Several weeks ago I reviewed the new Cybertronic Spree Album, which was a cover album of music from the 1986 animated classic Transformers: The Movie.
Not long after this, embarrassingly fanatic blog fans Trent (instigator of the latest hot sauce challenge) and Dallas informed me that there was another tribute album floating around out there from back in 2016. One I had not even heard of!
So after a bit of net searching, and eschewing the ludicrously priced ones on eBay, I was able to track down for a reasonable cost Respect The Prime 1986 Revisited.
Cybertronic Spree did not disappoint, I wish I could say the same here.
Sorry to say but most of the covers range from tolerable to complete shite! Whereas Cybertronic Spree tried to stay faithful to way the songs were intended whilst putting their own stamp on it, these no-name bands all seem to be trying to make the songs completely their own with a mixture of grunge and hard rock that just doesn’t suit the music at all. The only thing that could put it above the Spree version is that you get 17 different groups of artists instead of one, but love for the source material is not evident from even one of them.
Instruments of Destruction is done by Deathproof featuring the singer from Red Lokust and he can’t seem to decide if he is growly grunge or rock, he could have pulled it off if only he had put a bit more testosterone into it. At least the band that did the Transformers Theme Song put some grunt in, makes it sound like a cartoon theme song intended for a moshpit. Ghostfeeder’s version of Nothin’s Gonna Stand In Our Way starts off pretty crap, however redeems itself by the end, making the tune at least bearably catchy. Most other songs on the CD could be described as fitting into one description or the other of these two. However there are two songs that stand out from the rest:
I always thought that certain Star Wars fans that talked about the prequel movies raping their childhoods were idiots. Funnily enough those idiots are now all in their 40’s and seem to now love the prequels and hate the latest flicks. And likewise many numbnuts shouted the same idiotic ‘childhood raped’ phrases when the Live-Action Transformers movies came out. I never understood the mentality…
…until I heard The Dark Clan do Dare.
Man they fucking butchered it! It was heartbreaking! A song that have I associated nothing but wonderful thoughts and memories with over the last 30 years was bent over and given a non-consensual reaming! It was pure poison to the ears and soul and I hope the singer lies awake at night remembering the abominable thing he did. You are a bad, bad man by doing such an awful thing to an innocent tune, especially the way you yodel ‘believe’ like a tone-deaf caterwauling hack. Shame I say, shame!
On the other hand, the rendition of Dare To Be Stupid by Caustic finally made this try-hard song hilarious! I adore Weird Al but this was not one of his funnier songs, even if it does have a catchy beat. But to hear it done in a sort of hardcore British Punk accent for some reason made the song work. And the way the singer roared in this huge angry voice“MASHED POTATOS CAN BE YOUR FRIEND” was fucking piss-funny! If this CD has one redeeming feature, this track is it.
So should you hunt down this CD? Nope, no you shouldn’t. Not worth it. Either go buy the original soundtrack or the Cybertronic Spree album or both. This one you can easily skip for it does not respect The Prime.
Related Articles:
Music Review: Cybertronic Spree
Music Review: Transformers Roll Out