My my, Live Lounge, how the mighty have fallen
I will start by saying that I am a huge fan fan of the Live Lounge, always intrigued as to how certain artists will twist their own works for radio performance and of course what on earth they may be covering.
But ever since Fearne Cotton took over the main Live Lounge show, with Jo Whiley relegated to weekends, the quality of performers has suffered a tremendous downturn. And this compilation shows that more than ever.
Instead of trawling through the archives for those rare treats, we're subjected to VERY recent and disappointing additions by nomarks like You Me at 6, Travie McCoy and All Time Low. In whose right mind does Alesha Dixon's "Drummer Boy" come to when thinking of the year's best live lounges? Even more disappointing is some of the choices - Mumford & Sons are a great band and more than deserving of a place here - but surely their version of Vampire Weekend's "Cousins" should have been placed here.
There are some great performances here - Kelis sounds wonderful, Taio Cruz does a great version of Mumford, surprises from Hurts, Kelly Rowland and the mighty Dave Grohl are very welcome. And Marina & The Diamonds prove with their cover of 3Oh!3 that it IS possible to polish a turd!
There's one CD worth of great tracks here, but a lack of picking out past Live Lounge greats in favour of current big names makes for a disappointing listen