Firstly, even though the vast majority of the tracks on this two CD set are live, there is no crowd sound so there is a certain level of atmosphere missing, which is a real shame.
On the fourteen track CD-One we get the atmospheric openings from the ceremony, which give the ceremony the grandiose opening you’d hope for and include the Stomp and Winston Churchill sections, and then the live renditions of the key opening songs, including ‘Our House’ by Madness, which actually sounds better than I remember it watching it on television, to the band version of Blur’s ‘Parklife’ which is a style I’d like to hear the track performed in again – though it’s only just over a minute it’s a cracking interpretation.
The Pet Shop Boys are on top form on ‘West End Girls’, you can tell it’s live but Neil Tennant’s live voice is excellent, and Ray Davies’ version of ‘Waterloo Sunset’ completes a quartet of well adapted songs for the live environment. Thankfully, unlike live, we don’t have to listen to them all again on loop.
‘One Direction’ are conspicuous in their absence on the CD – surely this would have been one “for the kids” – but we do get Emile Sande’s hauntingly touching live take on ‘Read All About It (Part Three)’.
After David Arnold’s ‘Parade of Athletes’ we get the two well-composed Elbow tracks in full and the Kate Bush remix of her ‘Running Up The Hill’ track. Though the remix is not a million miles away from the original version it’s nice to hear such a good track on here, though why we get a studio recording over, say, One Direction’s live version of their track I don’t know. I’m not saying I’m a massive fan of 1D – I’m anything but – but it seems an usual stylistic choice. Especially when we get the inferior Annie Lennox track on the next disc, but more on that shortly.
The disc comes to an end with the collaboration on ‘Here Comes The Sun’, a stylistic highlight of the ceremony with a nicely constructed range of music styles and influences, a piece by David Arnold and then a small and welcome but a little bit pointless excerpt from Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
Disc two is really where it earns its right to be a worthwhile purchase. Kicking off with a nicely adapted version of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ – the original with a choir stuck under it, but stuck in an enjoyable way – the CD decides to skip past the fun ‘Freedom ‘90’ sung by George Michael and giving us ‘White Light’ instead. Though this version is twice as good as the questionable single release, with a much more satisfying electronic feel, it doesn’t help the cause of Michael denying he sang this song to fit the mood rather than boost the single sales. Hearing back to the lyrics make it seem even more self-centered than before. Strange.
We do get the great cover of The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’ by the Kaiser Chiefs and, like I felt at the actual viewing, we should have got more from them. Their cover here is spirited and captures the mood and would have loved to have heard one more song by them, especially when George Michael got two bites at the cherry, the Who practically did their whole discography and Jessie J appeared on more songs than a cowbell at an indie concert.
In this second half, in the absence of ‘Freedom 90’ we get the studio version of David Bowie’s ‘Fashion’, just one of the many songs played by Bowie and probably the least interesting especially when the fashion model visuals aren’t included with it. At least it’s better to hear than Annie Lennox’s tedious ‘Little Bird’.
The CD is more consistent with the track order now as we get the Ed Sheeran and Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ collaboration, which isn’t really my cup of tea, but it’s a fun ensemble version.
Even Russell Brand and Bond’s collaboration on the Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’ has actually grown on me and though ‘Pure Imagination’ that precedes it I can give or take, the cover is actually a fun version and Brand’s enthusiasm is energetic. It’s not a million miles away from the original but it’s spirited and enjoyable live.
After some shortened version of two Fatboy Slim classics – no real difference from the originals other than they’re cut down from the single releases but nice to hear nonetheless – we do get to the best bit of the gig with the cracking well-crafted mash-up montage of ‘Price Tag’,’ Written In The Stars’ and ‘Dynamite’ by Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz, which are all well sung and mashed-up together, even if Jessie does mysteriously sing ‘Can you fold that chair’ on the piece. I think. Possibly.
This bleeds into a jazzy and welcome cover of the Bee Gees’ ‘You Should Be Dancing’, with a welcome new rap from Tinie Tempah, and then the much anticipated medley from the Spice Girls with a hilarious car-horn opening to ‘Wannabe’, but listening back both tracks sound suspiciously like the single versions and with so much mixing in place it’s clear that they’ve got a lot of support from backing discs. But the mash-up is a great bit of mixing and I’d love to hear more of their hits given this treatment.
It goes without saying that I’m glad ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ is included as it’s a stonking version of it but the absence of Beady Eye’s ‘Wonderwall’ is a disappointment.
Muse’s live version of ‘Survival’ sounds great and is included, as is the double-hit of Queen with Freddie back from the dead with ‘Day-O’ and Jessie J joining May and Taylor for ‘We Will Rock You’.
The disc reaches its conclusion with two more pieces of incidental music from the extinguishing of the flame and other necessary bits before we get the beautiful live version of ‘Rule The World’ by Take That with some great piano work, and then the triple-end from ‘The Who’, all sounding great and show they still have it, though I’m not sure why they get so many bites of the cherry. And, yes, they do, drop out the words ‘I Hope I Die Before I Get Old’.
Overall, this collection is a vast improvement on the opening ceremony one and covers far more that appeared in the ceremony than the first did and, with a bigger focus on pop and rock hits over instrumental music, it’s much more enjoyable to hear as a collection without the attached imagery.
The decision to drop some songs like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘One Direction’ must be down to running time and / or licensing but the inclusion of ‘Whit Light’ over ‘Freedom 90’ is the most questionable decision. But these are minor gripes in what is a fun double CD collection.
If you are going to get either CD collection I’d definitely suggest this one just for the bigger focus on live music, covers and adaptations of songs. With an inclusion of crowd noise and a few tracklist tweaks this would be an essential purchase, but even without there’s still much to enjoy on here and will add some great interpretations of classic and modern British music to your library.
(8/10)
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