Search - Various Artists :: Nba at 50: Musical Celebration

What a Very Pleasant Surprise! A Great Tribute To the NBA o

Frederick Baptist | Singapore | 01/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To be very honest, I can't understand why this album isn't selling any better and I see people offering to unload theirs at less than a buck! Take it from someone who has listened to too many albums and bands to remember for more than 3 decades, the music on this album is worth a lot more than a buck!



Firstly, if you are a fan of the NBA, you are in for a real treat. The packaging is fantastic coming in a very well-designed thick cardboard, felt covered slipcase and comes with a great cd booklet in full-colour of 40 pages including the covers that contains great pictures of the history of the NBA over the years plus very interesting write-ups. This alone, without getting to the music itself is already worth a few bucks as a collectors' item.



Now to the music: just because there are covers on this disc, doesn't make this a bad disc. Many bands have made great careers out of doing covers in their own styles and arrangements. Even the Beatles did many covers on their early albums and so did Van Halen, Eric Clapton, too many boy bands to name and the list goes on.



This album is not totally comprised of covers though as there are tracks like the brilliant "Slam Dunk" by Kool and the Gang, the excellent R&B track by Crystal Waters, "Say...If You Feel Alright", the rap track by the legendary Curtis Blow, one of the forefathers of modern rap, "Basketball", "Hip Hip Hooray" by Naughty By Nature all interspersed with commentary snippets from live games.



All the covers are not straight outright rip-offs of the original but are all great re-arrangements in their own unique styles of the artistes singing them such as Bobby Womack, Take 6, SWV, Brian McNight, Vanessa Williams etc who are all legends of R&B. In fact, I'd say their renditions are all vast improvements over the originals which is what one really expects out of people doing covers.



Also, the sound quality is excellent and the production and mastering of this disc is first class. Overall, a very lovinging put together package to commemorate NBA basketball's 50th and a very good album with regards track selection and great sound quality which is destined to be a collector's item.



I guess you'll never be able to get such great value at less than a buck! Highly recommended for R&B, rap and NBA fans everywhere."

Nobody could expect this!

Henrique Peirano | Sao Paulo, SP Brazil | 02/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a surprise this was! If you enter a CD store and come upon a CD that has some relation to the NBA or one of its clubs, what would you think? Probably that it's packed with songs that play during the NBA games. Incredibly, it has a great selection of Soul, R&B, and Funk, with versions of songs that you won't find anywhere else. "Let The Good Times Roll", featuring Wayman Tisdale on sax, makes even BB King listen. "Slam Dunk", "Shotgun", and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" all do the same for me. Among other great songs, you'll also get a beautiful breathtaking version of Star Spangled Banner by Marvin Gaye. (And hey, I'm Brazilian!)
It's a shame this CD is out of stock. I guess most people didn't give it a chance."