The Best Cover Song You Will Hear This Week: Ali Handal Takes On "My Sharona"


Nope, wait. That headline is misleading, because his is the best cover you will hear all summer! While The Knack's Power Pop classic has been covered numerous times before, by everyone from Nirvana to The Chipmunks, it hasn't been done with the panache which singer and guitarist Ali Handal brings to it.

Eschewing the traditional drum and bass intro, Ali Handal grabs right for your lapels and pulls you in with a down and dirty (and oh so very well played) hard guitar riff before launching into the open verse. What really sets this cover apart is it's overall tone. The frantic Power Pop lockstep of The Knack's original has been throttled back just enough to turn it into a sultry bump and grind, which when coupled with Handal's breathy vocal delivery, results in a fantastic re-imagining.



Ali Handal succeeds with this cover by making the song truly her own, and as you can hear, it translates to her live performance very well. But, if you want to hear the studio version that initially caught my ear, head over to Ali Handal's website for a free download of this song.

If you were ufamiliar with Ali Handal, as I was prior to hearing this track, the good news is she is an accomplished musician, with three albums to her credit. And even better is the fact her original material is as good and better than this first listen. A song-by-song review of her latest release, Make Your Move, will be featured here later this month. For now, get your free download of "My Sharona" and maybe even get your ears caught up in more music from Ali Handal.






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