It's been years since the last truly memorable tribute album; most listeners have become so jaded about them that it would take an extraordinary effort to pull one off. The people behind Different Strokes by Different Folks certainly made an effort: Various permutations of rappers, rockers and neo-soulsters were invited to rework the original Sly and the Family Stone recordings from the late Sixties and early Seventies. The results are half sizzle, half fizzle: The Roots' nimble recasting of "Everybody Is a Star" shimmers — shame it already appeared on their 2004 LP The Tipping Point. Big Boi with Sleepy Brown and Killer Mike, John Legend and Joss Stone with Van Hunt, and Steven Tyler with Robert Randolph all contribute credibly. However, other performers either bring it by-the-numbers (Will.i.am, Moby) or maladroitly burlesque Sly's masterful biracial, mixed-sex rock-funk-soul collective (Maroon 5; Devin Lima, ex-LFO). Heaven knows that giving some propers to Sly Stone is a noble, if not overdue, notion. But for too many of the artists on Different Strokes, when they tip their hat they show their ass.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."