Some Christian music fans confine themselves to Christian music only. At
cMusicWeb.com, we hardly think that is a good idea, for much of today's best
music is not distributed by Chordant or Provident or available on a shelf
near the Bibles at your local Christian bookstore. One such artist we enjoy
listening to is U2, a mainstay in rock for the last 20+ years. If you are
not going to go ahead and purchase a couple U2 albums, we suggest you check
out the following review of a disc where all your favorite Christian artists
cover their favorite U2 songs. It is definitely fun to hear some of these
rock classics updated to the 21st Century rock sound.

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IN THE NAME OF LOVE: ARTISTS UNITED FOR AFRICA - VARIOUS (2004)
by Bert Gangl

U2 lead singer Bono has long been a believer in rock music's inherent power
to bring about change. In early December of 2002, the charismatic front man
met with a small group of Christian artists and industry leaders in
Nashville to challenge the Christian community to help fight the AIDS
epidemic in Africa. As a result, Sparrow Records and Christian relief
organization World Vision teamed up to provide long-term health care, AIDS
education, and construction materials and labor to the Mwakankomba village
in Zambia. A portion of the proceeds from the In the Name of Love project
will be used towards these relief efforts.

Featuring covers of 13 U2 songs by Christian artists, the Love project
offers much to like. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from Pillar and "Beautiful Day"
from Sanctus Real form an ideal opening volley, outfitting the already
rocking originals with just the right grunge and alt-metal flourishes.
Audio Adrenaline turns in a likewise stirring rendition of the early MTV
staple, "Gloria," that matches, if not surpasses, the urgency and longing of
its forerunner. On the softer side of the coin, Michael Tait's soulful yet
subdued vocals lose none of the inherent hurt and confusion of Bono's
watershed ballad, "One." And the Steve Hindalong-produced "Grace" from
Nichole Nordeman is laden with the same sublime beauty that rendered
Hindalong's City on a Hill worship album series so groundbreaking.

While the majority of the artists represented, including those mentioned
above, adhere fairly faithfully to the songs they’re covering, a handful
choose to shake up the equation a bit. Sixpence None the Richer deliver the
moody, ambient-tinged "Love Is Blindness" as a driving, straight-ahead pop
piece with surprisingly gripping results. The members of Jars of Clay go
the opposite route, trading the soaring acoustic-driven pop of "All I Want
Is You" for a languishing, country-meets-blues aesthetic that works equally
well. And Grits' groove-intensive interpretation of "With or Without You"
works as an interesting what-if scenario of sorts, showing what the song
might have sounded like had it come from Zooropa or Pop rather than The
Joshua Tree.

The inclusion of one or two more obscure tracks might have worked as an
enticement to casual U2 fans who are probably already familiar with the lion
’s share of Love’s songs. Likewise, diehard followers who own the bulk of
the U2 back catalog may feel that the record's overly close observance of
its source material offers them little in the way of anything new. In its
defense, the tribute pulls equitably from nearly all of U2’s studio albums,
and thus functions reasonably well as a solid single-disc introduction to
the band. And while creating reasonably close facsimiles of the group’s
compositions is a relatively straightforward undertaking, it is another
thing altogether to appropriate the band's underlying spirit and passion
within the confines of the three and a half minute pop song. To the credit
of those involved, it is a task that the Name of Love project carries out
most admirably.

Find out more about U2 on cMusicWeb.com:
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/u2

Especially check out our new review of U2's Achtung Baby:
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/u2/achtungbaby.shtml


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Dan Ficker
http://cMusicWeb.com/
a different approach to music
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