Reviewed by Tony Cummings

There are sufficient performances by Christians on this project subtitled 'The Songs Of Paul McCartney Sung By The World's Greatest Artists' for it to be of interest to Cross Rhythms readers. Bob Dylan, Corinne Bailey Rae, Owl City, Dion, Smokey Robinson and Alice Cooper are among the 34 artists wheeled out to sing the one-time mop top's greatest hits all produced by Ralph Sall. Unexpectedly this is a project which sounds better on paper than it does on CD. Maybe it's the fact that a number of the artists involved sound way past their best - Billy Joel's voice, for instance, sound shot on some notes while any Bee Gees fan looking for a return to the glories of "To Love Somebody" or "Being Alive" will find Barry Gibbs' rendition of the Beatles' whimsical "When I'm 64" worryingly akin to a pub karaoke session. At least the believers conduct themselves reasonably well, Dylan croaking his way through "Things We Said Today" and Smokey Robinson adding his falsetto to "So Bad". One thing that struck me when listening to these tracks was that despite historians insisting that Paul is some kind of pop music genius I would argue that both Dylan and Smokey have written more true classics than the Liverpudlian songsmith celebrated here. The two tracks which really stand out are Dion's rendition of "Drive My Car" with its engaging Bronx blues feel, and Owl City, who makes a good fist of "Listen To What The Man Said".

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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