Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement (Barack Obama) [Collector's Edition][Special Edition]

Various Artists (Artist), Barack Obama (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 11, 2008)
• Original Release Date: July 31, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Collector's Edition, Special Edition
• Label: Hidden Beach
• ASIN: B001IF269Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,968 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Sonicboomers.com, November 11,2008, By Gene Sculatti

Whether you choose to hear it as a victory-lap soundtrack or simply a chorus inviting all Americans to embrace "the audacity of hope," this compilation works--if not always, then often enough, as a compelling, occasionally very moving listen. Twenty artists contribute 18 tracks, inspired by Barack Obama's campaign (snippets of recent Big `O' speeches are woven into various tracks).

Admittedly, the charity/progressive-agenda/fundraiser album, always well intentioned and too frequently featuring the conspicuous keening of Bono (he's absent here), has lost much luster. Too many such "event" projects, all worthy, may have created a kind of listener fatigue among music fans, who've tended to cold-shoulder them in recent years. Yes We Can may escape that fate. Its timing alone, coming at the close of a contentious campaign season, is perfect: after all that noise, a musical restorative should allow us to catch our breath before getting up and moving on. Besides, who can argue with an album whose title shouts out to both Sammy Davis' autobiography and the Pointer Sisters' first, Allen Toussaint-scribed hit?

Just over half its tracks were recorded exclusively for Yes We Can and they generally comprise the album's best moments. One near-holy ghost hovers over both Lionel Richie's set-opening "Eternity" and John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change." The ghost is Curtis Mayfield, whose knack for infectious, slo-burn melody and lyric sharpness--filtered through early Van Morrison on the Mayer cut--guides two buoyant performances that just "feel so right." Inspirational verse from the latter song: "If we had the power to bring our neighbors home from war/ they would never have missed Christmas, no more ribbons on their door." The same attitude animates Shontelle's "Battle Cry," which puts slightly more contemporary moves on similar source material.

Los Lonely Boys pair their characteristic blues-rock with a Beatley melodic vibe (both Harrison- and McCartneyesque) on "Make It Better," and Keb' Mo' reprises "America the Beautiful" from his 2001 kids-music set Big Wide Grin. Here too, the familiar gets a facelift. "America the Beautiful" has been subjected to inordinate amounts of elder song abuse over the years, and Keb' Mo's restrained vocal is a welcome change, coloring the tune blue and restoring at least some of its dignity. Less impressive is singer-songwriter Ken Stacey's "America," a tinkling-piano ballad that might play well in cabaret but registers as outsized and overly sentimental here.

Yes We Can's star-power cut is "Promised Land," a curious club sandwich assembled by Kanye West, Malik and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine that asks us to reconcile a generous ecumenical spirit with requisite rap braggadocio. There's something a little disconcerting about Malik rapping that "This is not brown, red or yellow, not a white or black poem" just after letting on that "Time flies in the Lear and you wonder where the day went." We can all relate.

The set's real highlight is also its most adventurous cut, Jill Scott's remake of her "One Is the Magic #." Set to a seductive, head-nodding beat (a wonderfully crunchy rhythm track; it sounds like Ewell Gibbons tramping through a Fall forest), outfitted with Spanish trumpet flourishes, the tune's acutely on-target both musically and message-wise. Scott's powerful vocal runs down fundamental math: There's just one of each of us, and any change equation must start there. The sound bite, from Obama's 2004 Democratic convention speech in Boston, puts the period to Scott's point: "E pluribus unum. Out of many one. In the end, that's what this election is about..."

John Legend redoes U2's "Pride, in the Name of Love," here outfitted with speech excerpts from Obama as well as the song's subject, Dr. Martin Luther King (Legend's version was used in the History Channel doc King). Ozomatli offers the midtempo, (synthetic?) string-wrapped "Love and Hope," whose vocal owes more than a little to Stevie Wonder. And Wonder himself provides the best known of Yes We Can's lend-lease cuts ("Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"), though plenty of listeners will be familiar with "Out of Our Heads," from Sheryl Crow's recent Detours album, and "Looking East," the underrated title track of Jackson Browne's Calicentric 1996 set. We also hear from Yolanda Adams, Buddy Miller, Dave Stewart, Suai and Bebe Winans.

Like the newspaper headlines, bumper strips and t-shirts, Yes We Can is a historic marker, and like them it may grow in souvenir equity a hundred years hence. Here's hoping the event it commemorates, and the spirit so prominent on these tracks, will have far greater value.

Product Description

The 18-song disc, titled Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement, borrows its name from one of the campaign's central messages and boasts a stellar collection of artists from across genres, including such renowned, multi-platinum performers as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Kanye West, Jill Scott, Los Lonely Boys, Jackson Browne, BeBe Winans, Lionel Richie, Adam Levine, Keb' Mo' and John Legend. The project features current and classic material as well as new music heard here for the first time including speech excerpts from President elect Barack Obama intertwined throughout the project.

In collaboration with the Barack Obama presidential campaign, this first ever-political soundtrack has been produced by Hidden Beach Recordings. In this unprecedented approach to using music as an integral character within a political campaign to raise the awareness and importance of voting by utilizing the power and influence of music and its recording artists in support of various campaign initiatives, fundraising and voter registration campaigns, Hidden Beach Recordings has been selected to produce this monumental soundtrack. The historical precedence of the compilation, overwhelming support and participation by such superstar/multi-platinum recording artists spanning all genres of music, has positioned this CD to be an incredible body of work, which represents a worldwide cry for "Change" and will be a collectors' item cherished by generations to come. Special Collectors Edition features a 52 page booklet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes We Can HOPE for a Great CD, November 14, 2008

By	Music Freak "Music Freak" - See all my reviews

This CD is a perfect reflection of everything the Obama campaign and his future for our country stands for. The Lionel Richie track is just an amazing and uplifting track, and the collaboration of Malik, Kanye West and Adam Levine is a real stunner! The John Legend interpretation of the U2 track is beautiful and a testament to both Legend's talent and the quality of the original song.
The packaging is awesome and the 52 page book that is included is a wonderful read and I will cherish this for years to come. I intend to purchase several of these as gifts for the holidays.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement (Barack Obama), November 18, 2008

By	Larks Angel (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

I have to say that in the many years that I have been a record buying fan, I have never had such a strong reason to purchase a CD as this one. Not only are the songs great, but the passion behind the project is what really drove me to not only buy the CD but to make sure that all of my friends knew about it.

YES WE DID!!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A historical Event, November 17, 2008

By	Monica A. Williams "Maxkapacity" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the waking of such historical events many are inspired to do whatever they feel possible to be apart of such occasions. This cd is the result of one of those historical events. Like so many I was truly moved by the occasion as well as this album. Every song chosen is a fugitive illustration of what the campaign in essence was truly about the unifying others past party affiliations, cultural or ideological beliefs/backgrounds. I felt it potent that more than one genre was used fully illustrating the unifying of not just music but people as well. My favorite pieces are John Legend's version "Pride, In The Name Of Love," "I Have A Dream," and "Promised Land." This album is the soundtrack to this historical event.