Has There Ever Been A Truly Great Tribute LP Celebrating An Artist? What’s Your Favorite?

I’ve been pondering the deep, existential questions over the Labor Day Weekend. Memorial Day is probably a more appropriate time for such heavy pondering, but I am who I am. The main question I seem fixated on right now is the eternal mystery: Has there ever been a truly great tribute album?

I’m probably thinking about this as I’ve got 20th Century Paddy: The Songs Of Shane MacGowan on the brain. They’ve already released some great covers from Dropkick Murphys to Springsteen (“Rainy Night In Soho”) and even U2 (“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”). I’ve obviously written about those last two songs. It’s got me exploring the Pogues’ catalogue and the full LP isn’t even out till November.

It’s actually more than 20th Century Paddy if I’m coming completely clean. A few weeks ago I was riding around in the car listening to satellite radio. I heard this Springsteen track I’d never heard before, “She Don’t Love Me Now.” I’m still utterly obsessed with this song. I told my buddy RK about it and he immediately turned me onto the video.

It’s from a tribute album for Jesse Malin, who has some health issues, and Bruce just kills the cover. He brought Jake Clemons along for the sax solo. The album it’s from, Silver Patron Saints, somehow slipped past me in 2023. This one might answer the question I posed in the title… Malin certainly has some heavyweight friends.

When I speak of a tribute “album,” I’m talking about a group of artists recording a complete album of cover songs to honor another artist? Typically, and I should say sadly, this usually happens when we lose a great artist like Warren Zevon. Time is, as we know, undefeated. But more and more over the years I’ve seen tribute albums done for artists who are still alive and kicking like Fats Domino, Bob Dylan, Neil Young or Jackson Browne.

I’m not talking about a single song here, I’m looking for whole albums. I mean, for example, there were so many great songs done in honor of John Lennon’s senseless and horrible death. You could almost put together an album – from Paul McCartney (“Here Today” was my favorite) and George Harrison to Paul Simon and Elton John.

Seger even wrote a song for his old buddy Glenn Frey when he passed which I thought was nice. More often than not an artist will simply cover one of the honoree’s songs, many times live. I’m sure we’ll get a slate of Dolly Parton covers soon. Sad to see that woman go… she was a saint.

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a tribute album that I would say was “great.” They have the same problem any covers album would have, a wild diversity of artists going in different directions. I love cover songs (and cover albums for that matter), but the covering artist either takes it in a wildly experimental direction or is so slavishly devoted to the original it doesn’t add anything to the tune.

Not everybody can be Aretha doing Otis Redding’s “Respect.” Even Redding said, “She stole my song. That woman stole my song.” Not stealing it in a “didn’t give credit” kind of way, but stealing it in the “that song no longer belongs to me anymore” kind of way.

I will say that when the tribute album is also a live album – like say the Peter Green tribute concert Mick Fleetwood put together or the George Fest (Harrison) – it seems to improve matters greatly. With all different artists playing a concert it can seem like a blues jam at your local pub, only with superstars. Certainly the Peter Green felt that way.

I’ve been wondering if there is a truly great tribute album out there that you can listen to front to back, as they used to say in the vinyl world. I have a small list of tribute albums I’ve either purchased or sampled, but I’m not sure any of them are “great.”

So I thought I’d ask you rock n roll fans out there what your favorite tribute albums are – or better yet, which ones you think are “home runs,” if I may use a metaphor from a sport I no longer follow. I don’t think any tribute album is perfect but what album, put together to honor an artist, made up of covers do you think is best? Please put it in the comments and we’ll discuss!

Here are the ones that have left a mark on me, that I at least purchased a song or two from. And no, I didn’t include any of those country/bluegrass “Pickin’ On….” deals. No, thank you. Anyway, I put the title of the LP with the honored artist in (parentheses):

• Silver Patron Saints (Jesse Malin) – I haven’t gotten past my obsession with Springsteen’s “She Don’t Love Me Now” but intend to dive into this one.
• Chimes Of Freedom – The Songs of Bob Dylan (Honoring 50 Years Of Amnesty International) – I bought this whole thing. It’s a mixed bag but actually holds together okay. Miley Cyrus doing “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” might be my favorite… and that’s a surprise.
• Enjoy Every Sandwich (Warren Zevon) – This is a pretty great one, Zevon had a great group of friends and they all show up… but it’s marred by the presence of talentless Adam Sandler singing “Werewolves Of London.”
• Looking Into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne – This one had some moments. I bought Don Henley’s “These Days.”
• Nativity In Black (Black Sabbath) – I think there was a series of these? Were they any good?
• Goin’ Home: A Tribute To Fats Domino – This one is pretty superb held together by the brilliance of Fats’ songs. When asked if he was the King of rock n roll, Elvis said, “That ain’t me, you want to talk to Fats Domino.” Indeed.
• Mick Fleetwood And Friends Celebrate The Music Of Peter Green – I loved this live, blues jam style concert for Peter Green and that early era of Fleetwood Mac.
• George Fest (Harrison) – Great concert with McCartney, Clapton and Petty. Nice!
• Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix – I actually really dug this one… Prince and Sting may be my favorite covers here.
• Encomium: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin – I vaguely remember this one. Grunge era bands doing Zeppelin songs… I seem to remember it made quite a stir.
• Heart Of Gold: The Songs Of Neil Young, Vol. 1″ – This actually came out last year, and was to benefit the Bridge School, Neil’s charity. It actually held together well as everybody chose Neil’s acoustic side songs and had stand out tracks from Eddie Vedder and Fiona Apple.

These are about the only tribute albums that spring to mind. I know there has to a lot more out there. I’m sure somewhere there’s a tribute to the Grateful Dead out there? Let me know what your favorites are. I’m always in search of a good covers song!

Cheers!