"Hard Rock Reviver"-TOTALFAT

Following on from the review of "Tribute" it seemed to make sense to give some of the artists on that a chance to shine and with that in mind the second review on this site will be a review of "Hard Rock Reviver" by TOTALFAT.

The "Tribute" album was ended with Japanese band TOTALFAT doing an amazing cover of "Driver's High" and in "Hard Rock Reviver" they again show off their ability to cover songs and make them sound fresh and unique whilst also maintaining some of the character of the original tracks. In fact in many ways TOTALFAT could well have made a career from covering more well known artists.

Unlike "Tribute" however this album sees TOTALFAT covering various American rock musicians with tracks that more people will have heard of and of course more people will have their own views on.

The album kicks off with a cover of Mr Big's "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy". Strangely despite being an American band Mr Big are probably bigger in Japan than they are in the US and have had major success throughout Asia. In many ways it's this link to Asia that has likely lead to TOTALFAT, a Japanese rock group, opening this album with a cover of a Mr Big track.

Although a rock track "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy" sounded relatively weak originally. The TOTALFAT treatment however has given the song steroids and turned it into a very hard hitting track and makes it a brilliant way to begin the album, despite the track not being the most well known of the covers on the album.

The second track on the album is a cover of Van Halen's "Can't Stop Loving You". This time the track isn't really given a full make over. It sort of sounds like TOTALFAT have almost gone for a straight cover here and although it sounds fine it's certainly not one of the album's stand out tracks. The same can be said about the cover of "Someday I'll be Saturday Night" though they have re-created the song from the soft sounding Bon Jovi original and given it a rock make over that works well though doesn't stand out as amazing. Likewise the album's 4th track, a cover of the iconic "Kickstart my Heart" by Mötley Crüe, is another where the band do little more than give it a make over. That's not to say these are disappointing tracks, far from it, though for many the originals will be better with these tracks really splitting opinion.

The 5th track is another classic, "Shout it Out Loud" by KISS. The original, one of KISS's most played tracks, really has been given a fantastic make over as the band take on the original and again boost it with their own heavier sound. It'll be a controversial opinion but this actually sounds better and certainly sounds more like a modern rock track than the original. In many ways that's because KISS's original studio version lacks the energy of this cover.

British Heavy Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne is the next to be covered with his brilliant "Ghost Behind My Eyes". Rather than cover this track directly the band have used the introduction from "Crazy Train", also by Ozzy. It seems clear that the band have realised they were never going to be able to do a cover that was as good as the original but have given the song a melodic make over. It takes away some of the "creepiness" of the original though will certainly appeal to fans of TOTALFAT and appears to a respectful make over of the original rather than a total re-imaginging of the track. With that in mind it works though again covering such a classic will leave many saying "the original was better" no matter how a good of a cover is recorded.

Guns'n'Roses are the next to be given a musical make over with TOTALFAT covering legendary drinking song "Nightrain". Again the cover is unlikely to please fans of the original though it's another good make over with the over-all sound being given a 21st century make over as opposed to any major changes. The vocalist does sound like he's trying to impersonate Axl Rose and this could be a point of contention for some listeners with Axl having one of those iconic voices though over-all it's certainly not a bad effort.

The closing track is "More than Words". Originally the track was a ballad by Extreme that featured only a simple and basic vocal and an acoustic guitar Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt delivered a heart felt but very basic and open song. On an album dubbed "Hard Rock Reviver" it was clear that the song was going to get a make over though in fairness to TOTALFAT they've not gone over-board here despite throwing some some drums and an electric guitar into the mix. In many ways it is what one would expect from a rock version of the track. Of course by adding the extra musical layers some of the heart felt emotion is taken from the song though it's certainly not the worst cover of the song out there.

At just 8 tracks long the album is short and with it being entirely covers there is nothing particularly "original" about it. Saying that however it's enjoyable listen from start to end and if you just accept the songs for what they, makes overs of some classic songs, then it is a fine if short lived album. If, however, you can't get over the fact it's album of covers then this is really not worth your time or effort.

At it's current price it is on the costly side so it is hard to recommend, especially give it's shortness, though it is a solid enough effort if you don't mind spending a bit on a treat for yourself.

L'arc-en-ciel "Tribute"

For fans of Japanese music L'arc-en-ciel will be a recognisable name, in fact they will be one of the most recognisable names. The group, which formed in 1991, have been one of the most successful in Japanese history and have managed to have success not just in their homeland but internationally with notable sales in Europe, America and other parts of Asia.

They might not be the most successful Japanese band but they are a big deal both at home and over-seas.

In 2012 the band had their 20th anniversary celebrated with a tribute album (well technically 2 but the less said about "Vivid Covers" the better). This album featured not only Japanese bands covering L'arc-en-ciel but also a number of internationally renowned artists such as Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) and Boyz II Men, showing just how big the appeal of L'arc-en-ciel was.

The album kicks off with the aforementioned Vince Neil doing his own version of "Blurry Eyes". Like many of the songs on the album the Japanese lyrics have been dropped with the artists given the opportunity to re-interpret the song in their own way, which Neil has done excellently to give us a brilliant version of the track that keeps enough of the original track to be familiar but changes plenty to keep the track fresh and not become a "remake".

Following Neil's rendition of "Blurry Eyes" we then get Australian Orianthi doing her version of "Neo Universe". Again the track has been given English lyrics, as opposed to either the Japanese lyrics or translated lyrics, and it's been given a solid make over by the Aussie.

Although the first 9 tracks on the album are in English one really stands out as being something a little bit special and that's Michael Monroe's cover of "Heaven's Drive". It's the 8th song on the album but really should have been the opening track due to it's attention grabbing riffs, Monroe's amazing re-imagining of the lyrics and the way he spits them out. The track, which was originally an excellent one, is possibly the only one which has actually been improved here due to Monroe who has done a really amazing job and made the song his own.

Following the 9 English covers we then get a French cover of "Flower" by Clémentine a Japanese based French musician who has appeared on Japanese TV numerous times. To say Clémentine has re-imagined the song is an under-statement with the track only baring a small resemblance to the original though it's become a really beautiful and relaxing track. A re-working that works marvelously and shows of just how talented the Clémentine is.
After the 10 tracks which have been covered by international artist the album then features 4 Japanese re-imaginations by artists who, like L'arc-en-ciel themselves, are well known Japanese artists.

The first of the Japanese covers is by Polysics who do a cover of "Seventh Heaven". The band have put their own twist on the track by giving it a bit of a "Mr Roboto" make over, a song they had previously covered. The track is full of synth sounds and has been sped up notably adding to the Polysics feeling of the track though of course there is still a lot of the original that's recognisable.

The second of the Japanese covers is by SID who did "Shout at the Devil". They have re-imagined this though in many ways it's the weakest of the 4 Japanese covers and is unfortunately sandwiched between the Polysics track and a a tremendous Hemenway version of  "Caress of Venus". If the Michael Monroe track is the best "English" re-imagining then it's hard to argue with Hemenway taking the honour for the best Japanese cover. Strangely in many ways Hemenway have incorporated a fair amount of English lyrics in their track though over-all the track is just amazing.

To close the album we end with a Totalfat version of "Driver's High". The original "Driver's High" is one of the best L'arc-en-ciel tracks and although the original is better than this version it's a perfect way to end the album. Like the original this version keeps the high pace of the original and is near identical in terms of lyrics.

As a fan of L'arc-en-ciel I've got to say that overall this album is really wonderful. It's not flawless, I wasn't a fan of several of the English version of the tracks and I'd have loved a cover of "Daybreak's Bell", though really it is picking flaws on what is a genuinely smashing tribute album to one of the most amazing Japanese bands out there.