#eric dover

Album Review: Fernando Perdomo and Denny Seiwell - RAM ON: The 50th Anniversary Tribute to Paul and Linda McCartney’s RAM

Different enough to be worthwhile, but also similar enough to be worthwhile, Fernando Perdomo and Denny Seiwell’s RAM ON: The 50th Anniversary Tribute to Paul and Linda McCartney’s RAM works despite the obvious fact it should not.

For one, Ram is not McCartney’s best effort. For two, more than 100 players and singers participated and you know the adage about stew and an over-abundance of cooks.

Co-produced by the pair - Perdomo, the prolific multi-instrumentalist, and Seiwell, the former Wings drummer who played on Ram - the LP’s contributors include Ram guitarist Dave Spinozza and trumpeter Marvin Stamm; Wilco’s Pat Sansone; Carnie Wilson; Jellyfish’s Eric Dover; the Pixies’ Joey Santiago; bassist Will Lee; Davey Johnstone from Elton John’s Band; and scads of others. Amazingly, these diverse elements converge to create a cohesive recreation of the 12-track LP, plus the non-album single “Another Day,” b/w “Oh Woman, Oh Why” and an instrumental “(Slight Return)” of “Too Many People” to cap it off.

Obviously, no one sings like Paul McCartney, but these vocalists embody the home-spun vibe Paul and Linda captured in the immediate post-Fab environment. Nowhere is this more evident than on the ribald “Long Haired Lady,” with Rob Bonfiglio and Wilson on vocals. It, along with Sansone’s “Ram On,” Bebopalula’s “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” and Dan Rothchild’s “Heart of the Country” are among the highlights.

Grade card: Fernando Perdomo and Denny Seiwell - RAM ON: The 50th Anniversary Tribute to Paul and Linda McCartney’s RAM - B-