Label: Atomic Fire Records
Release date: April 22, 2022
Production: Stefan Kaufmann
Compilation length: 65.20 min
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
Udo Dirkschneider has spent the last few years with his band Dirkschneider (U.D.O. in special-occasion disguise) thoroughly covering Accept material, so this time around the classic Accept catalog gets a rest (if I may allow myself a bit of opening sarcasm). The legendary vocalist, whose vocal approach is one of maybe five, perhaps six in the whole wide galaxy that are elementary to the genre and basically define what a vocal in metal is all about, turned a round 70 on April 6, 2022. Atomic Fire Records met him halfway, and the result is a tribute to a singer who has done a huge amount for heavy metal. The compilation is called “My Way”.
Cover compilations are a pretty dull thing to review. In a way, even rather off-putting. The material isn’t original, after all. Then again, such compilations can be especially interesting when the originals get a serious makeover. Often to the point where you don’t recognize them right away, or where they become barely recognizable compared to the source. The metal world knows this well and is well versed in these approaches, which can be a pleasant surprise. And “My Way” confirms it once again!
The title is spot-on. Not only does it instantly hint that the famous ‘blue-eyed crooner’ is already ‘spinning in his grave’, it also hints that the compilation packs 17 seriously interesting reworkings that never stop being fun. Not just because of the one-of-a-kind sound Dirkschneider’s vocals bring to the otherwise razor-sharp, old-school heavy metal arrangements, but because of the source material itself, which holds plenty of surprises – starting right with the opening Fate Healer (originally by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band), which you’d swear is just a new U.D.O. track, and which is also considered one of the compilation’s most successful covers.
When No Class (originally by Motörhead) kicks in, you’d want to give Udo a free hand to tackle the whole of Motörhead’s “Overkill” album. Lemmy’s voice is outrageously deviant in metal and rock, and the same goes no less for Dirkschneider’s, which gives him this kind of legitimacy. On “My Way”, No Class got one of the best takes on any Motörhead classic in the history of rock. The ‘Iron Chancellor’ would definitely be proud of it. We Will Rock You (orig. Queen) undergoes a serious transformation compared to the original. Given the ‘trillion’ copies the music world had produced by 2022, what keeps it remarkably interesting on this compilation is a concise intervention in the original rhythm. The same goes for the especially deviant They Call It Nutbush (Nutbush City Limits – orig. Tina Turner), with added horn arrangements. You could’ve done without Paint It Black (orig. The Rolling Stones), but Udo’s voice is so distinctive that even this song gets a whole new dimension, especially with the rolling rhythms. The cleverly restructured Sympathy (orig. Uriah Heep) is definitely among the surprises too. Then there’s the strikingly refreshed, rolling and especially inspired, aggressive Hell Bent For Leather (orig. Judas Priest), and a thoroughly metal, vampirized take on the Scorpions original He’s A Woman, She’s A Man.
It’s also incredible how much melody Udo manages to bring to certain songs with this kind of vocal approach. Or rather, hold on to. The cover of Man On The Silver Mountain (orig. Rainbow), sung on the original by the universally revered vocal deity Ronnie James Dio, proves it. It’s more proof that for this vocalist there are no limits even at 70. If anything, he sets them himself. His vocal approach radiates incredible commitment, passion, and above all, even after all that mileage and years of defiance on the scene, an (almost teenage) enthusiasm. And if I may be a little ‘snarky’, this remark is aimed at the cover of Rock’N’Roll (orig. Led Zeppelin). All that’s needed is one comment: “What seventy-three-year-old ‘Percy’ hasn’t been able to pull off for years, the freshly minted septuagenarian Udo still does with feather-light ease.”
With the cover of Kein Zurück, originally by Wolfsheim, we’re also witnessing the fact that this is the first recording in Udo Dirkschneider’s long-running career on which Udo finally sang in German. Frank Sinatra’s My Way, meanwhile, is the only track on the compilation where Udo sings in his normal voice – and even so he remains incredibly distinctive and special. Udo used this cover on the Dirkschneider tours in 2016-2017 as the outro music to close out the concert nights.
Udo also brought in his former Accept partner-in-crime Peter Baltes, who played all the bass lines. Then there’s Udo’s inseparable Accept/U.D.O./Dirkschneider buddy Stefan Kaufmann again, who contributed rhythm guitar, delivered one guitar solo and watched over the production moves. Mathias Dieth, who was part of the U.D.O. lineup on the first four albums, contributed the guitar solo on Sympathy (orig. Uriah Heep). Udo also pulled both current U.D.O. guitarists, Smirnov and Dammers, aboard, along with his son and drummer Sven, which tells you everything about an approach that’s not an inch different from anything you haven’t already heard from Udo Dirkschneider.
Udo hasn’t lost a single speck of his vocal charisma or his vocal shine. It stays – and this is incredible – completely untouched. Fully potent, explosive, untamed. He screeches like a mutated ‘Permo-Carboniferous toad’ with a pharynx full of sharp iron filings after accidentally swallowing a circular saw. Enough said. “My Way” is yet another iron monument erected by the iconic vocalist along his long musical road! A compilation that’s immensely entertaining. That’s its basic purpose too, and it was made with exactly that approach.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Faith Healer (Alex Harvey)
2. Fire (Crazy World Of Arthur Brown)
3. Sympathy (Uriah Heep)
4. They Call It Nutbush (Tina Turner)
5. Man On The Silver Mountain (Rainbow)
6. Hell Raiser (The Sweet)
7. No Class (Motörhead)
8. Rock And Roll (Led Zeppelin)
9. The Stroke (Billy Squier)
10. Paint It Black (Rolling Stones)
11. He’s A Woman, She’s A Man (The Scorpions)
12. T.N.T. (AC/DC)
13. Jealousy (Frankie Miller)
14. Hell Bent For Leather (Judas Priest)
15. We Will Rock You (Queen)
16. Kein Zurück (Wolfsheim)
17. My Way (Frank Sinatra)
Lineup:
Udo Dirkschneider – vocals, backing vocals
Stefan Kaufmann – rhythm guitar, guitar solo on track no. 5, backing vocals
Andrey Smirnov – guitar solos on tracks no. 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 14
Fabian ‘Dee’ Dammers – guitar solos on tracks no. 4, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16
Mathias ‘Don’ Dieth – guitar solo on track no. 3
Peter Koobs – rhythm guitar
Peter Baltes – bass guitar, backing vocals
Harrison Young – organ on tracks no. 3 and 5
Sven Dirkschneider – drums, backing vocals
Mattes – percussion (military snare drum)
Tommy Schneller – saxophone
Dieter Kuhlmann – trombone
Jens Buschenlange – trumpet
Boris Delic – backing vocals
Manuela ‘Ella’ Bibert – backing vocals
