Various Artists
Lilith 2010 Tour Compilation
RCA/Jive/Sony Music
Lilith Fair is back on the air after a few years of whatever sort of problems a Canadian music festival might have. The touring performers went into the studio and put together this nice compilation, and the fine folks at RCA sent me an electronic copy along with a waiver I had to click through that threatened “grave and irreparable harm” to RCA if this collection got out on the ‘net. No mention of harm to the artists; I guess they’re on their own these days. I do hope you can brave the thicket of legalese and get your own copy of this material; it’s filled with brilliant, sparkly pop tunes that stick in your memory and make you tap the brake pedal while stuck in traffic.
Give a listen to Ash Koley’s “Brighter at Night,” with its bouncy revisit of a first love/ first date/ no curfew evening. Or slip into Brandi Carlile’s “Dreams,” another positive look at love, this time just before the reality of Mr. Right’s petty annoying behavior falls into place. There’s an “urban” tune here: Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” drips with the bling of funky typography and auto-tuned jazz vocals. Sarah McLachlan makes an appearance, too. Her “One Dream” goes back to the smooth vocals of the ’70s Brill Building writers who led us into the whole concept of gender based writing. Later Norah Jones takes us in a more late night lounge direction with “Chasing Pirates,” and a country flavor leaks into this collection with The Weepies’ happy tune “I Was Made for Sunny Days.”
This is a completely enjoyable collection that focuses on solid song writing and slick productions, and never picks up the strident vein of feminism. Sadly I have to nuke this off my hard drive. I don’t want the RIAA storm troopers knocking on my door tonight.
Lilith Fair: http://lilithfair.com
