Remakes That Don't Quite Make it

Many times, I find that song covers just don't do much for me. The best example I can think of is Missing You on Rock On 1984 by John Waite. It's been covered many times but, to my ear, no one else has come even close to making a song as good as the original. Another that comes to mind is Shameless on Ropin' The Wind by Garth Brooks. I'm a little backwards here, because I heard Garth's version long before I heard Billy Joel's original and can therefore never make the original sound quite right, but the principle is the same. The song that got me thinking about remakes this morning was Reason To Believe on Wilson Phillips by Wilson Phillips. It's a pretty enough song -- nice harmonies, which, of course, is Wilson Phillips' trademark, but, wow, do they miss the mark on the kind of angst the lyrics are talking about and that Rod Stewart's voice conveys so well.