VARIOUS ARTISTS-SIN-ATRA

Eagle Rock Entertainment
2011

Time for my Monday morning confession. I like Frank Sinatra. I have tons of his LPs and even a few CDs somewhere around here. That is just how I roll. Even if it makes no sense to anyone else I've always loved Ol' Blue Eyes and this isn't the first time I've seen his work covered in an "alternative" fashion. At one point I had the "Chairman Of The Bored: A Tribute To Frank Sinatra" punk compilation. And just like that compilation took quite a few liberties with the songs SIN-ATRA takes the basic premise of Frank's songs and then runs wild with them.Seeing as this gives them the old metal treatment (and features a who's who of metal screamer's like Dee Snider, Robin Zander, Glenn Hughes, Joey Belladonna, Geoff Tate, Tim “Ripper” Owens, Eric Martin, and Doug Pinnick) you can't take this too serious. This is just sit back and enjoy territory. Produced by Bob Kulick ( of KISS/ Meat Loaf fame) and Brett Chassen (who play guitar and drums respectively) with executive producer Wendy Dio the studio groups is rounded out by Billy Sheehan (bass) and Doug Katsaros (keyboards, orchestration). Also making an appearance as lead guitarist on “That’s Life” is guitarist Richie Kotzen . "New York,New York" kicks things off with Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad) taking the mic. What was funny about the track was that there were moments when Townsend reminded me of Tim Curry as he did this sinister take on the classic. Very cool. "I've Got You Under My Skin" w/ Glenn Hughes passed me by with little notice however "Summerwind" w/ Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche) was sweet. I'm not the world's biggest Queensrÿche by any means. That said the song had an almost epic feel to it. I just loved Dee Snider's (Twisted Sister) cover of "It Was A Very Good Year". Turning Frank's song into what sounded like Dee Snider fronting Metallica is pure genius. Tim Owen's take on "Witchcraft" sounded too forced. "Fly Me To The Moon" w/ Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) isn't too bad. "Lady Is A Tramp" w/ Eric Martin (Mr. Big) is like a cross between bad lounge music and good blues rock. The way Eric Martin gets into it though along with the excellent lead guitar work makes it fun though. Now "Strangers In The Night" is a favorite Sinatra song of mine so I was curious to see what Joey Belladonna (Anthrax) would do with it. Let's just say that Joey wouldn't have been my first choice and that I'm hoping he is saving his best for the new Anthrax album. "High Hopes" gets the Franky Perez (Scars On Broadway) punk rock touch. "I’ve Got The World On A String" w/ Doug Pinnick (King’s X) I enjoyed. Having seen King's X live it still amazes me that Doug Pinnick sounds as good in a small venue as he does in the studio. "Love And Marriage" features Elias Soriano (Nonpoint) and is heavy and again offers another almost punk feeling to the song. It's twisted and has a smirky edge going for it. The disc closes with Jani Lane's "That's Life" and unlike Doug Pinnick you can tell they glossed over his vocals. I remember seeing Jani Lane with Warrant years ago when they toured with Poison, Cinderella and Enuff Z Nuff. He sounded dreadful so I have no doubt they did a lot of work in the studio to help him out. Now is that wrong? I mean Ozzy has been doing that as well for years now so who am I to say. And before you ask the concert was a birthday gift for my wife. Yes I really do love her that much. Anyway, back to the album. As I said these types of albums are not supposed to be taken serious. There's some some fun songs and some duds. You normally get that with these type of tribute albums. As a whole though I enjoyed this disc and you don't have to be a Frank Sinatra fan to enjoy it either.


*photo used courtesy of Glen La Ferman