Reviews (3)

Hidden gem
I picked this up cheap at an outlet store, and it quickly became my favorite cd. I bought it for the artists I knew, but the ones I didn't soon surpassed them. I've become Jonatha Brooke's biggest fan from hearing the heart-wrenching performance on this disk. "Too Much Saturn" will blow your mind. If you like thought-provoking acoustic rock, you NEED this cd!

Pleasantly surprised
I hadn't heard of half of the people on this cd, but found it to be a pleasant surprise. "Crumbs" and "Too Much Saturn" are the best songs, I think, on the disk with "Marianne" and BLN just behind them. Definitely worth a chance if you're browsing from something non-mainstream.

Live sets from artists at boston's WXRV radio station
Live sets from Tori Amos,Big Head Todd, Cowboy Junkies,Bruce Cockburn, Jonatha Brooke, Francis Dunnery, Ani DiFranco, Willie Porter, Suzanne Vega, Matthew Sweet, Leah Andreone, Peter Mulvey, and Yet another version of "If I had a Million Dollars" ala "the gambler" by Barenaked Ladies....

all Proceeds go to benefit RAINN(Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network)!

Great live versions of tunes you won't hear anywhere else. If you like live versions this is a must have. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Cd, If You like ska then you'll like this!
Well, where do I start? This CD is an amazing compilation of Canada's greatest ska bands. If you are into ska then you are into this. A true ska fan already owns this CD so if you are a true ska fan and you don't have this CD, tisk tisk. There is nothing bad with CD except for the fact that it ends. I would reccomend this CD to anyone and everyone.5 stars is just not enough. The best tracks on this CD are 1 to 16. As you can see I am a true ska fan. And I love this CD!!! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Bored Generation Review by NOFX on the Web!
This compilation is pretty good... it features a great song by NOFX called "Drugs are Good" which can also be found on the HOFX 12".

Other bands with cool songs are Pennywise (doing a cover of the Circle Jerks), Rancid, and Brett Gurewitz (formerly of Bad Religion and CEO of Epitaph) with his new band the Daredevils.

I've seen the multimedia portion of this disc and there are a few cool skate and snowboard videos with music in the background... the only problem is that I couldn't get it working with my CDROM setup. Oh well.

Good CD, but a little expensive if you're just getting it for the music portion.

Rating: 7/10

Hmmmm.........nah
This could of been a really good cd if you like punk. But no they had to taint it with the likes of rap and heavy metal. The Rancid, Nofx, and Pennywise songs are all awesome. Too bad they were wasted on such a loser cd. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Can something receive negative stars?
I'm with the person who asked if this is a joke...this is absolutely the most laughable excuse for music I've ever heard--including Christian Marclay's broken records (which are really art, but that's another conversation)! Not to mention it should be illegal to take the genius of those Prince songs and warp them so much that it makes my ears bleed to listen to them. If you like this CD I would suspect that you are deaf. Your money would be better spent on ANYTHING than this!!

Kind of like Austin doing your girlfriend.
Lets face it, the way Prince does a song is either perfect or damn near perfect. I wish I was funky like Prince but I feel like Morris Day; which hasn't been cool since 1984. Enough about me. Can you imagine the song 'Delirious' done on a slide guitar and it comes out sounding great?!? How about a group of the whitest sounding honkeys singing 'Sexy MF' and it comes out funky, cool, even for a group of over enunciating white guys? (Sexy MF is on track 14 but 6min. and 30 sec. into it you'll hear a version of 'Alphabet Street' that, from a musician's stand point, is cooler than the original. Yes, I may be speaking blasphemy, but I speak the truth.)
Austin, TX (the live music capital of the world) is a WEIRD place and this CD reflects the diverse musical flavors of Austin (Like the metal version of 'Let's Pretend We're Married' or the swing version of 'Darling Nikki.' Yes, there were some tunes I didn't care for because the artists didn't have the guts to take a Prince song and make it their own, but the ones who did really leave their mark in your ear.
Now as far as the title of my review, just imagine you caught the embodiment of all that is wonderfully twisted about Austin, TX with your woman. Then your woman says she likes it better than you. (Nine times of ten it's gonna be true.)

The truth can be ugly
When terror meets the unknown artists on this compilation the result is blissfully hopeless.Therin,lies the painfull beauty!This CD is everything and even less than I hoped for.The high rating is not to be confused withSuccess and brilliant re-creations;but more so the triumph of a disc thatCOMPLETELY stands alone in it's vacant lot.I'm diggin it myself.

The worst piece of trash I have ever heard.
This has to be a joke.Nobody actually bought this right

It *****!!!! Are they crazy?
Bad, very, very bad ... Read more

Amazon.com

These tribute albums worked a lot better when they were in the hands of indie labels like C/Z, who released the first Kiss covers album, Hard to Believe, four years ago. Whereas that release was filled with a bunch of young fresh-faced punks (including Nirvana!) doing various interpretations of songs they probably grew up with and loved, Kiss My Ass seems to be making a mockery of some of the gloriously shocking rebelliousness these gems once represented. Toad the Wet Sprocket turn "Rock and Roll All Nite" into a lazy country drawl, while other poorly chosen acts such as Gin Blossoms, Extreme, Dinosaur Jr., and the Lemonheads tread through the tunes with little excitement or energy. Only Lenny Kravitz (with Stevie Wonder on harmonica), Anthrax, and, surprisingly, Garth Brooks seem to attack the songs with the fire they once embodied in the '70s when Kiss were the nastiest band around. -- Adem Tepedelen ... Read more

Reviews (4)

domo arigato, Yoshiki-san !! anata wa number one da !!
This tribute album is quite a disappointment, yet it made me discover one of the most talented musician I've ever heard : Yoshiki HAYASHI (leader, drummer and pianist of X-Japan !!). If you liked black diamond, buy hide's tribute album !!

Garth KISSes This A**
I give this album a 2 *BUT* it's worth a listen. The hands down best cover (and surprisingly so) is Garth Brooks doing Hard Luck Woman. I'll keep this just for that. Good job done by Garth. Two more songs stand out. Yoshiki's Black Diamond and Anthrax's She. Toss the rest out with the garbage. Interesting enough for discussion but no other listeners here.

um....YOSHIKI RULES!!!!!
okay...i've never heard this cd before, but i just think it's cool that one of the hottest greatest artists is on it.....i'm talkin bout yoshiki, but you've proly never heard of him....kiss kicks ass, and it's cool that yoshiki is on the cd....hey! if you like him, check out the greatest japanese rock band (who are unfortunately disbanded now -_-)...X-Japan!

"Covers" album that is diverse and well done.
What a concept...produce a tribute album to yourselves! KISS My Ass is the most self-absorbed piece of piffle I've ever heard; yet, it is oddly compelling. When I heard that this was coming out, I thought, "Oh my God, what are they doing?!". Garth Brooks, GARTH BROOKS!! I was prepared for true sacrilege as the fiddle and lap steel replaced Ace's sizzling licks. What a surprise I got when I gave the album a listen! The majority of the versions are not desecrated or butchered, at all; in fact, the 10-gallon hat man himself, Garth Brooks, does a fine version of Hard Luck Woman. Deuce gets funked-up by Lenny and Stevie and is great; Anthrax pulls off a thrashy version of She with the end riff of Let Me Know tacked on for good measure; the Gin Blossoms' Christine Sixteen and The Lemonheads' Plaster Caster are nothing special; Toad The Wet Sprocket slows Rock and Roll All Nite down to a dirge; Calling Dr. Love is the kind of crap I was expecting to hear; J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) does a fine version of Goin' Blind with all of the sleaziness remaining intact; and Extreme does a bang-up job on Strutter with Gary Cherone doing his best Paul Stanley imitation. The last 2 songs though are among the most original; The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ska-tinged version of Detroit Rock City and Yoshiki's strings-only rendition of Black Diamond are what a tribute album is all about--an artist's reworking of the original. Only Lenny Kravitz, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Yoshiki, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are able to pull this off here. The rest of the songs are, for the most part, carbon copies of the original songs. I was really disappointed when I bought KISS My Ass because I felt ripped off. Only 11 songs totaling barely 45 minutes! Here's a news flash: LP's are gone and you can get 78 minutes worth of material on a CD! When I look at the list of all of the artists who wanted to do this project but didn't appear for whatever reason, I wonder why KISS My Ass is so b! loody short! With Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Cypress Hill, and Ozzy Osbourne among the list of those "Missing In Action", who knows what special and unique sounds could have been transformed from a KISS song. I guess we'll have to hope for a KISS My Ass Volume 2: The Lost Tapes to find out! The tattoos from the fans on the inside cover are great! Too bad I couldn't get in on the action! Though it is questionable whether KISS My Ass is a true KISS release, I felt that, like Killers, it holds a special place among the KISS albums so that is why I have chosen to include it in my reviews. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

There's some gold amid the muck
Milwaukee's Don't Records hopped on the 80s nostalgia bandwagon early (1995). This tribute album takes plenty of risks. Several fail, but others soar.

Most tunes are borderline. Marques Bovre & the Evil Twins treat "867-5309 (Jenny)" with the irreverence it deserves, although their version sounds flat. The Yell Leaders get things moving with a relatively faithful rendition of "Church of the Poison Mind." Citizen King scratches and funks through "Once in a Lifetime," and Mrs. Fun echoes, not apes, Thomas Dolby on "She Blinded Me With Science."

A few songs stand out. Pet Engine's "How Soon is Now?" is one of my favorites -- a risky, soaring tune that goes from guitar pop to grunge to country twang within 4 minutes. The Blow Pops' version of "The Ghost in You" is almost as dreamy, eerie and sweet as the Furs. SODA's "I Know What Boys Like" has the same sly wink as the original, and it's even funnier with a male voice. Finally, I can't even listen to the Police version of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" after hearing the Falling Wallendas version -- the poppy reggae is replaced with gorgeous moody guitar work and harmony that highlights the ache behind the words of the song. For once, a tribute improves the original.

Then there are the failures, like "Shock the Monkey" on acoustic guitar. Willy Porter's terribly misguided "Whip It" sounds like it should be blaring out of a Chicago blues bar. "Talk of the Town" and "Everybody Wants You" are barely distinguishable from the originals, so why are they here?

The great covers are great, but the weak covers do muck up the rest of the CD. A suggested buy only for curiousity seekers, rabid fans of some of the original artists, and people with a high tolerance for novelty. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A slew of indie artists band together on this uneven but ultimately winning two-disc tribute to Neil Young. Arranged from Young's earliest tracks onward (the album opens with the Dutch group Treble Spankers covering a surf instrumental Young recorded in 1963 with the Squires), This Note is elevated throughout by a palpable passion. Artists with underground cachet (Lee Ranaldo, the Walkabouts, the Bevis Frond) and ephemeral outfits alike chronicle Young's career from its very beginning up through 1994's "Piece of Crap." Strikingly, the '90s alt rockers who dominate here explore lesser-known tracks along the likes of "The Emperor of Wyoming," "Winterlong," and "Campaigner," as well as Young signature tunes "Tonight's the Night," "After the Gold Rush," and "Hey, Hey, My, My." Consider This Note a suitable complement to the relatively more star-studded alt Young salute The Bridge. --Steven Stolder ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Some Worthy Neil Covers, And Plenty Of Forgettable Ones Too
Pop Kulcher Review:The tribute albums which have been cropping up like smallpox since the mid-'80's have been a mixed blessing. Sure, it's nice to hear other bands interpret music from your favorite artists, but many ofthese consist largely of lame unsigned bands, and the covers are usuallyeither unimaginatively loyal to the original, or so over-the-top in theirefforts to reinterpret the original as to be unrecognizable. One of thebetter discs in the genre (and one of the first) was 1989's The Bridge, atribute to Neil Young. Now, a decade later, comes a second Neil Youngtribute. It's a mixed bag, but, given it's relatively low price for a 2-cdset, undeniably worth it for Neil fans.

Unlike The Bridge, which hadsome heavy-hitters of the alternative rock scene (Sonic Youth, Pixies, SoulAsylum, Nick Cave, Dinosaur Jr.), This Note has very few recognizablenames. There are a few members of the mid-80's Paisley Underground (SteveWynn of Dream Syndicate, Steven Roback of Rain Parade); other stand-outsinclude Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Bevis Frond, Richard Lloyd ofTelevision, and alt.country act (and Long Ryders spin-off) the CoalPorters. Because this collection was put together by Neil's Dutch fanclub,there are also a lot of unknown Dutch bands (who, surprisingly, do a prettygood job with the material). Of the two discs, the first is far better --the songs are arranged chronologically, so the second disc is weighed downby Young's substantially weaker 80's & 90's material.Most of thestand-outs lean primarily towards a folky, alt.country/rootsy feel. Nothingterribly innovative or interesting, but the songs themselves are wonderful,so even the modest, unpretentious cover versions sound quite nice. Thesecond disc offers some looser takes on the Young catalog, but most of theexperimentation fares poorly -- certainly nothing which holds up to thereinterpretations of Young's work on The Bridge. All in all, some greatmusic which could easily be culled down to a single, throroughly enjoyabledisc or tape.

Scorching versions of some Neil classics!!!
I must admit I bought this CD with some trepidation having been a Neilophile for over 30 years but the majority of these artists do more than justice to the man's songs and some even up the ante a fair degree. I'veonly heard of a handful of these guys (notably Steve Wynn, Chris Cacavas,Van Christian, & Rich Hopkins & Lumanarios) but the musicianship isconsistently excellent. This is a great compilation for folks just gettingintroduced to Neil's music and a real hoot for old fans. Don't know whetherhe's had a chance to give it a listen but I think The Old Man would bepleased. Far superior to the Bridge tribute released about six years ago.Give it a listen!

This cd traces alternative music back to one of its creators
Buy this CD if you a)Love Neil Young.b)Love the earliest of alternative/grunge music. c)Refuse to follow the herds of sheepish FM listeners into the path of "overhyped hit oblivion".Friends, even the pitifully overplayed "Heart of Gold" JAMS onthis CD. This is a fine collection which loses the 5TH star only because ofsome CLASSIC OBSCURE Neil was left off. If people listen to this classicmore than once, they will search the archives for moreNeilYoung that will never be found on any FM station. All of the artists,except one or two, do great interpetations of Youngs work. Try it you'lllike it! Remember that some of these gems were written over 33 yearsago-mindblowing music for the adventurous.Finally, proceeds go to Youngs'Bridge School, a notable cause, indeed! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Sweet CD, baby!
I am a die-hard fan of Zone 105 in Minneapolis. They just came out with this CD, "Zone Sessions," and even though I don't have it yet, they've played four of the songs from the CD on the radio, and they all sound great. Especially "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry. I can't wait to get this CD!

Great Live Acts!
This cd has all good songs recorded in the Zone 105 studios in Minnesota! Its a great cd!! Buy it!! ... Read more