Alternative Rock Compilations music reviews

I thought I was getting a bluegrass CD, but this was a HUGE disappointment, for pete sake, there are drums on most of the tracks. Out of 14 songs, I would only want to hear two of them again, not worth the price paid.

The Nettwerk label, once a bastion of grinding, blaring, '80s-style industrial music, has recently done a major about-face, delving deep into the current crop of mellow, melodic indiepop-Americana crossovers, and has become home to several of the genre's most promising new artists. The Be Good Tanyas, Shelley Campbell, Nathan, Oh Susannah and Old Crow Medicine Show represent the newly retooled label on this fine Americana sampler, which also pulls from several other sources to include stalwarts such as Iris Dement, Emmylou Harris, The Jayhawks, Rhonda Vincent, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, for a well-programmed sampler of the current wealth of rootsy singers out there today. Nice collection!

I loved this cd -- what a fascinating collection of artists. Great exposure to an interesting cross section of sounds and artists.

I am here reviewing the European version of this compilation - the tracklisting is:

CD1
1 The Cure A Forest
2 Aztec Camera Walk Out To Winter (Long Version)
3 Soft Cell Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?
4 ABC Tears Are Not Enough (extended version)
5 Simple Minds Promised You A Miracle (US remix)
6 Spandau Ballet To Cut A Long Story Short (long mix)
7 Echo & The Bunnymen Never Stop (Discoth�que)
8 The Icicle Works Love Is A Wonderful Colour (long version)
9 Fun Boy Three Our Lips Are Sealed (special remix version)
10 The Jam Precious (extended)
11 Siouxsie & The Banshees Spellbound
12 Bauhaus She's In Parties (Extended mix)

CD2
1 Human League Love Action (12" instrumental mix)
2 Scritti Politti Wood Beez (pray like Aretha Franklin) (version)
3 Visage Fade To Grey (dance mix - edited version)
4 Yazoo Situation (US 12" mix)
5 Japan Quiet Life (extended version)
6 Talk Talk It's My Life (US 12" mix)
7 Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy Kiss Me (Mixe Plural)
8 The Style Council My Ever Changing Moods (long Version)
9 Simply Red Money's Too Tight To Mention (cutback mix)
10 Animotion Obsession (dance)
11 Tom Tom Club Wordy Rappinghood (12" version)
12 The Passions I'm In Love With A German Filmstar (long Mix)

CD3
1 Grace Jones Pull Up To The Bumper (Larry Levan garage mix)
2 Kid Creole & The Coconuts I'm A Wonderful Thing (Baby) (12" mix)
3 The Blow Monkeys Diggin' Your Scene (longer)
4 Lloyd Cole My Bag (Dancing Remix)
5 Hipsway The Honeythief (extended version)
6 Pete Wylie Sinful! (tribal mix)
6 Tears For Fears Shout (US remix)
7 Man Parrish Hip Hop Be Bop (don't stop) (mix 1)
8 Monsoon Ever So Lonely (extended mix)
9 Curiosity Killed The Cat Down To Earth (extended mix)
10 Black Wonderful Life OK
11 Propaganda Dr Mabuse (das testament des Mabuse - 13th life mix)

I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone - even if, like myself, you love some of the included artists. Most of the given mix names are wrong, and there's a lot of dreadful spelling on the packaging too - "Echo and the Bunneymen"; "Scritti Polliti" and so on. More importantly, this set in places isn't what it says on the tin. With a couple of the tracks, such as The Cure's "A forest", compiler Dorian Wathen (whose smarmy sleevenotes are also unwelcome) has ignorantly included mixes from the 12" singles on the assumption that they must be extended versions. They aren't - as with many '80s singles, the only difference between the 7" and the 12" single would be the inclusion of an extra B-side. Including straight album versions is also pointless. The running order also jumps around horribly - who in their right mind would stick The Cure next to Aztec Camera, or "Hip hop be bop" next to Monsoon? Many of the tracks here have doubtless been included because they're cheap to licence nowadays (Kid Creole et al). But this has been at the expense of choosing mixes that add anything interesting to the standard versions. Of all the mixes included here, only those by Soft Cell, Tears For Fears and Propaganda are particularly innovative. A second volume has already been issued, and it looks like this shoddy series is set to run and run ...

According to a British study of music buying trends during the mid 1980s, 12 inch singles were mostly bought up by boys who didn't want to fork the money for an album when they could have countless mixes of the same song! I am afraid I fell into that category. I loved my 12inchers... great mixes, cool covers and bsides... brilliant!

I wasn't put off much by the shoddy packaging.... life is imperfect...and the music is what counts......although a booklet with the covers of the original 12"s would have been nice. Most of the music is a cross-section of what was popular in the UK from 1980-1986.

There was quite a variety. The proto-ska percussion of Fun Boy Three's "Our Lips are Sealed" an instant classic and a fine mix. The over the top Soft Cell hit "Tainted Love" attached to their version of "Where Did Our Love Go" which is so hard to find and it really makes the song to have these two melodies welded together!!

The gold lame slickness of ABC with great brass and bangs on "Tears are Not Enough", the quiet dark whisper of The Cure in the atmospherics the mix to "A Forest" provides. Yazoo who blended soul with electronics on the US hit "Situation" with extended keyboard styling. Animotion's killer hit "Obsession" is longer and sexier in the mix!

That crazy bird that came to be known as Kid Creole with his funk fusion fun in the mix to "I'm a Wonderful Thing Baby"! The arty dance party of Japan's mixture of "Quiet Life". The musik electro of Propaganda's "Dr. Mabuse". The party is not a party without Grace Jones' purring dancefloor mania of "Pull Up to the Bumper" 12"mix style. And the primal scream of Tears For Fears' "Shout" US mix which has that great accapella bit at the beginning. Great!

If you used to pile up your 12inch singles before going to any party then you will enjoy this set as much as I did....great tunes, brilliant mixes, fab memories!

Enjoy!

Funny how we look around for entertainment. How I found this set(s) or why is a mystery. Perhaps to find a song that I once loved and wanted to hear again. Can't tell you how many copies I have of Tainted Love. What I crave from CD's such as this one is that long lost song. You know..... the one you heard only for a second or a minute; a note, a word, a statement. I have found them in this set and the like. Not the top-40 stuff from the US radio. Not the little snippets. Nice to have the full length again. Tracks that you knew and danced to. Music the rest of the world knows and loves. As said, if I find one track thats new (to me) or perhaps I loved from one listen here; well worth the price ten fold. Remember, it was the 80's, no XM Radio or One Word Search. One once waited to hear the title or if lucky on MTV with the info. Still learning about the good stuff I missed! Some here and others are duds. Do buy if you know and love the 80's.

We need a 0 star rating. The people at the Masters Record Label should be ashamed of themselves. This is clearly a case of misdirection. Yes, these are the original artists but nowhere near the original versions or versions even close to resembling them. Obviously they did not have the rights to the original recordings (read:no $$$) so they must have found recordings that were made at a different time. And club mixes...? Puh-leeze... Take a crap recording and play it over a casio keyboard and this is their idea of a club mix? An insult to the artists' fans and fans of the genre in general. I guess legally, they actually didn't claim they were original, but they didn't warn you that they weren't, either. Don't bother with this one. Do something more worthwhile instead. Read a book.... even the phone book.

Buyer Beware! This CD does not contain the original artists performing these songs! They are very good facsimiles and I had to listen closely but they are imposters. I'll have to say that the person singing "as" Howard Jones does a good job, nonetheless.

These really are the original artists doing these songs. However, that doesn't mean this CD is suddenly worth buying. None of these songs are re-mixes of the original versions, they are all complete re-makes OR in the case of two tracks, live versions.

Several of the tracks (Howard Jones, Animotion, Lihmahl (the ex-lead singer for Kajagoogoo) are so similar to the original I can't understand why they bothered to re-record these.

Gary Numan's Cars is a live version (labeled a 'Club Mix'...). This might interest hardcode GN fans, its not a bad version although I suspect there are better ones available.

The only other interesting tracks on here are BowWowWow's 'I Want Candy' and Flock Of Seagulls 'I Ran'. Both of these are very different from the originals. I Want Candy goes for a modern techno feel, and Flock Of Seagulls is almost a dark techno/house version. I listen to a lot of techno/house/electronica and neither of these tracks appealed to me, but fans of these bands might be interested if they like techno.

Overall the problem with this CD is that all of the FUN has been sucked out of these songs.

Believe the reviews...this cd is terrible. Its like listening to Jack covers in an elevator, on an easy listening station, or while waiting on hold. I beg you...don't waste your hard earned cash on this...spend the $ on Donavon Frankenreiter's new cd.

a fellow jack fan

I am a HUGE Jack Johnson fan...and when I came across this CD, I decided, why not pick it up??!! This isn't really what I expected......it says "various artists" which isn't the case.
I was looking forward to hearing VARIOUS ARTISTS performing Jack's music.
Oh well.

Despite all the other reviews saying this CD is terrible, I beg to differ. It's not amazing but it's alright none the less. The ownly downpoint I would say is the occasional times where theres singing because it's just not the same without Jack's voice. But the guitar riffs are pretty sweet if you ask me.
I would say get this CD but first I recomend getting on and on and then brushfire fairytales...if you still want more Jack Johnson stuff then I would get this, but not as a starter.

ok, i dont even own this cd and it sucks. who are these freaks? may i please invite them over to dinner so i can kill them? their voices stink, and at times even the lyrics get messed up. some tribute. even i sound better than them when i'm sick! dont waste your money. if i worked at amazon i'd burn every single tribute to john mayer cd because they suck. i hope they die.

The existence of this CD reminds me of the days of Beatlemania at its peak, when all and sundry would bring out a Beatle anything in the hope of amassing a small fortune. Admirers of Mayer could understandably take offence at the pale imitations of his work offered herein by performers so minute in stature that their names don't even appear, but I would encourage a different response: smile, nod, and be assured in what you know already - that John Mayer and the music he makes now and in the future will be around long after this "tribute" has been consigned where it belongs.

I was NOT impressed by Dark One Lite's "Tribute to John Mayer", but I gave it two starts because it was indeed at tribute, abeit not a very good one, but a tribute none-the-less. They get bonus points just for it being John Mayer :). Past that, the production, recording, voices, and instrumentals are NOT up to par. Do your self a favour and don't get it.

Her original crap is horrific enough. Why in God's name would we need a tribute album? Puts you to sleep even more effectively than Norah's unoriginal lullabies. At the very least, they could've waited till her second album came out, but....even then...even...if....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

How does someone who has made one full-length CD, most of which she did not write, become deserving of a tribute album? Let's wait until the young singer has made an impression on the music world that is more than just superficial and expressed a style that is her own.

What a disappointment this turned out to be; I say save your money, and ask a rhetorical question to support my assertion:

If the tributes were any good, wouldn't the artists want to take credit for their performances?

There is nothing which identifies the performers of these inferior versions of Norah's delightful work. I'm no musician, but I'm musical enough to wish I hadn't bought this lackluster collection.

This album is complete trash. These artists cant even cover someone else and do them justice, much less put out their own material. If your considering buying this, hit the back button on your browser and by a REAL FUEL CD instead!