Tragedy ~ We Rock Sweet Balls & Can Do No Wrong: All Metal Tribute To The Bee Gees (album review) ... The greatest metal tribute ever!

Style: heavy metal, tribute, dance, 80's rock
Label: Rocks Off Records
Year: 2008
Home: New York City

Members: Barry Glibb ~ lead vocals/guitars/piano
Robin Gibbens ~ percussion/vocals
Mo'Royce Peterson ~ vocals/guitars

Additional: Gibbous Waning ~ bass
Barely Gibb ~ drums
Women's Gibb Choir: Linda Glibb, Angelpussy, Olivia Newton-Chong ~ b. vocals
Claudia Chopek, Eleanor Norton ~ strings

Guest: Andy Gibbith ~ lead vocals

 

  Whatever you're thinking seeing the name of this album your instincts are probably both right & wrong. Well-arranged songs, excellent production quality & lots of guts & a complete loss of humility highlight this release that mixes the bombastic fun of hard rock with the inherent fun of The Bee Gees & with a dose of sleaze. Brian Johnson-esque vocals mix with out of breathe driving metal rhythms & solos that keep all the melodies intact but throw in lots & lots of interpretation. This is an album I'd want to sneak in at a party, just to see the crowds response. At first: dismay. But, I have a feeling that within a couple songs the gang will be enjoying the music. A good song is a good regardless of its interpretation. Albeit, it's when the interpretation takes priority that the fun dies & turns the songs into a less-than successful Spinal Tap joke. Literally, Spinal Tap ... as their website shows photos of the band in spandex-gone-bad at Stonehedge while 'You Should Be Dancing' takes a bad turn with a pornographic voice-over bridge about dead babies, reminiscent of Spinal Tap's 'Stonehedge', ending with the request for the elves, um, babies to dance. It's a bit too reminiscent of 'Stonehedge' sadly. Elsewhere on the album one will find strains of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Kiss & even Isaac Hayes, while the songs fall into the one-off joke that was Dread Zeppelin. But, when Tragedy abandons hawking their musical influences & get down to some rambunctious metal the album flies high. 'How Deep Is Your Love' is a stand-out track which is transformed into a power ballad. Also featured is 'Stayin' Alive', 'Jive Talkin', 'More than A Woman', 'Night Fever', 'Tragedy' & the lesser remembered 'Shadow Dancing', 'Too Much Heaven' & 'Our Love (Don't Throw it All Away)'.