Rating: NN
On this 16-track charity album, megastars assign one of their own tracks to other stars for interpretation. It’s shuffle fun if you like the new artists, but if you prefer the originals, certain covers will piss you off – like Hot Chip’s bizarro Midas-gold-turned-into-crap redo of Joy Division’s Transmission. The comp’s low is Duffy’s slurred take on Live And Let Die.
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Other pairings stick closer to home. The Kooks are indistinguishable from the Kinks, the Hold Steady are Springsteen, Peaches adds technological upgrades to duet buddy Iggy Pop’s Search And Destroy. Leonard Cohen enlists his son. Lily Allen builds on the Clash’s Straight To Hell, though M.I.A.’s Paper Planes used that riff better last year.
Overall, the impression is of an assembly-line product manufactured on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon. Why not donate your money directly to War Child?
Top track: Search And Destroy.
