Various Acts - 'Hope' (London)
4/5
By: Toby L
The greeting of another War Child-backed release should be greeted with as much warning as enticement over its associated content. The former, because another issue of mass-concern is at stake. The latter, because at least awareness over such a hot issue as the current Iraq crisis (it is still happening, you know...) is guaranteed to be presented as timely and tastefully as such fund-generating packages can promise to be.
'Hope', the latest of the series, is the most eclectic of the bunch. Spanning from the likes of George Michael's impassioned take on Don McLean's bleak 'The Grave' to Tom McRae's strumming sweetness of 'Border Song' or even - brace yourselves - Lee Ryan from Blue's own self-penned take on the current situation, 'definitive' as a genre-crossover would be but an understatement.
Opening with a new Travis concoction - a lo-fi but respectable 'The Beautiful Occupation', all glorious Healy-isms and chiming guitars amidst a fervently intense subtext - a fly past Bowie's remixed 'Everyone Says Hi' from his most recent 'Heathen' release and it's on Beverley Knight's take of Mr. Wonder's 'Love's In Need Of Love Today' that your jaw drops and the tears well. The mix of artists - once a potential eyesore on paper - suddenly prevails to a well-crafted, richly blended depth.
Entering dance-territory: and Moby's new composition of 'Nearer' is his earthiest and most surreally chilling piece to date, all blockades of entwining keys and William Orbit freakery; New Order jaunt us with a glimmering 'Vietnam'; and Basement Jaxx team up with Jamaican dancehall maestro Yellowman for the samples-driven, at times haunting 'Love Is The Answer'. With the winsome presence of Jason Pierce and Spiritualized, decked out as ever with the full horns-blaring/acoustic-guitar hybrid that forms a plaintive, graceful 'Hold On' and The Charlatans' Curtis Mayfield run-through of 'We Gotta Have Peace', indie-credentials are fully certified, and topped off with a stark, Beth Orton-driven foray into The 5 Stairsteps' gorgeous 'Ooh Child'.
Even boasting additional matter from Paul McCartney, Yusuf Islam and pout-and-you-miss-her teenie-star Avril Lavigne, 'Hope' is not so much a mere, rush-released charity record as a compendium of recordings you'd do better to live by after hearing. Purchase now, and revel afterwards in the resulting aural joy.
Artists in this article: Various Acts
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