Tribute albums, while sometimes being interesting or (even better) hilarious, often tend to be fairly awful.....bands commit either slavish carbon copies of the "tributee's" work which almost by definition will be inferior, or they do FLAT OUT inferior versions, which of course, are also inferior....when selecting some tribute albums, then, that will actually be INTERESTING, it is, of course, important to look at the subject matter, AS WELL AS the "tributors" and find combinations which will yield either interesting musical moments or some touches of hilarity. Who, after all, would wish to here "Hell Bent Forever-A Tribute to Judas Priest"? (Yes I have it, no I'm not including it, I'm just going to talk about it a little to illustrate what is so often with tribute albums)....first of all, take a band with ZERO sense of humor to begin with (Judas Priest) and cover a bunch of their ultra-"serious" works by a second batch of similarly humor-deficient acts, and what do ya got? Answer: "zzzzzzzzzzzzz", and a bunch of tracks that are MUCH more boring than the original Judas Priest tracks to begin with. Honest to God.....WARRANRT covering "Hell Bent For Leather"?....SEPULTURA'S version of "Screaming For Vengenace"?.....Well, in fairness, Motorhead's "Breaking the Law" is pretty funny, but, as it sounds like the OTHER 2000 Motorhead songs, you can imagine what it sounds like without my putting it up.....couple these efforts with frankly inferior acts (Say Tim "Ripper" Collins tackling "Exciter", or Broken Teeth, whomever the hell they are/were doing "Devil's Child" and I think you'll see what I call a real "waste of plastic"....
How about "Radical Records-Never Mind the Sex Pistols Here's the Tribute", which features a bunch of bands noone, not even I, have ever heard of, doing the "Bollocks" album IN ORDER, then follwoing that up with a bunch more obscure-o's doing Pistol's singles ala Lower Class Brats version of "Belsen Was a Gas" and Showcase Showdown donating
A good, actually, rather than "funny" one, is "Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson".....Roky, of course, REALLY DID influence (directly or indirectly) a lot of the acts that appear, Richard Lloyd's version of "Fire Engine" sounds more like a labor of love than an attempt at a slavish copy. REM, Butthole Surfers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and ZZ Top all owe a debt of a gratitude to the 13th Floor Elevators, in either an obvious way, Butthole Surfers for example, or in a less obvious but still strong way, say, like fellow Texans ZZ Top. Recommended for the 19 different tracks/artists and the versatility of the same.
One more for today.....not a tribute to an artist, we have "Before You Were a Punk-A Punk Rock Tribute to 80's New Wave"......Guttermouth gives us a version of "Happy Loving Couples".....Blink 182 turn in a pretty funny "Dancing With Myself".....No Use For a Name slash "Turning Japanese".....I like this one as they are NOT, by anymeans, slavish copies of the originals. I always have contended that when doing someone else's song, the WORST THING possible is turning in a note-for-note copy, to "honor" the original you MUST MAKE IT SOMEWHAT YOUR OWN!
I WAS going to post "Blues Explosion-A Tribute to Blue Cheer".....seemingly this would be amusing, I threw it in the CD player an hour ago while making a road trip in my truck, and I was appalled by how bad it is, and when I say "bad" I don't mean "Blue Cheer-so-bad-it-is-great""Bad", but rather, copies so close to the originals you need to strain to tell the difference. Pentagram's version of MY fave "Doctor Please" actually requires CLOSE listening to reveal it isn't Blue Cheer's version off of "Vincebus Eruptum", and Internal Void's take on "Parchement Farm" is nearly identical to the original as well......and THIS is what I'm talking about.....WHY EVEN BOTHER? Anyway I'm glad I am not wasting your/my time by putting this up......I have a bunch more to sift through, and if they are as lame as this one, they will not be getting posted.....quality, you see, is job #1 with the BigMan!
Welcome to another weekend, it is just starting to get beautiful in Ohio (Ohio is beautiful only about
six weeks out of the year, Mid-September until maybe the end of October, the rest of the year it'eezing cold or brutally hot with unbearable humidity.....on the days when it is neither of those it is raining).....football season is in the air, the major league baseball races are heating up......ENJOY LIFE, it is short, after all......I love this time of year, and I hope you do as well as I attempt to bring you an appropropriate soundtrack/background for it......
Be back tomorrow with some more tributes, if you have anyone you'd like to hear "tributed" if I have it,'ll gladly post it.....this is an area where the more outlandish the subject matter (Duran Duran, the Carpenters) the better....request away. Other wise I'll spend tonight and tomorrow morning sifting through some of these and decidinbg which are worthy. Have a good evening!!!!!!
NEVER MIND THE SEX PISTOLS HERE'S THE TRIBUTE-01 BOOKED-Holidays In the S/02 L.E.S. STITCHES-Bodies/03 THE GENERATORS-No Feelings/04 SUBMACHINE-Liar/05 THE KRAYS-Problems/06 I.C.U.-God Save the Queen/07 TOTAL CHAOS-Seventeen/08 BLANKS 77-Anarchy In the UK/09 THE BOILS-Submission/10 THE DUCKY BOYS-Pretty Vacant/11 MURPHYS LAW-New York/12 ROAD RAGE-EMI/13 LOWER CLASS BRATS-Belsen Was a Gas/14 MALEFACTORS-I Wanna Be Me/15 BILLY CLUB-Satellite/16 SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN-Friggin In the Riggin/17 NIBLICK HENBANE-Great Rock N Roll Swindle
WHERE THE PYRAMID MEETS THE EYE-A TRIBUTE TO ROKY ERICKSON-01 ZZ TOP-Reverberation (Doubt)/02 JOHN WESLEY HARDING & THE GOOD LIARS-If You Have Ghosts/03 POI DOG PONDERING-I Had to Tell You/04 THE JUDYBATS-She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)/05 PRIMAL SCREAM-Slip Inside This House/06 BONGWATER-You Don't Love Me Yet/07 JULIAN COPE-I Have Always Been Here Before/08 DOUG SAHM & SONS-You're Gonna Miss Me/09 SOUTHERN PACIFIC-It's a Cold Night For Aligators/10 RICHARD LLOYD-Fire Engine/11 VIBRATING EGG-Bermuda/12 REM-I Walked With a Zombie/13 BUTTHOLE SURFERS-Earthquake/14 LOU ANN BARTON-Don't Slander Me/15 SISTER DOUBLE HAPPINESS-Red Temple Prayer (2-Headed Dog)/16 THIN WHITE ROPE-Burn the Flame/17 CHRIS THOMAS FEATURING TABBY THOMAS-Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)/18 T BONE BURNETT-Nothing In Return/19 THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN-Reverberation (Doubt)
GABBER GABBER HEY-A TRIBUTE TO THE RAMONES-01 STORE BOUGHT LIES-Beat on the Brat/02 THE COUNTDOWN-Chinese Rock/03 DJ ACUCRACK-Rock N Roll Radio/04 SCHIZOID-Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue/05 IAMMYNEWT-Teenage Lobotomy/06 DIABLO SYNDROME-I Wanna Be Sedated/07 KAPUT!-Commando/08 TORRENT VACCINE-Beat on the Brat/09 DEFRAGMENTATION-Blitzkreig Bop/10 EMULSION VS AHAB-Wart Hog/11 JOOLZ-N Roll High School/12 BOOMER-The KKK Took My Baby Away/13 PARALLAX 1-Pinhead
As always I strive to bring you something maybe just a LITTLE different.....these are not GREAT, they are amusing though and we'd ALL be better off if we were just a little less serious about.......sixdiscs today, maybe 6 or so more tomorrow (PLEASE request now, w I'm doin' em, if you have a tribute you want me to post), then that will be that.....I probably have 100, fining ten or12 that I find worthy of your attention will be the task, thanks for reading/listening/commenting/hating my guts/ ignoring me/ ANTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vikings vs Bears this weekend, I kinda feel the Vikes take this one at home and even the record at 1-
1.......FOOTBALL, the greatest sport on earth.......gets no better than football, beer, hot women, rock n roll, ativan, kratom, strat o matic baseball, maybe a GOOD sub sandwich........THAT, my friends, is what life is about, other than the IMPORTANT shit like taking care of your spouses, making a living, raising your kids, all that stuff!
