Ghosts EP Phantomime is a wonderful collection of various covers that everyone should listen to.
Ghosts EP released May 19, 2023, is filled with various rock and pop covers of multiple other musicians. The five-song album is around twenty minutes long and every cover is amazing and beating the original in most cases.
“See No Evil”
See No Evil originally released by Television in 1977 is an amazing cover that Ghost did a great job adding their own band’s personality too. The song I interpret to be about how ignorance is bliss when you want something even if it could be bad. The original song was good but I think Ghost did it better and I like the vocals that Ghost did with the song more compared to Television’s release of the song.
“Jesus He Knows Me”
Originally released by Genesis in 1992, Jesus He Knows Me is an amazing track and I genuinely prefer the original version to Ghost’s. While I did enjoy Ghost’s version, I think the original singers sounded a bit better and suited them a lot more. The song itself is a sort of satire towards televangelism, which was a popular thing during the period the song was originally released.
“Hanging Around”
Hanging Around, released in 1977 by the Stranglers is one of my favorite Ghost covers in the album. The song was inspired by characters who would hang around clubs where the band would perform. Throughout the song, there are also biblical references to the bible which adds to the vibes of the song. The original artists go more into interesting detail about these various characters in the 2011 book The Stranglers: Song By Song. Comparing the two songs, it’s no surprise that I like Ghost’s version more; Ghost’s sound is more full compared to the Stranglers and I enjoy listening to their version much more, I especially think Ghost’s guitar solos are way better than the Stranglers in the song.
“Phantom Of The Opera”
The popular song Phantom Of The Opera, originally released by Iron Maiden in the 1980s was another one of Ghost’s spectacular covers part of the album. The song was inspired by The Phantom of The Opera, a 1910 novel turned musical. Ghost’s rendition of the song was so much better in my opinion, from the guitar riffs to the drums, everything just sounded amazing and blended with everything else perfectly. I was genuinely surprised by this because I loved the original and never thought I would hear a cover that would beat it but Ghost’s cover did.
“We Don’t Need Another Hero”
We Don’t Need Another Hero by Tina Turner released in 1985 is yet again a great cover. I enjoyed Ghost’s cover much more considering I didn’t even like the original that much in the first place. The song originally was in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome which I also did not enjoy watching. Ghost’s cover of the song makes me enjoy listening to the song while I found the other one insufferable to listen to.
Ghost’s covers of the various songs are all very good and a lot of them were genuinely better than the originals. I think the band’s talent added a lot to the songs and just amplified what the originals already had there, but also put a Ghost twist on them to make them more of their own. I definitely recommend listening to Ghost’s covers especially if you liked the originals and wanted to listen to a new rendition of the older songs.
