Search - Various Artists :: Crimson & Clover: Tribute to Tommy James

Common sense please

04/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ordinarily I would give this four stars, but in this case I have to help provide some balance to counteract the opinion of some idiot who was too stupid to realize that he was ordering a tribute CD. When he realized that he had purchased a tribute CD from various artists he trashed the CD in his review. Someone has the right to dislike the songs, but considering that Tommy James himself approved of this CD and even contributed to it, and considering that many of the songs are if anything too close to the original versions, I don't understand why someone who must be a Tommy James would be so angrily opposed to this CD. Many of the musicians on this CD are actually considerably superior to the musicians on the original 1960's versions, so it's simply wrong to criticize the musicians who perform these versions. Two of the songs are sort of crazy. I'm a fan of Toni Price, and seeing her name in the credits helped convince me to buy the CD. The "Hanky Panky" song that she sings on is done in a really weird style here, which is still entertaining to me because I enjoy originality, but I can see how it would be a turn-off to many people. Some of the songs are done in a surf-music style, which could also bother some people, but the musicians are easily talented enough to do the songs well. Several of the other songs have a British-invasion sound to them, or at least a Smithereens type of retro-British invasion. One of the songs even sounds like This Year's Model-era Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Going into this CD I already owned CDs by the Coffee Sergeants and the Boss Martians, and both of their versions are great. The rest of the CD is good, even if two of the songs could be considered as strange throw-aways. I don't think that this CD is aimed at long-time Tommy James fans anyway, and I'm willing to bet that most of those long-time fans are smart enough to order the actual Tommy James CDs. This CD is probably designed to introduce new fans to the music of Tommy James, and on that level it's a quality CD."