WELCOME BACK FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF BATTLE OF THE BANDS!
Hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands, this is where you listen to different artists and choose the one you prefer. There are two “Battles” per month, on the 1st and 15th. Votes will be tallied and posted the following week. (Please note: Effective July 2017, I switched to once a month on the 15th only. This will allow me more time to share other types of material with you.) Click HERE to view a complete list of my BOTB entries. See below for a list of current participants. Care to join us? Contact our host, by clicking on the above link and leaving a comment on his blog. The more, the merrier!
Even though December is a festive month, I’ve decided to shy away from the usual Christmas carols and pop songs. They’ve all been done to death, haven’t they? Then, there’s that whole silliness about banning certain songs, (~rolling eyes~) but, I digress. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting a winter lament: (Because I hate winter! 😉 )
HISTORY
“The Hounds of Winter” is a song written by English musician/singer-songwriter/actor Gordon Sumner, otherwise known as Sting. It is the first track of his 5th studio album, “Mercury Falling”, released in 1996. The album begins and ends with the words “mercury falling”. In 1997, it earned Sting two Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album.
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DERIK NELSON
Derik Nelson is a singer/songwriter/producer living in Olympia, Washington, best known as the guitarist on the FOX TV show, “GLEE.” He tours 80+ cities annually with his brother & sister as a sibling trio called “Derik Nelson & Family.” They have been selected to represent the USA in 2018/2019 as Cultural Ambassadors overseas through the US Department of State/American Music Abroad. “The Hounds of Winter” is the 4th track from his 2011 concept album, “Songs About Winter.”
VS
NATHAN ZANAGAR
Nathan Zanagar is a French singer/songwriter from Paris. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of information available about him, but he is known to be a star on Youtube. He recorded “The Hounds of Winter” as a single in 2014.
VOTE NOW!
Please state your preference in comments below and why you chose it.
Voting remains open until 11:59 pm December 21st,
after which I will count the votes, add mine and publish the results.
These are the other BOTB regulars and semi-regulars.
Please cruise on by their sites and, if they have a post up, vote on their selections as well:
[Check back – there’s no set posting time]ai love music / Angels Bark / Cherdo On The Flipside / Curious as a Cathy / Jingle Jangle Jungle / Mike’s Ramblings / Sound of One Hand Typing / HOST: StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands / Tossing it Out
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Next Battle on this site will be January 15th, 2019.
ROCK ON!
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Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
30 thoughts on “THE HOUNDS OF WINTER #BOTB”
Nelson gets my vote I liked his voice better but I liked the arrangement on the 2nd one better.
Thanks for your vote. That’s one more for Nelson!
I loooooooooooooooooooove Sting. Thanks to my mom, I been a The Police/Sting since I was born. And I love his 90s’ albums as well. (I got a chance, well I egged on by my mom, to hug Sting’s son eleven years ago at the reunion concert for The Police.)
I prefer Nathan Zanagar’s version more because it is like Sting’s artistry (sorry for the bias), even the instrumentation. I know it is a bit of a bias, but how Nathan Zanagar delivers the song.
Merry Christmas!
Welcome to The Den, aisasami! ☺️ Nice to see such a super fan, here. And your vote for Nathan is duly noted. Thanks for coming by. Merry Christmas to you!
Hi Debbie!
I rode the e-trail right to your post this time – wonders never cease 😉
This lovely song of wintry lonesomeness had me feeling a bit like Snoopy; crying all over Schroeder’s toy piano. Both contestants are good, but there’s a subtle, yet strident timbre to Derik’s voice that personifies the lyrics so well that I want to tell him the winter blues will fade like favorite jeans in the New Year’s sun.
Hi diedre; welcome back! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the song, and especially Derik’s version. He needs a lot of help, at this point. Thanks for coming by.
Debbie,
This is a new-to-me song, so thanks for the introduction. Both covers are nice but clearly, I liked one more than the other. Contender #2 seemed to resonate the best to my ears. I liked his slower tempo and his vocals seemed to have more character. Give my vote to Nathan Zanagar. Cool battle!
Thanks for coming by to vote, Cathy. I know you’ve been busy. Hope you had a lovely birthday. 🙂 Nathan gets another one! Looks like there’s a blowout on the horizon. Oh well!
Debbie D. You’re blog is the most complex. Took me 5 minutes to figure out where to post. A good thing.
Sting. You brought it up. The Police were on the march already. This song and that song. Ghost In The Machine was the album of its year… Synchronicity, these guys were the biggest rock stars in the world Debbie. A whole lot of cassette tapes got worn out or tangled, if you can’t pull the tape back in with a pencil in the cassette loop buy another one that’s how good The Police were/are. Then Sting left us. I hate Sting Debbie D I hate him. Okay. Okay. He went from 10 to 7, we all make mistakes.
NATHAN ZANAGAR gets my vote literally within the first two seconds and fully as the song goes on
Hello there! 🙂 G-Dogg, I presume? (Actually, I clicked on your link to find that out). You’ve been here before, so I’m not sure why you had difficulties, this time. If you landed on the website home page, just click on “Blog” in the top menu for a list of published posts. No matter, you found the way, and that’s the main thing! You’re obviously a big fan of The Police. I guess a lot of people were upset when Sting left. Thanks for that resounding endorsement of Nathan Zanagar. I have a feeling this may be another blowout!
To post on your blog, there’s a name field. I messed up. Time for coffee. For each individual year The Police were around, I can name a better group for that year. (Go-Go’s, Oingo Boingo, English Beat). Spanning those few years, The Police were the best. And no they’re not just speed reggae. They did take reggae and speed it up but the sum of the parts is greater then the whole… and The Police had the best drummer since Ringo. (Any Rush fans who say they had a better drummer – that’s jazz not pop or rocks).
Hahaha! Gotta have coffee, for sure. 🙂 Personally, I was never a fan of the Police as a group or Sting as an individual (and, as for Rush – yuck!), but obviously they are all outstanding musicians. While researching this post, I discovered some of Sting’s other solo recordings and they’re not bad at all. Thanks for coming back. Believe it or not, I’ve never heard the term “speed reggae”, but it makes perfect sense. Cheers!
I’ll go and vote right now.
Welcome, Trin! 🙂 The voting takes place right here, in the comment section. Please tell me which artist’s rendition of “The Hounds of Winter” you prefer and why. Thank you for coming by! Hope to see you back with your answer. Cheers!
Nathan Zanagar for me, Debbie, did the best cover of this intense tune about separation.
Another vote for Nathan. Thank you, Myke! 🙂
Both of these artists are unknowns to me and I must have jumped the Glee ship before Derik came along. He sounds awfully hip even for a hipster and I liked his version a lot. But, surprise of surprises, that Nathan Zanagar version was sweet. I really, really liked him.
A VOTE FOR NATHAN!
Thanks, Debster and a very Merry Christmas!
And, the Nathan trend continues! Thanks for your vote. You’re one up on me, as I never watched a single episode of Glee. Merry Christmas, Cheryl. 🙂
Well, this was certainly a “listen to the end” contest! Gimme the second one. I thought it was going to be a long dirge, but it snapped out in a big way!
I guess that means it was hard to choose? That’s a good thing, yes? 😀 So in the end, you’re going with Nathan. Thanks, Chris.
Yeah, Mary’s right, this is a tough Battle, DEBBIE.
I’ve never been a fan of Sting’s. In fact, I kind of dislike his music overall. And I did not listen to his version of this song so as not to be biased about how it’s “supposed” to sound.
I liked BOTH of these covers, and I like how different they are, which makes for an interesting Battle. I listened to both recordings twice each, to make sure I got my vote right. Yeah, it was that tough.
I took one look at DERIK NELSON and thought: Soyboy. My Sister could take him in a barroom brawl. Ha! But actually, I really liked his rendition. It seems to me there’s a kind of bittersweet nostalgic quality in some of the lyrics, and that comes across better in DERIK’s recording.
Nathan’s is good too, but it’s a bit more… well, “bombastic” – but I don’t really mean that in a negative connotation. It rocks harder, but I think I prefer the strings and the more reflective tone of Derik to the harsher, more electric guitar-driven approach by Nathan.
So… shutout over… again. (As Underdog sang: “Here I am to save the day!” …Or was that Mighty Mouse?)
~ Stephen
Ha ha ha….”SOYBOY”….
Oh yay! Finally, a vote for “Soyboy” 😀 er, Derik. I was never thrilled with Sting either, but have discovered some pretty good solo work while researching this post. Mighty Mouse was the one saving the day. Underdog said: “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here.” Thanks for breaking the shutout, again! Here’s hoping Derik gets a few more votes.
Wow. Tough battle here. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve listened to Sting, but these were two really good covers. I actually listened to them twice because I had a hard time deciding who to vote for. In the end, Nathan won out, but only by a tiny smidge. My vote today is for Nathan.
Happy Holidays!
Nathan is going strong, so far. Thanks for your vote, Mary. Happy Holidays to you and all the best for 2019. 🙂
I liked both of them, but liked Nathan Zanigar’s just a little bit better, so he gets my vote here.
Another vote for Nathan. Thanks, John.
I remember this song since I do have this Sting CD. Haven’t listened to it in years, but I still have it.
Derik’s version is nice, but Nathan has a terrific band behind him. My vote goes to Nathan.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
I was never into Sting all that much, but I’m discovering now that he did some great solo work, thanks to Youtube. 🙂 First vote goes to Nathan Zanagar!