I just previewed a bunch of songs on the new Buddy Holly “Rave On” tribute album, and as I expected, most of the new versions seem to be crappy (including a regrettable rendition of “It’s So Easy” by Paul McCartney) and the only one I downloaded was a rocking cover of “Changing All Those Changes” by (it figures) Nick Lowe.
I typically avoid tribute albums like the plague (mostly figuring, what’s the point?) and own only two. One is an earlier Buddy Holly compilation (“Not Fade Away”) which is mostly forgettable too except for a great lowdown version of “Midnight Shift” by Los Lobos, which led me to discover other great stuff they’ve done, and a Supertones tribute album featuring other notably obscure surf groups, which is pretty good.
So are there other tribute albums by Various Artists that are worth checking out? Or even paying for if I can find them cheap?
Kindred Spirits - A Tribute To The Songs Of Johnny Cash is one of the best I own. As the name implies, it’s all performances of songs Johnny Cash wrote, with performances by Dylan, Springsteen, Steve Earle, and Little Richard, as well as some slightly less well known country singers.
Not really a tribute as much as a celebration: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration for Bob Dylan. Lots of good stuff, including an all-star version of “My Back Pages” that rocks.
Tower of Song - The songs of Leonard Cohen - a mixed bag, but some really good ones (e.g. Sisters of Mercy by Sting and The Chieftans), and some astonishingly bizarre/horrible ones: specifically Hallelujah by Bono.
Not really sure if these two are true ‘tribute albums’:
Joan Baez - ‘Any Day Now’, terrific interpreter of Bob Dylan.
Jennifer Warnes - ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, knockout collection of Leonard Cohen songs.
Real ‘tribute album’ - ‘Lost in the Stars’ is an exceptional collection of Kurt Weill music done by an eclectic group that includes Lou Reed, Teresa Stratos, Tom Waits, Sting, Marianne Faithful, Carla Bley and many others. Topnotch all the way through.
I really like the one for Roky Erickson, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye. This is the only one I know that is flat-out essential for fans of the tributed artist, and is actually also a great introduction to his songs if you’ve never heard him. (If you don’t like the John Wesley Harding and Sister Double Happiness cuts, never mind.)
The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young is very good, not quite as revelatory as the Roky one. “Words Between the Lines of Age” never impacted me before the Victoria Williams/Henry Kaiser version here.
If you happen to be a Hüsker Dü fan, you probably have to listen to Dü Hüskers: The Twin Cities Replay Zen Arcade once (all the way through, maaan!). Whether you want to again, having proven your endurance, may be another question. Obviously a much better set of Hüsker songs could be assembled, but that’s apparently not the point. I liked the chick bands here, Zuzu’s Petals and The Blue Up?, maybe a few others.
Midnight Oil should have tried harder or been omitted. But it was for a cause (rainforest preservation). The overall quality on that one is pretty high. Several of those artists felt their arrangements were so successful that they added the songs they’d done there to their own regular concert setlists.
For a band that sometimes seemed like America’s biggest cover band themselves (see The Music Never Stopped: The Roots of the Grateful Dead, which is like a concise history lesson in American music), the Dead’s writing has been covered a lot. I’ve heard bluegrass, reggae, and Irish trad efforts. I love all that stuff, but I only occasionally felt like the songs and the styles were showing their best.
For me, some of the more accomplished reinterpretations of Grateful Dead music have been from farther afield, like the free jazz of the David Murray Octet (Dark Star: The Music of the Grateful Dead), or the a cappella gospel group the Persuasions (Might as Well: The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead).
FWIW, I liked the Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich. Adam Sandler does “Werewolves Of London” without adding any silliness. I think it turned out pretty well. Billy Bob Thornton, The Boss, Don Henley, Bob Dylan and more are all on there. Overall, not bad.
Tulare Dust / Theyre Tearin The Labor Camps Down - Tom Russell
Big City - Iris DeMent
Working Man Cant Get Nowhere Today, A - Peter Case Holding Things Together - Dwight Yoakam Daddy Frank - Robert Earl Keen, Jr./Sunshine Boys White Line Fever - Joe Ely My Own Kind of Hat - Rosie Flores Shopping For Dresses - Steve Young Silver Wings - Marshall Crenshaw Irma Jackson - Barrence Whitfield You Dont Have Very Far to Go - Lucinda Williams
Ramblin Fever - Billy Joe Shaver I Cant Be Myself - Katy Moffatt
I Can`t Hold Myself in Line - John Doe
Kern River - Dave Alvin
Some beautiful covers in that bunch. Big City and Kern River are particular favorites.
One of my favorites is “If I were a Carpenter”. Worth the price for Sonic Youth doing Superstar and Mark Eitzel doing “Goodbye to Love” Couple clunkers, but worth picking up.
More hard to find Bloodshot Record albums: Jon Langford (Mekons) doing the music of Johnny Cash & Pine Valley Cosmonauts doing the music of Bob Wills (just had that on in my car this morning).
That’s the one I was going to mention. Tom Waits’ cover of “Heigh Ho” alone is worth the price.
Another one of my favorites is Beat The Retreat, a Richard Thompson tribute. Many good tracks but I especially like Bonnie Raitt’s cover of “When The Spell Is Broken” and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama singing “Dimming of the Day”.
A band called Luther Wright and the Wrongs put out an album years ago called Rebuilding The Wall (with Roger Waters’ blessing). It’s the entire Wall album redone as a bluegrass album. I really like it. Comfortably Numb Hey you
I know listening to these two songs on their own sounds a bit cheesy, but the album as a whole is worth a listen.