Various Artists - Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon

One of the worst things I've ever heard

I love the originals, and some of the groups doing the covers, but this has to be one of the worst messes I've ever heard.

The covers are lifeless and dull, and even The Flaming Lips, who I thought could do no wrong, do a horrible cover.

Get the originals, forget these covers. September 24, 2007

An excellent covers album....

I ordered this from Amazon.com since I'm in the UK and this title wasn't available from Amazon UK. It took about 2 weeks to arrive and was worth the wait. As other customers have said, as a rule Lennon/Beatles cover songs aren't much good at all but this CD is a notable exception.

I admit that my reason for buying this CD was initially due to the fact that I'm an Alice In Chains fan and their late lead singer Layne Staley appears with MadSeason, his side project alongside Alice In Chains. They perform 'I don't wanna be a soldier', a song which I never thought was one of Lennon's best.
This version though(I think) is better than the original, yet at the same time sounding quite authentic, as well as being unavailable on any other album.

There are other notable tracks apart from this one, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' version of 'I found out'.
This sounds a lot 'grungier'(for want of a better word lol) than most of their stuff, and works well, as do tracks like 'steel and glass' by Candlebox. 'Cold Turkey'Lennon's description of the nightmare of heroin addiction, is another good track. This track starts off deceptively quietly before getting heavier, even if it isn't as harrowing as the original.

So a good covers album then, one which I feel would be particularly interesting to fans of the individual artists here, since these tracks are as far as I know unavailable elsewhere. November 16, 2005

Best cover album i've come across

I got this disc at a used CD shop in town for six dollars, I wasn't expecting much, as most of the Lennon cover/tributes i've heard were pretty lacking. I was dead wrong. There is only one bad cover on this dics, every other is great!

Red Hot Chili Peppers/I Found Out - Slow, Angry, and funky. Something the peppers haven't ever done before and its cool to hear them do a song that doens't stick to their style. 3/5

Mad Season/I don't Wanna Be a Soldier - I never liked this song, but I think this cover is more enjoyable than to original (to me) Driving guitars and bass, and some really good vocals. 3/5

Candlebox/Steel and Glass - Awesome cover off the Walls and Bridges album. It's especially good because the guitar were buried by the string in the original, but Candlebox's cover features loud guitars and stand out bass. Cool guitar solo too 5/5

Blues Traveler/Imagine - Pretty standard in the beginning, with some cool bass fills, but after the first verse things get really blusey and some harmonica come in. Good rendition! 4/5

Screaming Trees/Working Class Hero - I always thought this was one of Lennons best, but the only cover i've heard was by Cyndi Lauper and it was awful (love cyndi though) The song starts out with just two guitars chiming with vocals, but it builds up and adds a cello and evtually drums and bass come in and give the song a lot of power, great cover. 5/5

The Minus 5/Power To The People - I head this song tacked on as a bonus track on "Plastic Ono Band" and this cover is millions of times better than the original, believe me. It is amazing Minus 5 were able to see the potential of this otherwise lackluster song, fuul of energy absolutely great. 4/5

The Magnificent Bastards/How Do you Sleep - Rockin cover. Performed with all the spite and malice of the original, featuring a cool guitar interlude. 4/5

Flaming Lips/Nobody Told Me - Amazing! recorded with cheap, super distorted guitars, it sounds perfect. Great drumming and basswork from the lips as usual. 5/5

Super 8/Well Well Well - Sounds just like the original, except for the extra loud guitars on the chorus and the awesome vocals (not to mention the solo!) 5/5

Cheap Trick/Cold Turkey - I don't like Cheap Trick, I don't like Cold Turkey, I don't like this version. Weakest cover on the disc 2/5

Collective Sound/Jealous Guy - Acoustic guitar instead of piano doing th cords on this one, no stirngs either, really cool! The only reason I don't give this one a 5 is because Elliott Smith's cover of this song is ten times better. 4/5

Sponge/Isolation - The biggst suprise on this disc. Opens with a strat playing arpeggios with the vocals, sounding very sad and eerie, but then the chorus comes in with an explosion of power chords and drums. Best cover on the disc. 5/5

Toad The Wet Sprocket/Instant Karma - a very happy, clean sounding cover. Not much else to say, very enjoyable! 4/5

Mary Chapin Carpenter/Grow Old With Me - Very sparse mostly her and a piano. The sound is so lush and beautiful, and her vocals are outstanding. 5/5

George Clinton/Mind Games - here's something unexpected, George Clinton from the funk grou Parliment giving this song some soul. Clinton does a superb jop, lots of strings and guitars, and delight and a great way to end the album! 5/5 February 2, 2004

An OK tribute to Lennon

I must admit that the reason I bought this CD is because I'm a fan of John Lennon and of the grunge scene of the early 1990's. So needless to say, I enjoyed the cover of "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier" by Mad Season (LAYNE STALEY'S VOCALS ARE ALWAYS AMAZING) and "Steel and Glass" by Candlebox, but for me the best track was "Working Class Hero" by The Screaming Trees. Mark Lanegan's voice is unbelievable and this cover is closest in my opinion to the original in quality. A pleasant surprise were Mary Chapin Carpenter's surprisingly good cover of "Grow Old With Me" and the cover of "How Do You Sleep" by The Magnificent Bastards. Collective Soul does a very good cover of Jealous Guy. Now, on to the bad. No surprise The Red Hot Chili Peppers would be found here with their cover of "I Found Out", I never liked "Power To The People", so I was going to skip it anyway, but The Minus Five didn't do all that bad with it. It actually shocked me that an established band like Cheap Trick couldn't pull off "Cold Turkey".

All in all, this disc is really worth picking up used, I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but it is a keeper since about half the tracks are at least decent. March 23, 2003

Gooood music

Outstanding tribute album that collects Lennon's best and starts off with an incredible kicker "I found out," performed by the Chili Peppers.

"Working Class Hero" and "Imagine" are a little overdone, though, and I tend to skip through them. "Imagine" is especially drippy with emotion.

Kinda grungy guitar sounds in this with some great vocals. Definitely recommend to anyone who wants Lennon filtered through 90s rock.

-- JJ Timmins July 27, 2002

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