What do you get when you have a gathering of talented musicians, put them in a room full of equipment and let them play Beatles songs? “Butchering The Beatles,” I guess the title fits! This is a CD compiled of classic Beatles tunes interpreted by some of rock’s most notorious stars. I am a little disappointed with the outcome of the CD. 

The CD lacks creativity. The first track, “Hey Bull Dog,” is pretty good. Alice Cooper barks out the lyrics while Steve Vai totally rips it up. This is probably my favorite song on the CD. “Back In The USSR” features Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead on vocals. Well, Lemmy is Lemmy and you’ll find that out! Geoff Tate and Michael Wilton from Queensryche do a fine job on “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

“Tomorrow Never Knows,” pretty much done by Billy Idolb band, doesn’t do much for me. “Magical Mystery Tour,” one of my favorite Beatles songs, definitely packs a punch! Yngwie shows the enormous speed that he still possesses, and is very dominant throughout the song. Billy Gibbons, Mr. ZZ Top himself, puts a little Texas swing to “Revolution” A very nice change of pace! I wish there were a few more tracks like this. “Day Tripper” has some decent harmonies from Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades, reunited again since their days in Damn Yankees… other than that, boring!

The winner here for “Butchering The Beatles” up the most? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ripper Owens hacking up "Hey Jude”. The ex-Judas Priest front man definitely takes the ”Golden Butcher Knife” award home for this one.

The CD title definitely fits. It’s not a bad thing, since they let you know in advance. Yes, you can rip it up and spit it out anyway you want, but please give me something I can listen to and say, “That was interesting.” In my opinion, this is what you would get if you had access to a rolodex filled with mega talent, picked up the phone, started calling around to all the boys available, brought in a keg of beer and  jammed on some Beatles tunes while the tape was rolling. Take it for what it’s worth.