Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon

Tesla, Various Artists - Alternative, John Lennon (Tribute), John Lennon

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 1995)
• Original Release Date: October 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hollywood Records
• ASIN: B000000OE4
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,413 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Found Out - Red Hot Chili Peppers

2. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier - Mad Season

3. Steel and Glass - Candlebox

4. Imagine - Blues Traveler

5. Working Class Hero - Screaming Trees

6. Power to the People - The Minus 5

7. How Do You Sleep? - Magnificent Bastards

8. Nobody Told Me - Flaming Lips

9. Well, Well, Well - Super 8

10. Cold Turkey - Cheap Trick

11. Jealous Guy - Collective Soul

12. Isolation - Sponge

13. Instant Karma! - Toad the Wet Sprocket

14. Grow Old with Me - Mary Chapin Carpenter

15. Mind Games - George Clinton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Fair Tribute to John Lennon, July 31, 2000

By	J. GENIO (Earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly enjoyable set of grunge-tinged covers., February 12, 2002

By	"tom746" (Renton, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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 $$$.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent covers album...., November 15, 2005

By	P. Philips (Sutton Coldfield UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.