Remember the band Damn Yankees? Tommy Shaw of Styx fame and Jack Blades of Night Ranger joined forces on a project called Shaw Blades and for the second CD have released 11 covers from the 60s and 70s. The title? Influence.

I’m a sucker for covers and recognized 10 of the 11 songs Shaw Blades covered. My favorites include their electrical version of “Time of the Season” by the Zombies (1968) complete with a nice axe solo, “California Dreamin’” by the Mama & Papas (1963) and “Dirty Work” by Steely Dan (1972).

Shaw Blades miss the mark with their cover of Orleans “Dance with Me” (1975) because the vocals aren’t high enough. The one song I didn’t recognize — at least the Shaw Blades version — was “On a Carousel” by the Hollies (1965).

They also cover Summer Breeze by Seals & Crofts (1972) and Yes “Your Move” (1971), not one but two songs by Simon & Garfunkel: “I Am a Rock” (1966) and a very good version of “The Sound of Silence” (1964). Emerson, Lake & Palmer “Lucky Man” is handled artfully and the second to last song is “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield.

I picked up the CD at Best Buy last night but it’s also available at Amazon: Shaw Blades Influence (affiliate). The best deal I found was on iTunes for $9.99, but I’d rather have the CD and be able to rip to MP3 freely than deal with the DRM.

I understand Blades is working on a new Night Ranger album and Styx enjoyed a small resurgence after releasing their own CD of covers (Big Bang Theory). While their replacement singer is competent, Styx needs to bury the hatchet with Dennis De Young because Styx isn’t Styx without Shaw and De Young.

Other cover albums you can recommend? And yes, I’m familiar with the podcast Coverville. Overall Influence is a solid effort with only a couple weak covers. If you like the songs mentioned above and covers, it’s recommended listening. Grade: A-

Did this post make you go hmm?

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