War Child presents Heroes (Parlophone / Astralwerks)

I just got a hold of the newest charity album sensation, Heroes, produced by the War Child organization. As their website describes it, “War Child protects children in the world's most dangerous war zones who have no-one else to turn to… by

· reintegrating child soldiers with their families

· getting children off the streets, after war has forced them to leave home

· separating children from adults in prison

· rebuilding schools destroyed by war

· lobbying politicians to do more for children affected by war

· empowering the public to get involved.”

With the same premise of ‘the older generation empowering and placing faith on the next generation,’ War Child asked iconic music artists, including Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Brian Wilson, The Kinks, and U2, to select a song from their now pop-canonical repertoire and nominate an up and coming artist to produce a new version of the song.

The artists alluded to, the upstarts, the landmark songs, and the promise of fresh renditions lend credibility to the album’s subtitle “The Ultimate Covers Album,” though the very wide range of expectations invited by such a lineup, which also includes songs by The Clash, The Stooges, The Ramones, Joy Division, Roxy Music, Blondie, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen, not fully delivers.

There isn’t any throwaway track, if money’s worth is the question, but the result is quite uneven. Take for example the opening track. Beck’s signature techno-orchestration and riffs greet us and drive his version of “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat.” You stomp your feet to the groove and wait; the track ends, though, and, at first, it seems to fall flat, if one considers the high-drama of ‘Beck-doing-Dylan-as-the-headline.’ You’d think, his done this before and better. But the grumble ends there, since, after all, it’s a good track, and it grows on you. And that’s what the album as a whole is like – not bad at all, and it gets better every round.

The Kooks’ version of “Victoria,” Hot Chips’s “Transmission,” and Peaches’ “Search and Destroy,” while fascinating tracks on their own, remind you of the originals and how they do not quite measure. Meanwhile, better tracks, like Scissor Sisters’ “Do the Strand,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” and Estelle’s “Superstition,” again while worthwhile efforts, remind you of the achievements of the great tracks, like Lily Allen and Mick Jones’ “Straight to Hell,” Elbow’s “Running to Stand Still,” The Like’s “You Belong to Me,” and the title-track, TV on the Radio’s “Heroes.” The strength of the latter group is their nearness to the originals, which in the principle of the whole concept of the record, should not be good; but since they have not strayed too far – in the case of Elbow and The Likes, not too far even from the performative qualities of the original artists, not just the original songs – the power of the evoked are still drawn. For these tracks put together, the CD is worth having in your collection.

(My only frustration was that when I finally got my copy in roundabout way, I found out that there was a CD (the North American release), which contained one other track – Adam Cohen’s version of his father Leonard Cohen’s profound “Take This Waltz,” which would have been altogether differently anticipated.)

But Duffy’s “Live and Let Die,” Rufus Wainwright’s “Wonderful / Song for Children,” The Hold Steady’s “Atlantic City,” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Call Me (Live)” are gems. Vocal performances come through almost like tears running down your eyes. The freshness of the melodic phrasings and the arrangements come about not from being completely new nor yet too derived, but from the fine balance between what these artists are bringing in from their own well spring and the oceans that are the originals.

No matter the disjunction between song and cause, or the often pathetic motivation of class guilt or race-superiority complex, not so many things are worth our hard-earned money than a hope like War Child’s. As its website highlights, “All UK profits made by our record label EMI will be donated to War Child UK. Here's how your money can help:

· £10 can feed a street child in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a week

· £30 is all it takes to reunite a former child soldier back into the security and support of their family.

· £3,000 can pay to rebuild an entire school after it has been destroyed by war - giving hundreds of children the chance to get an education and escape the poverty they are trapped in.”

For more details, check out:

War Child's official Heroes webpage

The official UK mini-site for the Heroes album

War Child Music

War Child International

War Child Canada

War Child Holland

War Child UK