Search - Various Artists :: All-Star Tribute to Zz Top

Horrible

M. Barrows | 04/05/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a sucker for tribute albums and a fan of ZZ Top, not to mention most of the artists that are on this album, but this is aboslutely one of the worst tribute albums I've purchased. Where to begin? First of all, whoever mastered the disc did a sub-par job as there is no consistency between each song in relation to the volume levels. One minute you'll be listening to a song and the following song will be so low you'll have to turn the volume up 2 or 3 notches. Then the next song after that will be so loud, it will blow your eardrums. Wash, rinse, repeat. Why no one listened to the levels before pressing these, I'll never know. Secondly, the versions on almost every one of these songs are too polished and sterile compared to the originals--even the covers of the latter era ZZ Top material, which itself was much more polished than the early material. Add to that there are no less than 3 covers of Sharp Dressed Man (really, people, could someone not choose from among their other material?---there are so many other songs missing) and Pat Travers' decent cover of Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago is split in two with Jesus being early in the disc and Waitin' coming later---it kills the continuity of the performance, nevermind the horrible sounding jump into Jesus that sounds as if someone pressed the record switch too late. Lastly, no one on here captures the fire and spirit of the originals---these are bland, karaoke versions with the sole exception of the aforementioned Travers' covers, but even they are somewhat watered down. Only Artimus Pyle gets close with his cover of Pearl Necklace and, to a lesser extent, Legs. The artists and the label should be ashamed for doing such a crappy job of performing, recording and mastering this turd. Avoid this at all costs and buy some original Top for the real experience."