Pass The Dust, I Think I'm A Tribute Album

 

This third set in our ongoing tribute to tribute albums is a double baker's dozen: 26 terrific tunes of tribulation! We're still trawling through the 1990's, a decade that gave us God knows how many tributes to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Beatles, Ramones, and Velvets.  More than you might think, and more than anyone needed.  Although it's always better when someone else sings Bob, amirite?

The sharp-eyed among you may notice songs in today's set from two separate Bee Gees tributes.  And if you're thinking that we already featured a Richard Thompson tribute, you're not wrong: 1993's The World Is A Wonderful Place was followed by 1994's Beat The Retreat.  Hell, there were two Merle Haggard tributes released in 1994 (the pop-country Mama's Hungry Eyes and the alt-country Tulare Dust).  

If it sounds like I'm tired of tribute albums, rest assured that I'm not.  I love the way that artists add their own personalities to a cover song.  For example, "Yesterday Once More" is faithful to the Carpenters' hit, and yet it is most definitely a Redd Kross song.  And I love discovering new artists (hello, Rank Strangers!)  

It's good to catch up with old friends like Alex Chilton and the aforementioned Redd Kross. When's the last time I listened to Scrawl or the 3D's -- back in the Nineties?  (No, I went on a Scrawl binge and bought all their records just a few years ago, and "Beautiful Things" by the 3D's is a song that I always return to, year after year.)  

And it's extra cool when cool artists collaborate.  Tony Gilkyson trades licks with David Hidalgo on X's version of "Shoot Out The Lights".  Syd Straw is backed on one song by The Skeletons; and on the other by Marc Ribot. Lemmy and Mick Green do a "Blue Suede Shoes" that would make Elvis and Carl Perkins roll over in their graves.