Published on May 12, 1999
If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, you’ve
seen many reviews of albums from Magna Carta Records, a little
label out of New York that has been doing everything it can to keep
progressive rock alive. One high-water mark this label has
accomplished has been a series of tribute albums to some prog-rock
groups – albums that have helped to breathe new life into some of
the music. We’ve reviewed three of the six tribute albums; the
seventh release,
Steinway To Heaven, is a disc filled with some of rock’s
greatest keyboardists playing some of the piano’s best works.
If you don’t have the time or money to pick up all seven discs
and listen to them, now there is a sampler of these tribute albums,
Tribute To The Titans. A well-constructed set, it is sure to
whet your appetite for some of these collections – and even if you
have some of them, it should put them into a new perspective for
you.
Two cuts from each disc grace this album, and each one gives a
fair assessment of what you can expect from the entire package. The
sheer number of artists who took part in these 14 tracks is too
vast to list, but it encompasses some of the biggest names in
progressive rock of the past and present.
If
Tribute To The Titans has done anything, it’s made me very
interested in hearing
The Moon Revisited, a tribute to Pink Floyd and their 1973
classic
The Dark Side Of The Moon. The two tracks from this album,
“Money” (which could have been mixed a little louder) and “Eclipse”
both capture the spirit of the original versions and allow for
unique stylings without trashing the original structure of the
songs.
Likewise, the disc
Tales From Yesterday now has my curiosity piqued, thanks to
the cover of “Siberian Khatru” that sounds almost exactly like the
original version. Here’s a fun trick you can play on your friends:
play this version for a friend who loves Yes, and see if they can
tell the difference. However, the track “Turn Of The Century” tends
to drag a little, despite guitar work from Steve Howe. Annie
Haslam’s vocals just don’t do anything for me, though I think the
fault lies in the track itself, which doesn’t have a lot of energy
to it.
Supper’s Ready, the tribute to Genesis, also earns high
marks thanks to the featured tracks, “Back In N.Y.C.” and “Watcher
Of The Skies,” the latter featuring Robert Berry, who sounds a lot
like Peter Gabriel. Canadian prog-metal superstars Rush also get
the tender-loving-care treatment on
Working Man, one of the three discs I have heard and
reviewed. Hearing “Red Barchetta” (with Dream Theater’s James
LaBrie on lead vocals) and “Jacob’s Ladder” (with ex-Skid Row
singer Sebastian Bach) both rekindled my interest in this disc,
which I haven’t listened to since reviewing it.
Jethro Tull’s turn in the spotlight,
To Cry You A Song, is a little more hit-and-miss. On the
positive side, the cover of “Nothing Is Easy” (featuring John
Wetton and former Tull members Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and
Glenn Cornick) is an incredible take on the track, and is
entertaining from the start. (It’s also good to hear from the
original rhythm section of Jethro Tull again.) On the miss side,
Roy Harper does his best on “Up The ‘Pool,” but just fails to
connect to the magic of the original track.
The last of the tribute albums, the recently-released
Encores, Legends & Paradox, takes on Emerson Lake &
Palmer, and does a respectable job. It’s no mean trick to re-create
tracks like “Knife Edge,” but this is a pretty good take on it. And
the more I hear this version of Aaron Copeland’s “Hoedown”, the
more I’m tending to like it – though I still prefer the classical
version.
The tribute to classical keyboard works,
Steinway To Heaven, contains some of the prettiest music on
the collection, as heard on Rick Wakeman’s rendition of Beethoven’s
“Pathetique”. I’ve sworn I will not have a funeral when I die, but
should my family go against my wishes, I want this played at the
service. Keith Emerson digs into the obscurity file for Alberto
Ginastera’s “Dance Creole,” which is a bit shocking at first, but
turns out to be a decent track as well. Though I have yet to hear
the rest of this particular album, these two tracks make me very
interested in it.
Tribute To The Titans is nearly 75 minutes of wonderful
accolades paid to the founding fathers of progressive rock, played
by the people who have helped to keep the torch lit as we near the
new millenium. If you’re even a fair-weather fan of any of the six
groups who got the star treatment, or even if you just like good
piano work, spend an evening curled up with this disc.