The Reggae Tribute To Pink Floyd

1) Us and Them - Hurtin' Buckaroos 2) Take Up Thy Stethoscope & Walk - JMJ Band 3) Echoes - Hurtin' Buckaroos 4) Careful With That Axe, Eugene - JMJ Band 5) Run Like Hell - Glimmerglass Reggae Ensemble 6) Mother - Stu 7) Interstellar Overdrive - JMJ Band 8) Hey You - Hurtin' Buckaroos 9) Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2 - Stu 10) Pink Skazmer - Joe Ferry

Pink Floyd and reggae…not exactly a match made in a heaven, right? I mean, Pink Floyd are depressing, pessimistic, and really dark at times, while reggae is upbeat, catchy, and quite often optimistic and fun to listen to. So you would think that a tribute album combing the two would just crash right into The Wall of Failure (no pun intended). However, this record does…somewhat prove otherwise, in that the end results are quite pleasant and cohesive, though nothing really more.

What’s most interesting about this album is that they actually succeed at making Floyd’s music actually sound happy. I guess, when it came down to it, part of Pink Floyd's widespread appeal was their fairly comfortable and melodic music on top of their depressing and thought provoking lyrics. Not only that, but their music was smooth, polished, and highly well produced, with not a single bit of rawness to be found in their 1973-1994 period. So, as a result, there is a reason why so many “smooth jazz” and “chill-out” tributes to Pink Floyd’s music exist, because their music WAS smooth and chill to begin with, and since those two adjective seem to describe the music of reggae pretty well, making Floyd’s music into the genre is not entirely as far-reached as it may seem.

Enough of that, let’s get on to the album. Is it any good? Well, it’s not entirely bland, and even though multiple artists collaborate on this album, it still nevertheless feels like one collective whole, while each song does sound different from the last. The overall approach, I would say, is nothing at all like Pink Floyd. In this tribute album, that dark weight Floyd often carried around with them is brighten up by like 80 percent, to the point where it becomes seriously lightweight music, with the sound being filled with saxophones and horn sections, clean electric guitars, funky organs, and those clunky reggae rhythm guitars. Basically, this results in the music sounding like it's from the tropics of the Caribbean, or the shores of the California coast. Or from a night club at Las Vegas. Or maybe somewhere in Atlantic City,

Luckily, it's not quite a utter failure, because there is a bit of creativity to this. First off, I should make a point that the guitars on this album are delicious, and probably are what make the album halfway decent. If there is one element of Floyd that is kept intact on this album, it’s the Gilmour-esque guitar playing that fits in very beautifully. The Glimmerglass Reggae Ensemble's rendition of Run Like Hell, for example, would be horrible if the wonderful lead guitar was not taking the spotlight for the lead melody. I mean, it’s still not very good as a whole, since they slow it down and rearrange it to the point where it ceases to be anything above decent background music, but it’s so stimulating to here that wondrous, screeching, yet melodic and sensational guitar playing.

What absolutely does not work here are the two numbers by a group called “Stu”. First off, upon of examination of their career outside of this tribute album, Jonathan noted that they were not even reggae to begin with, but rather alternative rock, so there is little reason they should even be here. Second off, their renditions of Mother and Another Brick In The Wall are horrible. For Mother, they seem to kinda go for a straightforward cover, but they make it upbeat and clunky, and as a result, it just doesn't sound like they put much care or thought into the cover at all. As for Another Brick In The Wall, it also sounds more or less straightforward, with the addition of a trumpet section, but it sounds like it they just recorded the whole piece in one take, and called it a day. Plus, a pet peeve of mine: Guys, the lyrics are “LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE”, not “LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE”. Aaahh, it’s a little nitpick, but it just irritates me so much.

Aside from those two misfires, the majority on here is pretty good. I think the JMJ Band's version of "Take Thy Stethoscope And Walk" is pretty weak, but it's short, and there are some cool effects and a tasty solo, so it's all cool. There's also have perfectly decent upbeat instrumental reggae renditions of "Us And Them" and "Interstellar Overdrive", respectively by The Hurtin' Buckeroos and, again, The JMJ Band, neither of them really "jams" as they follow the melody pretty strictly, but again, have very nice organ and guitar solos, and are very pleasant to listen to, so I ain't complaining.

I think, though, the real taker for my favorite track is the Hurtin' Buckeroos rendition of Echoes. Hell no, it does at all compare to the gargantuan 20 minute masterpiece that is the original track, but condensed into a three minute pop song, I like it quite a bit, as the slow melodic sections seem to make for a pretty great reggae tune. Not only that, but just like on all the other tracks, the guitars on this rendition are extremely scrumptious, and just overall I feel only positive emotions towards this cover.

The Hurtin' Buckaroos appear for a third time with a version of Hey You, which is probably the worst song on here that's not covered by Stu. Basically, my hatred towards this cover is rooted in the fact that it sounds way too happy and "Jamaican" than it ever needed to be, and despite there being some sweet guitar playing to savage it, it's really not worth listening to. Maybe The Wall just wasn't an album made for reggae.

Finally, there are two other songs left on this album, a rendition of Careful With That Ax Engine, preformed by JMJ Band, and an original composition entitled Pink Skazmer, preformed by Joe Ferry. These pieces are interesting in that 1) Careful With That Ax Eugene is turned from a dark, spine-chilling, twisted instrumental into a laid-back, easy-listening, relaxing reggae jam, and 2) Pink Skamzer literally sounds NOTHING AT ALL like Pink Floyd, and instead sounds like generic saxophone driven reggae music. Neither of these tracks are particularly bad, and I quite enjoy Careful With That Ax Eugene, but I still find it amusing how far away these two songs are of Floyd's sound.

So, anyways, overall, I would say that this is a decent, but really unnecessary album for anyone's music collection (of course, we are still searching for a tribute album that would be essential for anyone to buy). For the most part, the album succeeds in make lightweight reggae music out of Pink Floyd’s pessimistic music, and although this style does not at all resemble Floyd, and it's not great all the way through, but it’s still a fairly pleasant listen nonetheless. I would say that if you want a really relaxing album to listen to while sunbathing and sipping martinis, or have always wondered what Pink Floyd and Reggae mixed together would sound like, then hey hey hey this album should do the trick.