Various - Higher Than a Mountain -The Songs of Andy Gibb

 

I've always given Andy Gibb a wide berth. Not because of anything musically, but because my first proper girlfriend was a massive fan and she ditched me heartlessly. So guilt from that overcame my general lack of interest in Tribute Albums, aided by having enjoyed every other Curry Cuts album.

Not being familiar with the material apart from Shadow Dancing and I Just Want To Be Your Everything also helped enormously as did the line up. I expected the original songs to have a second half of the 70s post Disco easy listening vibe and the majority here do. That's no bad thing if the songs are strong and they are. There is plenty of the Gibb Brothers feel without the high pitched voices. Think How Deep Is Your Love!

It is great hearing artists that I love on unfamiliar territory. For instance Greg Pope does a fairly faithful to the original version of I Just Want To Be Your Everything, but it is so unusual to hear him sing a song like this, great song though it is. Exactly the same applies to the excellent Keith Slettedahl on Time Is Time.

Minky Starshine sounds on great form on Desire. Jason Berk makes Flowing Rivers his own and the real joy are the surprise covers. Ken Sharp and Fernando Perdomo gobsmacked me with the choice of One More Look At The Night. Their version is nothing like the usual territory either would inhabit and that underlines how Tribute albums can shine.

David Brookings jangles up An Everlasting Love to great effect, but top award must go to The Test Pressings for making Why into a Guitar driven AOR affair. It is wonderfully out of kilter with the rest of the album with a killer solo.

Shadow Dancing is still the best song here and who better than The Corner Laughers to bring it home. It is always impossible to namecheck everyone on a Various Artists compilation, so everyone involved here should take a bow. Higher Than A Mountain is great fun.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Various - Songs. Bond Songs : The Music Of 007

I'm not usually a fan of Cover or Tribute albums, I don't often see the point, but Andrew Curry does a great job when he fashions up one for his Curry Cuts label. Often it's the subject, Lite Rock, The UK Second Wave and now Bond Themes. More often it's the artists he gets involved, the majority of which are Power Pop Royalty.

I was talking to Ray at Kool Kat earlier in the year and were both agreed on Tribute albums, but were looking forward to this, Ray also suggested an Odyssey And Oracle tribute and I'm looking forward to Futureman Records take on Matthew Sweet, but I digress.




The problem with Bond songs is that the originals are definitive versions, known to all, so to beat this you have to a cracking note perfect version of the original, something completely left field or the artist has to be worth the admission alone. Fortunately, Curry's compilation manages all three.

The gem is The excellent Corner Laughers covering the Italian Version of Diamonds Are Forever, this left field approach works beautifully. The way Lisa Mychols rocks up The Man With The Golden Gun is also a real treat.





Freedy Johnston's Acoustic strip down of For Your Eyes Only is great, Jay Gonzalez does a similar Tex Mex strum through A View To A Kill. Brandon Schott gets Jake Gideon involved in an intriguing sped up Tomorrow Never Dies.

Cliff Hillis, who is currently going through a real top notch phase does a cracking lazy version of Writing's On The Wall. In all these unusual takes though, my absolute favourite.is Popdudes cover of Live And Let Die, it's a truly faithful rendition and suitably ace.





The concept worried me a bit because of the strength of the original versions, but Curry Cuts has done a great job of providing a new look at the songs and garnered some fine names to do them. You can listen to and but the album here.