VARIOUS ARTISTS
''GIVE US YOUR POOR: 17 NEW RECORDINGS TOHELP END HOMELESSNESS''
SEPTEMBER 25 2007
75:12
01 - Danny Glover - Land of 10,000 Homeless - Minnesota - audio documentary set to music/4:01
02 - Jon Bon Jovi & Mighty Sam McClain - Show Me the Way/3:38
03 - Keb' Mo' & Eagle Park Slim - Baby Don’t Let Me Go Homeless/3:12
04 - Natalie Merchant - There Is No Good Reason/4:43
05 - Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger - Hobo's Lullaby/5:09
06 - Sonya Kitchell - So Lonely/5:37
07 - Michelle Shocked & Michael Sullivan - Becky's Tune/3:40
08 - Bonnie Raitt & Weepin' Willie Robinson - Walking the Dog/3:46
09 - Danny Glover - My Name Is Not Those People (spoken, with music)/3:19
10 - Madeleine Peyroux - I Think It's Going to Rain Today/3:41
11 - Del Goldfarb & John Sebastian - Portable Man/2:49
12 - Dan Zanes & Kyra Middleton - Boll Weevil/4:06
13 - Buffalo Tom - Ink Falling (Father Outside)/3:51
14 - Sweet Honey In The Rock - Stranger Blues/5:23
15 - Jewel - 1,000 Miles Away/3:47
16 - Tim Robbins - Impossible Boulevard (spoken excerpt, with music)/4:35
17 - Mario Frangoulis - Feels Like Home/4:30
18 - Danny Glover - When We Left Minneapolis (spoken, with music)/1:08
19 - Mark Erelli - Here and Now/3:27
REVIEW
By Tammy La Gorce
Give US Your Poor is a benefit record that doesn't duck from its subject for commercial considerations, which is to say that -- the excellent contributions of Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, and Bonnie Raitt aside -- you're not going to get through the album without contemplating what's it's like to be homeless. But a downer this CD is not: from Springsteen's juiced-up version of the classic "Hobo's Lullaby" with Pete Seeger to Madeleine Peyroux's pretty "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" to Dan Zanes and Kyla Middleton's rootsy picker-upper "Boll Weevil," the music shoves away preachiness and solemnity in favor of hope. It's there in Danny Glover's affecting spoken word "My Name Is Not 'Those People'" and also Sweet Honey in the Rock's grounded a cappella "Stranger Blues," but where it really reaches its target is on the opening sequence. "Land of 10,000 Homeless -- Minnesota" is a brief audio documentary set to music; here you meet people living the life, and here you hear their sagas. Self-pity never plays a part; only simple humanity, taken to the streets and scrubbed to its core elements, shines through.
''GIVE US YOUR POOR: 17 NEW RECORDINGS TOHELP END HOMELESSNESS''
SEPTEMBER 25 2007
75:12
01 - Danny Glover - Land of 10,000 Homeless - Minnesota - audio documentary set to music/4:01
02 - Jon Bon Jovi & Mighty Sam McClain - Show Me the Way/3:38
03 - Keb' Mo' & Eagle Park Slim - Baby Don’t Let Me Go Homeless/3:12
04 - Natalie Merchant - There Is No Good Reason/4:43
05 - Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger - Hobo's Lullaby/5:09
06 - Sonya Kitchell - So Lonely/5:37
07 - Michelle Shocked & Michael Sullivan - Becky's Tune/3:40
08 - Bonnie Raitt & Weepin' Willie Robinson - Walking the Dog/3:46
09 - Danny Glover - My Name Is Not Those People (spoken, with music)/3:19
10 - Madeleine Peyroux - I Think It's Going to Rain Today/3:41
11 - Del Goldfarb & John Sebastian - Portable Man/2:49
12 - Dan Zanes & Kyra Middleton - Boll Weevil/4:06
13 - Buffalo Tom - Ink Falling (Father Outside)/3:51
14 - Sweet Honey In The Rock - Stranger Blues/5:23
15 - Jewel - 1,000 Miles Away/3:47
16 - Tim Robbins - Impossible Boulevard (spoken excerpt, with music)/4:35
17 - Mario Frangoulis - Feels Like Home/4:30
18 - Danny Glover - When We Left Minneapolis (spoken, with music)/1:08
19 - Mark Erelli - Here and Now/3:27
REVIEW
By Tammy La Gorce
Give US Your Poor is a benefit record that doesn't duck from its subject for commercial considerations, which is to say that -- the excellent contributions of Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, and Bonnie Raitt aside -- you're not going to get through the album without contemplating what's it's like to be homeless. But a downer this CD is not: from Springsteen's juiced-up version of the classic "Hobo's Lullaby" with Pete Seeger to Madeleine Peyroux's pretty "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" to Dan Zanes and Kyla Middleton's rootsy picker-upper "Boll Weevil," the music shoves away preachiness and solemnity in favor of hope. It's there in Danny Glover's affecting spoken word "My Name Is Not 'Those People'" and also Sweet Honey in the Rock's grounded a cappella "Stranger Blues," but where it really reaches its target is on the opening sequence. "Land of 10,000 Homeless -- Minnesota" is a brief audio documentary set to music; here you meet people living the life, and here you hear their sagas. Self-pity never plays a part; only simple humanity, taken to the streets and scrubbed to its core elements, shines through.
