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VARIOUS :
ALPHA MOTHERFUCKERS - A TRIBUTE TO TURBONEGRO
Turbonegro are now Norwegian punk legends. They slowly rose to fame in the punk underground via word of mouth, and just as they were becoming a known entity in the punk community? they split up?!! That was it, now they have achieved cult status, that might some day rival the Misfits. The powers that be, namely Hopeless Records, have put together a tribute CD (I know, the term makes me shudder in fear also). The bands on here are an eclectic bunch to say the least. You have everything from punk to black metal, including such bands as; Nashville Pussy, Therapy?, Queens Of The Stone Age, HIM, Zeke, The Real Mc Kenzies, and Satyricon. There are a total of 26 rocken' tracks on this disc! This is BY FAR, the best tribute CD I have ever bought, period. If you are already a fan of the band, you will love this. If you dig any of the bands performing on here, pick it up, and I'll guaranty (not a guaranty) that you will be a Turbonegro fan before the CD finishes. This thing rules!
RATING = 9 Punk (Released 2001)
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VARIOUS :
APPETITE FOR RECONSTRUCTION - A TRIBUTE TO GUNS N' ROSES
This CD sounded like a great idea... They got a bunch of metal dudes to cover Guns N' Roses songs, then had some techno/industrial bands remix them. I thought hey, I like metal, I like Guns N' Roses, I like industrial music... this should be the perfect CD for me! But let me tell you, metal + Gn'R + techno = shit. This CD sucks harder than anything else I have played in years. The songs are so remixed, you can't tell who sang on them... a chattering chimp could have done the vocals, and no one would be able to tell. The only song to survive the techo slaughter is Jizzy Pearl's "Sweet Child O' Mine". Now people will say "hey, you're only saying that cause you swing from Jizzy's nut sack." Well, I am a big Love/Hate fan, but the truth is, is that it was the only song that didn't get killed in the remix, you can still hear Jizzy's L.A. street-gutter vocals, and it sounds kool. I am also a big Warrior Soul fan, but the song Kory Clark sings on sounds like pure crap. I can't believe I paid money for this. If it was not for Jizzy's track, this would be a coaster.
RATING = 2 (it would be a 1 without Jizzy's track) Metal that was destroyed by techno (Released 1999)
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VARIOUS :
BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS: A TRIBUTE TO TYPE O NEGATIVE
As you can see from my reviews of other tribute efforts, I think these CDs usually suck ass. The only decent one to surface last year was the Turbonegro tribute. This year however, we have been blessed with a tribute to the best Goth-Metal band on the planet, Type-O-Negative. Now many might be turned off by the lack of big name talent, but don't be. I only knew three of the bands listed when I picked this up, but almost all turned in outstanding renditions of their favourite "Drab-Four" tune. Kick off track, "Black No.1" performed by End Of Green, almost sounds like Type-O, but a little heavier. There is a super heavy version of "Christian Woman" by Graveworm, for you fans of the thrashy side of Type-O. Then we have some songs done with female vocals, that add a whole new dimension to these suicide ballads. The two that stand out are "Everything Dies" by Mandrake, and "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" by Delight?. Now having a woman sing that song makes it even kinkier than it was, which is always a good thing. The only two tracks out of thirteen that don't really cut it are; Aion's version of "Everyone I Love is Dead", and Asterius's take on "We Hate Everyone", but that still leaves about 63 minutes of gold out of a possible 75. Now, if you're a Type-O fan, (and if you're not, why are you even reading this), than you should love this disc, a great way to re-experience your favourite tracks. I can fully recommend this, and hope there is a second instalment in the works. As a final note, good luck hunting this down, as it is only out in Europe on SPV.
RATING = 8.5 Goth-Metal (Released 2002)
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VARIOUS :
FIRE WOMAN : A TRIBUTE TO THE CULT
Here we go again with another tribute CD, I almost didn?t even want to let this thing touch my player, after reviewing the other recent rock/techno atrocities that call themselves tributes. Plus, I?m a big Cult fan, so I didn?t want to hear these fine songs butchered. But my fears were thrown aside after the first listen, this is actually a good CD! I couldn?t freakin? believe it! The best songs on here include ; American Dog rocking out on the classic "Peace Dog". Jizzy Pearl of Love/Hate, lends his unique raspy vocals to the killer lead off track "Fire Woman", and it sounds very kool. Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys) kicks ass on his version of "King Country Man". Stevie Rachelle (Tuff) & Richard Kendrick do a great job on "Outlaw". The rest of the CD is solid?. Except for one stinker? Enuff Znuff puts forth one sad-ass version of "She Sells Sanctuary", the problem being the vocals of Donnie Vie, which just seem totally unsuitable to me. If, however you already like this band, you might be able to suffer through that track. In the end, its not a the best CD, but it is the best tribute CD I?ve heard in a long time.
RATING = 7 Metal (Released 2001)
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VARIOUS :
AN INDUSTRIAL ROCK TRIBUTE TO JUDAS PRIEST
Here we have another Cleopatra tribute CD that mixes metal with techno. Most of the stuff this company is putting out like this sucks huge, puss-infected horse balls (see my review of the Guns N Roses tribute), but this one is not as bad. Still, there is some suckage. The high points include: Jizzy Pearl of Love/Hate putting his unique vocal signature on "Turbo Lover", the Electric Hellfire Club doing "Green Manalishi", Kory Clarke from metal-punks, Warrior Soul singing "Breakin? The Law", Alex Mitchell from biker-metal gods Circus of Power giving us his kool take on "Steeler", Marq Torien from The Bulletboys, surprises, and does a great job on "Liven? After Midnight", and Joe LeSte from the very underrated, Bang Tango does wonders with "You Got another Thing Coming". Now on to the suckage: Taime Downe from Faster Pussycat just destroys "Hell Bent For Leather", Chaz from Bonham gives an embarrassing rendition of "Heading Out To The Highway", and Spike from The London Quireboys serves up an unrecognizable version of "Rock Forever". Now, if you can believe it, it gets even worse. Phil Lewis from LA Guns butchers "Hot Rockin" and the CD ends with the worst tune, John Corabi of Union, gets a hold of those horse balls, and takes suckage to a new level with his weak, crap-ass version of "Delivering The Goods". The only other track I did not mention yet is the opener, "Hellion-Electric Eye", by Jani Lane of Warrant? this one is just kind of there, it doesn?t suck, but it aint that great either. So, should you buy it??. good question, if you are a big Priest fan, its worth having for the novelty. If you are a fan of any of the artists that I listed as doing a decent job, then you'll want this. On the other hand, when you break it down, you get a CD that has ? good tunes, while the other half sucks ass?. It?s your gamble.
RATING = 5 Metal, some destroyed by techno (Released 2001)
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VARIOUS :
METALLIC ATTACK – METALLICA – THE ULTIMATE TRIBUTE ALBUM
I know what you're saying. "wow, a Metallica tribute CD, I've never seen one of those before, what a wonderful original idea". As we all know, there are approximately 500 different tributes out there for the good ol' boys known as 'tallica. So, is this one special, or superior to the rest? No, but it's not bad. First things first, "Big Deal Records" has dropped the ball on a few things. One, the disc is only 10 songs, and 52 minutes long. If you're gonna put out any sort of compilation or tribute, you gotta jam it full. We could have easily fit another four songs here. Two, are these songs exclusive to this release? I have no idea, it's not mentioned anywhere, and I sure as hell don't have the time to research it. Lastly, and this is a very silly thing for a record company to do, nowhere on the outer packaging does it tell you who is on this tribute!!! Can you believe that? I don't know about you, but when I see that, I'm under the assumption that the bands are not listed because they all suck ass-nuggets. Hell, for all we know it could've been Clay Aiken and Justin Timberlake exercising their Metal demons on this thing! Now, fortunately, that is not the case here. When you crack this puppy open, you'll be glad to see some good names such as; Motorhead, Flotsam & Jetsam, Death Angel, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Tommy Victor (Prong), Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe), Chuck Billy & Alex Skolnick (Testament), and Dark Angel. Everyone does a commendable job with their chosen song, with the stand outs coming in the form of Dark Angel's take on "Creeping Death", and Death Angels energetic rendition of "Trapped Under Ice". Most of the songs are from the band's earlier period, but "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters" both manage to make an appearance, with the later being exposed as the lame-ass power ballad that it really is. Listening to this disc really reminded me of what a fantastic band Metallica used to be, and how far they've fallen. Fifteen years ago I worshiped Hetfield and the boys, and now I remember why. So, yes the disc is pretty good, but the originals will never be topped. So, whether you need this or not all depends on how hard-core you are when it comes to your 'tallica collection.
RATING = 6.5 Metal (Released 2004)
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VARIOUS :
NIB II : A TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH
After the first NIB tribute CD (which kicked ass), I was really looking forward to this, what a disappointment. I'm not sure what went wrong here, there are a bunch of great bands, this should rule, but instead, in comes off as boring, and uninspired. Its not a total waste of time, the tracks from Godsmack (Sweet Leaf) and Machine Head (Hole In The Sky) are good. But there are some big let downs, namely Slayer's version of "Hand Of Doom" (I thought this would have made the CD) & Static X's version of "Behind The Wall Of Sleep". The biggest waste of time is the last track... "Iron Man" by Busta Rhymes... now I this is a big pet peeve of mine, and please, any record executives reading this, please repeat the following out loud 5 times: "I WILL NOT PUT RAP SONGS ON METAL CDs!" God, this bugs me, you don't see hip-hop CDs with a "Slayer" song on the end do you? I bet a tribute to "Sisqo" wouldn't have a song from "Cannibal Corpse" on it, now would it. So why do they think anyone wants to hear rap songs on metal CDs? Now stop right there, you're going to say what a closed mind I have... wrong, I own about 20 rap CDs, mostly old school; Ice-T, Public Ememy, N.W.A., Ice Cube, Geto Boys, Schooly-D etc. so no, that's not the problem. The problem is that, it ruins the feel, and flow of a CD when you put one or two songs, of a completely different genera, in the middle of a disc. The next time I buy a sound track CD that has a rap tune hidden in the middle, I am going to find the person(s) responsible, and give them all a kick straight in the nutz! The rest of the CD is made up with songs from Megadeth, Pantera, Soulfly, Monster Magnet etc. They are all OK, just not to thrilling, its like they all were forced to do this against their will.
RATING = 5.5 Metal/Alternative (Released 2000)
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VARIOUS :
THE SONG RAMONES THE SAME
While Rob Zombie is in the middle of putting together a Ramones tribute filled with Ozzfest friendly talent, White Jazz Records out of Sweden has beaten him to the punch, and with much cooler bands. As with most tributes, this is a bit hit and miss, but overall, well worth your hard earned cash. We have 19 tracks here, with lots of entries from Scandinavian Punk bands (that's a good thing). I'm not about to go through each track, but the hits include: Sort Sol - "Blitzkrieg Bop", The Hellacopters - "What'd Ya Do?", The Dictators - "I Just Wanna Have Something To Do", the Toilet Boys - "Carbona Not Glue", and Backyard Babies - "Pet Semetary". The misses include: Per Gessle's lame version of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", Sator's uninspired take on "Mental Hell", Whale's shit version of "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", but the worst is Wayne Kramer's destruction of "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg". Bottom line, Ramones fans need it, fans of Scandi-Punk need it? others won't give a shit.
RATING = 6 Punk (Released 2002)
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VARIOUS :
WE'RE A HAPPY FAMILY - A TRIBUTE TO RAMONES
Here we go with another tribute CD, god these things almost always suck ass. I didn't wanna do it, but being a Ramones fan, and a fan of many of the contributing bands, I knew it was just a matter of time before I shelled out my hard earned cash for this thing. First, let's try to pretend that this isn't the corporate cash-grab that it is. Now, there has been a lot of talk about this disc. For those who have been living in a cave, this disc was spearheaded by everyone's favorite Horror-Metal dude, Rob Zombie. He has put together a bunch of big name talent to pay tribute to one of Punk's greatest bands, the Ramones. Now, in general, the mainstream press has been very favorable in its reviews, while the hardcore Punks and long time Ramones fans have bashed the hell out of it. So, who's right, does it blow? No, it doesn't. For once, I'm going to have to be more on the side of the usual dumb-ass masses instead of the underground, and I'll tell you all why. First off, the people who are bitching about this disc have two main complaints, the first is that is that it's not Punk enough, that the contributing artist have no business playing Ramones songs. The second complaint, is that the songs differ greatly from the originals. There have also been questions about why the hell Stephen King wrote the liner notes. Let's look at the minor point of the Stephen King notes first. Why would a horror writer do liner notes for the Ramones, they weren't a horror themed band? Well, if you know Mr. King at all, you know he is a huge fan of the Ramones, he has quoted their lyrics in his books, and of course they did the theme song for his movie "Pet Sematary". Plus, he's one of the biggest selling authors of all time! I think this qualifies him to write the liner notes. Now let's look at the talent involved, and the reworking of the songs themselves. The hardcore punks give this a big thumbs down, they say Marilyn Manson & U2 aren't Punk, and Rob Zombie totally changed "Blitzkrieg Bop", so this sucks. Well, my feeling is that the Ramones already perfected the Punk versions of these songs, so what would be the point of a bunch of Punk bands spitting out unworthy copies of these great songs? What we have, are mostly people in other areas of rock, who have been affected at some time by the Ramones, giving us a fresh take on the material. If you want to here a version of "Havana Affair" that sounds just like the original, them play the Ramones version. Plus, there is still a big connection with Punk rock with many of the artists. The Offspring, Green Day and Rancid may be a little too MTVish for most, but I think you still gotta call 'em Punk. Metallica's connection to Punk was established years ago, when the covered the Misfits on the Garage Days EP. Rob Zombie may be a full-blown Metal dude these days, but have you heard those early 7"s? Those things weren't bought by Metalheads when they came out (even though they now pay big $ for 'em on ebay), they were all purchased by Punks into the NYC Punk / Art-Rock scene. Others are bitching about Eddie Vedder. He was into Grunge, so he can't like Punk? That's just stupid. And he's playing with Zeke! If you wanna try and tell me that Zeke aren't Punk, don't even bother typing the email, because you're obviously just a retard. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't wanna come off as defending anything Pearl Jam has done since "Ten". Or U2 for that matter, everything both of these bands have released in the last 10 years has sucked rhino shit. But, they both manage to produce interesting versions of their favorite Ramones ditties. There are also some good surprises, I'm not a big Kiss fan, but their version of "Do You Remember Rock `N' Roll Radio?" is a blast. Red Hot Chili Peppers version of "Havana Affair" is cool, and Mr. Manson does a cool, gothed-out version of "The KKK Took My Baby Away", that will easily please his gloomy fans. In conclusion, as always with these things, some hit, some miss, but they're all interesting, and I think most people will at least like this CD. You get to hear big names playing songs you never thought they would. However, if you can't stand to hear your favorite tunes altered, or if you can't listen to anything but pure-100%-Punk, then you'll probably just scream sell out, and plunge your fingers in your ears.
Notes of interest;
The first 100,000 copies of the album have a bonus track, "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)", performed by Vedder & Zeke.
There are lots of cool photos, and a well-done booklet.
Metallica is rumored to have done 8 different songs before going with "53rd & 3rd"
The following were originally announced but didn't show up:
Motorhead : "Rockaway Beach"
Billy Corgan : "I Want You Around"
Static X : "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"
The song "Today You're Love, Tomorrow The World" by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante shows up as a bonus track, if you let the disc go to track 20, but it kind of blows.
RATING = 7 Punkish (Released 2003)
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