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Re: Who's Not Forgotten review



> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 04:19:41 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Who's Not Forgotten review
> 
> Just yesterday I got the new Who tribute CD, "Who's
> Not Forgotten: FDR's Tribute To The Who," which,
> despite the title, is not a group of Who songs sung in
> the manner of America's 32nd President. Instead, this
> has leapt over all the other Who tribute CD to become
> the one you must own.
> 
> The disc kicks off with Photon Band doing a near
> letter-perfect copy of "Heaven and Hell" even to
> having a vocalist that sounds like John. It's as if
> you had a better-recorded, stereo version of the
> original single. After that blast come a just as good
> cover of "The Real Me" by Bastards Of Melody followed
> by a powerful, rockin' "The Kids Are Alright" by The
> Lolas and a has-to-be-heard cover of "Bargain" by
> Dipsomaniacs with two lead guitars, one playing the
> synth part. It makes you wish The Who would do it that
> way live.
> 
> Other great moments are a beautifully performed "Glow
> Girl" by Bigger Lovers, a cover of the Meaty Beaty Big
> & Bouncy version of "I'm A Boy" by Cordalene, a very
> hard rocking cover of "Squeeze Box" by The Commons
> that I actually prefer to any of The Who's versions
> and a cover of "Athena" by Grandfabric that really
> works. They've added a swing to the verses that
> propels the song better and made it sound more like an
> out-take from the Small Faces' "Ogden's Nut Gone
> Flake." Nancy Falkow does an excellent cover of the
> rarely covered by itself "1921" that sound very close
> to the album version, The Contractions do a heavy surf
> instrumental cover of "My Generation" and Glowfriends
> ends with an Indigo Girls style ballad version of "I
> Can't Explain."
> 
> The only tracks I think might get tiresome on repeated
> listens are Pat Dinizio's "Behind Blue Eyes", a live
> version that plays on the song's ubiquity on FM radio
> by having the audience sing half the song and a
> horrible live recording of Guided By Voices' cover of
> "Baba O'Riley" that is extremely overmodulated on the
> recording leading to severe clipping.
> 
> Otherwise this is a remarkable collection, the first
> Who tribute CD I've put in my heavy play rotation and
> a must for Who fans. Order it today from:
> http://www.hearnet.com/about/about_WhosNotForgotten.shtml
> Proceeds from the sale of the CD benefit H.E.A.R.
> (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers)
> Dedicated to the memory of John Entwistle 1944-2002
> 
> 1.Heaven and Hell  Photon Band
> 2.The Real Me  Bastards Of Melody
> 3.The Kids Are Alright  The Lolas
> 4.Bargain  Dipsomaniacs
> 5.Behind Blue Eyes - Pat Dinizio
> 6.Baba O'Riley  Guided By Voices
> 7.Long Live Rock  Tommy Conwell with Dipsomaniacs
> 8.Glow Girl  Bigger Lovers
> 9.I'm A Boy  Cordalene
> 10.Pictures Of Lily  Taggart
> 11.Athena  Grandfabric
> 12.Squeeze Box  The Commons
> 13.Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands  Chris Richards
> 14.I Can See For Miles  Jim Basnight
> 15.Substitute  Blank Pages
> 16.Circles  Jeremy
> 17.So Sad About Us  Steve Brown
> 18.1921  Nancy Falkow
> 19.Boris The Spider  J Horndog
> 20.My Generation  The Contractions
> 21.I Can't Explain - Glowfriends

Damn!  Someone got there before me!  I've been looking forward to posting my review of this CD.

My copy arrived early Monday (thanks, cdbaby.com).  I took my copy of "Get Your Ya Ya's Out" out of the car stereo to listen the new tribute album (can't see what all the fuss is about - the Stones are much better in the studio than they are on stage - but that's a whole different review...).

Anyway, I concur with the above review: this is the best Who covers CD so far.  Better than Who Covers Who (which sounds dire in comparison), and better than Substitute (which sounds dull in comparison).


Highlights:

Heaven & Hell: replica Who, crisp clear vocals.  Has to be turned up loud.  Nice bass, too.

I Can't Explain: beautiful, acoustic, female vocal. So different to the original, that I couldn't work out what it was until the chorus.

So Sad About Us: starts off sounding bored.  But half way though, everything changes.  I won't spoil the surprise for you, but it'll make you go "WOW!".  Another surprise at the end as well.


Lowlights:

BBE: crowd singing is cringe worthy

My Generation: not sung, but wailed in a sub-punk/sub-Bjork style.  Music is good though - pity that it fades out just as it gets going.

Baba: a mess.  There will never, ever, be a good cover of this song.  Fact.

Athena: too much "sunshine and smiles" for me.  This was never going to be the highlight of CD.


Some of the Rest:

KAA, IAB, POL, ICSFM: imagine if the Who had re-recorded these songs, in the studio, at the height of their career (mid 70s).  You'd get the same arrangements, but just more powerfully played.  This is what these songs sound like.

LLR: made me smile.  Like many of these songs though, it's odd hearing them sung with an American accent though.

1921: nice to hear it sung by a female again.  Like Ann-Margaret singing both her and Oliver Reed's parts.



Overall, this is such a great CD - like listening to your favourite Who songs, recorded by a parallel universe Who.   Bizzarwho. 

Often, the music is so good, it feels like the opposite of a "Tribute" album.  It's more of an "Insult" album. It sounds more like these new bands are saying: "The Who?  Pah!  We can make music that sounds just as good as them!".  

Good luck to all these new bands (none of which I've heard of).  I'm sure a few of them are going to go on to much better things.

As the music is so good, as it's for Charity, as it's for John: no one on this list has as excuse not to get it.

-MB


(Also, thanks to the guy on this list that originally posted the link to this CD.    You've made my day.) )

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