I normally move away quickly to the opposite corner of the record shop as fast as I can if someone points in the direction of a charity record, for almost without exception they are well-meaning but crap.But not Dark Was The Night, a 2CD release from earlier this year on behalf of Red Hot, the long-established AIDS charity (I remember buying a compilation VHS tape for Red Hot back in 1990 that featured loads of covers of Cole Porter songs).
It has 31-tracks from some of the very best indie artists around, mainly from the USA. It was a project produced by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner of The National with assistance from John Carlin the founder of Red Hot - some blogs and sites give the impression that the songs themselves were all produced by the trio but this is not the case.
Released on the 4AD label back in February, the record had, by late October, made almost £450,000 in profit for the charity. But if some of you who havent yet bought it do so as Xmas presents, then that figure can increase further.
Those featured on the record are Antony, Arcade Fire, Beirut, Andrew Bird, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, The Books, David Byrne, Cat Power, The Decemberists, Devastations, Dirty Projectors, Kevin Drew, Feist, Ben Gibbard, Jose Gonzalez, Grizzly Bear, Iron & Wine, Kronos Quartet, Stuart Murdoch, My Brightest Diamond, My Morning Jacket, The National, Conor Oberst, The New Pornographers, Riceboy Sleeps, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Dave Sitek, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Gillain Welch, Yeasayer, Yo La Tengo.
I'm not fond of all 31 tracks, but then again I dont think I own any album of that length that I can say every song is an absolute stunner. But at least three-quarters of these are among some of my favourite releases of 2009. This however, is the one I nominate as the absolute stand out:-
It has 31-tracks from some of the very best indie artists around, mainly from the USA. It was a project produced by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner of The National with assistance from John Carlin the founder of Red Hot - some blogs and sites give the impression that the songs themselves were all produced by the trio but this is not the case.
Released on the 4AD label back in February, the record had, by late October, made almost £450,000 in profit for the charity. But if some of you who havent yet bought it do so as Xmas presents, then that figure can increase further.
Those featured on the record are Antony, Arcade Fire, Beirut, Andrew Bird, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, The Books, David Byrne, Cat Power, The Decemberists, Devastations, Dirty Projectors, Kevin Drew, Feist, Ben Gibbard, Jose Gonzalez, Grizzly Bear, Iron & Wine, Kronos Quartet, Stuart Murdoch, My Brightest Diamond, My Morning Jacket, The National, Conor Oberst, The New Pornographers, Riceboy Sleeps, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Dave Sitek, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Gillain Welch, Yeasayer, Yo La Tengo.
I'm not fond of all 31 tracks, but then again I dont think I own any album of that length that I can say every song is an absolute stunner. But at least three-quarters of these are among some of my favourite releases of 2009. This however, is the one I nominate as the absolute stand out:-
mp3 : Conor Oberst & Gillain Welch - Lua
Simply beautiful. A stunning cover of the 2004 single Conor had previously released under the Bright Eyes moniker.
Go buy Dark Is The Night. It should be available in your local indie record store. If you cant get a hold of there, try HMV.com
Thank You.
1 comment:
This rendition of Lua is far superior to the one from Conor Oberst/Bright Eye's 2005 album, "I'm Wide Awak It's Morning".
Thanks for posting this - definitely the stand out track on this compilation.
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