Released By : Armoury Records
Genre : Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Tribute Album
Links : http://www.eagle-rock.com/
Tracklist:
01. New York, New York [feat. Devin Townsend]
02. I’ve Got You Under My Skin [feat. Glenn Hughes]
03. Summerwind [feat. Geoff Tate]
04. It Was a Very Good Year [feat. Dee Snider]
05. Witchcraft [feat. Tim “Ripper” Owens]
06. Fly Me to the Moon [feat. Robin Zander]
07. Lady Is a Tramp [feat. Eric Martin]
08. Strangers in the Night [feat. Belladonna]
09. High Hopes [feat. Franky Perez]
10. I’ve Got the World on a String [feat. Doug Pinnick]
11. Love and Marriage [feat. Elias Soriano]
12. That’s Life [feat. Jani Lane]
The simple fact here is that this album never stood a chance of really working. Sure these are absolute classic songs that may well get a re-introduction to a new audience via this release, but the approach taken with some of these songs falls flat. I guess the biggest surprise for me personally when I listened to this album was that I never realized just how many Frank Sinatra songs I actually knew all the words to! (Basically every song on this collection if you were wondering).
Though the majority of the cuts here aren’t really anything to get excited about, there is a few however that are actually quite brilliant. Probably none more so than the ever-frantic DEVIN TOWNSEND who takes New York, New York apart and reconstructs it in his own weird way…Don’t ask me how, but for some reason this track is absolutely excellent. The king of the freaks DEE SNIDER absolutely nails a kick-ass version IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR and we find him in as good a touch as he’s been in a long time. ERIC MARTIN’S version of LADY IS A TRAMP was a highlight for me, but to be honest I could listen to this guy sing just about anything (Except for the horrible Japanese only Mr. Vocalist releases, but don’t get me started on those) so that may be a bit of a biased choice. Jani Lane also (As much as I personally can’t stand the guy) brings his A-game here for a great run through THAT’S LIFE.
There is also a few disasters here too but I won’t get into them too much here…Suffice to say though Joey Belladonna may be a very favored artist, but his version of STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT….uughhh!! It also pains me to say that GLENN HUGHES’ version of I’ve GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN is pretty disappointing too.
It’s hard to see where the market for this album lies… Obviously olden day Sinatra fans will have a heart attack if they ever venture out far enough to sample these versions of some timeless tunes, and hard rock fans for the part would usually demand more than some of the sub-par efforts here, but for all of its downfalls there is definitely something about it that draws you in. Be sure to check it out, just as a curio if nothing else.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 7/10
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