CD Smash Records has put together a tribute to Chicago's pride Enuff Z'Nuff. 15 bands salute
Enuff Z'nuff's unique crossover of Beatles Rock with pop and Hard Rock influences.
Dim sound like
Enuff Z'nuff 2003 with John Monaco on vocals.
New Thing sounds very alike the original, which of course is great and Dim have successfully captured Derek Frigo's guitar sound.
It's always funny when tribute bands come up with a little twist to the song. The Millions start
Fly High Michelle backwards. Otherwise the version is very alike
Enuff Z'nuff. The singer really puts his heart and soul in this touching ballad.
Best of Seven play a high standard version of
Baby Loves You. They even got
Donnie Vie to do the background vocals. Singer Shane's voice blends in perfectly with Donnie's characteristic vocal in the background.
The beautiful Beatles-like piano ballad
Someday off "Paraphernalia" is performed acoustically by Shawn Mars. Shawn Mars does a good job, even though he doesn't hit the same magical notes as Donnie does on the ballad. The bombastic ending suffers a little from being performed acoustic. However, an electric guitar kicks in and plays the melody line of Donnie's outro vocals.
Canada's
Crash Kelly have picked a recent
Enuff Z'nuff tune. After listening to
Crash Kelly's debut album their version of
There Goes My Heart is too sweet.
Enuff Z'nuff's version should have been a huge hit, since it's so catchy.
Crash Kelly maintains the catchy appeal, but overall it sounds too cheesy. This was a perfect excuse to deviate from the original and make a new kick ass version.
R50 do an honorable job on
Heaven Or Hell. Again close to the original and well performed. However, I do miss Derek Frigo's unique playing on top of this Rock song.
R50 performs Heaven Or
Hell in 4th gear, while it should have been played in 5th gear.
Barely Pink is among the highlights on this tribute. Props up for changing the main riff a little bit.
Ain't it Funny is performed in the true EZN vein, but with Barely Pink's trademark on it. They vary the riff by playing it EZN style at the end the song.
Overall I advertise for the artists to put their personal trademark on the songs or change them a bit. Receiver have done that and I should praise them for their effort. I just think that
For Now has lost something in the happy upbeat shuffle rhythm on the verse. The verse slows down in phases and is quite ingenious the entertaining way. A different version.
My favorite on this tribute is Willie Hines performing
I Could Never Be Without You in an all acoustic version. The song is among my personal
Enuff Z'nuff favorites. Willie Hines' version sounds very full. An additional guitar plays Frigo's guitar fills on the verse. I have a few bootlegs where Chip and Donnie play this song acoustic and I always thought that it came alive unplugged. Willie Hines exceeds my expectations with a version that celebrates and honors the original. Also an acoustic solo adds more flavor to the song.
Willie Hines kicks off an acoustic section on the CD. WWJLD performs an excellent acoustic version of
Day by Day. Again a full sound from the 2 acoustic guitars playing and once again another great performance.
Blue Island is among my favorite
Enuff Z'nuff songs. Therefore the odds were uneven for Jim Crean and Phil Naro to match the original. Jim Crean voices sounds too produced. Phil Naro adds backing vocals and with only one acoustic guitar, this version sounds a bit fragile in my opinion.
None of the singers match Donnie's pipes or come even close.
Zion James perform a solid version of
One Step Closer To You. Their slowed down version has its own trademark caused by lead singer
Zion James's unique voice and the use of handclaps on the chorus.
The pop song
Your Hearts No Good is played true to the original. After a pop song it was nice to hear
Seven Wishes blasting out a heavy version of
Freak. The intro sounds really heavy with distorted guitars and great artificial harmonics almost Frigo style.
Freak is an EZN tune after the Frigo era, since its featured on the brilliant "Paraphernalia" album from 1999.
Seven Wishes also changed the middle play leading to the guitar solo and the guitar solo is
Seven Wishes' own fabrication as well. I have seen
Seven Wishes warm up for
Enuff Z'nuff in Manchester, England and Mannheim, Germany and I think it's really cool that they salute
Enuff Z'nuff with this great cover of Freak.
Long Way To Go is featured in a live version. I am sure that it could blend in nicely with most power rock bands material. The song is supposed to kick ass and Frankenstein 3000 manages to do that with this sweaty live version.
The bonus track is from the man responsible for all tracks on this tribute - most co-written with Chip of course.
Donnie Vie's solo track
She Forgets is actually an old Enuff Z'Nuff demo, which I have under the moniker
She's in Love. The version is "home made" in Donnie's studio and it sounds a bit too cheesy. The sound is too sweet and I miss some edge to it, since keyboards dominate it. The simple means guitar, bass and drums always work in my book.
The album includes many top class performances and overall the album surpasses my expectations. The tribute maintains a high standard even though it lacks big shots names on it. In spite of the fact that
Enuff Z'nuff never managed to sell shiploads of records, they inspired lots of bands. This is a great way for the included bands to return the favor and salute the band. For a fan it's great to see other bands saluting the band we love so much and thereby giving them recognition.
Of course nothing compares to the originals, but overall this is a great tribute to an overlooked band.
Written by
Michael Thursday, November 13, 2003
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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