If you’re a punk rock kid that grew up in the late 80s and early 90s then you know the name Tony Sly, if you didn’t already know, it should send you scrambling to Amazon (iTunes, Spotify or whatever the hell you use to get music into your skull) this very instant. You don’t even need to read the rest of this to know that Tony Sly’s music kicks ass and your life just got a little better knowing it exists (you’re welcome btw). If you aren’t in that category and you’re wondering why I’m making such a big deal about someone you’ve never heard of, read on.
The fairly recent passings of Leonard Nimoy and Terry Pratchett got me thinking about other folks I admire that have shuffled loose this mortal coil over the last couple of years and I turned to No Use For A Name to dig on the vocal and lyrical stylings of Mr. Tony Sly. A punk rock and musical genius in his own right who unexpectedly died in his sleep in July of 2012. Was it drugs? Was it alcohol? Was it something biological or genetic? Who knows, and seriously… who cares. The cause is not our business, but what Tony Sly created with his life, his legacy, is.
If you’re not familiar with Tony Sly here’s Wikipedia’s quick and dirty DL on him. Tony Sly “was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the front man of the punk rock band No Use for a Name. In his later years he also gained attention for his acoustic solo work, with two acoustic split albums he released with Lagwagon front man Joey Cape and two solo albums.”
Now you know who he is, why he kicked ass, and was such an important figure in the Punk Rock scene, so now it’s time to talk about this album, The Songs Of Tony Sly: A Tribute, which is awesome. It’s surprising, it’s emotional and it’s an all around wonderful tribute to someone who give his heart and soul to punk rock. This album is filled with phenomenal covers, but the most surprising cover for me was Simple Plan. Normally I can’t stand them, but I have to give credit where credit is due and they did an amazing cover of “Justified Black Eye”, which is one of No Use For a Name’s seminal songs so I’m sure the pressure was on when recording it. Fucking up “Justified Black Eye” on a tribute to the man himself is something you could never live down.
The Songs Of Tony Sly: A Tribute sits amongst the handful of albums out there that make me feel something deep, profoundly sad, and wonderful when listening to it because you can feel the admiration and love his friends and colleagues poured into each cover. As my ex-wife can attest I’m not an emotional person, but every time I play this album I get a tiny cold tingling twinge of emotion that lives in the dark inky goo inside me. I’m not saying this will happen to you, because Tony Sly might not mean as much to you as he does to me. His songs might not have impacted your formative years like they did mine and that’s fine, but if you’re even passingly familiar you should give The Songs Of Tony Sly: A Tribute a listen and experience the music of this masterful story teller through people who knew him, worked with him and obviously loved him.
*/* No rating. It’s too awesome for numbers.