

So, remember. Faithful covers are for chumps and concerts.

Required listening: Cat Power The Covers Record, Red House Painters "Silly Love Songs", Yo La Tengo "Little Honda", the "Roxanne" song in Moulin Rouge, and the above-mentioned track from Kill Bill.