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E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Dance Party It Isn't
Tomorrow night's program will feature former attorney general Janet Reno, who is as well known for her deeds as head of the Justice Department as she is for her portrayal by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live. Recently, however, she's been talking more about music.
Reno is putting her name behind a 3-CD set of American music, fifty tracks in all, spanning the country's history from "God Save the King" to Grandmaster Flash, which was released last month. Unfortunately for fans of Janet Reno's Dance Party, the former AG does not appear on the album, nor did she have much creative input beyond hatching the original idea. Her musician nephew oversaw the project, called “Song of America” which consists of covers of classic American songs performed by contemporary artists.
Reno's intention with this compilation, which amounts to a sort of greatest hits narrative of American history, is to get young people more interested in the events that shaped their country through the songs they inspired. Using the familiar medium of music, Reno hopes to give things like the Civil War and the Dustbowl the same kind of mass appeal as, say, that new Soulja Boy dance.
Listening to the "Song of America," one can commend Reno and Co. for their accomplishment, assembling a remarkable collection of songs that tell America's story in vivid, poetic detail. The album's main failing, however, is its lack of brand-name talent, which bodes badly for its idealistic goal of broad, mainstream appeal. Despite the producers' best efforts, Hillary Duff wasn't available, and Josh Groban didn't return phone calls. What we get, instead, are The Blind Boys of Alabama singing a gospel hymn, Neil Young's “Ohio” performed by James Taylor's son, Ben, and a cursory nod to hip-hop in the form of a lukewarm cover of Grandmaster Flash's “The Message”.
With a few cringe-worthy exceptions, “Song of America” makes good listening. For those of us, that is, who enjoy folky covers of old-time music, and make the effort to seek it out. For the rest, more likely than not, the boxed set will share the same fate as the history textbooks it was meant to exceed, gathering dust on the shelf.