Various Artists
Hell Ain't No Bad Place To Be
[Reptilian]
Growing up, AC/DC were one of my favorite bands (and
remain so to this very day - at least the bands back
catalog)...when it came to heads-down bootie shaking
rock, no one could touch them. There was a fairly
disappointing tribute to AC/DC CD put out a few years
ago (by Cleopatra Records I believe) mostly comprised
of "industrial" bands, but here we have the real
deal : rock(ing) bands doing rocking covers. Lets get
on with it shall we...
CHAPSTICK kick the disc off with "Beating Around The Bush" - this was never one of my favorite AC/DC songs, but to Chapstick's credit, they pull off a good version, thanks mostly to the vocalists uncanny ability to sound like an early-era Bon Scott. UPPERCRUST are up next, and they suck massive ass. Their "gimmick" is that they dress like renisaance era pooftahs complete with bad "upper society" speech influctions - in other words, the complete anti-thesis of AC/DC...this just doesn't work, and not even their sampling of Brian Johnsons original vocals on "Back In Black" (the songs they choose to mutilate) can save them. American monster rockers ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN are the third band and pull off a pretty decent rendition of "High Voltage". The sound is nice and fuzzy and helps to maintain the energetic feel of the original - vocals, while not perfect are very close to Bon's, and that also lends them a certain air of legitimacy. REO SPEEDEALER are next with a cranked up version of "Rocker" - not much to say about this other than it sounds like every other thing REO have done (in other words, complete and utter thrashing-rock chaos)...the inclusion of a fake live audience was a nice touch though. IRONBOSS gives us "Whole Lotta Rosie" - not really my cup of tea. The (mandolin?) intro was somewhat humourous, and the band do have a fuck of a lot of energy behind them, but I found the vocals to be the weak link : the guy can belt it out alright, but he has a totally different range than Bon, so it just doesn't sound "right" to me. Next up are ZEKE who tackle "Downpayment Blues" and pull off an excellent version...it's the vocals that do it for me - they're not particularily Bon-like, but they've got a gritty edge to them which just lends itself to material such as this...kudos. Appropriatly enough, THE DWARVES (who ZEKE took *more* than just a slight influence from) follow up with "Big Balls" - musically, it's not very close to the original at all (there's no resemblence except for the lyrics), but in feel this is dead on, humour intact. CHROME CRANKS are next, doing "Dog Eat Dog", and I found it to be uninspired and lack-luster performance...the overly reverberated sound got on my nerves, as did the vocals...better luck next time guys. HONKY then make an appearance with "Dirty Deeds", and it works rather well - They have this classic american 70s rock sound, and it works well in the context, although some might find their vocals a little on the grating side. "Rock And Roll Singer" (you know, the track THE CULT ripped off for "Wildflower") is then done by SUPERSUCKERS - very faithful to the original, therefore a good version. LOLLIPOP give us "Girl's Got Rhythm" (once again, not one of my favorite AC/DC tunes), and sort of pull it off - their sound is very low-fi, and this could actually pass for an AC/DC rehersal (if AC/DC was having a very bad day), but apart from that factor, this does nothing for me. VOLTAGE cover "Riff Raff" and do it badly...the vocalist alternates between really yawn-inducing almost spoken passages to these utterly incredible screams - if he had just belted it out all the way through, this might have worked. Lastly, we have FUCKEMOS giving us the only other non-Bon Scott track on this CD ("Thunderstruck"), and I would actually venture to say it's BETTER than the original version (but I'm somewhat biased as I *hated* the original anyway), having a hell of a lot more balls...whoever fronts FUCKEMOS actually sounds a lot like Brian Johnson as well (and by "a lot" I mean "exactly").
Bottom line : Worthwhile if you happen to be an AC/DC fanatic or a fan of the bands appearing on this tribute...
© 1999 chorazaim
CHAPSTICK kick the disc off with "Beating Around The Bush" - this was never one of my favorite AC/DC songs, but to Chapstick's credit, they pull off a good version, thanks mostly to the vocalists uncanny ability to sound like an early-era Bon Scott. UPPERCRUST are up next, and they suck massive ass. Their "gimmick" is that they dress like renisaance era pooftahs complete with bad "upper society" speech influctions - in other words, the complete anti-thesis of AC/DC...this just doesn't work, and not even their sampling of Brian Johnsons original vocals on "Back In Black" (the songs they choose to mutilate) can save them. American monster rockers ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN are the third band and pull off a pretty decent rendition of "High Voltage". The sound is nice and fuzzy and helps to maintain the energetic feel of the original - vocals, while not perfect are very close to Bon's, and that also lends them a certain air of legitimacy. REO SPEEDEALER are next with a cranked up version of "Rocker" - not much to say about this other than it sounds like every other thing REO have done (in other words, complete and utter thrashing-rock chaos)...the inclusion of a fake live audience was a nice touch though. IRONBOSS gives us "Whole Lotta Rosie" - not really my cup of tea. The (mandolin?) intro was somewhat humourous, and the band do have a fuck of a lot of energy behind them, but I found the vocals to be the weak link : the guy can belt it out alright, but he has a totally different range than Bon, so it just doesn't sound "right" to me. Next up are ZEKE who tackle "Downpayment Blues" and pull off an excellent version...it's the vocals that do it for me - they're not particularily Bon-like, but they've got a gritty edge to them which just lends itself to material such as this...kudos. Appropriatly enough, THE DWARVES (who ZEKE took *more* than just a slight influence from) follow up with "Big Balls" - musically, it's not very close to the original at all (there's no resemblence except for the lyrics), but in feel this is dead on, humour intact. CHROME CRANKS are next, doing "Dog Eat Dog", and I found it to be uninspired and lack-luster performance...the overly reverberated sound got on my nerves, as did the vocals...better luck next time guys. HONKY then make an appearance with "Dirty Deeds", and it works rather well - They have this classic american 70s rock sound, and it works well in the context, although some might find their vocals a little on the grating side. "Rock And Roll Singer" (you know, the track THE CULT ripped off for "Wildflower") is then done by SUPERSUCKERS - very faithful to the original, therefore a good version. LOLLIPOP give us "Girl's Got Rhythm" (once again, not one of my favorite AC/DC tunes), and sort of pull it off - their sound is very low-fi, and this could actually pass for an AC/DC rehersal (if AC/DC was having a very bad day), but apart from that factor, this does nothing for me. VOLTAGE cover "Riff Raff" and do it badly...the vocalist alternates between really yawn-inducing almost spoken passages to these utterly incredible screams - if he had just belted it out all the way through, this might have worked. Lastly, we have FUCKEMOS giving us the only other non-Bon Scott track on this CD ("Thunderstruck"), and I would actually venture to say it's BETTER than the original version (but I'm somewhat biased as I *hated* the original anyway), having a hell of a lot more balls...whoever fronts FUCKEMOS actually sounds a lot like Brian Johnson as well (and by "a lot" I mean "exactly").
Bottom line : Worthwhile if you happen to be an AC/DC fanatic or a fan of the bands appearing on this tribute...
© 1999 chorazaim