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I love compilations. I love the fact that I can get 15 or more original songs, or cover songs, from 15 or more different artists for the same price as the cost of one of the artists CDs. Compilations are often over-looked by fans and reviewers, which is a shame because you can get some really phenomenal songs on them, and sometimes if you are really lucky, you can get songs you can’t get anywhere else or previews of songs that are to be released at a later date. For instance, Rock Sound magazine gave away a free CD with their February, 2007 issue that contained 15 tracks, 11 of which were exclusives and one previously unreleased song from Bowling For Soup (Home Alone). And this wasn’t a one-off. Sometimes artists will release a song just for that compilation especially if it’s for a charity. You can also get a taste of what a country’s artists are like by picking up a compilation or sampler. I had never heard of Slowcoaster or Wintersleep until I was given a promo copy of “Canadian Music. East Coast Style Rockin’.” four years ago.

Radio stations sometimes release compilations with recordings made in their studios, artists will band together to release a tribute CD of a favourite artists songs, often as a way of raising funds for the family, record companies release CD’s of their roster’s music as a way of promoting them and, of course, TV shows, The Juno’s, The Grammy’s and other groups release compilations as promotional tools. Concerts organized to help one charity or another are also a good source of music you might not find anywhere else. The Bridge School series is one of the better known benefits. It is organized by Neil Young to raise funds for Bridge School in Mountain View, California. This school helps children with severe physical handicaps and complex communication needs. Over the past twenty-three years, some of the best artists in the world have played these benefits and recorded these sessions. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, REM, Bruce Springsteen, Daniel Lanois, Bonnie Raitt, and David Bowie have all appeared. All these CD’s are available on-line through iTunes, and Amazon.

In an effort to help promote Canadian music, and make a few dollars for themselves, the Junos (Canada’s major music awards) have released three compilations called, “Oh, What A Feeling”. These are four CD sets that contain some really great, and some questionable (Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On), examples of what we have to offer. On the second compilation, Neil Young (Heart Of Gold), Joni Mitchell (Help Me), Leonard Cohen (Bird On The Wire), Daniel Lanois (Still Water) and Moxy Fruvous (King Of Spain) are all on one CD. You forget sometimes how many really good musicians we’ve unleashed on the world over the years. The unfortunate thing with these CD’s is that along with the good, you have to take the bad. The really bad. The horribly bad. Edward Bear (Last Song), The Poppy Family (Which Way You Goin’, Billy?), Terry Jacks (Seasons In The Sun), Nick Gilder (Hot Child In The City) and Snow Informer) sit alongside Rush (Spirit Of Radio), The Band (Up On Cripple Creek), Matthew Good Band (Hello Time Bomb), David Usher (Black, Black Heart), The Guess Who (Hand Me Down World), and Sarah Harmer (Basement Apartment).

One of my best sources for new music and something I cannot live without are the music magazines, Mojo, Q, and Uncut. Not only are they a constant source of interesting interviews and reviews, they often review albums that are under everyone else’s radar, but they are a great source of interesting, and free, music. I do read other magazines as well but these are consistently the best. The July, 2004 issue of Q gave me one of my favourite CD’s ever, “Essential Glastonbury: The Greatest Hits From The Greatest Festival”. Muse (Time Is Running Out), The Kinks (The Village Green Preservation Society), Radiohead (Fake Plastic Trees), The Cure (A Forest acoustic), Ash (Clones) and The Chemical Brothers (Block Rockin’ Beats) are all there along with Manic Street Preachers, Coldplay, The Flaming Lips, REM, and Stereophonics. There is not one bad track on the whole CD. This isn’t the only Glastonbury CD they have gifted readers.

Mojo has some of the best compilation’s and tribute CD’s in my collection. They have compiled tributes to Leonard Cohen, with people like Ian McCulloch (Suzanne), Linda Thompson (The Story Of Isaac), Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Avalanche), Judy Collins (Song For Bernadette), and Allison Crowe (Joan Of Arc) contributing. Then they had tributes to Ray Davies and the Beach Boys. Their compilations have included “The Roots Of Bob Dylan: 15 Tracks That Inspired The Legend”, “Beyond Punk: 15 Tracks Of Post-Punk Noise 1978-2005”, “Heavy Nuggets: 15 Lost British Hard Rock Gems 1968-1973”, “The Dawning Of A New Era: 15 Classic Punk & Ska Tracks”, and this months “Island Folk: An Acoustic-led Celebration” which was a tribute to Island Records that included tracks by John Martyn (Go Down Easy), Nirvana (Lonely Boy), Dr. Strangely Strange (Dark-Haired Lady), and Jethro Tull (We Used To Know). Uncut offers a playlist with every magazine, outlining the music they feel is the best of the month.

Tribute and benefit concert CD’s can be a mixed bag, especially the tributes. We are all familiar, I’m sure, with the bluegrass, lullaby, and String Quartet tributes to various musicians but there are so many more. How about “Revolution: A Rock Tribute To The Beatles”? Can you imagine Cheap Trick covering Day Tripper? How about Thompson Twins doing Revolution. Yeah, me neither. However, I can imagine The Jeff Healy Band covering While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Then there are the tribute albums that make you shake your head and ask, “What the hell are they thinking?” “A Celtic Tribute To Metallica”? “A Tribute To Lisa Bonet”? “A Hip-Hop Tribute To Iron Maiden”? What about one of the best bands to come out of Britain, James, covering Leonard Cohen’s song So Long, Marianne? Or REM covering First We Take Manhattan? Both of these come from the album “I’m Your Fan: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen” which, I have to say, is a real mix of good and bad, from John Cale’s cover of Hallelujah to The Pixies cover of I Can’t Forget. Too bad they didn’t include Chelsea Hotel #2 by Rufus Wainwright, Cohen and Wainwright are made for each other.

The first major benefit concert was the one’s organized by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison, “The Concerts For Bangladesh”. These two concerts, held on August 1, 1971 – one at noon, the other at 7PM – had such notables as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr performing. These opened the door for LiveAid, The Tibetan Freedom Concert, FarmAid, and No Nukes as well as many, many more. The Tibetan Freedom Concert had people like Noel Gallagher (Cast No Shadow), someone who most people wouldn’t associate with altruism, A Tribe Called Quest (Oh My God), The Fugees (Fu Gee La), Foo Fighters (This Is A Call), and the usuals Radiohead (Fake Plastic Trees), U2 (One), and Michael Stipe (Electrolite) performing.

And then for something completely different you can buy all sorts of cover albums. I personally don’t own more than a couple simply because I have a love/hate relationship with them. Mostly, and I’m ashamed to admit it, I’m not open-minded enough to allow that someone could do a better version of a much loved song than the original artist that I fell in love with. But also because I have heard some really horrendous attempts to cover songs by artists who should know better. Ever heard Avril Lavigne’s cover of Coldplay’s song The Scientist? If I weren’t so afraid of jail it could provoke me to do grievous harm to someone. And it really doesn’t matter if you like Coldplay or not, no song deserves that treatment, not even the song you wrote about unrequited love when you were fourteen.

I do own lots of cover songs, even if I don’t own many CD’s. Mostly these are things friends have sent me or given me thinking they were funny. Out of one of these many “jokes” came one of my very favourite artists, Richard Cheese. He does lounge versions of popular songs that are both hilarious and really, really good. Unlike Paul Anka whose album of covers, “Rock Swings, is unintentionally funny but mostly, as Tommy Lee once said, “sautéed in wrong sauce”, Richard Cheese camps it up for all it’s worth. His covers of Radiohead’s Creep, Puddle of Mudd’s She Hates Me and Darth Vader’s Theme from “Star Wars” are equal parts funny and genius. Then there are unexpected surprises, like A.F.I.’s astonishing cover/remake of an old INXS song, Don’t Change. A.F.I. took this song, reworked it into a techno dream come true. Where the INXS version was typically over-blown and dancy, which was right for the times (early-eighties), A.F.I. slowed the temp and stripped it down to just a vocal over a metallic techno beat. It shows what can be done if a song with good bones gets into the hands of an artist with good arranging skills and a bit of an imagination.

There are many, many other discs out there that have some really great stuff on them so the next time you are looking for new music or something different think of getting a compilation, tribute, benefit concert or cover album. Start with a CD that has one song of an artist that you are familiar with or like because usually, although not always, the other songs on the CD will be of a similar style. Most of the CD’s I’ve mentioned can be found on iTunes or at Amazon. Some you should be able to find at local retail stores and I would urge you to support them by purchasing your music there. Mojo, and Q as well as other music magazines can be purchased at Chapters, Amazon, and at most music retailers. And be sure to visit these artists on their MySpace and home pages.

Noel Gallagher – Cast No Shadow From the Tibetan Freedom Concert
Richard Cheese – Creep From Lounge Against The Machine
Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin Beats From Q presents Essential Glastonbury
Nick Cave – Avalanche From Mojo presents Cohen Covered
AFI – Dont Change From the Miss Murder single
Matthew Good – Hello Time Bomb From Oh, What A Feeling: A Vital Collection Of Canadian Music

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