Album Review: Various Artists - Heart of Gold The Songs of Neil Young Vol 1.

Various Artists

Heart of Gold The Songs of Neil Young Vol 1.

*** out of *****

A new benefit album from Killphonic Records finds a host of A-List musicians covering Neil Young's classic tracks on Heart of Gold The Songs of Neil Young Vol 1. Proceeds from the album will benefit The Bridge School in Hillsborough, California.

While lots of expected songs are tackled, a few of Uncle Neil's lesser known tracks also get aired. Opener "Philadelphia" is one, and Brandi Carlile covers the song written for Jonathan Demme's movie in slow mournful fashion on the piano. Carlile's passionate lyrics add a new dimension while remaining a touch dour. That sense of melancholy and sadness also seeps into Fiona Apple's "Heart of Gold" which uses nice violin and Mumford and Sons "Harvest" which is sad and slow as well. 

Not everything is a downer on the cover album. One of the more interesting reinterpretations is Stephen Marley's "Old Man", giving one of Young's most famous songs a reggae makeover. Both  Courtney Barnett and Rodney Crowell rev up the smokey 70's rock for "Lotta Love" and "Mr. Soul" respectively while The Doobie Brothers and Allison Russell stand out with an incredibly polished version of "Comes a Time". 

The majority of the covers are fairly straight ahead and not especially revelatory, such as Eddie Vedder's "Needle and the Damage Done", The Lumineers "Sugar Mountain", and Steve Earle's pedal steel laden "Long May You Run". However a few of the covers are unique. 

Sharon Van Etten goes over the top with big lush strings, drums, piano, rising swells, lots of guitars and layers of sound with "Here We Are In The Years" while Anders Osborne winningly splits the difference doing "Cowgirl in the Sand" half acoustic and half dark, electric, ominous, big and fuzzy. 

The best cover actually arrives last as Charles Pierce knocks "Southern Man" out of the park. Pierce digs into the racial pain, singing in major fashion as the song swells around him. The passion with which it is delivered makes it standout offering of this collection and worth seeking out. 

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