Udo Lindenberg was turning out albums at such a ferocious rate of knots through the late 1970s that it would be easy to look at this set, a collection of classic rock and rock & roll covers, as the sound of him taking a breather. Instead, you emerge from Rock Revue in the same frame of mind that wraps up Bowie's Pin Ups or side one of Todd Rundgren's "Faithless"; back in love with all your favorite oldies, but so entranced by the rearrangements that the past will never sound the same again. Ten songs come under Lindenberg's surgeon's knife, ranging from a lascivious lurch through "Sweet Little Sixteen" to a Chuck Berry-esque visit to "Penny Lane," a freakishly doom-laden "Leader of the Pack," a haunting "A Salty Dog," and a prog-funk fusion "Sympathy for the Devil" that might not be as chilling as the Stones' original, but is just as dynamic. The all-German lyrics and liner notes are a definite disadvantage for English-speaking audiences, slicing away all the little puns and jokes with which Lindenberg laces his translations. But still Rock Revue rates among the finest covers collections of its era, which means it's also one of the greatest of all time.
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