Customer Reviews

Tribute to John Lennon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I remember a televised tribute to John Lennon in the 1980's. During this tribute, Lenny Kravitz did a fantastic cover of John's Cold Turkey. Cyndi Lauper did a remarkable rendition of working class hero. These artists captured John's soul in their rendition of his work. Having this show in the back of my mind, I believed that I would get the same from this CD. With some exceptions, I did not.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers do an admirable job covering John's "I Found Out," using Lennon's / Phil Spector's "wall of sound" technique as well. "Blues Traveler" does an interesting cover of "Imagine" using guitars and organ music. Their rendition of "Imagine" has a simplicity that John would truly appreciate. "Grow Old With Me" is a beautiful song; made even more so by the lovely voice of Mary Chapin Carpenter. George Clinton certainly captures John's depth and emotions on his rendition of "Mind Games." If John were alive today, he would truly be honored by these aforementioned covers of his work.

For the most part, the rest of this CD is "filler." Many of the remaining artists simply lack John's depth and perception. It is like Karaoke in a way: You get the words right, you mimic the artist; but, unfortunately, the karaoke singer cannot capture the artists soul. Basically, most of the remaining artists fail to capture John's intensity -- his soul. For this reason, this CD is only "fair."

With a little more work, I believe these artists would have been able to put together a truly remarkable tribute to the immortal John Lennon. Unfortunately, they fell a little short of the mark.

A fair tribute, indeed -- not the best; but, certainly not the worst.

I'm pretty shocked at the negative reviews above, but its kind of the nature of tribute albums. I really enjoy this CD-but I'm a big Beatles fan AND a fan of 1991-95 "Seattle Sound" type grunge. The latter part is important for enjoying this disc. "I Don't Want to be a Soldier" by Mad Season (with members of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam) and "Working Class Hero" by Screaming Trees (another lesser known Seattle band) are the standouts, along with "I Found Out" and "Well Well Well". I thought these were excellent meldings of Lennon's awsome lyrics presented in an alternative rock format that might be more accessible to younger listeners. Then maybe they'll chase down the originals-and that's always a good thing.

There's a cohesiveness to the songs and artists. It doesn't feel forced or disjointed like the Led Zep Encomium disc (where you could just see the A&R guys doling out asssignments to the "hot" bands on the label). I play 75% of this disc when I dig it out. It's worth your time and $$$.

I ordered this from Amazon.com since I'm in the UK and this title wasn't available from Amazon UK. It took about 2 weeks to arrive and was worth the wait. As other customers have said, as a rule Lennon/Beatles cover songs aren't much good at all but this CD is a notable exception.

I admit that my reason for buying this CD was initially due to the fact that I'm an Alice In Chains fan and their late lead singer Layne Staley appears with MadSeason, his side project alongside Alice In Chains. They perform 'I don't wanna be a soldier', a song which I never thought was one of Lennon's best.
This version though(I think) is better than the original, yet at the same time sounding quite authentic, as well as being unavailable on any other album.

There are other notable tracks apart from this one, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' version of 'I found out'.
This sounds a lot 'grungier'(for want of a better word lol) than most of their stuff, and works well, as do tracks like 'steel and glass' by Candlebox. 'Cold Turkey'Lennon's description of the nightmare of heroin addiction, is another good track. This track starts off deceptively quietly before getting heavier, even if it isn't as harrowing as the original.

So a good covers album then, one which I feel would be particularly interesting to fans of the individual artists here, since these tracks are as far as I know unavailable elsewhere.

John Lennon's music was so intensely personal that it can be difficult for someone to convey his emotions in a cover version. Also, this album contains covers by several flash-in-the-pan groups who don't seem to have a clue what they are singing or why.

In the category of trying to re-create a personal song, there is 'How Do You Sleep?' performed here by The Magnificent Bastards. Although the lead singer sounds appropriately angry, what is he angry about? John Lennon was angry at Paul McCartney at the time he recorded the song, so that cannot be re-cycled. Another intense song of Lennon-angst, 'Well Well Well' gets a fairly good turn from Super 8, but nothing could match Lennon's misery on the original version. I was very disappointed with Cheap Trick's version of 'Cold Turkey' which is virtually unrecognizable and sounds like a pop tune rather than the painful tale of a man overcoming heroin addition.

There are very few highlights on the album, where the artists create their own version of the Lennon song, but keep true to the emotion of the original, without sacrificing their personal stamp. To me, the best versions on the album are 'Imagine' by Blues Traveler, which is very folky and mellow, but also very distinctive with John Popper's vocals. Collective Soul do a very good version of 'Jealous Guy' and Mary Chapin Carpenter's version of 'Grow Old With Me' is tender and memorable.

I wouldn't recommend buying this cd, since most of the versions are forgettable. It's not really worth it for the few good songs on the album.

I must admit that the reason I bought this CD is because I'm a fan of John Lennon and of the grunge scene of the early 1990's. So needless to say, I enjoyed the cover of "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" by Mad Season (LAYNE STALEY'S VOCALS ARE ALWAYS AMAZING) and "Steel and Glass" by Candlebox, but for me the best track was "Working Class Hero" by The Screaming Trees. Mark Lanegan's voice is unbelievable and this cover is closest in my opinion to the original in quality. A pleasant surprise were Mary Chapin Carpenter's surprisingly good cover of "Grow Old With Me" and the cover of "How Do You Sleep" by The Magnificent Bastards. Collective Soul does a very good cover of Jealous Guy. Now, on to the bad. No surprise The Red Hot Chili Peppers would be found here with their cover of "I Found Out", I never liked "Power To The People", so I was going to skip it anyway, but The Minus Five didn't do all that bad with it. It actually shocked me that an established band like Cheap Trick couldn't pull off "Cold Turkey".

All in all, this disc is really worth picking up used, I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but it is a keeper since about half the tracks are at least decent.

Some excellent interpretations of Lennon songs. The beauty about an album like this is that us old guys buy it because we dug Lennon in the sixties and suddenly we leapfrog to discovering all these current bands. I thought Jealous Guy by Collective Soul was excellent but why do they sing "unsecure" when the word is insecure. I guess the Americans have always messed up the English language, so what's new. Working Class hero is also an outstanding track and I had never heard of Screaming Trees. Finally, no one has mentioned that the intent of this collection is not only to pay a tribute to the 'Working Class Hero' but to bring awareness about the necessity of spraying and neutering your pets. A worthy cause. Well done everyone. Buy it.

This is a CLASSIC!! A must have for Lennon fans. My personal favorites are Jealous Guy by Collective Soul and Cold Turkey by Cheap Trick, although all are excellent! The blokes who gave this CD a bum review don't know what John's music is all about. Buy it!!

They forgot to mention

Mary Chapin Carpenter's rendition of Grow Old With Me. Yes, most of the stuff on this disc is pure tripe, but her voice rings clear and true. It's such an honest, simple song, and her amazing voice gives it extra power. I can't even think too hard of it without getting misty-eyed. I remember sitting in a theater, waiting for a movie to begin. We listened to the usual silly songs, but when hers came over the speakers, a strange hush fell over the audience. It's powerful stuff, and like most of her better music, makes you think, too. Don't miss her best disc, "Come on, Come on."

I really like Joan Baez' "Diamonds and Rust", and I also really like the version by Judas Priest, even though it would probably make her spin in her grave if she were dead. So if you like Lennon, and if you like variations on a theme, you'll like this album.

I generally don't like Lennon, and I'm not too crazy about Mary Chapin Carpenter, but the hauntingly beautiful "Grow old with me" is worth the price of the album. I had no idea that Lennon was capable of such grace. If you like Chapin better than Lennon, you can get the song on her "Party Doll & Othe Favorites" album.

Boy, was this a disappointment! Worse than pointless. Fortunately for me, I heard a library copy and have not bought it. Trust me on this: the only cover version here that more or less matches the level of quality of the original, and perhaps surpasses it, is the one of "Grow Old Along With Me." This may be in part because the original was not a final version but a demo (the original was on the posthumous "Milk and Honey," which was lovely and less formal, if a little less finished and substantial feeling than "Double Fantasy," from which it may essentially have been outtakes. Milk showed Yoko to be creating some pop songs at least as compelling as John's contributions on the album--sorry Yoko haters, but its true). EVERY other song here on the Lennon "tribute" is actually an unimaginative aping of the original, more or less, or the the extent it differs, makes for a worse version. I came to this with an open mind and some hopes, and I wanted to have a positive reaction to having interesting covers and hearing from (and perhaps discovering) artists who share my affection for Lennon's work, but it is hard to improve on some of John's performances, and the attempts here show either a lack of imagination/originality, poor judgment, or both. If you buy this, just remember--you were warned it was a waste. Why would you want to hear inferior versions? You may be interested to know that a similar idea has been carried out as a tribute to The Beatles' beautiful album (which everyone should hear, and in my view, own) Rubber Soul. While I have not owned it, that tribute ("This Bird Has Flown" was the title, I think, but "Rubber Soul tribute" will bring it up) actually sounds like it has listenable and worthy cover versions for the most part--good if only for a change of pace for music so familiar. There is also a tribute to Revolver with a title like "Wish We Were the Beatles," but the samples I listened to before losing interest seemed to ape the originals to no particular purpose. That brings us back to this bunch of inferior copies or degradations. Hey, it is tough to match John when so many of his songs were both very personal and brilliantly performed to express their content, but if you were only going to muck them up, why bother? Certainly, we need not bother listening (and I, for one, found it unbearable and depressing, with the exception noted). Just thought I'd give you some truth (alluding to the song...). John deserves a better tribute, and so do we.