War, Uh, What Is It Good For?

Huge apologies to Kate. I really have no valid excuse for being so tardy with my review... but here it is at last.

War- Edwin Starr
I Fought in a War- Belle and Sebastian
War- Bob Marley
Marching Off to War- William Bell
Hum Bom- Allen Ginsberg
Masters of War- Bob Dylan
Soldier Take Over- Yellow MAn
Don't Fight Your Wars- Tony Allen
The Unknown Soldier- The Doors
War On War- Wlico
Stupid War Movies- Paleface
Too Much War- U-Roy
War is a Crime- Cantibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
Heard Somebody Say- Devendra Banhart
I Don't Want to Be a Soldier- John Lennon
Machine Gun- Jimi Hendrix

My only defense is that I have given this compilation a really good listening. It's been my only driving music since I got it which means it's the thing I have listened to most over the last few weeks. Has it really taken me so long? ~Blush~

Some of the tracks were old friends revisited but that's not to say it wasn't revealing or thought provoking. Bob Marley's war cry sounds very different to me now than when I was in my teens and I found John Lennon's I Don't Want to Be A Soldier much more moving. Perhaps I've gotten soft in my old age. Having said that, Edwin Starr couldn't fail to evoke the same passion he always did. ;)

The Doors definitely still do it for me and Jimi Hendrix can't go wrong... evocative and chilling... and... in the words of Little Richard, he makes "my big toe stand up in my boot"! Probably for all the wrong reasons in this case!

I enjoyed Yellow Man and URoy- I love the layering of sound and meaning- and I was blown away (ha ha) by Alan Ginsberg. Brilliant!

For me, music is about feeling and when politics or anything even slightly preachy or worthy gets involved, it has to be part of the whole. If the song is just a vehicle for a message, it leaves me cold. Bob Dylan might be able to get round that but I'm afraid one or two on there couldn't no matter how hard I tried... I guess they weren't to my taste.

So overall, a cracking compilation with some new (to me) and memorable stuff.

Again, please accept my apologies for being so slow- especially you Kate. I'm probably the worst person to have on this kind of thing. I need loads of time to decide what I think about music as I know from experience that things tend to need to grow on me and my snap decisions on first hearing can often be wrong. For that reason, I'm bowing out here. From now on, I'll take part vicariously- through Neil. :D

Happy Mix Clubbing to you all!