A compilation in the service of a good cause is difficult to criticise. No one would fault the Samaritans for putting it together, or the artists for participating; still, there’s just not much on Songs to Save a Life to make it indispensable listening.
The premise is big name artists do covers of songs by big name artists, loosely themed in an anti-suicide, “you’re not alone out there” vein. Again, one hates to be churlish, but seriously, if the thought of James Morrison covering Bowie’s ‘Changes’ makes you think less of suicide then you’re a stronger person than I.
Out of eleven tracks there are maybe two or three are legitimately interesting on their own terms. There’s a nice sprightliness to KT Tunstall’s cover of Minds’ ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’. Tunstall’s version has a weird, gamine charm; it feels like a song sung around the campfire in a forest painted by Max Ernst.
Lest you think it’s all music from the Breakfast Club soundtrack, 10cc offers a decent, if decidedly mid-tempo, version of ‘Heart Full of Soul’. Maybe it was just the welcome change of pace from slow and slower that made me enjoy Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s version of Arcade Fire’s ‘Rebellion (Lies)’. But, credit where it’s due, her icy, dance-floor voice gives the song the kind of drama it deserves while adding a bit of cool to the frenzy.
And the rest? Respectable contributions from Katie Kim and Ed Harcourt. Low lights? Jay James Picton covering ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. Somehow worse than the original. Final analysis? Just donate the equivalent to the Samaritans directly.