This time around I have turned the tables on the last set of reviews. Instead of one artist covering a series of songs, we now have numerous artists covering the material of three bands and a studio band covering the music of a certain time period (I didn’t buy the later until the previous reviews were completed).
Dead Band’s Party – Tribute to Oingo Boingo; Substitution Mass Confusion – Tribute to The Cars; Killer Queen -A Tribute to Queen: About 10 years ago, there was an onslaught of tribute albums dedicated to Sixties and Seventies artists. They were often uneven, inconsistent but they at least featured mainly the Alternative artists of the Nineties showing off their love of their influences. I managed to buy most, flaws and all, because the good covers still compensated for the weak. Oddly, the Carpenters tribute is the one I have always found to be the closest to perfect. Lately there has been another round of these tributes and only one received any kind of promotion.
The first one I knew about through the Aquabats concert last summer. I kept looking for it on the Internet but gave up because the first label scrapped it. Then I went to see the ‘bats again this summer and they had it for sale. Oingo Boingo was never a huge success in sales yet one would think there’d be a revival due to Danny Elfman’s fame as a composer. Sadly, the same obscurity seems to plague the artists influenced by Oingo Boingo too. The only major names here are the Aquabats covering “Controller,” Let’s Go (formerly The Stereo) on “Only a Lad” and Zebrahead with “Violent Love.” A tad pricey for three songs when you could just download those three via iTunes for $3. The obscure bands on there were worth a try because if these acts are fans of a band I really love, then they may be in the same vein as Oingo Boingo, the beauty of these records for me! Through the Carpenters tribute I discovered Dishwalla; the Kinks…Queens of the Stone Age; Paul McCartney…Owsley. Here, the standout was a really great acoustic version of “Not My Slave” by Jessica Burgan. The other lesser-known acts didn’t drift too far from the original arrangements except for Reel Big Fish who I have never liked (they bored me on the Duran Duran tribute). I still like the album but it leaves my wondering how much better it could’ve been with some more well-known groups like the next tribute.
On the other end of the Eighties success spectrum is a dedication to the Cars, a mainstay of FM radio all through my high school years. Substitution is published by Not Lame records which really loves to make tributes and it shows. None of the artists here are A-list bands to the average listener but diehards such as myself, my friends Giles and Mark, know who are the real disciples of the Cars: Jason Falkner, Owsley, Jon Auer, Sprialing, Action Action and the Bravery. Even the “unknown” bands turn in great performances. Much like the Oingo Boingo album, many stay close to the original arrangements unless they’re more skilled or imaginative. I must give a huge round of applause to Action Action’s cover of “Tonight She Comes.” They make this mediocre, throwaway tune for the Cars’ obligatory greatest hits record really vibrant and rockin’ when the Cars just phoned it in. This tribute will barely have you hitting the skip button on your iPod unlike the next tribute below.
Is this a long overdue tribute to Queen? Or something timed to complement the release of the 1991 tribute concert DVD? What about the horrible musical done in the same fashion as Abba’s Mama Mia? There’s also the Queen concert with Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, The Firm) in Freddie’s place, an odd choice of vocalist. Unlike the previous two tributes, I was very skeptical about this album but only bought it when Fry’s had it on sale. Thankfully the great surprises compensated for the horrendous artists who fuelled my doubts. As always, many bands that should be present due to their obvious Queen influences were skipped (Metallica, OK Go and Jellyfish are three that immediately come to mind) for the flavors-of-the-month acts such as Gavin DeGraw, Jason Mraz and Sum 41. I’m going to focus on the positives since the winners are worth buying directly through the iTunes Store, Rhapsody or other legal sources. Joss Stone continues to impress me with her R&B/Soul take on “Under Pressure.” The Flaming Lips do a better turn on “Bohemian Rhapsody” than the other version some dork from American Idol phoned in. One major rule on tributes: never allow two acts to cover the same song! This was a failing of the Duran Duran tribute of 1997. Los Lobos surprised me with “Sleeping on the Sidewalk” and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age passes on the goodwill he received from Dave Grohl by singing vocals for the band Eleven on “Stone Cold Crazy.” However, the best cover is Josh Kelley’s rearrangement of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” He does it like a Cars song and it is a small wonder how he succeeded, he has Elliot Easton on guitar and Greg Hawkes on keyboards.
Recommendations:
Dead: only for open-minded Oingo Boingo fans, no purists.
Substitution: a Must-Have for Cars fans and recommended to others.
Killer: for open-minded Queen fans, no purists and not Recommended to others.
Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague: At first this album seems like an odd joke. Maybe it is, after studying the French language intermittently for 13 years, I can’t even tell when they’re kidding which would explain why the word “vague” is used. This studio band uses different female vocalists to rearrange mainly 20+ year-old New Wave/Post Punk hits as Bossa Nova, Lounge and/or Folky in a Cafe. The songs really stand or fall on the strength of their writer(s), not how this band plays them.
Similarities (only in style): Robert Palmer’s Heavy Nova meets Friends of Dean Martinez, the Recliners and the Wonderful World of Joey
Recommendation: Worth Buying with serious reservations.
