I always encourage artists to perform their original material. But I'm still a sucker for a good cover version, especially if it's one you don't hear every day.

The kings of having their tunes covered are, of course, the Beatles. "Yesterday" long ago set a record for the most recorded versions of one song. I even heard it played on a series of cast-iron bells in a town square in the Czech Republic. And some of their other tunes rank right up there.

One of my favorite Lennon-McCartney compositions is one of their more obscure: "Hey Bulldog," from their "Yellow Submarine" album. It features a great piano riff and a John barking out one of his more ferocious Beatle lead vocals, presaging some of his solo work: "You can talk to me/If you're lonely you can talk to me!"

Anyway, I hadn't heard that covered until a friend sent me a disc called "D:Drive" by Rochester, N.Y., guitarist Don Mancuso. His band does a good job on it, beefing up the drums to help propel that killer riff even more than the original. True, it's not John Lennon singing, but no one can duplicate that voice.

One vocalist on the album is none other than Lou Gramm of Foreigner fame, a longtime collaborator with Don. And many of the songs on "D:Drive" hearken back to Foreigner's heyday, when the full-blown production of so-called arena rock filled the airwaves. Fans of '80s music will enjoy such rockers as "Down U Go" and such ballads as "You're Never Alone."

And when you get to the last track, take a little jaunt back to the '60s. You can't go wrong covering the Beatles.