Jump to content

Tribute album

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by W1P (talk | contribs) at 22:59, 23 July 2007 (→‎List of tribute albums). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of a specific artist's songs.

The birth of the 'modern' tribute album is often credited to record producer Hal Willner with the Amarcord Nino Rota LP in 1981. He followed up with tributes to Thelonious Monk, Disney cartoons, Kurt Weill, Charles Mingus and Harold Arlen.

Some tribute albums are created with a further conceptual twist than a simple collection of covers. These include:

  • Albums which aid the artist whose work is being covered. These include Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye, a tribute Roky Erickson, whose cult fame has not led to financial success, as well as the 2CD Orphans of God, a tribute to Mark Heard, a singer/songwriter whose work has been praised by fellow artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Victoria Williams, Sam Phillips and T-Bone Burnett. Victoria Williams is also the subject of such a tribute CD titled "Sweet Relief", as is Neil Young, whose songs are covered by popular alternative rock artists on a CD titled "The Bridge."
  • Albums consisting of one artist performing only songs by another artist, such as Great Zeppelin, a tribute album for Led Zeppelin, performed solely by Great White or Wicked Grin, a collection of Tom Waits songs performed by John Hammond Jr.. The Persuasions, The Inmates, The Smithereens have each recorded tribute CDs entirely containing songs by The Beatles.
  • Albums consisting of cover songs performed in a different style of music than that of their original performers. These include Is It Rolling Bob?: A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan and Goth Oddity 2000: A Tribute to David Bowie. Other examples include reggae, cuban and ambient lounge compilations consisting solely of songs by The Beatles.
  • Albums which recreate a specific album with cover versions of songs from that album. These include Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Booker T. & the M.G.'s' McLemore Avenue, which covers all the songs from The Beatles' Abbey Road, and More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander "Skip" Spence, which recreates Spence's only album Oar.
  • Albums consisting of cover songs sung in another language. These include Tributo a the Cure - Porque No Puedo Ser Tu (1999) and Tributo a Queen: Los Grandes del Rock en Español (1997).
  • Albums consisting of cover songs performed by artists who influenced the band being covered, rather than those influenced by that band. These include Sharin' in the Groove: Celebrating the Music of Phish.
  • Albums made to commemorate the loss of a cherished artist. These include So Amazing: A Tribute to Luther Vandross, recorded shortly after his death.

Some albums titled and marketed as "tributes" to well-known musical figures are effectively sound-alikes or knock-offs, recorded by anonymous session musicians or performers of no distinction.

List of tribute albums

Please note that this list is not and most likely never will be complete.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tribute_album&oldid=146633231"