Tribute To Paul Desmond, A - John Basile Quartet

Advantages: Recognisable tunes
Disadvantages: Neither fish nor foul. Best stick to the original

..., as here, are reproductions of a single album track by track. Their output to date has been both prodigious, varied and at times esoteric with features on such names as Led Zeppelin, Bjork, David Bowie, Madonna and Yanni. At the last count Vitamin Records lists 198 titles!! So who are "The String Quartet Tribute"? Well, despite my best research efforts I'm still not too sure. I'm not even clear whether 'Tribute' is part of the group's name or whether it belongs in the title of each of their albums. They are led, at least in this instance, by Todd Mark Rubinstein who plays cello and bass. On the album under review the other performers are David Davison - 1st violin - and Paul Tobias - viola and 2nd violin (hey - doesn't that make a trio?!). They are joined on three tracks variously by Dominic Hradek (cello), Wesley Hredek (violin), Johnny... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: All time classic tracks, great feel
Disadvantages: None I could find

...can be heard clapping and singing “Boy you’re going to carry that weight, carry that weight! It has quite a weak ending though, it sort of peters out! The Fool On The Hill 3:09 Another Beatles classic played on the piano, with accordion and keyboard, as with most Beatles songs you can tell what they are after the first 2-3 chords, the crowd react with a loud cheer. I was singing along quite madly to this, maybe I am that fool on the hill!! Here Today 2:28 This was a song that Paul wrote after the death of John Lennon, as a tribute to him. It is played solo on an acoustic, it really made me feel quite emotional, especially the line “I am holding back the tears no more”. I really love this track, and always have. There is some good use of echo. Something 2:33 This is Paul’s tribute to George Harrison (who died the year... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: You can see the concert on DVD
Disadvantages: You get a lot of audience shots and documentary

...Paul McCartney’s ‘Back in the US’ concert tour of America in 2002 was captured on DVD. An icon of pop music, he changed countless lives and carved his name through whole cultures. Here he can be seen playing over thirty songs, live in front of huge audiences. Paul McCartney is a giant of musical creativity and a great singer and performer still rightly venerated by most of the world forty years after he first became famous. For those of us who were fortunate enough to have grown up in the 1960s there were other giants. John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, The Who, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin… the list goes on. What we didn’t know then is how spoilt we were. We thought that this standard of song writing and musical innovation was quite normal. Time has marched... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful