I'm a big fan of Tribute and Cover Albums. Some of my favorites include: Holly Cole's Temptation (Tom Waits covers); Poet - A Tribute To Townes Van Zandt; Till the Night Is Gone- A Tribute to Doc Pomus; Timeless - A Tribute To Hank Williams; Bob Marley A Tribute The Riddim Of A Legend and This One's for Him A Tribute to Guy Clark. I would enjoy hearing others recommendations.
Being a huge fan of JJ Cale the album The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale by Eric Clapton and friends including John Mayer, Mark Knopfler, Tom Petty and Willie Nelson. The album released in 2014 a year after he passed covers some amazing songs (see below) and is very much worth a listen. Well recorded too!
I have to say, though, that as a rule I find the Tribute genre pretty uninspiring. How often does a cover truly equal an original performance, let alone surpass it? Not that often, to my ears. Emmy Lou Harris is pretty consistently satisfying in this regard but I can’t think of anyone else, off-hand.
If you are a Stephen Sondheim fan, like I am, there are a number of terrific tribute albums-
The "Sondheim: A Musical Tribute" 1973 concert featured a star-studded cast, including Angela Lansbury, Larry Blyden, Alexis Smith, Chita Rivera, Jack Cassidy, and Donna McKechnie, among others. The concert was a benefit for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and the National Hemophilia Foundation. It was later released on record, showcasing highlights of the event. Members of the original companies--including Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera, Dorothy Collins, Alexis Smith, and Donna McKechnie, just to name a few--as well as Sondheim himself singing "Anyone Can Whistle" from the piano (From Amazon).
How often does a cover truly equal an original performance, let alone surpass it? Not that often, to my ears. Emmy Lou Harris is pretty consistently satisfying in this regard but I can’t think of anyone else, off-hand.
Cinnamon Girl, a recording supporting breast cancer education featured women artists covering Neil Young. My favorite track is a poignant one now–Jill Sobule, who just died, does a very cool version of "Down by the River" with John Doe of X. https://tidal.com/browse/track/6689048?u
It's often enjoyable to hear a different approach to a song without judging whether it surpasses another performance in some way.
I like "Not Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly)". Notably the Los Lobos version of "Midnight Shift", which is deliciously ominous and completely different from the original.
I’m relatively new here and this topic caught my eye. I’m not really into tribute albums but last week I came across a tribute to the 1967 album that featured Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
This 2017 release is downloadable from Pro Studio Masters in 96-24 features Jobim’s grandson (who sings and it sounds a lot like his grandfather) and John Pizzarelli. The album is called Sinatra and Jobim @ 50. The tracks sound fantastic on my system. If you love Jobim’s work this is definitely worth checking out
How often does a cover truly equal an original performance, let alone surpass it? Not that often, to my ears.
I can respect that point of view, @stuartk, and to some extent, although I find covers of songs I am familiar with to be interesting, I share it. For me the notable exceptions include The Cowboy Junkies cover of Sweet Jane (and possibly Mr. State Trooper) and also Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson’s cover of Pancho And Lefty (you already mentioned Emmylou, and she also did a cover of that also that is simply beautiful). I’d probably add Lucinda’s cover of Return Of The Grievous Angel. I have read that many, including Bob Dylan himself, prefer the Jimmi Hendrix cover of All Along The Watchtower, but I don’t feel that way about that one. On a quick edit, I think that I might prefer Sinead O'Connor's cover of All Apologies to the original.
As far as Linda Ronstadt, I bought the Simple Dreams 8-track shortly after I had graduated high school, and since radio stations were severely limited where I grew up, I grew up actually thinking that she was the original artist on most of those songs. But now that my musical horizons have been expanded, I think that I still prefer her interpretations on many of the tracks. Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Carmelita and Blue Bayou come to my mind immediately.
I’d agree there are instances where a cover version becomes the definitive interpretation. Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Blue Bayou are good examples.
If memory serves, Willie Nelson did an album of Kris Kristofferson covers that was pretty good. Have you heard Aretha Franklin’s cover of Eleanor Rigby?
I find it odd that Bette Midler does not appear on the Laura Nyro CD. Bette was good friends with Laura and got verklempt when she introduced Laura at Laura’s posthumous induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Same goes for Tod Rundgren, who sorta famously said that when he first heard her music that he “stopped writing songs like the Who and started writing songs like Laura”.
Have you heard Aretha Franklin’s cover of Eleanor Rigby?
Not until just a few minutes ago, @stuartk, and it is playing agin as I type. I also played it as performed by the Beatles, and I honestly have to say that I prefer the Aretha Franklin cover. But with that typed, The Beatles do not do for me what they do for most others, so that probably doesn't mean much.
I did find a youtube of live Bruce in '95 doing knocking On Heaven's Door in Germany, and as interesting as it was, I much prefer Bob Dylan on that one. But it could be due to it being performed live.
. . . and I would really like to hear the Lucinda Williams cover of Born In The USA. . . .
I remember when the Cowboy Junkies sarted performing a cover of Thunder Road (I think that would have been in '01) and I almost that I like the CJ cover better than the original. Although the original is great.
If we're now including covers of individual songs, I really love Dylan's Senor, but Garcia's versions with the JGB knock it out of the park. Jerry was born to sing that song.
Given that her arrangement is so different from the original, perhaps it doesn’t make sense to compare them. Perhaps Paul might say they're "chalk and cheese".
Not a tribute album per se, but......A Tribute To Jack Johnson, by the master, Miles Davis, is a wonderful and energetic composition....it is my favorite Miles recording, and there are many favorites of his. As mentioned earlier, someone above stated Jimi Hendrix - Stone Free... A great tribute album. Many excellent mentions here. My best to all, MrD.
Since davidchampa likes " poet a tribute to Townes Van Zandt " ( my favorite of all tributes ) I thought of the Steve Earle album , there are 2 versions ! the one in my collection is the basics Steve's voice and guitar and the other is a version where other musicians were added .
My personal favorite performance from Way To Blue: I love the gospel flavored arrangement highlighted by the vocals of Krystle Warren and Jazz pianist Zoey Rahman.
I can see how hard-core Drake fans might find it diverges too much from the original but the soulful quality is one I very much relate to:
20 years ago I had several of the tribute CDs' that were mentioned here but at some point I realized I wasn't listening to them very much so I used them to barter with one of the few used LP/CD stores in my area.
The only one I kept was Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye (A Tribute To Roky Erickson) the former front man of the legendary 13th Floor Elevators. Intriguing interpretations by a very diverse group of artists & musicians, to say the least. 19 songs & imho nearly every one hits the bullseye. Highly recommended!
Sleepless Nights: The Traditional Country Soul Of Patti Loveless. This is Patti’s homage to 14 classic Country & Western songs. Nominated for a Grammy for it’s original release on CD in 2008, the album finally comes out on vinyl on July 4th.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
