Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before: A Tribute to the Smiths

by

Various Artists

Edit

OK, first off, the album art is for the Smiths cover album...in other words, all Smiths songs covered by the likes of Gene Loves Jezebel, Bow Wow Wow, This Charming Band, etc. The track listing on this page, however, is for Rough Trade's anniversary cover album, which has the same name (but no Smiths covers, oddly enough). Amazon needs to fix this. Also, if you click on the mp3 link, it takes you to the Rough Trade cover album, and NOT to this album. Until Amazon fixes this, just to be safe I'd suggest buying this album (by song only, unfortunately) from iTunes.

I am giving the album five stars. It is one of my favorite cover albums ever. EVERY song is great. Stand-outs are both songs by The Sweet and Tender Hooligans (an excellent tribute band from Cali), Versailles' "What Difference..." and David Glass's "The Charming Man."

Enjoy!

Mike

"Same Old Sauce"

I'll admit that I only purchased this compilation to hear the Elizabeth Fraser track "At Last I'm Free" and in all honesty, I was somewhat disappointed. Ms. Fraser may indeed be free from her Cocteau Twins vices but this latest attempt seems conventional and lack-lustre. Given the vocal heights that Ms. Fraser is capable of reaching, fans may find this track less than appealing. Her voice is crisp, and surprisingly her concise, clearly audible words pale in light of her past abilities. It's good to hear Ms. Fraser branching out on her own, even dabbling with the infamous Cocteau Twins mellotron, but if this is the best we can expect from one of the world's greatest sirens then I hang my head in sorrow. Elizabeth, come back to us!