Album Reviews
Organized by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants as a fundraising project for progressive organizations like MoveOn.org, Future Soundtrack for America is raw and inspiring, a populist protest record that should silence the mumblings of all the haters who claim that Generation X, Y, et al, are only worth as much as their X-boxes and cell-phone tones. The sentiments are wide-ranging -- from Michael Stipe's quietly determined "Final Straw" to David Byrne's bittersweet "Ain't Got So Far to Go" to Ben Kweller's blatant "Jerry Falwell Destroyed Earth." They Might Be Giants' "Tippecanoe and Tyler" is an oddball gem, and Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas brings a welcome dose of hip-hop with his succinct "Money." But the clincher is the finale, the first song to be released posthumously from Elliott Smith, "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free." To hear Smith's voice again is like getting a letter from a long-lost friend, a friend as distant now as pre-9/11 America.
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©Copyright 2008 Rolling Stone; Jann S. Wenner, editor and publisher
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