Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth every single penny, 26 Feb 2009
I don't normally review music but this album is by far the best compilation I've heard in years, so here goes. I was instantly amazed by the list of contributors: My Brightest Diamond, Arcade Fire, Conor Oberst, Stuart Murdoch, The National etc. etc., - the most original/influential and exciting musicians around today have all signed up to a truly worthy cause and have put their own twist on some classic compositions (Feeling Good by My Brightest Diamond was a brave choice but they pulled it off) as well as a sprinkling of new delights.
I'm not a massive fan of Jose Gonzalez but, with the fantastic help of The Books they've put together the first decent cover of a Nick Drake song (Cello Song) I've ever heard. My wife is a hard core Drake fan and even she appreciated their stunningly original effort. Now, if only all the artists on here would appear at the same festival - then this monkey will have gone to heaven.
Buy it, this is easily the best value purchase of the year - you might just fall in love with some of these artists and they'll become a welcome addition to the soundtrack of your life (apologies for the terribly cheesy pun but I did warn you I don't normally review music).
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Red Hot in the dark (8/10), 18 Mar 2009
Most posts of Red Hot Organization's `Dark Was the Night' compilation begin with a summary dismissal of compilations in general, and particularly those in the name of charity. If such projects are as bad as people say, `Dark Was the Night' - one of many produced by the HIV/AIDS awareness charity over the years - must be the exception. At 30-plus tracks, the double album features songs by most of the notable artists on the US indie circuit in recent years, and rather than the ragtag collection of outtakes and B-sides you might have expected, the quality is genuinely high. If, in one sitting, `Dark Was the Night' is a rather too bleakly bucolic - it shows US indie's current penchant for flickering folk and Amerciana rootsiness - it is certainly better dipped into than taken as a whole. The default atmosphere of sparseness and gloom is oppressive when listened to as a stretch, while the record's variety is somehow more evident when taken in bite sized chunks.
The roster of artists is so impressive that it is almost defined by who is not present rather than who is: Animal Collective and Fleet Foxes spring to mind as obvious absentees (though Andrew Bird does a good job of recalling the latter on `The Giant of Illinois'). TV on the Radio can be forgiven for their absence given that producer-member David Sitek has contributed a curious, Kevin Shields-y take on Troggs' `With a Girl Like You'. There are few total clangers: Broken Social Scenester Kevin Drew's weedy `Love vs Porn' never makes it past my skip button after the opening lyrics, "I woke up and my mouth was a little dry, so I grabbed the moisturiser and tried not to cry". Hmm.
Nitpicking asides, it is the poignantly bittersweet upbeat numbers that really steal the show: compilation curator The National's `So Far Around the Bend', with its shimmering backwards effects and baroque strings; My Morning Jacket's maritime `El Caporal'; the extraordinary synth pop of Yeasayer's `Tightrope'; the blizzard of French horns on Beirut's `Mimizam'; to name a few. Repeated listens reveal gems among the more ponderous material: the songwriting on Grizzly Bear's beautiful `Deep Blue Sea' is atypically lucid for them, more akin to their sister act Department of Eagles than their own material to date, but perhaps a taster for their forthcoming - apparently brilliant - `Veckatimest'. They also collaborate with Feist to mesmerising effect on `Service Bell'. Furthermore, Bon Iver's murky, dissonant `Brackett, WI' - which sounds like it should have featured on his recent `Blood Bank EP' - and Yo Lo Tengo's glowing `Gentle Hour', both reveal subtle depths. There's much more, of course, good and not-so-good, but if you are even the most casual fan of recent US indie you should find plenty to occupy you here.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing compilation!, 24 Feb 2009
If you like even one of the artists contributing to this album, buy it. The musicians on this album are all pretty easy to relate to each other - not enough that you could call them 'samey', but enough that you'll probably enjoy this whole CD (except for one slightly odd track!).
If you already know and love these artists, it's a great selection of new and unreleased songs, including some covers and brand new material.
You get a lot for your money (the presentation is also gorgeous!) and all the profit goes to charity. Everybody wins. Buy it! :D
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