Illinois Entertainer May 2014 | Page 42

Continued from page 28 Record & CD Collectors Show The Midwest's Largest Record Show SUNDAY • MAY 18 SUNDAY • NOV 20 8:45AM - 4PM VINYL & CD’s LP'S • 1996's Angry Machines. This Is Your Life is a fitting tribute to one of the best performers to ever grace the stage. Long live Ronnie. - Kelley Simms 9 ERIC CARMEN The Essential Eric Carmen (Sony/Legacy) What makes this 30-track, "essential" collection better than the 18-track, 1997 "definitive" one with which it shares 16 cuts? Not the obscurities – neither the preRaspberries "Get The Message" nor 2013's "Brand New Year" goes all the way, and the studio version of "That's Rock N' Roll" on The Definitive is more essential than this album's live 1976 run through. Meanwhile, "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" remains vanished down the memory hole, and 1997's not-bad I Was Born To Love You might as well never have happened. Still, Carmen's 16 definitively essential/essentially definitive moments really are pretty great. And then there's the heretofore uncollected "Love Is All That Matters," the most beautiful song Carmen ever lifted from a 19th-century Russian composer. 7 --Arsenio Orteza Night Panther, which effectively blend funky R&B with psychedelic guitar fills Beatles Reimagined is certainly not the way a young listener should be introduced to The Beatles music for the first time, but fo those of us that have heard these songs a billion times, it is a welcomed take on the songs that changed our lives. - Bruce Pilato 7 CARCRASHLANDER A Plan To Tell The Future (Jealous Butcher) After a couple of spins of "A Plan To Tell The Future," it's perfectly natural to worry about Cory Gray's emotiona health. Dark, pensive, teetering on the edge of moroseness, this is a challenging uncomfortable album. Song titles like "Al My Light begins To Dissipate" and "Wall Of A Cave" are early indicators of wha lies ahead. Raw, teetering on the edge o frailty, songs stretch and twist with menac ing undertones, braced with thick, disso nant noise. The rough and broken envi rons of the recording lend further contex and crackling urgency to the recording Surprisingly captivating, but definitely no for the faint of heart. - Patrick Conlan 6 BEN WATT Hendra (Buzzin Fly) He may be best known as one half o Everything But The Girl, but Ben Watt i 45'S • 12"SINGLES Eric Carmen VARIOUS ARTISTS Beatles Reimagined Rock • Alternative • Jazz • Soul Plus, an expanded Metal selection. BEST WESTERN CHICAGO - HILLSIDE 4400 FRONTAGE ROAD HILLSIDE, IL I-290 Eisenhower Expy -Wolf/Mannheim Exit Admission $3.00 Dealers Tables $45.00 Early Bird Customers: $10.00 Early Bird Time: 6:30am For Information Call 630-898-1533 - Evenings or: Visit www.chicagorecordcollectors.com We’re on Facebook under Chicagoland Record & CD Collectors Show 42 illinoisentertainer.com may 2014 (Community) Beatles tribute albums have been done to death. From movie soundtracks to compilations, there were over 40 of them last time anyone checked. This compilation, like so many other DVDs, TV specials, and magazine articles, is cashing in on that iconic band's 50th Anniversary in the USA, but don't be so quick to write this CD off. Featuring mostly emerging alternative pop acts from around the US, these artists give us a completely different and fresh take on the Fab Four's mostly early material. The Well Pennies use a plucking banjo as the dominant instrument in their version of "All My Loving," and Mobley, delivers a truly refreshing read on "From Me To You." Not everything works, such as Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Dixieland version of "I Saw Her Standing There," but there is more brilliance here than bumbling. Among the highlights is a cool, slinky version of "I Wanna Be Your Man," by also an accomplished DJ and occasiona solo artist, who's finally releasing the fol low-up to 1983's individual North Marin Drive. Those expecting the more electroni nature of the late ‘90s won't find any here but they're likely to be pleasantly sur prised by the singer/songwriter' unplugged pop, folk and jazzy aptitude that perhaps falls most in line with 1992' group effort Acoustic. In addition to Watt' warm vocals and sensitive songwriting Continued on page 46