Worst Song Medley

Garfunkel and Oates (c'mon, that's a cool band name! :-) with their snarky, but (mostly) good natured, skewering of some familiar tunes from the 80's and 90's. It's funny 'cause it's true (and I kinda like a couple of the songs in the medley...)

Rhythms del Mundo: Classics

Classics is a benefit collection put together by Artists Project Earth (APE), a group dedicated to furthering awareness about climate change. The album itself features 19 (mostly) classic rock & pop tunes performed by Rhythms del Mundo (a talented assemblage of Cuban musicians…RDM is kind of a continuation of the Buena Vista Social Club) along with an international cast of well-known pop stars (some playing live with RDM others sampled with the original music stripped off and replaced with new backing tracks.)

The vibe is beguiling…tropical Latin rhythms and beats bringing entertaining new feel to the familiar songs…though it sometimes works against the grittiness inherent in some of the tunes.

The lead-off track, for example, is a breezy version of “Hotel California” featuring the Killers that is infectiously danceable (hard to resist those tasty drums and horns) despite the dark cynicism of the Eagles’ lyrics (Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” featuring The Editors also works despite its loping, foot tapping groove working almost at cross purposes with Reed’s ironic lyrics.)

On the other hand, Sam Cooke’s more fanciful “Cupid”…with vocals by Amy Winehouse…slips into smooth groove with no such dissonance as does the version of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” featuring the Kaiser Chiefs and the sunny version of “Under the Boardwalk” featuring the Rolling Stones.

Some tracks really click: Jack Johnson’s mellow (well, duh! :-) take on John Lennon’s “Imagine” is a subdued little gem…the Zutons’ lively recreation of “Runaway” works despite its vocal similarity to Del Shannon’s original…K.T. Tunstall does a nice job with “Because the Night” as does Fall Out Boy taking a confident swing at Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”…Shanade’s version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” doesn’t have the dark urgency of Nirvana’s original but it succeeds by finding a more plaintive groove to inhabit…and the Kooks take on a relatively obscure Elton John song, “Are You Ready for Love”, and turn into a tropical flavored charmer.

Other tracks try gamely but slide a bit shy of the mark: the version of “Under Pressure”, featuring Keane, is so soothing that it leaches out all of edginess of the original (though, that said, the trumpet solo on the outro is pretty sweet)…Cat Power’s languid vocals on the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” are ill-matched with RDM’s pulsating rhythms…there is a disconnect between RDM’s sunny rhythms and the somber lyrics in One Republic’s version “For What it’s Worth”

The Spanish version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, featuring Augusto Enriquez, is very cool as is the rocking bilingual take on Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” featuring Aquila Rose and Dana Valdes. Eros Ramazotti’s version of Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” (here called “Mi Cherie Amour”) is smooth and sweet.

RDM’s instrumental version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” with thick guitar lines intertwining playfully with the horns is grand as is the stirring version of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”…featuring the wondrous classical guitar playing of Rodrigo y Gabriela…that closes out the disc.

All in all, Rhythms del Mundo’s Classics is a delight full of great playing and beguiling fun.

I'm Not There

Bob Dylan is such a distinctive singer and songwriter that it can be problematical trying to cover his songs. Of course, this doesn’t stop people from trying (the songs are too magnetic and powerful for that)…I must have at least a dozen CDs of Dylan covers (with Dylan songs sprinkled liberally amongst many, many other discs) in my personal collection. More than perhaps with any other singer-songwriter, those attempting to cover Dylan need to dig in and find their own way of coming at the songs or else they probably shouldn’t bother.

This collection…the soundtrack to Todd Haynes’ upcoming movie where 5 different actors (including Cate Blanchett) play Dylan…is a slightly mixed bag but there are more than enough highlights to make it a very worthwhile listening experience. The set gets off to a worrisome start with the epic “All Along the Watchtower”…the music (by the Million Dollar Bashers, a group that backs several performers over the course of the 2-disc set) is biting and fierce but Eddie Vedder’s vocal is strangely distant, as if he was afraid to really try to connect to the words. But then things pick up with Sonic Youth’s muscular take on the title track and then My Morning Jacket's Jim James (backed by Calexico, who also back up several artists on the set) takes a fine turn on “Goin’ to Acapulco”. The great Richie Havens inhabits “Tombstone Blues” with vigor.

Stephen Malkmus (backed the Million Dollar Bashers) threatens to get close to getting caught up in doing a parody of Dylan’s idiosyncratic phrasing on “Ballad of a Thin Man” but in the end he manages to avoid that trap for the most part. He also covers “Can’t Leave Her Behind” in a clipped, singsong way that is plaintive enough to suffice. Malkmus also sings “Maggie’s Farm” but his wan vocals are not up to the level of the killer rock-steady backing that the Million Dollar Bashers give him.

The amazing Cat Power kills on a throbbing, horn-driven romp through “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” while John Doe is equally impressive on the soulful gospel of “Pressing On” (Doe later also sings “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” with soulful conviction) and Yo La Tengo offers up a delicate, lilting version of “Fourth Time Around” (they kick it up into higher gear later on a rollicking version of “I Wanna Be Your Lover”.)

Calexico appears several times: backing up Iron & Wine on an atmospheric version of “Dark Eyes”, offering up sweet Latin flavored support (including some sublime horn and string work) to Roger McGuinn’s lovely “One More Cup of Coffee”, providing supple support to Willie Nelson’s potent cover of “Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)” (which features a powerful Spanish verse sung by Salvador Duran), and effectively underscoring Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ethereal, whispery reading of “Just Like a Woman”.

The Million Dollar Bashers (featuring Tom Verlaine on guitars, John Medeski on keyboards, Wilco's Nels Cline on guitar, and Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley on drums) also a couple of other appearances: providing stellar support on Karen O’s feisty cover of “Highway 61 Revisited” and presenting an appropriately dense and spooky version of “Cold Irons Bound (with Verlaine on vocals).

Mason Jennings’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” (accompanied only by his acoustic guitar) is well-intentioned but it lacks bite and therefore comes off a pale imitation of the brutally acerbic original (he fares a little bit better later on “The Times They Are A-Changin’”.) Los Lobos’ gently-driving take on “Billy 1”, on the other hand, is a full-bodied gem. Jeff Tweedy, accompanied by drums, bass, and fiddle, takes on Dylan’s phrasing to good effect on “Simple Twist of Fate” while Mark Lanegan is deliciously foreboding on the ominous “Man in the Long Black Coat”.

Mira Billotte is a wonder of vocal economy on her quietly shimmering “As I Went Out One Morning” and Sufjan Stevens turns Dylan’s gospel dirge “Ring Them Bells” into an almost baroque fantasia (complete with a soaring horn section) that works wondrously when you imagine that it shouldn’t at all. Jack Jackson is his soothingly laconic self on “Mama, You’ve Been on my Mind/A Fraction of Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie” which features some of the best acoustic guitar playing on the CD.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (of the Swell Season) play a fine acoustic (guitar, harmonica, banjo, bass) version of “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” while The Hold Steady rock out on a potent take of “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?” and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott offers up a ragged but heartfelt “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”. The Black Keys rock a thick, bluesy “Wicked Messenger” while Marcus Carl Franklin (the youngest of the actors playing Dylan in the film) is surprisingly assured on “When the Ship Comes In” and Antony and the Johnsons are subdued (to haunting effect) on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.

Dylan and The Band tie up the CD with “I’m Not There”, recorded during the fabled Basement Tapes sessions.

Dylan afficianad0s may argue the merits of these covers but there is, as I said before, much to be enjoyed on this soundtrack.

Smells Like Teen Spirit (The Ukulele Remix)

All the Grooviest Online Video in One Place, GroovyGrooves.com

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain throws down on Nirvana's most famous song. I think Cobain would have gotten a kick out of this.

Guilt by Association

It is probably safe to assume that some amount of irony underscores this CD…a compilation of “indie” artists covering “guilty pleasure” pop songs…but the artists understood that to make this work they were going to have to play it straight (smirking through their performances would just make them come off as smug) and that’s what they did.

The net cast here is pretty wide…Paula Abdul (with Luna finding a understated soulful groove in “Straight Up”) to Fall Out Boy (Goat slipping into a grand, heartfelt, mid-tempo reading of “Sugar We’re Going Down”), Blue Oyster Cult (Mike Watt’s beefy spin through “Burning for You”), to High School Musical (Porter Block turns “Breaking Free” into a soaring, credible rock and roll song), the Spice Girls (Jim O’Rourke finding the heart of “Viva Forever” with some great guitar work included in the melodic mix) to System of a Down (Casey Shea’s lush take on “Chop Suey”), Shania Twain (Mark Mulcahy’s sweetly, passionately ragged cover of “From This Moment On”) to Oasis (Devendra Banhart’s dreamy, acoustic version of “Don’t Look Back in Anger”)…but the songs are stripped down, recast, and re-imagined to sometimes very engaging effect (stripped of their pop gloss and over-produced vocals, some of the songs emerge surprisingly poignant in their new incarnations.)

Petra Haden’s glorious, multi-tracked a cappella (including the guitar solos) version of the Journey chestnut “Don’t Stop Believin’”, for example, kicks off the disc with a shimmering burst of invention while Will Oldham (aka “Bonnie Prince Billy”) strips the melodrama away from Mariah Carey’s “Can’t Take That Away” and discovers an affecting song (Geoff Farina pulls off the same cool trick with a cool acoustic take on Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise”.) The Concretes cover Take That's "Back for Good" with great vocals and a tasty horn-driven chorus.

The Woody Jackson Orchestra and Money Mark update “Love’s Theme”, the syrupy instrumental hit from the 70’s by Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, with a nice 21^st Century groove while hanging on to a sweetly nostalgic feel while The Mooney Suzuki attacks Cher’s cheesy (I admit that it’s cheesy while also admitting that I rather like it) “Just Like Jesse James” with fierce relish and comes out with a winner even as it hews close to original arrangement. Superchunk turns “Say My Name” into a snarling, pulsating rocker…something that Destiny’s Child couldn’t have ever imagined that it could be.

If someone is going to cover a well-known song, they should (to coin a cliché) “make it their own”…and that’s exactly what these fine folks do on these “guilty pleasures” to fine effect indeed. Guilt by Association is fun and engaging and what more could you ask from a compilation like this?

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Engine Room Recordings, which released the CD, held a contest for fans to create videos for some of the songs. Below is one made for Petra Haden's version of "Don't Stop Believin'" (other videos available for viewing at the link in the previous sentence.)

Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project

I’m not sure why but I’ve had a fondness for cover songs…not just any cover songs, of course, but the good ones that bring out new nuances in songs that are already familiar. The newest CD from KCRW, a leading public radio station with a great reputation for breaking and encouraging new music and musicians, is an interesting collection of cover tunes (mostly) recorded in their studios by an eclectic lineup of performers for their show Morning Becomes Eclectic. Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project is 15-track collection with several sparkling gems.

Girls in Hawaii (a 6-member group from Belgium with no girls in the band at all :-) lead off the proceedings with a fine reading of Neil Young’s “Out on the Weekend”. The Kinks’ “I Go to Sleep” is covered by Sia but the rendition is too similar to the wonderful version done by Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders to be really satisfying.

The acoustic version of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” by the Magic Numbers is fun and Damien Rice slips into the alienated vibe of Radiohead’s “Creep” quite effectively accompanied only by his guitar. Nikka Costa gets sultry and soulful with her steamy version of Nina Simone’s classic “I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl” (which includes her vocalizing a trumpet solo in a charming and cool way.)

Dido’s cover is a sweet and crystalline take on James Taylor’s breakthrough hit “Fire and Rain”. Paul Weller strips down the R&B classic (perhaps best remembered from the version by Rose Royce) to an acoustic, two-guitar ballad to very nice effect.

Rufus Wainwright and Chris Stills (son of Stephen) dip into Neil Young’s songbook for their plaintive stroll through “Harvest” while R.E.M. offer up a relaxed version of Glen Campbell’s first hit “Gentle on my Mind”. Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” is stripped down to a very effective piano ballad by Gary Jules while the Flaming Lips take on Radiohead’s “Knives Out” is typically both lush and laconic.

Robert Plant rocks out a throbbing version of Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” (and yes I guess it still counts as cover even though he sang lead vocals on the original :-) with throaty vocal phrasing that sounds very Bob Dylan-ish and some very crunchy guitar riffs.

Missy Higgins is passionate and compelling on her cover of Patty Griffin’s “Moses” while M. Ward makes the most radical revision here as he strips David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” down from a funky dance tune to a mournful ballad featuring acoustic guitar and a nice harmonica solo.

k.d. lang closes the disc with a glorious version of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah”; her vocal is so sublime that you’d think the song had been written for her to sing (and maybe, after a fashion, it was.)

Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project, put out by Starbucks’ Hear Music, is a fine, soothing, engaging CD indeed.

Version

Mark Ronson is a celebrated British DJ and producer…he produced tracks on Lily Allen’s delightful Alright, Still and half of the tracks on Amy Winehouse’s wondrous Back to Black…and here he steps into the spotlight with Version, the second CD released under his own name.

But Ronson doesn’t hog that spotlight, even though he plays a variety of roles on Version (guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, beats) he invites many of his friends to the party and is a very generous host. The disc is full of covers of songs (along with three short but punchy instrumental originals…“Inversion”, “Diversion”, and “Outversion”…interspersed along the way) remade into a dazzling, enormously entertaining, party-ready suite of R&B and dance-tinged hard pop.

The Daptone Horns kick things off on the right foot by guest-starring on the opening instrumental version of Coldplay’s “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” and the cool vibe continues into the playful take on the Kaiser Chiefs’ “Oh My God” with vocals by Lily Allen.

Daniel Merriweather takes the lead vocals on “Stop Me”, a medley of the Smiths’ “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” and the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, which is fine enough while the only track that kind of drags in a cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” featuring Tiggers and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

The mighty Ms. Winehouse steps up and knocks the old school R&B jam version of “Valerie” (originally done by the Zutons) right out of the park. Paul Smith of Maximo Park comes on to remake the jagged rocker “Pressure” (originally by Maximo Park) as a percussive, horn-driven raver.

Santo Gold is featured on a version of The Jam’s “Pretty Green” that sounds like a long-lost cut from the days when the Talking Heads had recast themselves as a big funk band while Phantom Planet kicks into a sweet groove with their guest spot on the cover of Radiohead’s “Just”. Kenna is featured on a version of Ryan Adams’ “Amy” that sounds like a dance remix of a George Harrison song (and still it works :-)

Robbie Williams is the featured vocalist on a throbbing cover of the Charlatans’ “The Only One I Know” while Kasabian brings the party to funky close with a new mix of their own “L.S.F.”

With the horns sizzling, the singers giving their best shots, and the beats consistently strong and compelling, Ronson delivers a fun album that could keep any party jumping.

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More MKW Blogstuff: Bread and Roses

Still the Same...Great Rock Classics of Our Time

Let me start by saying that there’s nothing particularly egregious here…Still the Same: Great Rock Classics of Our Time is pleasant enough and goodness knows it’s all certainly more than familiar (I know I was singing along the first time I heard the CD)…but, that said, it’s all rather predictable and more than a little bland.

(We shall skip past the notion that the term “rock classic” is broad enough to include treacle such as Bread’s “Everything I Own” or John Waite’s “Missing You” without further comment.)

Stewart sounds more comfortable covering these rock era songs than he did croaking his way through the “Great American Songbook” on his last four discs but, that said, he really doesn’t bring anything new to the songs. If you’re going to cover songs as familiar as Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love”, The Eagles’ “Best of my Love”, or Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, you should strive to bring something new to the table or don’t bother doing them at all (the originals, of course, being readily available to be enjoyed.)

Stewart has been an able interpreter of songs written by others, of course…Tom Waits’ “Downtown Train”, Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately”, Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready”, etc….and he could bring out unique nuances in his versions. Be here he just sings them in karaoke versions that are so much like (or, worse, so inferior to) the originals that they become instantly pointless to anyone other than a truly diehard Rod Stewart fan.

To be fair, Stewart’s take on Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son” is rather poignant and there’s some emotional weight to his cover of “Love Hurts” but for the most part the record just sort of comes and goes without making much of an impression (other than, perhaps, to remind us of how amazing “I’ll Stand by You” sounds when sung by Chrissie Hynde or what a grand a pop song “Day After Day” is when done by Badfinger.)

Still the Same indeed.

Heart of Mine: Love Songs of Bob Dylan

In the mid-Seventies, Maria Muldaur had a fluke top 40 hit with the charming novelty song “Midnight at the Oasis”; as far as I can remember she never hit the top 40 again. But during the ensuing years she has made a good number of wonderful albums...including great discs celebrating the blues, the music of Louisiana, and the immortal Miss Peggy Lee...combining the blues, folk, soul, gospel, and rock & roll into a tasty musical gumbo all her own.

This notion of combining Muldaur’s smoky… sweet, husky, and downright sexy….pipes with Bob Dylan’s poignant, poetic, heartfelt love songs was an inspired one (her record label’s president suggested a collection of Dylan songs after seeing a documentary on the man and Maria came up with the idea of doing Dylan love songs) and it pays off grandly on this delightful little collection.

With the able backing of a crack band, Muldaur puts a bluesy spin on Dylan tunes from different eras…some (a softly-sassy reading of “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”, a sultry “Lay Lady Lay” [recast here as “Lay Baby Lay”], a soulful twist on the oft-covered “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”) perhaps a bit more familiar than others (“Golden Loom”, “To Be Alone with You”)…and makes them smolder, sizzle, lope, swing, and soar with masterful aplomb.

When the celebratory “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”…with Muldaur playing some tasty fiddle…ends you’re surprised at how quickly 49 minutes have passed. Heart of Mine is a very worthy addition to the expansive body of Bob Dylan covers that have been recorded over the years.

Under the Covers, Volume 1

Years ago, Nick Lowe put out an album called Pure Pop for Now People (actually that was just the US title because the record company didn’t think the original title, Jesus of Cool, would go over well in the American market.) This disc, filled with buoyant covers of tunes from the 60’s and 70’s, embodies the title…it’s pure pop for now people of the 21^st Century and it’s perfectly groovy indeed.

Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet make a great team. Sweet plays most of the guitars here (and quite well indeed) and if his earnest voice is not in the same league with Hoffs’ creamy, soulful, beguiling vocals the blending of their voices works well just the same. Hoffs’ voice is more upfront in the mix most often and that was an excellent decision (Hoffs takes the lion’s share of the lead vocals here.) Van Dyke Parks plays keyboards and contributes string arrangements.

Recorded in Sweet’s home studio, this disc is filled with covers of interesting, intriguing songs…some better known than others. If their version of Bob Dylan’s world-weary “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is probably too sweet for its own good they hit the hail on the head with other songs such as their sprightly take on the Beatles’ Revolver gem “And Your Bird Can Sing” and their luminous reading of Fairport Convention’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”.

They dip into Neil Young’s songbook twice with “Cinnamon Girl” (which lacks the crunch and bite of the original but is enjoyable in its own right thanks mostly to Sweet’s tasty fretwork) and a jaunty “Everyone Knows This is Nowhere”.

Special kudos for them for their simply-grand acoustic version of “Alone Again Or” by the criminally underappreciated band Love.

There are 15 tracks in all including covers of The Beach Boys (a game “Warmth of the Sun”), The Bee Gees (the sweetly soaring “Run to Me”), The Who (the pure power pop goodness of “The Kids are Alright”), Linda Ronstadt (a note-perfect re-creation of “Different Drum”), Marmalade (the rollicking “I Can See the Sun”), The Velvet Underground (a lovely “Sunday Morning”), The Mamas and the Papas (a credible version of the oft-covered “Monday, Monday”), The Zombies (the sparkling “Care of Cell #44”), and The Left Banke (the bright pop of “She May Call You Up Tonight”).

This is a marvelous pop record and I hope the “Volume 1” in the title means that there’s a possibly of an encore because I would certainly welcome “Volume 2” with open arms.

Rock Swings

Paul Anka singing swing versions of songs by the likes of Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Soundgarden, Oasis, and REM? I was so ready to rip on this when I heard about it. But then I cued it up on Real Rhapsody and started to listen and...who'da'thunk it?...I couldn't. Damn, if it doesn't work.

The old pro didn't goof on the songs (as I imagined he might) but he treated them with respect and the new swing charts are tastefully arranged and played. It might not be everybody's cup of tea but, for my part, it's fun, entertaining, and even illuminating (as an old school pop singer, Anka takes special care of the lyrics of a song.)

Anka's seasoned croon is well matched with ballads like REM's "Everybody Hurts", Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven", Lionel Richie's "Hello", and Spandau Ballet's "True", of course, but the revelation is how well rockers like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", and Van Halen's "Jump" adapt to the sweetly swinging arrangements and Anka's nuanced vocals.

Wow. What a delightful surprise.

Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix

Over the years, two of the fastest growing sub-sections of my ever-burgeoning CD collection are pop Christmas albums and tribute discs. I am unabashed in my appreciation of both of these “genres” in all of their often ragged glory.

When it comes to tribute albums they are almost always a mixed bag filled with too many slavish, pale imitations of the original tunes. But sometimes a bit of magic happens and a tribute becomes just that. That is, tribute to (instead of a pointless copy of) the original artist’s work with an inspired and (hopefully) pleasing twist (my feeling about any cover is that if you’re not going to try to bring something new to the table why bother doing it all?)

Jimi Hendrix has been the subject of a fair number of tribute albums…in fact this disc is, in a roundabout way, a sequel to 1993’s sometimes-interesting Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (the Hendrix family used the proceeds from that disc to establish a scholarship fund…this disc, compiled under the auspices of the family, will benefit the same fund.)

Hendrix was, of course, a spectacularly unique artist and so finding new colors in his songs will prove difficult. Musiq’s tepid cover of “Are You Experienced?” which opens this collection (following a brief shout out from Henrix’s dad Al) didn’t bode well for the rest of the disc.

But things pick up after that…and, this being a Hendrix tribute, they do so when the guitars soar and shine.

Santana’s version of “Spanish Castle Magic” is hampered by Corey Glover’s mannered vocals but still manages to soar thanks to Carlos Santana’s shimmering fretwork. Prince (aided and abetted by bassist Larry Graham) slips comfortably into blues shoes with “Purple House” (“Red House” renamed for no good reason that I can tell) while guitarist John McLaughlin brings a sweet intensity to Sting’s cover of “The Wind Cries Mary”.

Earth, Wind & Fire are in surprisingly strong form with a funky “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”. A choral version of “Castles Made of Sand” by Sounds of Blackness is an interesting, if not completely successful, experiment. Bootsy Collins with George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars are surprisingly tame on the title tune as is Eric Clapton on “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” (Clapton’s fiery version of Stone Free’s title track was one of the highlights of that disc.)

Chaka Khan and Kid Rock’s guitarist Kenny Olson bring a soulful intensity to their take on “Little Wing” while Robert Randolph’s stellar slide guitar enlivens an otherwise unremarkable “Purple Haze” (which the Cure covered to more interesting effect on Stone Free.)

There’s some nimble playing on Eric Gales’ “May This Be Love” that almost, but not quite, overcomes his pedestrian vocals. Cee-Lo takes a game stab at “Foxey Lady” but it’s too much of a copy of the original to be really interesting.

Power of Soul saves two of its best shots for last: the late great John Lee Hooker preaching the blues with his version of “Red House” and the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan (with Double Trouble) blazing soulfully through a previously unreleased live 12-minute instrumental “Little Wing/Third Stone from the Sun” medley (recorded for the fabled “King Biscuit Flower Hour” back in 1983.)

Will Hendrix purists like this “tribute”? Probably not (maybe I’m wrong, not being one myself I’m not completely sure.) But I think it’s a truly heartfelt tribute collection just the same and worthy of some attention for that.

Hendrix’s versions of most of these tunes can be found on the 2-disc Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection that came out back in ’01. It's a fine introduction to his amazing work.