War Child - Heroes

The War Child Heroes album is no ordinary compilation album. Rather than a series of casts off and B sides that form the usual charity CD, War Child take a highly prescriptive approach in the formation of their releases. This approach leads to a much greater focus on the quality of the music. The concept for Heroes combines some of the greatest icons of rock music with some of the most popular contemporary artists of today. The charity asked fifteen rock greats, from U2 to Bowie to Iggy Pop to choose a song from their back catalogue and to nominate a modern act that they would most trust to create a unique interpretation of that song. The end results of these new cover versions are such that irrespective of the charitable status of the project, the album is worth buying for a significant amount of musical merit alone.

Most surprising is how some of the covers that you would expect on paper to be disasters are very good indeed. Take Duffy covering Live And Let Die; whilst at Breaking More Waves we were fans of the Duffy album, the recent screeching on previous single Rain On Your Parade left a sour taste in our mouth. Here Duffy redeems herself with Bernard Butler on production duties and his long time collaborator David McAlmont providing sweet soulful backing vocals. Her version is restrained and sultry, a torch song version of the classic.

Lily Allen also shocks with a very modern middle of the road pop version of Straight To Hell by The Clash, with Mick Jones on backing vocals. It should be a disaster, but Lily gives Joe Strummers difficult anti war lyrics a delicate sugary touch that actually makes them stand out more.

Elbow fare even better, taking Running To Stand Still by U2 and making it sound even more tender and intimate than the original. It’s worth buying the album for this song alone. Bono chose wisely. Elsewhere TV On The Radio deliver a bold mountainous electronic beat laden version of Heroes that follows neatly on from the Dear Science album whilst The Hold Steady, who let’s face it sound like a Bruce Springsteen covers band, get to cover The Boss on Atlantic City.

There are very few duffers on the album. Hot Chips minimal electro calypso of Transmission will probably be hated by most Ian Curtis fans, but one track out of fifteen isn’t bad.

It would seem almost a disservice to review a charity album and give it the thumbs down. Fortunately in the case of War Child Heroes there is no need to do such a thing. Rather than going out this Friday night and spending your spare cash on a round of drinks, buy this album, stay in, listen to it and know that you have helped provide vital funds for War Childs essential and unique work in helping children who live with the brutal effects of war.

Album Of The Year 2008 #10 - TV On The Radio - Dear Science

For many albums, the realisation of its greatness comes only after repeated listens. The subtle nuances, the deeper melodies and hidden joys that grow on you, over cheap pop thrills. Yet with TV On The Radio's Dear Science it takes just one listen to the opening track Halfway Home to know that this is going to be a great album. Heavy clattering war like drums punctuated with Beach Boys style “Ba Ba Ba” vocals propel the song forwards until a moment after exactly four minutes and twenty seconds Tunde Adebimpe sings softly “ Go on throw this stone, into this halfway home” and the song musically orgasms. The pace of the drums increases, squalling electric guitar crash over in waves, the bass suddenly drives home and the “Ba Ba Ba’s” become an almost chaotic mess. It leaves you feeling wasted, spent and totally exhilarated.

But one song does not make an album, and the New York quintet have with Dear Science produced an artistically complex album, where no two songs are the same but all are equally as good. It is a fully realised, often complex piece of work, loaded with giddy slightly sixth form political and cultural references. “Hey Jackboot, fuck your war. Cause I’m fat and I’m in love and no bombs are fallin’ on me for sure. But I’m scared to death that I’m livin’ a life not worth dying for,” Adebimpe sings on Red Dress hinting at many of the issues that the United States consciousness deals with in 2008.

Some have compared Dear Science to the work of Radiohead, but musically there are very few similarities. However what both bands do share here seems to be an ideology of making challenging artistic rock records that sit outside of the mainstream. In sound alone TV On The Radio sound more like Prince funking out at his best on Golden Age and a marching band singing about breaking beds and sucking skin on the climatic Lovers Day. And that’s the picture not even one twentieth painted.

The three best things about this album are first that despite its diversity of songs, its overall cohesiveness as an album works impressively. The second is that although it is in the main not an album of simple verses and catchy choruses, it is surprisingly instant to listen to, and yet remains addictive several months later. The third is that it is one of a very small number of albums on this list that is not a debut.

Whilst you would suspect that Breaking More Waves no.9 choice tomorrow will not feature in many critics end of year polls, Dear Science probably will, and I applaud anyone that shows faith in this exciting modern rock record. It neatly balances artistic intrigue with a sense of the commercial populist in the same way that, in the past, great American bands such as REM and Talking Heads have done.



Dancing Choose from Dear Science by TV On The Radio