LIVE EARTH: THE CONCERTS FOR A CLIMATE IN CRISIS - VARIOUS ARTISTS
This CD/DVD memento from Al Gore’s day of global-warming awareness kicks off shakily with Madonna’s “Hey You,” an acoustic ballad about saving the world that doesn’t sound serious enough to advocate saving the last piece of pizza for tomorrow’s breakfast. Other bummers follow: James Blunt’s “Wiseman” (call it “Motel California”), Damien Rice and David Gray’s “Que Sera Sera” (wimpier than usual) and a routine run through Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” But a few songs would be strong enough to recommend even if proceeds weren’t going somewhere worthwhile. Linkin Park manages some sparks on “Bleed It Out,” the reunited Police put a kick into “Driven to Tears,” Bon Jovi gets Jersey fists in the air with “Wanted Dead or Alive,” and Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend do fairly right by Marvin Gaye’s sympathetic soul on “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).”
