Bonfire - Legends

[Stefan]

 

The cover album 'Legends' out October 19th. Listen to their version of 'Africa' below.

 

 

[heavyharmonies]

No.

[CureTheSane]

Yeah, no from me as well.
Not terrible, but........ unnecessary

Metalizing it takes all of the 'Africa' out of it, so what's the point?

[Geoff]

Quick turnover for Bonfire albums at the moment. That cover's not overly flattering, but I'm looking forward to the new album as they're going okay at the moment. I've enjoyed the last two albums generally. 

[Dead Planet]

Works for me....

[metalmaniac777]

Going against the majority here, but I liked that. Thought they did a nice job with it. It probably helps that my 9 year-old daughter, who names the original as one of her favorite songs, has declared Bonfire's version to be "totally hard rockin' awesome."

[heavyharmonies]

An FYI, this release is 2 CDs, 32 tracks long... LOTS of covers.

 

Africa
Hold The Line
Rosanna
Man On The Silver Mountain
I Surrender
Stone Cold
Death Alley Driver
Black Masquerade
Burning Heart
Eye Of The Tiger
Caught In The Game
Doctor Doctor
Lights Out
Rock Bottom
Child In Time

Jet City Woman
Silent Lucidity
Eyes Of A Stranger
Tears In The Rain
The First Time
Save Up All Your Tears
Hot Cherie
Dr. Love
Hallelujah
Rebellion
Heavy Metal Breakdown
Love Don't Lie
I Wanna Be Loved
King Of Dreams
Frei wie die Geier
Erinnerung
Alt wie ein Baum

 

 

[gener8tr]

I like that track list.

[lettard]

19 minutes ago, gener8tr said:

I like that track list.

The stand outs being the last 3 tracks from disc 2 lol  

Edited October 11, 2018 by lettard

[Geoff]

Some interesting covers there, but one must ask... why? 

[kourosofsteel3]

Since they decided to follow that trip, it would be great to cover "Riding Away" from Cacumen's insanely rare 7" inch single with picψolo Claus Lessman 

[Tabe]

Not liking their cover of "Africa" but am definitely wanting to hear the rest of these.  Certainly an interesting collection of covers - Hardline, Queensryche, Toto, Survivor...  some really great source material.  We'll see how it turns out.

[CureTheSane]

I will likely enjoy that cover of Africa more if it's mixed in with other covers with the same general sound.
Maybe

[Crazysam]

Eye of the Tiger cover

 

[CureTheSane]

Why are the making the songs more AOR than the originals?

Very average.

[Geoff]

1 hour ago, CureTheSane said:

Why are the making the songs more AOR than the originals?

Very average.

Not sure what you mean by that. You reckon this version is more AOR than the original? Bonfire are by nature a bit ballsier than Survivor in that era and this just sounds like Bonfire doing a Survivor cover, which, by nature, is a bit more hard rock than AOR... to these ears anyway. Decent cover. 

[CureTheSane]

Yeah, I love the original.
Interestingly, Sly Stallone wanted "Another One Bites The Dust" and Queen wouldn't allow the ise, so he asked Survivor to write their version of the Queen song.
The watched some of the movies and saw the line "you've lost the eye of the tiger", liked the line and wrote the song.
Another footnote, for the next movie they were presented with that "you're the best... around" song and rejected it and it went on the get fame in the Karate Kid movie.

Anyway, like I said, I love the original song, but to me it sounds a bit rawer than this version.
This version doesn't suck, it's just average in the way of "what's the point"
Nothing new, no new take on the song.
if you're gonna redo a song like this, it has to be (as Paul Stanley would say) bombastic.
This isn't.

No biggie, but of all the covers are lesser versions of the originals I'll obviously have no interest.
To cover a song you either improve it or do your own take on it.
Simply re-recording it with newer technology and a cleaner sound etc is not very inspiring.

[Tabe]

14 hours ago, Crazysam said:

Eye of the Tiger cover

 

Uh...it doesn't sound bad.  Not as raw as the original and I think that hurts this version.

But...if you're gonna do a cover, get the lyrics right.  "It's the eye of the tiger, it's the dream of the fight?"  Uh... no.

[Darkstone]

These are the two I was waiting to hear. Not as good as the originals of course and completely  unnecessary, but still great versions IMO. 

 

 

 

 

[Geoff]

Pretty cool double album. I don't love all the songs, but it's a pretty cool listen. The triple and double covers of single bands/artists is pretty weird and you have to wonder what the real point of this albums is, but like I said... it's really not bad. The Robin Beck songs are particularly cool, just to hear a male vocalised version. 

Yeah, cool stuff. I find the whole concept interesting. Even though they're covers and they obviously didn't need to do any writing for this album... still, recording all these songs (and good, adequate versions - nothing sloppy or lazy about the albums) since their last album, which was only a few months ago... it's quite an effort. Production job is top notch too. Interesting stuff.

A few keepers to put on the 2018 playlist. 

Only song that really doesn't work for me is their version of HOL's 'Love don't lie.' Killer song, originally, but Bonfire kind of butcher it, lol. The rest, though, goes alright. 

[CureTheSane]

I've heard the 4 posted songs and all are underwhelming for me.

I love a covers album but from what I've heard they've got it all pretty wrong and unless I hear something that bucks that trend I doubt I'll pick it up at all....

[Geoff]

34 minutes ago, CureTheSane said:

I've heard the 4 posted songs and all are underwhelming for me.

I love a covers album but from what I've heard they've got it all pretty wrong and unless I hear something that bucks that trend I doubt I'll pick it up at all....

Do you like the current version of Bonfire in the first place? If you do, you'll enjoy the album/s. If you don't, then it's probably a pass.

[CureTheSane]

TBH, Bonfire are generally hit and miss with me anyway. Doesn't matter which version.
Not a band I sit on the edge of my seat waiting for a new release from.
But at times i really like their stuff, which is why this is a bit of a disappointment in that they are covers.

But then I am kind of specific with my covers.
Was just going through The Treatment and the only cover I kept off Running With The Dogs was No Matter What, others were boring.

For me, you either improve on the original - that usually means updating a much older song with a cleaner and heavier sound.
eg: Radar Love

Or you change the original to a different version, while still respecting the original.
eg: Walk This Way

These Bonfire ones for me are the worst kind of covers, they are basically just re-recordings

[Geoff]

Yeah, I prefer rock covers of cool pop songs, to be honest. Hearing a song you always kind of liked done in a rock format is pretty awesome. It's a bit weird when the covers are already quality melodic rock songs. 

Covering songs by the likes of Robin Beck, HOL, Hardline etc. does seem very futile, as you're never going to top those originals. Or Queensryche,  even if I'm not a mad fan. There are some odd choices for sure, but like I said, I still found enjoyment in bits of this.

[CureTheSane]

You nailed how I feel about covers.

That said, I hope others out there enjoy this release.
Don't expect everyone to see covers the same way I do (and possibly you do as well)