Crank It Up To Eleven! 11.25.08: I've Got You Covered, Part II

Posted by Sandeep Murali on 11.25.2008

As a continuation from the previous column of the same name, we look at a couple of cover albums that would be great additions to your record collection.





Hello and welcome back, dear readers. I got just one question for you: "Did you get your legal copy of "Chinese Democracy" Yet? If you call yourselves a rock fan, you have no excuses but to go ahead and buy it. It may have been fourteen years in the making, but it sure does seem like it can teach a thing or two to some of today's top "Rock" acts. Don't be a snob. You KNOW it's good.

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Talk dirty to me:

A grand total of... nada in here. And that makes me a saaad Panda. :(



Bouquets, brickbats, whatever you got; throw ‘em this way. It's all good.

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I Remember You... And your music:

Alright, let's get to the topic. In a previous column, your truly discussed why bands cover songs from other bands. This time around, lets take a look at a couple of cover albums that are worth your money. That's right; not a song or two, but an entire album filled with cover songs. Quite a few artists have done this in the course of their career. But time/ space and taste constraints limit this column to two such efforts. Two efforts that took two different approaches to reach the same goal. Of course you, the reader would have different choices in mind, so please let me know of your thoughts in the usual place.

Tesla - "Real to Reel"

Track listing (Reel one):

1. "Space Truckin'" (Deep Purple)
2. "Walk Away" (The James Gang)
3. "Hand Me Down World" (The Guess Who)
4. "Bad Reputation" (Thin Lizzy)
5. "Thank You" (Led Zeppelin)
6. "I've Got a Feeling" (The Beatles)
7. "Day of the Eagle" (Robin Trower)
8. "Ball of Confusion" (Temptations)
9. "Rock Bottom" (UFO)
10. "Stealin'" (Uriah Heep)
11. "Bell Bottom Blues" (Derek and the Dominos)
12. "Honky Tonk Women" (The Rolling Stones)
13. "Dear Mr. Fantasy" (Traffic)



Some of you already know that I'm a huge fan of Sacramento based Hard Rockers, Tesla. The quintet are responsible some classy music during the course of their two and a half decade old career. Tesla have never been shy in displaying their roots and perform Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin covers frequently at their live gigs. In 2007, the band released an entire album of cover songs of Rock bands from the 60's and the 70's. That album was "Real to reel"



"Real to reel" definitely falls under the "Paying tribute" category. Tesla sure didn't reinvent the wheel with this one. Most of the songs remain faithful to the original with only a light touch of the bands creativity seeping through. In fact, so committed was the band to retaining the original "Feel" of these songs that they recorded them using analog tape and vintage studio equipment. In 2007. The album originally came out as a two part set, with the second part only available to concert goers. News reports state that the second part is currently available in retail, but at the time of writing, none of the major stores around me stock it. Hence, I am limited to reviewing only the first part (Which came with a few bonus tracks).




What works:


Without a shadow of a doubt, the Led Zeppelin cover, "Thank you" takes the cake. Although the recording is eerily similar to the original, the track has an extra edge to it, thanks to Keith's raspy voice. There is a tendency for a lot of bands that cover Zep to go overboard with their version, in an effort to push the envelope further. Tesla however, doesn't need to prove anything and perform the song to do exactly what the title says: Thanking. That being said, the band does put in a touch of improvisation into the track in the form of the solo that Frank Hannon performs on the double neck Gibson. A class effort.









Other great songs worth mentioning include the Willie Dixon cover "I ain't superstitious" (Bonus track), The UFO cover "Rock Bottom" and the Derek and Dominos Cover, "Bell bottom blues. While some prefer Dave Mustaine's take on the first song, I feel that the Tesla Version sounds much more complete. Even though I am no big Beatles fan, I quite liked "I've got a feeling".



Like I mentioned earlier, I don't have the second CD with me. However, I have heard the band perform "war pigs" live and it was nothing short of phenomenal. Add to that covers of ZZ Top, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Montrose & Bad Company, and this is one album I'll be grabbing with both hands the moment it hits the shelves. Too bad they are busy shoving Fall out boy down our throats.




What doesn't:


Of all the songs they could've covered from Deep Purple, they chose "Space truckin' ". Not their greatest work. Also, as much as I love the band, Jeff Keith can't quite match Ian Gillan when it comes to vocals and it shows. Despite this, I personally would have loved if they had covered "Child in time". I feel that Hannon would have had a blast covering what was Richie Blackmore's finest effort on the six string.



Final Thoughts


Fans have always related one word with Tesla: Blues. "Real to reel" is no exception to that and the band shows why they, along with Cinderella were the finest bluesmen from the 80's. Even if you know nothing about the band, go ahead and grab this one. It won't disappoint you.

Metallica "Garage Inc."

Track Listing:

01. Free Speech For The Dumb
02. It's Electric
03. Sabbra Cadabra
04. Turn The Page
05. Die, Die My Darling
06. Loverman
07. Mercyful Fate
08. Astronomy
09. Whiskey In The Jar
10. Tuesday's Gone
11. The More I See

Disc 2

01. Helpless
02. The Small Hours
03. The Wait
04. Crash Course In Brain Surgery
05. Last Caress / Green Hell
06. Am I Evil?
07. Blitzkrieg
08. Breadfan
09. The Prince
10. Stone Cold Crazy
11. So What
12. Killing Time
13. Overkill
14. Damage Case
15. Stone Dead Forever
16. Too Late, Too Late



...and then there is this.


If Real to reel personified the tribute aspect of cover songs, Garage Inc. gave "Making it your own" a brand new definition. The double album is actually a compilation of the "Garage days re-revisited" EP (from which it derives part of the title), the original "Garage days revisited", several B-sides, Motorhead tribute tracks and some tracks that were recorded fresh for the album (which constitute Disc 1). What it all comes down to is one breathtaking compilation that takes the listener back to where Metallica originally came from.




What works:


Short version: Pretty much everything.



Long version: Well, let's see. Where should I start? Mr. Ulrich; long before his glory days was best known for being a die hard Diamond Head fan. What better way to pay tribute to the band than "Am I evil?" I had talked about this track in the previous column and mentioned how royalties from the song are helping out the original band. And that's always a good thing. Of course, it also helps that the cover is seven minutes and fifty one seconds of pure brutality. The same brutality that is seen in the Mercyful fate medley.



Another band that heavily influenced Metallica was "Motorhead. And they get their due in the form of not one, not two, but four cover songs. "Too late, too late" is probably the pick of the lot with the band clearly showing how much fun they're having while doing this. Lemmy and the boys sure were proud. Forgetting Black Sabbath would've counted as a crime and the "Sabbra Cadabra/ A national acrobat" medley made sure that didn't happen. The scooped out equalization that Hetfield and Hammett uses completely changes the tonality of the song and I LOVE every bit of it! Punk also had a heavy influence on Metallica's music style and tracks such as "So what" ( Anti nowhere league) are a nod towards that.



Love 'em or hate 'em, no one can accuse Metallica of being a one dimensional act. The band exhibits their softer, melody oriented side in the brilliant cover of Bob Seger's "Turn the page". At the risk of repeating myself, I have to say, they made the song their own. Ditto with the Blue Oyster Cult cover, "Astronomy". Probably my favorite two songs from the album. "Astronomy" in particular never fails to give me goosebumps.









What doesn't:


Very little.


Like I said before, Queen has always been hit or miss for me. "Stone cold crazy" has been one of the "miss" tracks and the cover did little to change that impression. I get the feeling that they would have done a much better job covering "We will rock you" or "We are the champions". Other than that though, I really can't find anything to nitpick in the album.




Final Thoughts


As much as people love to hate on them, Metallica are a bunch of stellar musicians. Stellar musicians who were inspired by other great musicians before them. If one is interested to know where they are coming from, look no further than "Garage.inc". An album where great songs from great musicians gain a distinct Metalli-flavor.

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Never say goodbye:

Irony amuses me in the strangest of ways. Right when "Chinese Democracy" is about to hit the stores, a singer-less Velvet Revolver gets dropped by the label. Guys, let me show you how things are gonna play out:



- "Chinese Democracy" will sell more than both your albums did, combined.
- Axl is gonna laugh like a motherfucker in your faces. And you ain't got nothin' to throw back at him.
- Two weeks later, you're gonna call Sebastian Bach, if you know what's good for you.
- You'll make another album with him.
- All will be right with the world again.




Rock on and see y'all next Tuesday.