Where's Neil When You Need Him?

Neil Gaiman

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dancing Ferret
• ASIN: B000FP2IXM
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,115 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Billboard
Ethereal pop...and world music shine among a quirky mix of styles...expect wild flights of sonic fancy

Product Description
A unique collaboration between a collection of talented musicians and a best-selling author. Seventeen top international acts offer 17 exclusive songs inspired by the diverse work of Neil Gaiman. Includes a lavish 20 page booklet with extensive liner notes from Neil Gaiman about the project and each of the songs and an assortment of all new artwork from Dave McKean, as well as a foreword by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. The songs on this disc are inspired by Gaiman stories including Coraline, American Gods, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Stardust, The Goldfish Pool, Sandman, The Wolves in the Walls, Mr. Punch, Mirror Mask and Neverwhere.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holding The Umbrella, August 10, 2006

By	HCL (Florida) - See all my reviews

I know there are a lot of ways to look at Neil's work, and it would be inappropriate of me to say what I think his work "means." So instead I'll say what I like about it: he's a living, breathing bridge, between this world and the next. He makes the next world(s) become something real and mundane and everyday, and he makes this world something wonderful and something terrible and something brilliant, and he draws pictures that tell where our world overlaps and where it detaches from that one.

And that's what good music does, too.

Over the first few tracks of the album I was quite disappointed since none of the artists seemed to even understand this attitude towards the world, much less imitate it. Of course, it's hardly fair to compare any artist, of any medium, to Gaiman; yet it seems that such deep, soul-wrenching characters as the Endless deserve better treatment. There are a lot of good musicians out there, and this is fantastic source material. Luckily, by the end of the album, it turns out to be worthwhile.

1. Rasputina's "Coraline" has lyrics that are too pathetic to honor the story. It's very metallic sounding and scratchy, which I assume is meant to be the rats, but isn't done very musically or with much talent. Also they pronounce "Coraline" to rhyme with "mean" instead of "wine," which bothers me although I realize it's linguistically acceptable, since it wasn't how the story was written (at least according to the liner notes). 2 / 5.
2. ThouShaltNot's "When Everyone Forgets" is decent, musically. The lyrics are also mystifying enough that if you don't already know what they're talking about, well, you won't figure it out from the song. For this album I think that's quite appropriate. 4 / 5
3. Tapping the Vein's "Trader Boy." Techno, energetic; a good enough song. The lyrics aren't as poetic as you might like, but again, it's hard to compare these poor musicians to Gaiman. 3 / 5
4. Lunascape's "Raven Star" is ethereal and floaty, quite excellent with satisfyingly fae lyrics. 4 / 5
5. Deine Lakaien "A Fish Called Prince" is watery and abstract. This artist is reminiscent of a softer version of Sisters of Mercy; very retro sounding and bouncy. Works well. 4 / 5
6. Thea Gilmore "Even Gods Do." The solid guitar and almost country-sounding vocals give the impression of a journal, which is appropriate for the story she's illustrating. It's earthy with a lot of talk about blood and the cycles of nature and solid earth things, just like Norse myth. 4 / 5
7. Rose Berlin "Coraline." This song is good because it sounds like you're inside Coraline's head; the lyrics accurately portray the combination of yearning for adventure and fear of the unknown that you get from the story. And it has a lovely creepy chorus with the rats' song. 5 / 5
8. Schandmaul "Magda Treadgolds Marchen." A very clever blend of mod German metal with old world folk music. 3 / 5
9. Hungry Lucy "We Won't Go." Very light sound. Eerie to hear the child like vocals discussing "they came from the walls / they tortured us all," but very appropriate to the story (which happens to be one of my two year old's favorite books). 5 / 5
10. Voltaire's "Come Sweet Death" unfortunately is a pathetic waltz-like song which sounds like he whipped it off in about 5 minutes. The sad thing is I really like Voltaire! But his work doesn't stand up to the seriousness of the Endless. Some of the lyrics are, "Goodbye, cruel world!" Come ON. We can't do better than that? This song is neither a tribute to Voltaire or to Gaiman. 1 / 5
11. Future Bible Heroes give an interesting Nintendo soundtrack feel to Mr. Punch, which I find to be very appropriate and quite amusing. It does a good job of holding up the dark comedy of Gaiman's work. 5 / 5
12. Razed in Black, surprisingly enough, does a great job with "The Endless." They take their usual energetic approach to music and meet Gaiman's lighthearted seriousness somewhere in the middle. It's perfect. 5 / 5
13. The Cruxshadows is my favorite band, and "Wake the White Queen" is a perfect example of what they do best: take a solid mythology and somehow make it their own. 5 / 5
14. Ego Likeness "You Better Leave The Stars Alone." This very obscure band is another one of my favorites; while this song is very good, I was hoping for a little more. It doesn't have enough of their trademark passion which you come across in songs like 16 Miles, and the tempo seems like they meant for it to be a bit faster. 4 / 5
15. Azam Ali's "The Cold Black Key." Definitely the best Coraline song on the album. Very eerie and otherworldly sounding, which is, of course, appropriate. On a random note, it's interesting how at the end of the song the female vocalist sings the name "Coraline" in a very haunting tone, just like on the Mirrormask soundtrack where a female vocalist sings "Helena" in a haunting, echoey voice. 5 / 5
16. Joachim Witt "Vandemar." Downright creepy. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Finally someone on this album got dirty and touched the scary side of Neil's work! And reveled in it... 5 / 5
17. Tori Amos "Sister Named Desire." A startling contrast to the previous track, Tori's work is as usual ethereal and fae. If I had to guess I would say that the singer is Delirium-Who-Used-To-Be-Delight. 4 / 5

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspired by & dedicated to Neil, September 27, 2006

By	Tom Knapp "Rambles.NET editor" (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Neil Gaiman's vision comes to us in many forms. Sometimes, it's words in a book. In other instances, his imagination is expressed through the hand of an artist or, less often, the eye of a film director. Now, it's coming to us as music.

But, inspiration aside, how's the music? It's good. It's fun. It's moody. It's diverse. I don't love all of the music, but every track honors the source material, and that's saying a lot. The album progresses through a stream of Gaiman's ideas and visions, some direct, some oblique.

There are many musical styles represented here, from goth/metal and medieval rock to folk, electronica and trip-hip. Given the variety of Gaiman's work, it's fitting; as he notes in his introduction to the liner notes, "music was always part of the writing process -- different music for different stories." Frankly, I'm not sure there's variety enough; most of the music here fits into a similar vein of modern/alternative/industrial/pop themes, and I can't help but think Gaiman's stories would inspire a bit of old-world folk here, a baroque riff there, perhaps a touch of jazz or blues. But, considering what the album has rather than what it hasn't, I like the package it makes. It's not necessarily a soundtrack to a little light Gaiman reading, but it's a fair homage to an amazing body of work.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars *WOW*!!!, September 1, 2006

By	M. Duvall "KangiTanka3" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are ANYTHING of a Neil Gaiman fan, go out and buy the "Where's Neil When You Need Him?" CD this very instant :~D!!!

Not only does every song tie in *fantastically* with one of his works, including 'The Sandman', 'Coraline', The Wolves in the Walls', 'Mirrormask', 'Neverwhere', 'American Gods' and more, being inspired by them and created and recorded by huge fans, it's *FABULOUS* music in its own right!

Even the stuff here that's not to my taste is extraordinarily well done. But most of it is, and I've found some favourite new songs here, including Lunascape's "Raven Star" (inspired by 'Stardust'), Thea Gilmore's "Even Gods Do" (which is all about 'American Gods') and Voltaire & the Oddz' extraordinarily, perfectly upbeat (considering what Death's all about) "Come Sweet Death"!

The liner notes are extensive and include quite a bit of noodling from the master himself and a lot of insight into the artists' choices of works to base their songs on.

This album has both introduced me to several fabulous new artists and reinvigorated my drive to re-read Gaiman's works that I already have and buy and read those I haven't. And it's fantastic having a soundscape to his literary works :~).