Jeremy Morris has his testimonial sung back to him by friends on this tribute album. The fourteen songs are prefaced with some heartfelt tributes from everyone involved and then it's off we go.
Firstly is Lisa Mychols' take on 'Pop Rules' which has power pop energy bursting from it with cool Farfisa style organ lines and slightly sneery vocals from Lisa, a great start. Next is 'When You See Her' by Shplang, which is light and airy and almost has a Syd Barrett like innocence about it, with a fantastic dreamy arrangement to hang it all on, this is a beautiful piece of music. The Lolas tackle 'I'm Flying' and again is a power pop gem, full of bright guitars and top flight vocal harmonies, whilst Goldoolins give 'What Are Friends For' a beautiful light jazzy reading. Herb Eimerman gives 'Walking In The Sunshine' the feel of lost and rediscovered 60's pop classic and this is followed by The Shambles reading of 'It's Getting Better' with it's high energy and perfect power pop vocals that are hard to ignore. The piano balladry of 'You're Not Alone' is deftly accompanied by Kat Parsons' 'heartbroken' vocal style and is a perfect 'comedown' interlude to the proceedings. Phil Angotti wraps 12 string guitars around 'Love Is Alive' to great effect and The Ringles give a cool fuzzy guitar backdrop to 'Highway To Heaven'. Glowfriends give a dreamy performance on the brief but beautiful 'Sleep Good' and The Hipnotes lend a slightly dark and sullen tone to 'All I Need'. Stefan Johanssen puts a psychedelic spin on 'Happy Helmut', whilst 'Come To Me' by Mark Flora is a gentle jangly guitar workout topped off with some cool slide guitar and top notch harmony vocals. Lastly, Ed James weighs in with 'Chain Reaction' which has a beautiful melody and instrumentation sitting behind his irresistably uplifting vocals.
All the performances on this tribute album are high quality and give the listener two distinct inpressions, the first being that the standard of the songwriting was first class in the first place, making you want to hear more and the second is that all the artists on here have advertised themselves brilliantly and make you want to go and listen to them all individually. A great album and a worthy addition to any record collection.
Reviewed by Kevin Wallbank of M100 and Honeymoon on Mars 03/21/09
The Lolas, Phil Angotti, Lisa Mychols, The Shambles, The Ringles, Herb Eimerman, Kat Parsons, Ed James, Mark Flora, Glowfriends, Goldoolins, Shplang, Stefan Johanssen, and The Hipnotes. The tribute cd features photos and bios of each artist along with commentaries from Gary Pig Gold, David Bash, John Borack and others.
1 Voices 2 Pop Rules-Lisa Mychols 3 When You See Her-Shplang 4 I'm Flying-The Lolas 5 What Are Friends For-Goldoolins 6 Walking In The SUnshine-Herb Eimerman 7 It's Getting Better-The Shambles 8 You're Not Alone-Kat Parsons 9 Love Is Alive-Phil Angotti 10 Highway To Heaven-The Ringles 11 Sleep Good-Glowfriends 12 All I Need-The Hipnotes 13 Happy Helmut-Stefan Johanssen 14 Come To Me-Mark Flora 15 Chain Reaction-Ed James
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