Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
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Free Music Notes for Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
Free Music Review: artists singing out for peace...
Hit: 5 Stars
Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur produced this excellent two CD set of songs written by the late great John Lennon. Most of these fine artists nailed their performances just perfectly; and John would have been proud that they gave freely of their time, talent and work to help Amnesty International.
The first CD opens with U2 performing "Instant Karma." The arrangement has a reggae beat to it and U2 does a great job with the guitars and the vocals. Bono sings very well! "#9 Dream" by R. E. M. follows; they perform "#9 Dream" with great sensitivity and panache. The electric guitars and percussion enhance the beauty of this number while Mark Stipe and the others sing this to perfection. Moreover, Christina Aguilera gives a stunning performance of "Mother" which, as people note, is a rather complex ballad to sing. Aguilera nails it right on the head--perfection! Great electric guitar, drums and percussion, too.
One highlight of this album is Aerosmith and The Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars performing "Give Peace A Chance." Steven Tyler never sounded better and the All Stars harmonize flawlessly. They all handle the tempo changes very well; and John would have been proud of them.
Los Lonely Boys deliver "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" with a country twist that works well for this number. The band sings well as they use electric guitars, drums and percussion to carry the bulk of the melody. Avril Lavigne sings "Imagine" like the pro that she is; and her voice, clear as a bell, delivers John Lennon's message that there should be peace throughout the world. In addition, Big & Rich do a great job on "Nobody Told Me." Their excellent diction bolsters their delivery and the chord changes work to make the number as good as it ever was!
The second CD continues with more fine performances. Black Eyed Peas deliver a stirring, gospel style rendition of "Power To The People" with just a hint of rap that leaves you wanting more; and Jack Johnson gives us a reprise of "Imagine." Jack's strong delivery conveys all the emotions John must have felt when he himself sang that song; Jack's rendition is THAT good. Listen also for some great guitar playing on Jack Johnson's rendition of "Imagine."
"Watching The Wheels," performed here by Matisyahu, gets a few extra minor chords on the guitars and other instruments to make Matisyahu's rendition all his own. Matisyahu massages the lyrics to "Watching The Wheels" while handling subtle tempo changes like a pro! "(Just Like) Starting Over" gets the royal treatment from The Flaming Lips; they sing and play this tune with guitars and more, never once hitting a superfluous note. The extra sound effects at the very beginning impress me and during the tune these sound effects infuse the song with a 1960s psychedelic quality. The Flaming Lips nail "(Just Like) Starting Over" with their fine ability to handle quick tempo and chord changes. Excellent!
The second CD ends with Regina Spektor singing "Real Love." Regina's voice is rich, quite clear and vibrant; and the elegant arrangement for piano works well in these minor keys. Spektor's "Real Love" provides a strong ending for the two CD set.
The liner notes include photos of the people who struggle every day just to survive in Darfur; and we get an essay by Yoko Ono herself asking us to remember and work to achieve John's dream of peace. There is an essay detailing the horrific incidents taking place every day in Darfur and Amnesty International leaders write a few words as well.
John would have been proud of this album. John believed fervently in world peace NOW and therefore I am sure he would be pleased to know that we have not forgotten his message of peace. The artists on these two CDs gave so much of themselves to help make this two CD set a reality and raise public awareness of the atrocities going on every day in Darfur. I hope you like this two CD set as much as I do; and hopefully we will all be motivated to take action to fight against hatred and brutality in Darfur.
Free Music Review: Buy it for its good intentions, but don't hesitate to comment about how wrong it is.
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm giving it 5 stars for the sheer fact that this is a great way to bring focus to a tragedy that has no end in sight yet. However, that doesn't mean that I like this and will be listening to this for the next few weeks or so.
The pluses happen to be that Green Day's cover of "Working Class Hero" is right on the money and Green Day covering Lennon makes sense because the song is a punk song. Ozzy gets it right with his cover of "How" which happens to be right on with the Lennon sound while still maintaining that Ozzy Osbourne quality that his music has. And there are others. I'll let you discover what else works. Along with some fantastic covers, we also have this benefit album almost getting it right because there are tracks featuring African musical artists, which are the people who should be doing covers of Lennon for a campaign to save Darfur. There are two tracks : one, Youssou N'Dour covers "Jealous Guy" but I think this gets in for this artist's connection with Wyclef Jean and two, the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, who aren't doing the cover on their own but are featured alongside Aerosmith. All of this leads in to the negative side of this album...
...It actually isn't that good and will probably wear on you or leave you wondering why you got rid of your John Lennon you used to own on vinyl. You will go out and buy John Lennon music cause you want to hear what post-Beatles Lennon really sounded like. Because frankly, Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, Los Lonely Boys, Jaguares, Cure, Big & Rich, and especially Black Eyed Peas do not fit into the mode of artists I am okay with covering Lennon songs. I realize we want mainstream attention for this album but this album only proves what most music listeners know. What musicians making money for the record industry cannot cover classics like John Lennon songs because they don't have the musical ability to do it.
That in mind, all the record industry needs to do for an album like this is find African musicians who are trying to break out and let them cover tracks on their own, which is what I think and am comfortable with saying John Lennon would have wanted. Then, let them get noticed for doing musically artistic covers of Lennon. You can still include the American musicians who make sense covering Lennon but just include African artists so you don't have to force covers with pop artists who are incapable of covering such great material. You also ensure that something gets done about the situation because you have more people from Africa involved with America. You get that togetherness essential for promoting change.
Free Music Review: Instant Karma Got Me!
Hit: 5 Stars
If there is a "must have" album out for the summer of 2007, this is it. What could be better then getting some great tunes and serving a worthy cause at the same time. Yoko Ono donated the rights to John Lennon's entire catalog for this release, and I think it's something he would have been proud of.
John spoke in a interview once about going back are re-recording much of his material, because he was never quite happy with the productions. The recent remastering of his catalog gave us a taste of what that might have been like. Instant Karma takes it to another level.
These are some of the most beautiful songs ever written, and if there was ever a questions on whether John Lennon's solo work equaled or surpassed what he did with the Beatles, this album answers it with a resounding YES.
There are a few disappointment and a few pleasant surprises. U2's "Instant Karma" strays too far from the original by trying to replace the "wall of sound" piano with droning guitar. The Black Eyed Peas do a good enough version of "Power to the People", but I kept waiting for them to bust out with some of their brilliant ad-lib rap, but that never happens. Maybe they were just trying to respect the original song, but it left me wanting more.
Jacob Dylan and Dhani Harrison compliment each other as well as their fathers did on "Gimme Some Truth". Christina Aguilera captures the angst of "Mother" with haunting precision, and Los Lonely Boys provide some of the best guitar work on the album's version of "Whatever gets You Through the Night". Corinne Bailey Rae provides a beautiful minimalist version of "I'm Losing You", and Green Day hit a home run with their almost too perfect cover of "Working Class Hero".
One further point of contention: given the strength of Lennon's work, and the size of this two disk set. There was no reason to repeat any songs, yet we are given two versions of "Imagine" and two versions of "Gimme Some Truth". Yes, they are both great songs, but I would have preferred it if each artist did a different song. Someone out there should have come out with a post-metal, post-grunge version of John Lennon's "Meat City" which is one of the most powerful rockers of the 70's, bar-none. In fact nothing from the Mind Games album is represented here, leaving out some great songs.
That all said, it is great to see these songs alive and well in the 21st century, where their message of hope and love have never been needed more.
Free Music Review: gets better after a few listens
Hit: 5 Stars
First of all...great project for Darfur.
Now, the music. I was (and probably still am) an obsessed Lennon fanatic, and I am VERY picky about covers. So when I first listened to this, I thought, okay, not too bad, but probably won't listen to this much....
It's absolutely true that many of these artists can't, and probably never could, get close to the quality of Lennon's originals. This is especaily evident when you hear the tiny snippets of orginals that have been included...at the end of Working Class Hero, for instance, the end of John's version comes on, and, as good as Green Day's cover is (in fact, it's a GREAT cover), the haunting intensity of those few seconds of the orginal takes away some of my enthusiasm for this new version. Probably would have been better to leave that off.
Bottom line, this is a benefit album. One can only speculate why certain artists were included...why some donated their time and talents and why others didn't. But the music is very good. And now that I've lived with it a couple of days, I think there are moments that are not just good, but great.
I absolutely love Aerosmith's Give Peace a Chance. It's full of energy and passion and LOVE the reggae take on it. Corinne Bailey Rae's I'm Losing You is exquisite (as anything she sings is). Jakob Dylan singing Gimme Some Truth, although solid, lacks a lot of the passion of the orginal (but then, who could be as angry as John Lennon was in the early 70s?). But OH MY GOD totally worth a few listens for Dhani Harrison's guitar playing; he's definitely channeling his father, while still making it all his own. Big and Rich's take on Nobody Told Me adds some finishing touches on a song John never really got to fully polish. And you gotta love Youssou N'Dour's Jealous Guy, which he sings partly in what I'm guessing is a West African language.
On disk 2, stand outs include Green Day's Working Class Hero, Black Eyed Peas' Power to the People and Regina Spektor's Real Love, another unfinished Lennon song that warrants some revisiting.
(PS One of the other customer reviews mentioned Ozzie covering How?, which I do not seem to have on my copy of this album, but I would love to hear it! It doesn't seem to be included on the list of itunes extra tracks, either... Was it a stand-alone single? Here I am, flaunting my ignorance in public...).
Free Music Review: John Lennon, Man Of Peace
Hit: 5 Stars
What we have here is a 2-CD collection of songs written by my all-time idol, John Winston Ono-Lennon, ex-MBE, being put to use for a very worthy cause. What's happening in Darfur is shameful, and those who are causing it are, as usual...well, no editorials, let's stick to the music.
Most of the artists chose their selections wisely and perform them well. I'll single out the ones which, to me, seem particularly inspired:
U2's "Instant Karma" is not really remarkable except that it rocks as you would expect a U2 cover to rock.
Christina Aguilera's voice is well suited to "Mother", and she remains faithful to the original melody.
"Cold Turkey" in the hands of Lenny Kravitz sounds appropriately dark and menacing, with some extra late-60's psychedelic guitar sounds thrown in for good measure.
Corinne Bailey Rae sings a very sultry and soulful "I'm Losing You".
"Gimme Some Truth" echoes the sound of George Harrison, not surprising since his son Dhani is performing it, with Jakob Dylan. (On Disc 2, another version by Jaguares is actually closer to Lennon's original.)
Green Day retains the folk-like sound for the first 2 verses of "Working Class Hero", then launches into all-out hard rock. It is very effective, and Billy Joe does a great job with the vocal. Conversely, "Starting Over" by The Flaming Lips is like a New Age hymn - softer than John's version, no drums.
Black Eyed Peas does a pounding, rousing "Power To The People".
Snow Patrol's "Isolation" may seem overproduced at first, but the finished track turns out to be quite haunting.
Matisyahu's bright, upbeat version of "Watching The Wheels" just proves how Lennon's very basic music is easy to morph into something different.
And finally, Regina Spektor's rather fragile "Real Love" says what needs to be said, backed by some very interesting piano.
I don't know if we can measure what contribution this album will make towards ending the strife in Darfur. But if anyone's music CAN help, surely it is that which contains the positive cosmic force we always associate with John Lennon. And a gracious tip of the hat to Yoko for allowing this force to be unleashed. John loved Yoko, and he would be as proud of her today as she is of him.