It seems like every week a new tribute album comes out where artistsfrom another genre show homage to bands that they've enjoyed or beeninfluenced by. This is not one of those albums. The Lounge Brigade, forno apparent reason other than the pure comedic value, have taken someof Eminem's more popular numbers and made them lounge. And although itseemed incredibly unlikely to me, the results are not all bad. To behonest, I'm not a big fan of Eminem, though I will admit he has animpressive delivery. The Lounge Brigade doesn't even try to keep up,and it's one of the only entertaining things about this release. On"Without Me," Tony Calzone, the band leader, tries to welcome us to theshow, and he's butted out of the way by another vocalist delivering araspy dismissal in true Marshall Mathers style. Then he flubs half ofthe lyrics or outright changes them as he clears his throat repeatedly.This is not a big band, as just four members handle keyboards, guitars,percussion, bass, and the occasional trumpet. The Brigade tries to makeup for their roster shortcomings, though, with unique arrangements."Stan," the track based on a horrible Dido song called "Thank You," isamped up into a Salsa number where the vocalists take a rest. The Didopart is replaced with horns, and piano picks up Em's lines, saving usfrom more lackluster performance by the vocalists, but that's the onlyplus. The one song where the delivery is close to the original, andtherefore something of a standout, is "My Name Is," where the vocalistcomes across like Steve Lawrence, even providing a corny "verse two"introduction. There's even an original composition called "Loungin'With Stan," but even that can't save this release from what doomed itall along. Why remake Eminem as lounge? Even if it is just for thecomedy of it, it's not that funny, and it's a one-note joke. Read More
