Reviews
Various Artists
Look At All The Love We Found
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-07-12
This is one of the most fitting tribute albums that I could review, few people probably know (given my taste for hard rock and punk rock) that Sublime is probably my favourite band all-time. I say probably because who really knows, theres a lot at the top they just usually find their way to the top of my CD playlist and I own each record they released, all of them are great from front to back. The concept of this album is that a compilation of artists came together to cover various Sublime songs in tribute to them as artists, some of these bands include: Jack Johnson, No Doubt, Fishbone, G Love, and Pennywise just to name a few. So there aren't any really big names but Sublime didn't really ever get to superstar status so I wouldn't imagine you'd see U2 covering Sublime anytime soon. Anyways Sublime for those of you unaware kind of perfected the dub/punk genre, in that they successfully mixed a DJ element to a ska or punk band, and then to top it off they had Brad Nowell as the lead singer. Nowell was an amazing vocalist, I say was because his death was a result of the band not existing anymore. Dan, some friends of ours, and I have had this question about dead musicians, the question was: If you could make one dead musician come back to life to create more music which one would you chose? Mine was of course Bradley, but I know theres lots of options, I was just curious what the rest of you thought. Anyways this is a saga, a saga thats been heard before but never quite in this order or by these people, so lets just see if various artists still have enough to interest me in one of my favourite bands.
Track one is "Badfish/Boss DJ" which is by Jack Johnson. It is a really well done cover, and its all in acoustic, I would say that its odd that I like it. Jack Johnson has a good voice so I can't fault him there I suppose, and if there was one thing I could praise Nowell about it was his vocals. The song really is just chill in nature, just like the original they are almost mirror images. I suppose since he didn't butcher it, that it makes it a success, and thats good because the more Sublime exposure the better, I mean I could see myself buying this if it were cheap but other than that it doesn't make sense to me because I own these songs already. Well I suppose I don't own them...since I only own Nowell's versions, so I guess its conceivable I could get this CD on the weekend. Yeah I flip flop sometimes, anyways I would say that this is a good song for sure, it reminds me of the good ole days when I would smoke pot and chill out to Sublime, whereas nowadays I smoke pot and chill out to Transplants or The GO! Team.
I want to try and mention most of the well done covers, so I'll probably exclude the bad ones. Now depending on who you ask about track thirteen "April 29th, 1992 (Miami)" by Ozomatli, they may or may not like the interpretation. I think its fine, it is clear that Ozomatli is some form of reggae/hip-hop artist, which is clearly part of his mix of this song. This is one of my favourite songs all time by Sublime, so I am disappointed that someone I haven't heard of does the cover but to be honest I don't mind it. If you don't know what the song is about it is about a riot on that date in Miami, you know the one with "wanna let it burn, wanna let it burn, wanna let it burn, wanna wanna let it burn." Ozomatli actually mixes the orignal vocal track by Nowell into that portion of the song to give it that vintage feel and also the appearance that they are singing together in the studio. The song is from the Self-titled album, which is also probably their best album, most people would probably agree with that statement, to be honest I don't think I've met someone that thinks a different album is the best.
Another one of my favourites and probably their most well received song "What I Got" is track two on the disc. It is performed by a few people or rappers or bands, I'm not really sure what the hell is going on, but its Michael Franti, Spearhead & Gi. So I think its a Jamaican rapper (he sounds like Shaggy), and Michael Franti I think does all the music and regular singing while the other two just do most of the background. Franti seems to have a nice voice, its weird he's got backup singers that are rappers. The beat and music that is provided is something that I like, as the song progresses actually Franti allows Spearhead & Gi to take over on the song, they start singing the verses while he just comes in to sing the part about how love is what I got, while they rap over top of that. I suppose I was expecting something different, its totally a neat song, just not really what I wanted from a cover of "What I Got".
No Doubt as I mentioned does a song on this album, they go with "DJ's" and its track sic on the disc. At the beginning of the song you can clearly tell they are doing this song live for a band in concert, as they are screaming like idiots the whole time, they manage to make the recording sound a bit better after the first little bit, so the quality of the song is good. "DJ's" is a very cool song from the 40 oz. to Freedom album, I was actually listening to older Sublime early this week. I've lately been in the mood to hear that type of music which is why I've been listening to Sublime and Bad Brains, hopefully I'll stumble onto a few more bands that sound like them or in the ballpark so that I can keep the dream alive. One thing I like is that Gwen does a little tribute to Brad at the beginning of the song and I like to think that from hearing No Doubt's sound you can tell that Sublime may have somewhat influenced them. In fact I suppose you could confirm that since they are singing their songs in concert and tributing them to him, so I think thats cool that Gwen does that, shows good appreciation for something that may have helped create their band. The best part I think about the song is that Gwen's vocals don't even change the song one bit, she has a great voice, I am not a fan of her solo crap but I do enjoy when she is in the context of No Doubt.
A sweet track and the last one I'll mention, its by a dude I've never heard named Camper Van Beethoven and its "Garden Love", track twelve. This song sounds remarkably like the original, so as far as the closest to the orignal goes, this one takes the cake. If you haven't heard it just download it, its from the Self-titled CD and its one of the top tracks they have. I know my bias has likely impaired the fairness of the review but to be honest if they had butchered Sublimes songs I would be the one to notice, I do know that any Sublime fan will enjoy this album. However with this tribute album released I would say thats the end of any Sublime releases, I mean they tried to milk it, with releasing several albums after Nowells death, but I just think they have exhausted their options at this point, so thats it there will be no more Sublime attached to an album worth or music. I guess that makes me a little sad but I'll get over it, any music after the death of the lead singer is more music than I thought I was getting. "Garden Grove" is actually the lead track on the Self-titled disc and I thought that was a sweet way to start off an album when I first heard it, so if you like that one this is certainly no downgrade.
Tracks to Steal: I'll just mention ones that are good that I didn't already talk about, "Same In the End" by Pennywise, "Santeria" by Avail, "Paddle Out" by The Ziggens, and pretty much most of the other ones too.
Did this tribute go as planned?
Do the bands bow to Sulblime as if they are the musical gods that give them purpose?
Judgment Passed:
Score: 8.7
Some of the rapping is lame so I have to deduct marks for that, can't give it a nine if you will dislike an element of the songs after you hear them 20 or so times.
- Brandon