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Stoned: A Psych Tribute to The Rolling Stones
Various Artists - Stoned A Pysch Tribute to The Rolling Stones CD Album Review

Stoned: A Psych Tribute to The Rolling Stones

Psychedelic Rock
1.5/5.0

Website (Label)
Cleopatra Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 20.02.2015

I've never been a huge Stones fan, but I had a few albums as a kid and have followed their career mostly through to the Nineties. They've had an impact on so many bands over the years, so I can understand why tribute albums are made for them. Here's Cleopatra Records putting another spin on the quintessential cover album with Stoned - A Psych Tribute to The Rolling Stones. Much like the same thing done to The Doors, the label gathered known to mostly obscure modern neo-psychedelic rock bands to cover fourteen Stones songs.

The Rolling Stones Photo

The Rolling Stones (circa 1970)

It's pretty horrible. I'm not talking 911 Twin Towers destruction, but this album is a train wreck with an oil spill that kills native animal life and vegetation while poisoning the only local source of water. Then the water causes pregant women to miscarriage. And those who have babies find them born with three eyes and a forearm growing out of their heads. Yeah, it's that bad.

Mostly, the songs, notably the more obscure picks, but also those more familiar, are gutted of all life, melody, and simple recognition. The KVB cover of Sympathy for the Devil, an iconic Stones song, sucks the drama out of it like a bad actor suck the life out of a good script. For Under My Thumb, Shiny Darkly, more a noise band than a psych band, misses the bounce of the melody entirely. Basically, they miss the point of the entire song, completely. Basically, their song sucks ass.

You get some light of life from the Sons of Hippies, the only band I recognized and actually like. They do an interesting interpretation of Gimme Shelter without turning it into a fish out of water, flopping on the beach, gasping for breath, and only to die horribly. Also, Pink Velvet does a complimentary version of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, catching the sharpness of the guitar riff, but also the inherent infectiousness of the hook in those riffs and the chorus. As for that nearly dead flopping fish of a song, the Clinic cover of It's Only Rock n Roll (But I Like It) deserves some serious consequences, like having the actual song played through headphones at a deafening level until their collective brains melt. Yeah. It's that bad.

Suffer Stoned if you wish, but you may want to be stoned to listen to this dribble. Me, I'd rather listen to some death metal or rap music first. I think I'll stick with the original Stones songs. This tribute/cover album sucks total ass, big time.

The KVB – Sympathy for the Devil (A Psych Tribute to the Rolling Stones)


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In Short

Suffer Stoned if you wish, but you may want to be stoned to listen to this dribble. Me, I'd rather listen to some death metal or rap music first. I think I'll stick with the original Stones songs.

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