A while back (2001), Neil Finn (Crowded House) put together a temporary group of friends and associates to record an album and perform a concert for charity. In 2009, he did it again, with some artists returning (Lisa Germano, Sebastian Steinberg, Phil Selway and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead) and some new faces (Jeff Tweedy and members of Wilco, KT Tunstall).
The first project was great, one of my favorite in-concert DVDs. The new project was a little different: the artists invited were encouraged to bring some unfinished song ideas, and in 3 weeks of collaboration, create a double CD and perform the songs in concert.
The behind-the-scenes making-of DVD is fun, but I won't return to it much. It is nice to see the artists arriving with families in tow, and some of the sequences where they help each other flesh out songs is cool. But there aren't many stand-out songs for me. They're all good, but some are subtle in the extreme and it'll take time for me to hear them thoroughly, I think. But "You Never Know" by Wilco jumps out ahead of the pack. If you're tempted to spring for the package, go for the single CD for the best songs.
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