Alternative NRG – Various Artists (music review)

This was one of the first CDs I purchased. I got it from the Columbia House Music Club for some fraction of a penny. New to the medium, I was anxious to get my hands on this compilation album, if for no other reason than to say that I owned some tunes from each of the 16 artists featured. Perhaps for that reason, I purchased several “activist”-themed “alternative music” compilation albums, including something called “In Defense of Animals.” Don’t you worry, reviews of these delightful products will come.

I was a young environmentalist, perhaps 16 or so at the time, and, while keen on Greenpeace, I was also thrilled to get my mitts on a previously-unreleased version of “Drive” by R.E.M. (“dude, they’re from Athens”). I was smug that my money was going to a good cause, not like those “conformists” who were buying Garth Brooks albums. I had not yet encountered these people or these folks. (Not that I’m endorsing that sort of thing. *cough*)

It’s kind of fun to review a compilation album because you can review individual tracks and not have to worry about things like theme or tone. So, here we go:

The album, released in 1992, mostly features what were then called “alternative” groups like James and Soundgarden, but also more mainstream heavy-hitters like R.E.M. and U2 and Annie Lennox. One-hit wonders of the ‘90s also make several appearances (thank you Soup Dragons and EMF). And I guess Boo-Ya Tribe counts as a “no-hit wonder” (although I remember really liking their contribution to the rock-rap fusion soundtrack to the film Judgment Night). And the edgier folks who were frustrated by softies like UB40 and P.M. Dawn could skip ahead to the Sonic Youth and L7 tracks. In short, there was something for everyone.

The gimmick of the album is actually cool enough that it’s not entirely fair to call it a gimmick. “Gimmick” just seems a bit pejorative. It’s actually a pretty cool feature of the album that it is entirely composed of live tracks from the artists, each recorded at 14 venues on a solar-powered mobile recording facility. For many of the acts, this means that there’s an “in concert” feel to the tracks, complete with applause and crowd noise.

I didn’t listen to this album straight through very often (and frankly almost never listen to it anymore). The R.E.M. opener is outstanding and once was a regular feature on my radio show. The James song, “Ring the Bells,” is a call to political action that I remember dismissing for being too soft, but upon re-listening, now recognize as a soaring and fairly inspirational sort of song.

There’s a Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy track on this disc. Michael Franti is one of my all-time favorite musicians and this, his first collaboration with Ron Tse, produced a singular stellar album. And his solo work, as I mentioned, is simply impeccable. Unfortunately this DHH track, “Everyday Life Has Become a Health Risk,” is marred. The hype man is trying to get people to “make some noise” while Franti is rapping about Geiger counters and toxic waste. Somehow I think, even in the long-gone era when political rap was more mainstream and Public Enemy was still drawing stadium-sized crowds, people had no idea what to make of this song.

U2’s live version of “Until the End of the World,” presumably chosen for Greenpeace due to the apocalyptic theme, is excellent. I’m not one of the worshipers of U2, but I think they are a pretty solid outfit and this song adds to the value of this compilation. They’ve been together for 30 years now and I can be a schmo and enjoy lines like “waves of regret/waves of joy,” just like anyone. Add to all of that the fact that The Edge is great guitarist. Still, I’m not a rabid message-board poster who’d buy this disc just to complete my U2 collection. I remember where ESPN’s Bill Simmons said, “Take everything you ever read or heard about MJ, then double it — that’s what we’d have if U2 had played ball.” Settle down hoss. Still, this is a good track.

Midnight Oil is a damn fine band. I need to know more about them. I think they had some great political tracks back in the day, but I don’t know a lot about them. Still, I don’t think this song should have been acoustic. I liked the upbeat and slamming style of “Beds are Burning” a lot more. There’s even some bad singing here. And if all these tracks are recorded live, why is there no clapping after this one? Wikipedia says that the lead singer is now the Environment Minister of Australia. That’s pretty cool.

Annie Lennox couldn’t be more out of place. It was the only track not recorded live (Lennox was having a baby so they recorded it conventionally and mixed the track with solar electricity). Into the mix of all of these “alternative rockers,” Greenpeace inserts this smoldering bluesy torch song thing. It’s all slow tempo and purely piano. And it’s a love song. She’s belting out lyrics like: “I want to swim in the pools of your eyes” and “Cold is the color of crystal.” The other folks at least made a superficial effort to do political songs. Couldn’t she have modified the lyrics to be about a global ice age or something?

The Jesus and Mary Chain track is the worst on the album I think. In the words of music critic Bill Walton, “Terrible. That’s just terrible.” Still, if you are teaching a class at the school of rock, this might be a good audio sample for your segment on rock star posing. Besides, having Jesus in your band name only gets you so far. Just ask the Jesus Lizard and MC 900 Ft. Jesus. Four chords, bad Elvis pose, wash rinse repeat. I like to imagine a faux-Pete Thownsend windmill guitar move, followed by them trashing their equipment and all the Greenpeace guys doing the recording just totally cringing at the wastefulness of it all. Yet another track with no applause at the end. I found myself wishing that Greenpeace had mixed in the sound of crickets chirping at the end.

Now we come to the matter of “Sing Our Own Song.” Yes, this is the only song I own by UB40 and if I could purge this excrement off of this album, I’d do it. Fake reggae must die.

Further, can I just take this moment to openly regret that the Boo Ya Tribe didn’t get more famous? I have this image of two big fat Samoan guys working security in some bar somewhere telling stories about the things that could have been. Learn from their mistakes Yin Yang Twins. Oh wait, you already sell more records in a day than those guys did in their entire careers. Well, good for you all.

EMF is to be commended for covering The Stooges. I guess the mainstream listening audience would have preferred that they make more music sounding like “Unbelievable.” But at least you they say to their kids that you showed up on an album with Sonic Youth (whose contribution is a Butch Vig-produced scorcher). I mean, they may have never played with Sonic Youth, but sometime, someone, somewhere once thought EMF was in the same league as Sonic Youth. At least enough to put them on the same album.

Finally, before I conclude my thoughts, I thought I’d include this nugget from the liner notes that offers some insight into the way this album was made:

“Built especially for this project, “Cyrus” (Persian for ‘sun’) is a converted twenty-eight foot aluminum box trailer, upon which is mounted a 160-square-foot, 1,920 watt solar panel array, consisting of one-by-four solar modules. The entire solar array can be hydraulically tilted to track the sun’s seasonal variations and capture the optimum sunlight. The power produced by the solar array is stored in two 48 volt, sealed, long-life batteries totaling 2,500 amp hours, or 110,000 watt hours, when fully charged.”

Why didn’t this idea take off more? What is the solar recording studio doing now? Did the white liberals give up on this idea of non-profit album production? George Lucas is thanked in the liner notes. What happened? The liner notes essay about global pollution captures so well that early 1990s optimism about the end of the Cold War finally opening up the possibilities for the planet to come together and deal with global problems. Remember how exciting things seemed at the time of the Rio Summit in 1992? Aren’t renewables more relevant than ever? Is the lame 2007 Bali Summit really the best legacy we have to offer from these once-optimistic times? I know the music industry is collapsing and all, but maybe it’s time to dust off ol’ Cyrus and make some more tracks about the consequences of our wallowing in the throes of fossil fuels addiction.