Choppers

By-the-numbers cover song collection:
This is a collection of cover songs put out by a New Jersey based company called Turn Up The Music (known for their "Drew's Famous..." series). They have a history for issuing all sorts of compilations, covering many different styles of music. The tunes here are all classic rock radio staples and they are done by a cover band known as The Hit Crew. The theme behind this compilation matches the title, "Choppers." It is meant to be a collection for motorcycle enthusiasts or maybe for use at parties. The packaging on here is the worst thing. It comes in a cardboard slipcase type thing that does not protect the compact disc inside too well. That means the cd could get covered with dust, so you might want to consider using a jewel case since this is certainly not adequate. The other thing is that you do not know who the musicians are that play on this cd. The band credited is The Hit Crew, but who is The Hit Crew? Obviously, studio musicians (or so it seems), but it would be nice to see someone get credit for their work. I don't suppose it matters, though. It is worth addressing some poor reviews that these Turn Up The Music/Drew's Famous compilations receive. First of all, these do not promote "original hits by original artists." It does state that it is new recordings by a house band. Nor do you see the names of the bands who did these songs in the first place (other than the songwriting credits) and when that happens, you shouldn't expect the original versions. The songs here are as follows, with the original artist in paranthesis: "Back in Black" (AC/DC) "Cat Scratch Fever" (Ted Nugent) "Born to be wild" (Steppenwolf) "Hot Blooded" (Foreigner) "Welcome to the Jungle" (Guns N' Roses) "Legs" (ZZ Top) "Bad to the Bone" (George Thorogood & The Destroyers) "American Woman" (The Guess Who had the best known version) "Wanted Dead or Alive" (Bon Jovi) "Free Bird" (Lynyrd Skynyrd) None of the cover tunes measures up to the original versions. They are all straight-forward covers without the same fire that the original artists had. There is nothing new done with these songs. The running times on some of these songs, like "Born to be Wild" and "Free Bird" are noticeably shorter. However, this band does do a good job. If you go in knowing that these are cover versions, it is a lot easier to enjoy this. After a few listens, you even get accustomed to the tracks on "Choppers." I did (and still do) question if there really is a rhythm section on this album, especially since no musicians are credited. The music itself sounds faithful to the original players. Turn Up The Music/Drew's Famous does market karaoke releases and I've wondered if these aren't karaoke tracks with a vocalist on top of them. It is tough to tell if it is the same guy singing each of these songs or if the label employs a few different singers. Whatever the case, the person singing each song does a good job of mimicking the vocals from the original singer. Overall, the song "Legs" comes out the best. While they are done ok, "Back in Black" and "Free Bird" (which loses the intro/mid-section) are probably the weakest cuts here. It's hard to determine what type of audience would be interested in this cd. My purchase was out of curiosity and knowing full well it is cover songs (since I've purchased from Turn Up The Music before). It is worth saying that if you are in a crowded bar with a lot of noise and this cd running in the background, it would be hard to tell that most of these are not the original versions. A younger music fan could certainly enjoy this cd, as well, and it might prompt him or her to go out and get the original (and best) versions of these songs. It's not too hard to see this sort of release introducing some new and/or younger fans to the classic rock genre. The three stars are for the price and the adequate recordings of some great classic rock hit songs. Overall, the performances fall slightly under "tribute album quality" but they do rise above your average karaoke night or bar band. I wouldn't recommend this to a so-called "purist", but if you are already a fan of the Turn Up The Music/Drew's Famous series or are looking for something a little different from the norm, give this one a listen.

A Fake???:
This CD has some good songs on it, Such as "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, and "Back in Black" by ACDC. At first everything sounds great, but after listening to the songs a few times, you begin to realize that they don't really sound like they should. After realizing this, I decided to find out for sure, I grabbed a Guns N' Roses CD from my collection, and compared the two versions of "Welcome to the Jungle". Quite apparently, the song on what I had thought to be a CD with a great combination of some good songs, was not authentic. It was not Guns N' Roses. As a matter of fact, "Back in Black" sounds sort of like Jimi Hendrix trying to imitate Brian Johnson (ACDC's lead vocalist). So I recommend this CD, as long as you are not depending on the actual versions of the songs.