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Listening to tribute CDs is a lot like going to a foreign country - there are some big differences and there are some little differences, and you either appreciate them and enjoy what's around you, or you spend your time complaining about how it ain't the way it's supposed to be. The only way to tell if the trip was worth it or if one should've stayed home is to go. Thankfully, tribute CDs are much cheaper than vacations in foreign countries.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd is how it actually manages to cultivate more interest in Pink Floyd's original music. It does this by showing how many different ways the actual songs of Pink Floyd can be done, and how interesting the music remains even when run through another genre's monster garage to come out looking totally other. This doesn't always work, but there's that subjectivity part again. Some standouts for this reviewer were:
"Sheep" (Numira) - For the most rabid fans of Animals (such as myself), the missing synth fades on the vocals and the missing vocoder on the parody of the 23rd Psalm are the only real noticeable differences between this and the original. Virtually everyone else won't notice a single difference at all. Near the end, there is a wonderful nod to the original lyrics that I'll just leave as a small surprise for whomever else gets these CDs.
"Wish You Were Here" (Sally Semrad) - Yes, probably the single most-covered song in cafés and pubs the world over, Sally's version avoids all that and eases further into the realms of interpretation. The familiar chords of "Wish You Were Here" are played with an accordion and have a heavier reliance on vocals to carry the song. Sally delivers emotion that is not so much feminine because a woman sings it, but because her inflection is so wistful it's almost condemning to hear the lyrics coming from her. A major favorite of mine.
"Money" (Yortoise) - By the time Yortoise is done with "Money," it sounds like something Syd Barrett would have produced had he not gone slightly mad and had he maybe hooked up with Scott Walker a couple times in the early 1970s. The sarcasm and angst of the original is still there (maybe even more so), but the blues style is gone in an onslaught of progressive-leaning styles. Yortoise changes the whole riff, keeping the weird odd time signature and encourages the bass player to wander in a way that would've made Waters throw up from vertigo. They threw in a baritone sax (nice touch!) with instructions to honk on mightily as if he were attempting to imitate dear ol' Roger ranting in his prime.
"Young Lust" (John Law) - Dark, dense, and weird, this track sounds like maybe Nick Mason spent a little too much time hanging around with The Damned, traveled back in time a bit, took a lot of something brooding, and re-produced this song himself. Keep an ear open for the banjo in this song (it's unconventionally used), and just sit back and prepare to be disturbed by a modern take on what young lust really is. My favorite track on this entire set, it very nearly betters the original.
Jon Nelson
JamBase | New Mexico
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