uteotw

I've seen these, e.g. "A String Quartet Tribute to U2" and was wondering if any are any good. They cover all ranges, from AC/DC to R.E.M. Some I can see being OK and some I just can't imagine.

Anyone have any of these, and if so, how are they?

DJLinus

I have the R.E.M. one. Like you'd imagine, it's a novelty, but it's not bad. Makes for nice background music. And it's not terribly cheesy (like the orchestral U2 album, which I bought and then promptly sold).

Man, there's a lot of them.

DonnachaOne

There's also Apocolyptica, who did an album of Metallica songs on four cellos, with middling results (the sound seems poorly produced).

Giantrobo

I've seen the BJORK tribute and I've wanted to buy it but never got around to it.

BRIAN 1972

this was featured in the movie, "company of men", right?

sararekuforever

I have a Pink Floyd one..it's pretty good...Pink Floyd uses strings a lot, so the rearrangements aren't so far off from the original...what I like is that it doesn't sound like just sheet music being played..they know a bit of theory and can arrange pretty well..

nodeerforamonth

I got the Slayer one. Pretty cool.

Achtung

I hear the Radiohead one is good.

Tscott

I've got the Tori Amos tribute. It's an interesting novelity, but nothing I'd listen to on a regular basis. I'd recommend these albums to only people who are major fans/completist collectors of a certain artist.

Also in the same vein, and sort of interesting in their own right, are Kronos Quartet's 'Landmark Sessions' which cover Bill Evans & Thelonius Monk and their cover of Hendrix's "Purple Haze".

Otherwise, if you're really interested in hearing classical music, I'd say start looking into Mozart and Bach and see what you like from there.

I think I'd die if AC/DC and REM were the ends of the spectrum in music. Imagine a rainbow that has "all ranges" from 'Forest Green' to 'Aqua'.

I know LaBute used 3 Apocalyptica songs in "Your Friends and Neighbors". I haven't seen In the Company of Men yet, though.

saoirse

I have a Moby one and it's excellent. Though if you like string quartets, check out Kronos Quartet.

uteotw

Thanks for the good input. I can't decide, however, if being a big fan of the original group would increasethe odds someone would like one of these or decreasethe odds. For example, I'm a big U2 fan, and I don't know if hearing a string quartet version of Bad would be cool or make me cringe. Sounds maybe like the latter. I'm going to try listening to a few on amazon first...
P.S. I wasn't implying "from AC/DC to REM" was the entire range of the music spectrum. AC/DC is hard rock and REM is mellow pop/alternative. That's all I was saying.

woofman

WHA WHA WHAT!?!?!?!

I listened to the clips on cdnow. Too funny!

cheapskate

My wife bought an Oasis tribute... awful.

As you can imagine, the music is so simplistic that they end up playing some kind of symphonic, G, D, A chord progression for the entire length of the album... urgh.

deadlax

any band that has ` or 2 albums then gets a "tribute" is on my worst bands ever list. creed, linkin park, limp bizkit, cold, fuel, you know who you are.

Decadance

I honestly think the String Tribute to Tool, Third Eye Open, is very very good, whereas others i have hear (mudvayne, oasis, tori) are crap.

Ergyu

I listened to the Third Eye Open one, it's ok but I don't really see myself listening to it again. I'd rather just listen to Tool perform themselves.

Supermallet

The soundtrack to In The Company Of Men is basically wild free jazz, with bongos going nuts and saxophones a-wailing. If that's what Apocalyptica sounds like, I'd pick it up.

BRIAN 1972

or was it Friends & Neighbors?

uh.....i dunno.

Michael Corvin

Apocalyptica

Also have a Led Zeppelin one that isn't bad.

Decadance

I haven't heard the string tribute to led zeppelin, but the orchestrated version call Kashmir: The Symphonic Led Zeppelin
is also amazing. Better than even third eye open in my opinion.

It's done by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Battle of Evermore is downright unbelievable, a better version than the original imo.