Faith No More: Easy
[purchase]
Faith No More is one of those hard-to-pigeonhole bands that peaked in the early 90s and had disbanded by 1998 (although they're back together in concert, at least in Europe). I always scratch my head when I try to fill in the "genre" field on one of their songs. Are they experimental rock? Or are they alt metal? Neither? Both? Maybe it depends on who's in the band at the time: Wikipedia claims they've had 7 vocalists (including Courtney Love at one point) and 10 guitarists, making it a band that needs math done in powers of 2 to wrap your mind around it.
Their sound, however, was never smooth R&B. Except this once. Keyboard, strings, horn, background singers? Check.
Their cover of The Commodores' "Easy" was only released in later versions of their 1992 album "Angel Dust." It's become a favorite and best-seller, though. Instead of changing the genre to fit their normal style, they pretty much record it straight like Lionel (well, except for that quirky exclamation just before the guitar solo). Mike Patton, the vocalist du jour, has a nice, rich voice and he carries the song well. Have a listen.