If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, you’ve
\nseen many reviews of albums from Magna Carta Records, a little
\nlabel out of New York that has been doing everything it can to keep
\nprogressive rock alive. One high-water mark this label has
\naccomplished has been a series of tribute albums to some prog-rock
\ngroups – albums that have helped to breathe new life into some of
\nthe music. We’ve reviewed three of the six tribute albums; the
\nseventh release,
\nSteinway To Heaven<\/i>, is a disc filled with some of rock’s
\ngreatest keyboardists playing some of the piano’s best works.<\/p>\n
If you don’t have the time or money to pick up all seven discs
\nand listen to them, now there is a sampler of these tribute albums,<\/p>\n
Tribute To The Titans<\/i>. A well-constructed set, it is sure to
\nwhet your appetite for some of these collections – and even if you
\nhave some of them, it should put them into a new perspective for
\nyou.<\/p>\n
Two cuts from each disc grace this album, and each one gives a
\nfair assessment of what you can expect from the entire package. The
\nsheer number of artists who took part in these 14 tracks is too
\nvast to list, but it encompasses some of the biggest names in
\nprogressive rock of the past and present.<\/p>\n
If
\nTribute To The Titans<\/i> has done anything, it’s made me very
\ninterested in hearing
\nThe Moon Revisited<\/i>, a tribute to Pink Floyd and their 1973
\nclassic
\nThe Dark Side Of The Moon<\/i>. The two tracks from this album,
\n“Money” (which could have been mixed a little louder) and “Eclipse”
\nboth capture the spirit of the original versions and allow for
\nunique stylings without trashing the original structure of the
\nsongs.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the disc
\nTales From Yesterday<\/i> now has my curiosity piqued, thanks to
\nthe cover of “Siberian Khatru” that sounds almost exactly like the
\noriginal version. Here’s a fun trick you can play on your friends:
\nplay this version for a friend who loves Yes, and see if they can
\ntell the difference. However, the track “Turn Of The Century” tends
\nto drag a little, despite guitar work from Steve Howe. Annie
\nHaslam’s vocals just don’t do anything for me, though I think the
\nfault lies in the track itself, which doesn’t have a lot of energy
\nto it.<\/p>\n
\nSupper’s Ready<\/i>, the tribute to Genesis, also earns high
\nmarks thanks to the featured tracks, “Back In N.Y.C.” and “Watcher
\nOf The Skies,” the latter featuring Robert Berry, who sounds a lot
\nlike Peter Gabriel. Canadian prog-metal superstars Rush also get
\nthe tender-loving-care treatment on
\nWorking Man<\/i>, one of the three discs I have heard and
\nreviewed. Hearing “Red Barchetta” (with Dream Theater’s James
\nLaBrie on lead vocals) and “Jacob’s Ladder” (with ex-Skid Row
\nsinger Sebastian Bach) both rekindled my interest in this disc,
\nwhich I haven’t listened to since reviewing it.<\/p>\n
Jethro Tull’s turn in the spotlight,
\nTo Cry You A Song<\/i>, is a little more hit-and-miss. On the
\npositive side, the cover of “Nothing Is Easy” (featuring John
\nWetton and former Tull members Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and
\nGlenn Cornick) is an incredible take on the track, and is
\nentertaining from the start. (It’s also good to hear from the
\noriginal rhythm section of Jethro Tull again.) On the miss side,
\nRoy Harper does his best on “Up The ‘Pool,” but just fails to
\nconnect to the magic of the original track.<\/p>\n
The last of the tribute albums, the recently-released
\nEncores, Legends & Paradox<\/i>, takes on Emerson Lake &
\nPalmer, and does a respectable job. It’s no mean trick to re-create
\ntracks like “Knife Edge,” but this is a pretty good take on it. And
\nthe more I hear this version of Aaron Copeland’s “Hoedown”, the
\nmore I’m tending to like it – though I still prefer the classical
\nversion.<\/p>\n
The tribute to classical keyboard works,
\nSteinway To Heaven<\/i>, contains some of the prettiest music on
\nthe collection, as heard on Rick Wakeman’s rendition of Beethoven’s
\n“Pathetique”. I’ve sworn I will not have a funeral when I die, but
\nshould my family go against my wishes, I want this played at the
\nservice. Keith Emerson digs into the obscurity file for Alberto
\nGinastera’s “Dance Creole,” which is a bit shocking at first, but
\nturns out to be a decent track as well. Though I have yet to hear
\nthe rest of this particular album, these two tracks make me very
\ninterested in it.<\/p>\n
\nTribute To The Titans<\/i> is nearly 75 minutes of wonderful
\naccolades paid to the founding fathers of progressive rock, played
\nby the people who have helped to keep the torch lit as we near the
\nnew millenium. If you’re even a fair-weather fan of any of the six
\ngroups who got the star treatment, or even if you just like good
\npiano work, spend an evening curled up with this disc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5827],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38918","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38918"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}