Rooster_Ties Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 (edited) ...and some are quite good. Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC: I could try to write my own review of this, but the AMG review perfectly fits my opinion of this release - so here it is: "AMG Review: Though most tribute albums aren't worth the cost of the packaging, A Testimonial Dinner deserves a listen simply because the artists involved appear to have been selected more for their love of XTC than for their MTV appeal. Spacehog's take on "Senses Working Overtime" captures the perky but warped pop sensibilities perfectly, while Sarah McLachlan's haunting acoustic version of "Dear God" is, even by Andy Patridge's admission, arguably better than the original. Ruben Blades' invigorating Latin spin on "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" is simply magical, and They Might Be Giants lend their quirky style to a cover of "25 O'Clock," a song originally recorded by XTC's side-project the Dukes of Stratosphear. To top it all off, even XTC shows up (disguised as Terry & the Lovemen) to contribute "The Good Things," a lilting, psychedelic track reminiscent of the Summer of Love's groovy, harmony-laden pop. With nary a dud to be found, A Testimonial Dinner is the rare tribute album that does its subjects proud." In short, if you like XTC, please get this -- you'll thank me. (PS: I probably like this CD as much as any XTC album.) Outlandos D'Americas: A Rock en Español Tribute to the Police: An all Spanish-language CD with covers of Police and Sting tunes (Police tunes mostly), as done primarily by groups from South and Central America. Pretty darn good, at least most of the cuts - and even the one's that aren't quite as good are at least interesting. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland guest on one tune each (though not on the same tune). Picked it up used, and have spun it more often than I might have expected to. (IMHO, it's better than either of the two 'Reggae bands cover The Police' discs, also on the same label - Arc21.) Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead: Dead covers by the likes of Los Lobos, Bruce Hornsby, Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega, Warren Zevon, Midnight Oil, and Jane's Addiction. Holds up quite well, and some performances are really outstanding (Costello, Midnight Oil, and Warren Zevon in particular). Fictional: A Tribute to the Cure: Covers of Cure tunes, entirely by Swedish bands -- although everything is performed in English. Many of the tunes end up sounding like late 80's Brit-pop (many with synths and the like), including one tune that I swear is a total knock-off of Depeche Mode. Fun!! We Will Follow: Tribute to U2: Not every cut is 'fantastic', but they're all good, very good, or both 'strange' and 'very good' at the same time. Don't spend top-dollar for this, but my wife and I have taken this on numerous road trips, and have listened to it quite a bit. I guess I'd call it "better than average" - as far as tribute-albums go. Edited November 20, 2004 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 Stoned Immacualte - The Music of the Doors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 (edited) OK, these aren't tributes to just one artist, but they are all made up of 'cover tunes' - so I think they kinda halfway count towards this thread (and I'd welcome hearing about other similar releases, made up of all 'cover tunes'.)... Ruby Trax: The NME's Roaring 40: Three CD's of cover versions of #1 hits (at least they were #1 in the U.K.). The set is bloated at 3 discs, but there's at least 1 hour of fascinating and truly great performances, and probably a 2nd hour of good ones too. (And yes, a 3rd hour that we could have all done without.) Highlights (at least for me) include: Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" by Tears for Fears; the 70's disco hit "Ring My Bell" by Tori Amos; a totally over-the-top version of "Like a Prayer" by Marc Almond (of Soft Cell) with backup singers and a horn-section, George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord performed" by Boy George (a surprisingly good version, actually), and "Go Now" by Bowie's band Tin Machine. Well worth $12 or $15, if you see it for that price (and I have, quite frequently). 20 Explosive Dynamic Super Smash Hit Explosions!: The title and packaging are total rip-offs of K-tel 70's hits releases, and the tunes are all from that era too - except remade by alternative bands from about 1991 (the year it was released). Includes "Jackie Blue" by Smashing Pumpkins (yes, the tune by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils), long before the Pumpkins were anybody. Lot's of other great 70's hits, cick on the AMG review to see the track listing. I think there was a second volume too, but I can't seem to find it online (or maybe I was just imagining it). Hell's bells - it's still in print!! ( ) and you can sample a few of the tracks HERE (including the Pumpkins track). [EDIT: No, it's not 'in print' - but for some reason the sound samples are still on the B&N website.] Edited October 15, 2003 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 (edited) Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix: Half of this CD is really quite good, and the other half isn't. I really like The Cure's version of "Purple Haze" and The Pretender's version of "Bold As Love". (And there's also a great Pretender's version of Jimi's "Room Full Of Mirrors" on their 1986 album "Get Close". Edited October 15, 2003 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Skid Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 I picked this one up, used, many years ago. Thinking it was probably going to be mostly crap, I was pleasantly surprised: If I Were a Carpenter: I was never a Carpenter's fan, but my parents used to play them on LP's back in the day, so many of these songs are permanently burned in to my brain. As sappy as they were sometimes, they did write some good songs. This tribute includes covers by Sonic Youth, Cracker, Concrete Blonde, The Cranberries, and Dishwalla. The covers by Matthew Sweet ("Let Me Be the One"), Grant Lee Buffalo ("We've Only Just Begun"), and Bettie Serveert ("For All We Know") are among my favorite tracks. By far, the worst track is Four Non Blondes cover of "Bless the Beasts and the Children". A bad song to begin with, made far worse by that truly awful band and lead singer. And if AMG likes it, it must be good!! Right?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 (edited) Surprise Your Pig: A Tribute to R.E.M. This one is kind of interesting, from 1992. Not many well known artists, with the exception of Mitch Easter and Vic Chesnutt - if they're well known... Some of these covers are VERY different from the originals. Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin You know all the songs, so here's some different versions of them. Includes Uncle Skid's favorites, 4 Non-Blondes. I'm not too happy that Hootie and the Blowfish are on here, but I guess they were big names back in 1995 when this came out... edit: Can't get the REM link to work for some reason... Edited October 15, 2003 by Aggie87 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphie_boy Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 There's a good Neil Young tribute called The Bridge. It features covers by altenative acts like The Flaming Lips and Killdozer. Good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Skid Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 Includes Uncle Skid's favorites, 4 Non-Blondes. Have I mentioned how much I don't like that band?? It's somewhat puzzling that while they had only one album, they appeared on fourteen compilations and soundtracks... I'm sure their place on VH1's "Where Are They Now: Annoying Bands from the 90's" is assured! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 A fairly obscure tribute to Spacemen 3, this disc is hit or miss, but does features some nice covers by Low, Mogwai, Bardo Pond and others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 Try the Greg Brown tribute CD - Going Driftless. Maybe even better try some of Greg Brown's own CDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacman Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 if you like Ukulele music, the Ukulele Summit series kicks. #5 are covers of Grateful Dead tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 There's a good Neil Young tribute called The Bridge. It features covers by altenative acts like The Flaming Lips and Killdozer. Good stuff! I even own this disc, but I had forgotten all about it... The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young: Very good complilation of Neil Young covers, including Nick Cave's take on "Helpless", The Pixies doing "Winterlong," and Sonic Youth doing "Computer Age" (an obscure tune I've always liked, off 1983's Trans, which originally had Neil singing through a vocoder). Pretty darn good tribute, all in all, and certainly worth getting if anyone sees it for $8 or $9, used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slsmcgrew Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 Asleep At The Wheel tribute to the music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 Essential Interpretations: Today's Great Artists Perform Yesterday's Classics: I don't own this, but I've come mightly close to buying it a time or two. Double CD, half of which is pretty good (with a few tracks that are excellent!!), and half of which is really a let-down. Highlights include: "Baker Street" performed by Foo Fighters (which got lots of airplay), "Wish You Were Here" by Sparklehorse with Thom York on lead vocals (he's the lead singer for Radiohead), and "Martha My Dear" by World Party. (I'm just waiting to find a used copy, really cheap.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 The Duran Duran Tribute Album: Better than you'd think, and my wife loves this CD (or at least most of it), as she's a big Duran Duran fan from back in the day. Alternative bands cover Duran Duran. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 Dwight Yoakum: Under The Covers. Includes Roy Orbison's "Claudette", Train In Vain (Yes The Clash), Tired Of Waiting For You, Here Comes The Night, Wichita Lineman, The Last Time, Things We Said Today, North To Alaska. Pretty entertaining album. Also like the "Pickin' On" series of albums. You know, the bluegrass covers of classic rock tunes. Pickin' On "The Allman Brothers" and Pickin' On "ZZ Top", that sort of thing. Paul McCartney- The Russia Album Steve Howe: Portraits Of Bob Dylan Okay not exactly rock, but... the Bob Wills tribute albums put out by Asleep At The Wheel are really a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted October 15, 2003 Report Share Posted October 15, 2003 One more.. Jeff Beck: Crazy Legs- A tribute To "Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted October 16, 2003 Report Share Posted October 16, 2003 Anybody else own or heard a CD called ''Les Enfants Du Velvet" which consists of six French Velvet Underground covers. They concentrate on the softer, more melodic side of the Velvets's and there is something rather magical about these versions in French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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