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Random quote: 'The bad news is, we look like aging drag queens. The good news is, we always looked like aging drag queens.' -- Dee Snider
Sin-atra CD review
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George
Posted 2011-03-29 9:12 AM (#27061)
Subject: Sin-atra CD review
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Nearly A Band Member

Posts: 2072
2000501010
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13240901&page=1

Again Dee is the Best

Various Artists "Sin-atra" (Eagle Rock)

Just what makes those heavy metal rockers

Think they can sing like 'ol Frank Sinatra?

Everyone knows a rocker can't sound like Sinatra

But they've got high hopes.

And some of those hopes are even justified on "Sin-atra," an interesting and most unexpected heavy metal tribute album to Frank Sinatra. This is where the Chairman of the Board meets the power chord.

The best here — by far — is Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider's version of "It Was A Very Good Year," a preening, insistent remake somewhat reminiscent of Queen's "Innuendo" that lets Snider stretch his vocal talents into the higher ranges while remaining true to the spirit of the original.

Most of the songs on "Sin-atra" fall into two distinct categories: those that embrace the melody that was Sinatra's hallmark, and those that bash melody in the head, stomp on its broken body, and then floss with it. Falling firmly into the latter category is the opener, "New York, New York" by Strapping Young Lad's Devin Townsend. This track is so aggressively, over-the-top awful that it sounds like a bad Jack Black parody. The screams, growls and campy ringmaster-like asides will doubtless have Francis Albert Sinatra spinning in his grave.

"High Hopes" by Franky Perez of Scars on Broadway, and "Love And Marriage" by Elias Soriano of Nonpoint, are also Sinatra heresy: The hardcore, Pantera-like menace just doesn't work here.

The melodic camp fares much better, led by Queensryche's Geoff Tate on "Summerwind." His soaring vocals perfectly fit the bill here, capturing the smoothness and class that defined Sinatra's music, only four registers higher.

Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion) is seemingly everywhere these days, and he's here, too, adding a soulful bluesy turn on "I've Got You Under My Skin."

Former Judas Priest singer Tim "Ripper" Owens shoots and scores with "Witchcraft." The remake would have made an excellent Judas Priest song.

Cheap Trick's Robin Zander tackles "Fly Me To The Moon," but his softer-edged vocals clash with the harsh foundation of the track's guitar, bass and drums. Mr. Big's Eric Martin fares better on "Lady Is A Tramp," and it's worth the entire price of the album just to hear Anthrax's Joey Belladonna croon "doo-be-doo-be-doo" on "Strangers In The Night."

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: Warrant's Jani Lane closes out the disc with a decent remake of "That's Life," with a tasty guitar solo from Richie Kotzen. But what this track really proves is how much better David Lee Roth did it 25 years ago, with a lot more of the Sinatra swagger and showmanship that really pushes the song across the finish line.

George
Posted 2011-03-30 4:21 PM (#27075 - in reply to #27061)
Subject: RE: Sin-atra CD review
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Nearly A Band Member

Posts: 2072
2000501010
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/03/frank-sinatra-heavy-metal-dee-snider-album.html

3 out of 4 stars not bad

Frank Sinatra may well be spinning in his grave over the heavy metal hijacking of a dozen cornerstone numbers from his repertoire for "Sin-atra," but given the testosterone-drenched machismo that was central to the way he lived his life and sometimes sang, there's actually a certain twisted logic to this shotgun marriage.

In fact, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider sounds utterly credible reminiscing about the heady days of his carefree youth, girls and life in limos in "It Was a Very Good Year," the common house band's distorted guitars and Marshall stacks strafing overhead and the rhythm section thunder rumbling below. Latter-day Judas Priest vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens is suitably demonic on "Witchcraft," Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes bellows like there's more at work than just love as he sings "I've Got You Under My Skin" and Anthrax screamer Joey Belladonna inhabits "Strangers in the Night" as a credo of the metal man's hedonistic lifestyle.

Sinatra's swagger, braggadocio and over-the-top emotional climaxes are all here, though the sublime nuance at which he also was so adept apparently was checked at the recording studio door.

The singers benefit from the healthy sense of humor required to even attempt a project as brazen as this. If there are any victims of the whole affair, it may be the composers of these classic tunes: Cole Porter, Cy Coleman, Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn, Harold Arlen and other masters of the Great American songbook whose exquisite melodies and lyrics are taken on a rollercoaster ride through the musical underworld.

But hey, as Frank himself might have said, "That's Life."

-- Randy Lewis

Various Artists

"SIN-ATRA"

Armoury Records

Three stars (out of four)

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