Influence

Last night I posted an article about tribute bands on my blog at the online home of the Hairball John Radio Show. If you haven’t checked it out, be sure to give it a read.

Here at Bring Back Glam, a look at tribute albums to the glam bands we all love.

Some tributes are performed by one band, often; many musicians record a band’s biggest hits.

Great White released Great Zeppelin: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin back in 1999. The entire album is from a live show in 1996. I’m a big Led Zeppelin fan, but not fanatic. Let me just say Great White does an amazing job with their tribute. Jack Russell can blow, and you can really tell he’s downright serious about doing some of rock’s best known songs justice.

The album includes these tracks:

In the Light
Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)
Ramble On
Since I’ve Been Loving You
No Quarter
Tangerine
Going to California
Thank You
D’yer Mak’er
All My Love
Immigrant Song
When the Levee Breaks
The Rover

I swear, sometimes you can’t even tell it’s Great White instead of Led Zeppelin. Now I know some die hard Zep head is going to comment that I just made a sacrilegious statement but it’s true. The way Jack Russell bends his voice on this album is so impressive I just can’t rave enough about this disc. The quality of this album makes me feel like Great White is a greatly underrated glam band, especially when you factor in that this album was recorded during a live show meaning little to no studio correction. If you don't own this album, pick it up. It's only ten bucks on iTunes, or click Great Zeppelin-Tribute to Led and add it to your Amazon cart. Now I'm really excited to see Great White at Rocklahoma... and I hope they perform some Led Zep tunes.

Another great tribute album I just picked up is Shaw/Blades Influence. You might recall I wanted this album last month, but I just got around to putting the disc in my shopping cart over the weekend. I'm a big Damn Yankees fan because I love the harmonies of Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades. I think they make a great team and Influence is a phenomenal album. The track listing looks like this:

Summer Breeze
Time of the Season
Your Move
I Am A Rock
Lucky  Man
The Sound of Silence
California Deamin'
On a Carousel
Dirty Work
For What It's Worth
Dance with Me

"Summer Breeze," "Time of the Season," and California Dreamin'" are three of my all-time favorite songs. The great thing about this album is that Shaw and Blades actually pay tribute to their influences. Instead of messing with the arrangement of songs, they perform the classic tracks pretty close to form with a modern twist. The guitar solos sound great, but they don't overpower the song lyrics. If you watch VH1 Classic, you've probably seen a commercial for Influence. The advertisement features a snippet of "Your Move" which is a true highlight of the disc. The album seems to be doing fairly well and is currently a top seller on Amazon.com.

What about tribute albums with a kick, such as Strummin' With The Devil: Bluegrass Tribute to Van Halen or one of my personal favorites Kashmir: The Symphonic Led Zeppelin? Are these albums meant to honor a great artist or a way for less famous musicians to make a buck? Do you have a favorite tribute album?

Comments

[Metal Mark]

For some reason I consider one band doing an album of all covers to be a cover album. Yet it it's different bands doing the covers then I consider it a tribute album. Maybe I am not using the terms right, but that's the way I use them Anyway I own very few cover or tribute albums though. Just not a big fan of them. I like some cover songs, but never really saw the need for a band to do more than one on an album. I just tend to prefer a band's original material for the most part.

[Bill]

Gotta agree with Metal Mark here - I don't mind the odd cover but whole albums smack of a band running on empty - I'm mainly thinking Def Lep here. The promise of Poison and Tesla cover albums to come soon leave me cold as well!

If I had to plump for one album of covers that I do enjoy tho it'd be Helloween's Metal Jukebox.

Bill
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http://rockofages.wordpress.com
Rock & metal reviews from the 70s, 80s & beyond

[Hard Rock Hideout]

I actually own the Great White disc, and it is quite good, although I tend to think of it more of a cover disc.

[Rhodeislandrock]

I like the Great White album but it's still a covers disc. This one has more of a novelty to it though and the performances are rather good. I pull this one out from time to time.