I am of the church that says tributes are better for bands that
no longer actively perform or record together. I don’t especially
care for the Black Sabbath tribute
Nativity In Black for that very reason. I mean, if I want to
hear Ozzy Osbourne sing “N.I.B.” I’ll pull out a Sabbath CD and
hear Geezer Butler play his mean ol’ bass. If I want to hear
Primus, I’ll put in
Pork
Soda or
Sailing The Seas Of Cheese (but not
The Brown Album) or I’d buy
Frizzle
Fry or a bootleg.
All of that means, I don’t think tribute CDs are meaningful
until you can’t go to a concert and hear the band play the song.
Even the multiple Metallica tribute CD, for example,
Overload and even the recent Pantera tribute CD. All of
these bands are great bands and they’re still active.
That’s why I begrudgingly put in
Welcome To The Aerosmithonian – A Tribute To Aerosmith with
low expectations. The CD contains 10 tracks all performed by
second-tier 80s musicians. You have Carmine Appice on drums, Jason
McMaster on bass, and Steve Fister on rhythm guitar and solo. Some
of the other musicians on here are vocalist Derek St. Holmes, Gilby
Clarke, Keri Kelli, Marc Ferrari, Jaimie Scott, and Jimmy Crespo,
who co-wrote “Rock In AHard Place” while he was in Aerosmith.
As if that meant something to someone.
As if someone can name all the bands the aforementioned
musicians played in.
As if someone actually owns one of the CDs that these musicians
played in.
Okay, I have a CD with Gilby Clarke playing on it and a tape
with Jason McMaster singing lead vocals. Carmine Appice is a
legend, but I don’t own any CDs with him playing. Not even Blue
Murder. Other than that, uh, who cares about these has-beens?
Apparently someone does.
And that someone would be you because this CD actually is
okay.
If you like washed-out and hung up to dry second-tier 80s
musicians.
If you like Aerosmith songs played by what, to me, sounds like a
band playing in a bar. There’s not much new here as the covers
stick pretty close to the original. Sure, some of the vocalists
take some liberties with the melody, but the solos sound
interchangeable with the guitars of Brad Hamilton and Joe
Perry.
And I also have to admit my bias and plug my favorite tribute
CD. It came out a few years ago and it’s called
Everybody Wants Some.It came out on Cherry Disc Records,
it’s a bunch of Boston-area bands and it’s a tribute to Van Halen.
Starts out with “Eruption” played on an organ, and ends with
“Eruption” played on a banjo. That’s creativity.
That’s
interesting.
Note for note guitar solos, Joey Kramer already is not the
world’s most interesting drummer so I admit that doesn’t give
Carmine much room to stretch out.
I guess the old saying, “Crap in means crap . . .”
You finish it.
