Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0611587110329
Label: Appleseed Records
Manufacturer: Appleseed Records
MPN: 1103
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Appleseed Records
Release Date: 2007-09-25
Studio: Appleseed Records

17 exclusive new tracks by Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger, Jon Bon Jovi, Madeleine Peyroux, Bonnie Raitt, and other stars, many in collaboration with currently or formerly homeless musicians on benefit CD to fight homelessness!

Two years in the making, this fund-raising CD created by Appleseed Recordings and the national Give US Your Poor organization at UMass Boston brings together established musicians, socially committed actors and currently or previously homeless musicians in a collection of mostly exclusive new recordings that address the ongoing crisis of homelessness in America. There are frequent collaborations between the stars, who donated their time and music, and their formerly or currently homeless brethren on songs that often reflect on existence without guaranteed lodging, food, and the simple necessities of human existence.

There is a broad spectrum of artists, genres and styles on Give US Your Poor that makes the CD a moving, engrossing, and enjoyable, as well as educational, experience. Among the performers:

Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger join together for a second time (they also share a track on Appleseed's new Sowing the Seeds label compilation). to perform the folk classic, "Hobo's Lullaby."

Jon Bon Jovi represents the "arena rock" camp, pairing up with the formerly indigent Mighty Sam McClain on the rousing, gospel-inflected "Show Me the Way."

For the AAA/Starbucks crowd, there are new tracks from the latest sophisticated, jazz-influenced and popular female singer-songwriters - Madeleine Peyroux and Sonya Kitchell - and from their more established musical sisters, including Bonnie Raitt (performing a rowdy version of "Walking the Dog" with bluesman Weepin' Willie Robinson), Natalie Merchant (surrounded by six veterans of homelessness), Michelle Shocked, and Jewel.

Other contributors include bluesman Keb' Mo', the famed political/gospel a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, acclaimed "kid's music" rocker Dan Zanes, newly revived indie band Buffalo Tom, opera singer Mario Frangoulis, and actor/activists Tim Robbins and Danny Glover.

You will also hear music by and read about those whom society has tried to ignore, such as teenager Nichole Cooper and 11-year-old Kyla Middleton, formerly homeless military veterans Michael Sullivan and Weepin' Willie, and outspoken poet/advocate Julia K. Dinsmore, whose two contributions are read by Danny Glover.

The 28-page booklet accompanying Give US You Poor not only contains "the story behind the stories" of these songs and performers, but also presents an array of heartbreaking and infuriating statistics about homelessness in America.

This compilation that spans genres and generations shines its spotlight on homelessness, showing that the problem remains as pervasive as ever, though it has been supplanted by other crises as the issue du jour. In collaboration with the Give Us Your Poor organization at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the Appleseed folk label has paired artists like Jon Bon Jovi with the down-home soul of Mighty Sam McClain, Bruce Springsteen with Pete Seeger (the seminal influence on Springsteen's recent Seeger Sessions) and Michelle Shocked with Michael Sullivan, her longtime friend and a formerly homeless Vietnam vet. Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt, and Dan Zanes are among the other artists who team with singers who are or have been homeless, while actors Danny Glover and Tim Robbins provide spoken-word testimony. The songs of Randy Newman inspire very different treatments, with Madeleine Peyroux investing "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" with a piano-ballad intimacy, and Mario Frangoulis giving "Feels Like Home" an operatic grandeur. With the essays and extensive annotation accompanying these recordings, almost all of them previously unreleased, no one who encounters this package is likely to remain unmoved. --Don McLeese

Customer Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt collection of tunes benefitting a very worthy cause
Comment: This is an outstanding recording of a live Boston concert featuring some of music's most notable stars who've generously donated the proceeds of this CD to the homeless. We've got the Usual Suspects, folks like Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger (Hobo's Lullaby) to notable bluesman Keb Mo (Baby, Don't Let me Go Homeless), jazz singer Madeline Peyroux (I Think It's Going to Rain Today), and African womens ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock (Stranger Blues).

"Give US Your Poor" is a generational collection which will have something to appeal to just about everyone in the family. The engineering is above par for a live collection--you don't get a lot of audience feedback which can just sound like static after a while. The cause is definitely worthy. This various artists collection is an overlooked gem that I'd strongly recommend you check out.

Rebecca Kyle, May 2008

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Customer Rating:
Summary: revealing and moving portrait of the homeless
Comment: Since most Americans consider themselves only two paychecks from sharing the plight of these people , you would think that the problem would garner more attention from local and state offices. This album makes the homeless real, attaching faces and voices to a reality too often ignored. The music is also very well done.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Give us Your Poor
Comment: Give us Your Poor CD is well worth buying.The singers are all well known.You will love Mario Frangoulis an international artist with a beautiful tenor voice.Music is taken from a comcert held in Boston Bay area which was a smashing success.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Give Them Your Support
Comment: Give Us Your Poor is an album which proceeds go to the direct benefit of the homeless. That noble cause alone could be reason enough to reason enough to but this wonderful CD. If that's not enough than the music on this CD will be. Jim Musselman from the folk label Appleseed has managed to interest some legendary blues men and folkies for this project and got them to team up with some impressive names. Most notably Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. The first teams up with the Migty Sam McClain on the first Bon Jovi recording that really touched me, the second does a duet with the legendary activist and musician Peete Seeger on Hobo's Lullaby. Bonnie Rait and Keb' Mo' are among the other notable contributers.

Intersected with the songs are the stories of the homeless. Real people explaining how they became homeless or the stories of homeless told by famous actors as Tim Robbins, painting a picture of the dilemma that is as complex as the reality out there. Shocking stories of families, working men and children who live out on the streets of America were set to music. These stories are as captivating as the songs duets on this album.
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