Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 stars... brilliant concept, brilliant execution, great cause, March 3, 2009
I am generally not much for these type of compilation/charity albums, but only a week after the excellent "Dark Was the Night" indie-rock charity compilation now comes yet another great one. This album is I think the 4th or even 5th in this series, benefitting children that are the victims of war. The previous one, 2005's "Help: A Day in the Life" made my "best of" for that year.
"War Child presents Heroes" (16 tracks; 64 min.) starts with a brilliant concept: legends in the music industry pick a newer artist, who then in turn chooses a song to cover from that legend! The album starts off with a blazing "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"", chosen and covered by Beck (chosen by Dylan). And off we go! The set brings one highlight after another, there are barely any weak tracks on here, and plenty of surprises. Such as: Elvis Costello picking The Like (where in the world have they been the last 3 years?), who then bring a blazing "You Belong To Me" (from "This Year's Model"), wow. Or U2 picking Elbow, who bring a mesmorizing "Running to Stand Still" (from "The Joshua Fire"). Or Paul McCartney picking Duffy, who brings a completely reinvented "Live and Let Die", just great. Or David Bowie picking TV on the Radio, who then bring a great "Heroes" (the closing track of the album). But the absolute highlight of the album belongs to Roxy Music picking Scissor Sisters, who then bring a delightful "Do The Strand", better than anything they've done since their debut album.
The album is a delight from start to finish. And did I mention it supports a great cause? So do yourself a favor, and buy this album, you'll thank me later. It seems this particular series of charity album comes out with a new one every 4 or 5 years or so, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Meanwhile "War Child presents Heroes" is sure to make my "best of" albums for this year again. Highly recommended!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
All for a noble cause!!, March 25, 2009
"War Child presents Heroes" is the third in the series of compilations to raise money for children affected by war around the world. Prior to this release, the only other one I'd owned was 2005's "Help - a day in the life" featuring acts such as Radiohead, Keane, Coldplay and Bloc Party to mention a few.
This new collection comes with a twist. Where "Help.." comprised mostly new recordings from the artistes involved, here we get covers of songs selected by the original performers. This is the only minus, as one gets to compare the covers with the originals (where you are familiar with them). For example, Franz Ferdinand's live cover of Blondie's "Call me" is practically identical to the original, right down to the deadpan vocals of Debbie Harry. Well, the song is great so that is really no loss.
Estelle sounds a wee bit like Lauryn Hill as she blasts through Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" but with those funky horns replaced with scatting and ad libs. Duffy does a stripped, Bluey-y cover of Paul McCartney's "Live and let die", the Hold Steady transform Bruce Springsteen's acoustic ballad "Atlantic City" into an upbeat Rocker, yet still manage to sound just like the Boss himself.
Rufus Wainwright does what he does well, a theatrical almost Cabaret delivery of "Wonderful/Song For Children", a Medley from Brian Wilson's Smile, one of my favourites. Elbow turn in a Coldplay-style delivery of U2's "Running to stand still", initially calm and building to a stadium-sized climax. David Bowie's "Heroes" is given an upbeat, stomping treatment by TV on the radio with lead singer Tunde Adebimpe turning in an echoing Bowie vocal impression.
The other songs are all new to me; a fuzzy/distorted cover of Bob Dylan's "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" by Beck, a rolicking cover of The Kinks' "Victoria" by The Kooks, a synth driven/ghostly cover of Joy Division's "Transmission" by Hot Chip, Lily Allen and Mick Jones doing a gentle cover of The Clash's "Straight to hell" (and it sounds like it could be right off her "Alright, still" CD), and a blazing and frenetic cover of The Ramones "Sheena is a punk rocker" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
An AWOL Scissor Sisters do what they did for Pink Floyd's "Comfortably numb" to Roxy Music's "Do the strand", Peaches covers "Search and destroy" by Iggy Pop, Adam Cohen does an impassioned live Spanish acoustic/piano cover of dad Leonard Cohen's "Take this waltz", and The Like do a rocky, reverb-filled cover of Elvis Costello's "You belong to me".
Nice music, and all for a noble cause.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pretty Cool Album that benefits charity! :), March 1, 2009
I bought this album and I enjoy it. It's a cover album with a lot of cool recent and critically acclaimed artists. What's cool abut this album is that the original artists picked the new artists they wanted to cover their songs. The songs all sound really good and you can tell the people covering them all put their own touch on them. My favorite song here is "Straight to Hell" by Lily Allen. Lily takes this amazing song originally by The Clash and puts her own touch on it. I love it!
Bottom Line: If you are looking for a cool album full of great songs, download this album. Also money from the albums sold will go to War Child, a charity that provides humanitarian assistance to children in devastated regions. So download the album, enjoy the music, and feel good that you helped a child somewhere out there. :)
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