1 Love, like its predecessor--1995's Help!--is an ambitious, admirable and artistically satisfying attempt to raise money for the War Child charity by having great bands cover great songs. Brian Eno--patron of War Child, producer and general bald-headed genius--and his team have raised the game this time by limiting the choice of songs to number one singles. The choice of tracks is interesting in itself. Take, for instance, McAlmont and Butler's soulful approach to Take That's outstanding "Back for Good"--a song that had been blighted by both writer and performers. Dido (and Faithless) are the perfect interpreters of Beats International's "Dub Be Good to Me" (although tragically they omit the gibberish opening) and Jimmy Eat World transform Prodigy's "Firestarter" from the original claustrophobic car crash into something else entirely, simply by stripping it down to bass, drums and guitar. The only real disasters are Elbow, catatonically murdering Thunderclap Newman's classic "Something in the Air" (their "Independent Woman" was so much better), Muse's "House of the Rising Sun", which sounds exactly as you'd expect, and Feeder covering Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love" rather than the Marty McFly adrenaline surge of the Huey Lewis and the News version. To their credit, they offer up a sublimely creepy vision, shimmering with emotion and based around an unobtrusive acoustic guitar. The record is essential, if nothing else, for Noel Gallagher's acoustic "Merry Christmas Everyone". --Ben Johncock
|
