THE ANATOMY OF...

I will start this by saying that I am not a huge fan of cover albums. I don't count them alongside their main discography. They get their own section. Don't get me wrong. I love a good cover song as much as anyone else. I just prefer them live and not in the studio. Sure, it helps support bands that influence the bands that influence us. Great for them.

Jazz composers/performers are great for transforming songs or even albums or plays into their own. Most particularly John Coltrane (My Favorite Things), George Benson (I Want You (You're so heavy)/White Rabbit/Summertime/Take Five), Buddy Rich (West Side Story), etc.

Rock, Metal, and Prog has great covers they make their own too. Metallica (Garage Inc.) , Ben Harper (Steal My Kisses), Spock's Beard (Beware of Darkness), Jimi Hendrix (All Along the Watchtower), Lenny Kravitz (American Woman), Alien Ant Farm (Smooth Criminal), Emporer (A fine day to die/Funeral Fog), etc.

All of these bands make the covers their own.

This album IMO falls short in that department. Most of the tracks sound more like a tribute to the original than a rendition. Tracks 2, 4, and 12 come to mind.

The ones that impressed me the most were tracks 3, 9, 13, and most importantly track 5. Their cover of KC's Three of a Perfect Pair is done with both passion and honor. Justice prevails on this track.

This album is a bit of a lame collection of songs to me. If it weren't for track 5 and that their musicianship is outstanding no matter what I would give this two stars. Their grasp of tonal harmony is commendable and they prove with each album they are progressing. By judging their first album I would say this isn't the same band on these covers. By judging their second you could believe it's them but still feel they would have fallen shorter than what is here.

Three stars for great musicianship despite lacking any originality.