C/D Tribute albums

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I bought a Spaceman 3 tribute album and so many of the bands (with the honorable exception of Flowchart) were just trying to 'do' Spaceman 3 that the whole exercise seemed pointless. No-one does Spaceman 3 better than Spaceman 3 surely? I've recently resisted the temptation to buy Serge Gainsbourg and Lee Hazlewood tribute albums for much the same reason. I can only wince at the thought of a bunch of indie no-hopers (as it often tends to be) struggling with the complex rhythms and arrangements (not to mention the French accent) of Mr Gainsbourg and sending me running back screaming to the originals. So, are there any good tribute albums or is this whole concept a big dud?

― Kim Tortoise, Monday, 28 July 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The Gainsbourg tribute is actually rather good.
And I think - the search fankshn complying - you'll find at least one earlier thread on this topic.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The Clash one is dreadful. The Tom Waits one is interesting. The Buzzcocks one is alright. The Kiss one has its moments. The Devo one was a let-down. Most stink, to be honest.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

ramones & cure tributes are ok. a few stand-out & the rest eh.

― ke[hm, Monday, 28 July 2003 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

'you'll find at least one earlier thread on this topic.'

OK but I'm resisting the urge to use the search facility due to 'server load problems' I feel partly responsible by starting a post a couple of weeks ago encouraging everyone to find adjectives that haven't been used before on ILM!!!!!!!

― Kim Tortoise, Monday, 28 July 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

clearly it is all your fault.

― kephm, Monday, 28 July 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Ones that are worth getting if you see them really cheap 'cause they have 1 or 2 good tracks - "every man has a woman who loves him" (yoko ono),"every band has a shonen knife that loves them"(shonen knife),that Beefheart one, "the bridge" (neil young)
good ones - "assassins of silence/100 watt violence" (hawkwind), "smiles vibes & harmony" (brian wilson)

― duane, Monday, 28 July 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

This Is Where I Belong: The Songs of Ray Davies & the Kinks is of surprisingly high quality.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:44 (twenty-two years ago)

The Red, Hot + Riot tribute to Fela Kuti is a pretty good one, given that the continuous flow and the skits make it flow pretty seamlessly

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Most stink. I second "Red Hot and Riot," and also give it up for "Frisco Mabel Joy Revisited," a tribute to Mickey Newberry's (Newbury's?) "Frisco Mabel Joy."

― M Specktor (M Specktor), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

There was that REM tribute album 10 years or so ago, Suprise Your Pig, that at the time I thought was great but have since sold. Vic Chesnett, King Missile, When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water, Band of Susans, et more. Should I track it down again? Or leave it in my past and move on?

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, the Fela one is great. I remember liking the 'Nativity in Black' Sabbath tribute, but I was v. young (I do remember the Sepultura version of Symptom of the Universe being great though, and Mike Patton forgetting the words in the live version of War Pigs being just as great).

I'm buying the John Zorn/Masada 'tribute' album that just came out...I don't know if it really counts, since jazz musicians are always trying to do their own interpretations of other people's tunes, and this could be considered more a collection of interpretations rather than a normal tribute (which is maybe the definition of a good tribute album).

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

The two Sweet Relief albums are both good -- the first one especially, the Victoria Williams one. Unlike some people, I actually like Victoria's singing, but other people doing her songs lets the melodies come out more fully. Soul Asylum's version of "Summer of Drugs" was the last (maybe only?) Soul Asylum recording I really liked. The Lucinda Williams, Lou Reed, Matthew Sweet and Jayhawks tracks are good too. The second Relief album is all Vic Chesnutt songs; has that nice Madonna/Joe Henry number on it.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Monday, 28 July 2003 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Red Hot + Blue, the Cole Porter tribute, is mostly terrific. The Japanese-released Beach Boys tribute album Smiling Pets is excellent too--lotsa surprises & thoughtful reinterpretations.

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

i'd have to say tribute albums are total classics. both for providing us with excellent covers that allow us too look at old songs in a new light and the numerous pieces of shit that only get released because of one band on the comp. thevery existence of the virgin voices series (covers of madonna songs by industrial and goth bands) makes me giddy. would we even have rammstein's horrendous cover of stripped were it not for such a concept.

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:20 (twenty-two years ago)

*Sharp Dressed Men,* the Nashville ZZ Top tribute album, almost made my top ten last year. I like the Hank Jr. one this year, too. Other that, almost nil -- those early Thelonious Monk and Kurt Weill ones were interesting, I guess. Turbonegro? Roky Erikson? not much more...

― chuck, Monday, 28 July 2003 18:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, I can't remember very many that I've ever even been able to MAKE it through. The Beefheart one was really pathetic, I thought. I guess I liked a couple songs on the Shonen Knife and Carpenters ones.

― chuck, Monday, 28 July 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I wonder why tribute albums keep getting released. My only answer is that it is something that bands to do to drum a little spare cash, or for little known bands to be associated with a (semi) major release. It can't be for the consumer, because I don't know anyone who even takes them seriously.

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 28 July 2003 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

That Bob Wills tribute from the Pine Valley Cosmonauts and friends a few years back was amazing.

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, I can't remember very many that I've ever even been able to MAKE it through.

Quite right. Right now I'm listening to a blues tribute album to Johnny Cash, and while there's been a couple of really striking numbers -- Harry Manx's "Long Black Veil" right now is the winner -- there's been other stuff that's just plain tedious.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I second the Roky Ericson tribute - Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye. The Kurt Weill trib - Lost in the Stars - is also good.

― nickn (nickn), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd say the Gram Parsons tribute is well-executed. No really bad tracks even though several of the contributing artists are typically b-o-r-i-n-g.

― Will (will), Monday, 28 July 2003 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I second (or third or whatever) the Shonen Knife & Neil Young tributes as classic. I've heard parts of 2 different Black Sabbath tributes, niether of which did anything for me. Fast n Bulbous Beefheart tribute is classic, if only for the Scientists cut. There is a very good Syd Barrett tribute, and the THrobbing Gristle trib has some great stuff on it, with the Skullflower & Melvins tracks being particularly memorable...

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Señor Coconut to thread!

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

the Galaxie 500 one on Elefant, which really should have been great, sucked major donkey balls. i couldn't believe how awful it was. out of 40-odd songs, less than five were anything but rubbish.

most (if, let's be honest, not all) Velvets tributes are suck.

all Nick Drake tribute albums suck.

the Soft Cell one on 555 had its moments but WHY OH WHY do bands use cover versions as an excuse to ARSE ABOUT?!

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

would we even have rammstein's horrendous cover of stripped were it not for such a concept?

Probably, since its on the Depeche Mode tribute CD ... Stripped being a song by Depeche Mode and all.

― Xii (Xii), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 05:22 (twenty-two years ago)

yes yes but the point is, if there was no tribute CD to depeche mode, would this version of it have otherwise existed?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 05:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Most tribute records are terrible terrible terrible. However, I think the Wire tribute record that came out a few years back is really good on the whole. The MBV, Bark Psychosis and Laika tracks being big stand-outs.

Although it's not covers, the smith-n-hack "tribute" to Bohannon kicks ass.

― direct_program, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Taking Sides: Tribute Albums vs Remix Albums!

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 11:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The Cure tribute album "Give Me the Cure" by a bunch of D.C. bands from several years ago has some realy cool songs on it that are all done in really odd styles -- Shudder to Think does "Shake Dog Shake," Jawbox does "Meathook," Chisel does "Six Different Ways."

― Ben Boyer, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

"Hard Headed Woman: A Tribute To Wanda Jackson" kicks serious butt.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 24 August 2009 11:49 (sixteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

The Virus 100 tribute to the Dead Kennedys is pretty much the best tribute album ever made. Very disparate list of artists all doing em in their own style.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MiAgQYpF3RQ/SinyUep2ADI/AAAAAAAAAOc/_YYFT7eGJ-A/s1600-h/Virus+100.gif

I defy anyone to name one that's better.

1. The Didjits - Police Truck - 2:18
2. Evan Johns & His H-Bombs - Too Drunk to Fuck - 3:38
3. Alice Donut - Halloween - 5:11
4. Faith No More - Let's Lynch the Landlord - 2:53
5. Napalm Death - Nazi Punks Fuck Off - 1:21
6. NoMeansNo - Forward to Death - 1:12
7. Steel Pole Bath Tub - Chemical Warfare - 3:31
8. Neurosis - Saturday Night Holocaust - 6:51
9. Les Thugs - Moon Over Marin - 5:28
10. Victim's Family - Ill in the Head - 2:41
11. The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - California Über Alles - 4:47
12. Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors - Winnebago Warrior - 3:29
13. Sepultura - Drug Me - 1:49
14. Kramer - Insight - 3:06
15. L7 - Let's Lynch the Landlord - 2:01
16. Sister Double Happiness - Holiday in Cambodia - 4:16

― coordinating shit is my man Wave Chillken (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 30 July 2010 19:08 (fifteen years ago)

the track 11 through 14 run is just ridiculous

― coordinating shit is my man Wave Chillken (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 30 July 2010 19:09 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

Most tribute records are terrible terrible terrible. However, I think the Wire tribute record that came out a few years back is really good on the whole. The MBV, Bark Psychosis and Laika tracks being big stand-outs.

i can get behind the Wire tribute, definitely.

― ilxor, Sunday, 3 June 2012 19:44 (fourteen years ago)

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