DANZIG – Skeletons
AFM Records (EU), Evilive, Nuclear Blast (USA) release date: November 27th 2015
Cover or tribute albums are always a bit difficult to handle – there are only a few I consider really well done and worth to purchase. And this CD is one of them. This album surprised me – in a positive way. Danzig indeed achieved to capture the pure Punk spirit here, the intensity, this raw powerful sound that captures you immediately – kudos in this aspect.
The other positive surprise is the way he makes those cover songs his own – even when the spectrum is as diverse as this present selection, ranging from reckless punk (Devil’s Angels or The Troggs) to smooth AOR (ZZ Top’s Rough Boy or the Everly Bros). Occasionally his version could outshine the original, e.g. his dark intense interpretation of Elvis’ “Let Yourself Go”. One song I don’t find that great is Black Sab’s NIB – you need a couple of runs to get accustomed to his voice here. And also the beginning of Crying in the Rain sounds a bit weird. Otherwise, his attempt to pay tribute to his roots has absolutely worked out – first the production mode (mostly DoItYourself, Danzig sang and played piano, guitar, and bass guitar on all of the tracks, and played drums on half of them), secondly, in selecting “the skeleton” of his most influential songs on his art:
“You could say that some of this music is the actual basis and skeleton of what I listened to growing up—ultimately informing the kind of music I like. It’s the foundation. If you took Elvis and Sabbath out of my life, I probably wouldn’t be the Glenn Danzig you know!”
By the way, also the cover picture is a tribute, to David Bowie’s Pin Ups album …
Tracklist:
1 Devil’s Angels – (Davie Allen & The Arrows)
2 Satan (From Satan’s Sadist) – (Paul Wibier)
3 Let Yourself Go – (Elvis Presley)
4 N.I.B.- (Black Sabbath)
5 Lord Of The Thighs – (Aerosmith)
6 Action Woman – (The Litter)
7 Rough Boy – (ZZ Top)
8 With A Girl Like You – (The Troggs)
9 Find Somebody – (The Young Rascals)
10 Crying In The Rain – (The Everly Brothers)
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8.5/10