"Everybody Wants Some" is probably one of the strangest tribute albums you'll find. It's a compilation of unknown bands doing "Van Halen" songs. But they aren't just retread versions of the songs. They range from a church pipe organ to country and alternative rock versions of the songs. There are seventeen tracks, seventeen bands and the threat of enough material to make volume two.

The opening track by the Reverend Ed Broms is "Eruption." It was recorded at The Holy Name Parish Catholic Church in West Roxbury Massachusetts. It's an appropriate beginning to a CD of this nature. "Could This Be Magic?" by "Trona" sounds like a blend of Siouxsie and the Banshees and a Broadway show tune. "Jamie's Crying" is a funked up version of the song by "Jajuya." The vocal, except for the chorus, sounds a lot like David Lee Roth's version. It has a bit of a Latin flavor to it, with some of the words sung in Spanish. A horn section rounds out the sound.

There's a jazz influence to "Talking to Animals" version of "Everybody Wants Some." It's a soft song with a female vocal. This is probably the best song so far, but I have to say that none of the above tracks thrill me too much. "Eruption" is probably the most interesting of the first four.

The "Cherry 2000" version of "Atomic Punk" opens with narration from a 50's movie on the atomic bomb. Behind the lifted lines is crazy guitar work that sounds like a 33 1/3 record played on 45 or a tape on fast forward scan mode. The guitar melts into distorted guitar that sounds like a bomb exploding. Then a moody soft guitar begins. It's joined by an electronically distorted female vocal. Snippets of the film track interrupt the song. This is a great version of "Atomic Punk" It ends with screaming guitar, vocals, and an explosion.

"Why Can't This Be Love" by "Gigolo Aunts" shows us what "Van Halen" would sound like if they were "The Beatles." The recording sounds like it was done on out of date recording equipment. "Beautiful Girls" is fairly true to the original version. The guitar work is funky, but the vocal sounds a bit like Roth. It's a good version of the song.

"Honkeyball" recreates "Van Halen"- like riffs on "Take Your Whiskey Home." Two voices, one somewhat normal, overlay each other creating a manic effect. The combination makes for an uncomfortable sound, but in a good way, given the subject of the song. Mary Lou Lord approaches "Jump" with soft acoustic guitar. The guitar work is good. It sounds a lot like "February" (see December issue new releases). Toward the end electric lead guitar joins the mix. It features the Reverend Ed
Broms on the organ. It's a pleasant alternative rock version of the song, one of the best on the album.

"The Ghost of Tony Gold" supplies their version of "Somebody Get Me A Doctor." Wild vocals overlay a retro-acid rock sound. But the sound has many influences. Around the middle of the song, flute takes over for a moment, sounding a bit like "Jethro Tull." "Mean Streets" by "Elbow" is done as a blues piece. The vocal is raspy -- sounds like he's singing through megaphone. "Feel Your Love" is done as a fifties "doo wop" song by "Fuzzy." The female vocals are pretty good. The song isn't bad this way.

"Captain Rock", who mixed a few of the songs, does "Panama." He sings the song to the accompaniment of a brass band. The vocal is gritty and gutsy, a bit like Louis Armstrong, if he screamed like a rock star. The song actually sounds good done by a brass band. The arrangement stays true to the "Van Halen" original. "Little Guitars" by "The Vic Firecracker Orchestra" opens with violin, cello and bass. The vocal is low, throaty and intentionally thin. The combination is wonderful, moody. The song ends suddenly, with a violin stroke, as though cut off. 

Tom Leach does a country version of "Dance the Night Away" complete with pedal steel and harmonica. The song sounds pretty good this way. There's some echo on the vocal. These three songs are the most
interesting interpretations.

"Sam Black Church" features screaming vocals and Metallica influenced guitars make it even heavier than Van Halen's own version. There's even a bit of a punk influence to the vocals. The mix of influences work well together.  The album ends as it began, with another version of "Eruption", this one on a banjo. It sounds surprisingly full.

While not all of the songs on "Everybody Wants Some" are winners, the album certainly holds the attention of the listener. It's an eclectic mix of cover tunes. "Van Halen" fans should check it out for these strange and varied interpretations or, if nothing else, for a few laughs. Others may find it difficult to listen to.

The Tibetan Freedom Concert was held in the first week of June, 1997 to a respectable sized, enthusiastic crowd in New York City. The intent of the two-day festival was to raise awareness of the plight of the nation of Tibet as the beleaguered nation attempts to win its independence from Communist China. While the political results of this event still remain to be seen, what has come of it so far is a three-disc sampler of live music show casing many of today's hottest acts from a variety of musical genres.

Each day's show began and ended with prayers from Tibetan monks and nuns. These traditional chants break up the sets and serve to bring the crowds back to the reason the whole show was being staged in the first place.

Quite frankly, most of the sales of "Tibetan Freedom Concert" will be to young folks who probably don't even know where or what Tibet is, but the liner notes are resplendent with information on the Tibetan situation, so there will be plenty of opportunities to raise awareness.

Musically, there's something for just about everybody on this three-disc set. From "A Tribe Called Quest" to "Biz Markie", from Michael Stipes to "The Beasty Boys", from Bjork to Beck to the Fugees, from Eddie Vedder to Cibo Matto to Taj Mahal, this is about as diverse a set of music as you can get without hauling in a symphony orchestra to round things out.

The sound quality on the first two discs is exemplary. Digitally mastered on two 48-track mobile studios on-site, the playback almost literally brings the artists into your living room -- a tough accomplishment for a live, outdoor event. The third disc contains music from a concert held a year earlier in San Francisco. The sound quality here is a bit lacking, but according to the liner notes it was recorded on a two-track stereo set-up, so what can we expect? The third disc also contains enhancements that you should be able to experience on your PC, however the enhancements on my advance copy did nothing but crash my computer on several attempts -- something I could have done without. So be forewarned about the Enhanced CD portion of this set, there's always the possibility that problems exist on the production copies as well.

Enhancements aside however, there are some really good performances on this set. I'm not much of a U2 fan, but their performance of "One" really made me sit up and take notice. Slightly more laid back and sentimental than the album version, this is my favorite track on the disc. Bono sings with emotion and the band plays impeccably -- a great performance! Also notable is the Michael Stipe/Mike Mills piano/drum machine tune "Electrolite". I didn't catch on to R.E.M. for a long time, but dammit, Michael Stipe can make anything sound good. I like this track a lot! Of course Alanis Morissette can do no wrong these days and she delivers a powerful rendition of "Wake Up" from "Jagged Little Pill". Other notables are Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready who perform "Yellow Ledbetter" and even Beastie Boys who get the crowd going nuts with "Root Down", and "Porno for Pyros" who do a cool rendition of "Meija". Perhaps the biggest surprise in the whole shootin' match is the absolutely stunning performance by Bjork who does "Hyper-Ballad". In the past I haven't had a whole lot of good things to say about her -- couldn't figure out what all the hype was about, but her performance simply blew me away!

So if you're keeping score, this set also includes Ben Harper, The John Spencer Blues Explosion, Patti Smith, The Foo Fighters, Blur, Rancid, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rage Against the Machine and several others.

This is a good live set under any circumstances. but especially attractive to anyone who wants exposure to a whole lot of high-caliber bands, but doesn't want to buy twenty different albums to get a feel for their sounds. And hey, if you pick this one up, maybe you'll learn something about one of the world's political hot spots - Tibet.