This AIDS charity compilation enlists a number of big guns from the past year or two: Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, The National and more. All 31 tracks are exclusive and there are some real crackers on here.

Arcade Fire deliver the upbeat ‘Lenin’, a slice of Glam Pop on which the band sound as exuberant as T-Rex in their 70’s heyday. Bon Iver chips in with ‘Brackett, WI’, a nice, tight Nu Folk workout. And Antony of Antony & The Johnsons slips effortlessly into a 1930’s Folk style on ‘I was Young When I Left Home’. None of these songs are available anywhere else.

Other highlights include Sufjan Stevens’ brooding 10 minutes sermon ‘You Are The Blood’, Sharon Jones’ mellow lounge Funk ‘Inspiration Information’, Iron & Vine’s Folk-Rocky ‘Die’ and The National’s poppy ‘So Far Around The Bend’.

The compilation, produced by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner, has a strong Nu Folk feel to it. The few songs that veer into different territory - Funk, Alternative, Modern Classical - blend in well. As an album, the selection flows and there are no obvious bum notes or fillers. If you have a fairly open mind when it comes to music, ‘Dark Was The Night’ will make a good dinner party album when you have friends around.

As somebody who is normally very wary of compilation albums, I was impressed by the overall quality of the 31 tracks. The standard of songs included on ‘Dark Was The Night’ is high, with many songs worth a single release in their own right.

This is no fly-by-night cash-in project either. Proceeds from the sales of ‘Dark Was The Night’ will benefit the well established Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising AIDS awareness.

Red Hot celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The charity always had close ties to the music scene and has initiated some 14 well thought-out and nicely executed compilation albums over the past 20 years.

Red Hot raises funds for AIDS research and education, mainly through benefit compilation albums and videos. Red Hot has raised some $7m since 1989. Revenues from the sale of albums and videos remain within each country to help support local AIDS prevention and relief.

We say:

US Readers - Buy ‘Dark Was The Night’ On CD And MP3 Here!
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UK & Ireland Readers - Buy Dark Was The Night On CD And MP3 Here!
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