| Product Summary | | Label: Barsuk Records/ada | | UPC: 00655173103722 | | Release Date: 8/17/2004 | | Buy.com Sku: 61704888 | | Item#: MQ9T59 | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25050 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. This Will Be Our Year - Ok Go ~ Various Artists |  | | 2. Ain't Got So Far To Go - David Byrne ~ Various Artists | | | 3. Game Of Pricks - Jimmy Eat World (BBC evening session) ~ Various Artists | | | 4. This Temporary Life - Death Cab For Cutie ~ Various Artists | | | 5. I Miss You - Blink 182 (James Guthrie mix) ~ Various Artists | | | 6. Move On - Mike Doughty ~ Various Artists | | | 7. Jerry Falwell Destroyed Earth - Ben Kweller ~ Various Artists | | | 8. Off With Your Head - Sleater-Kinney ~ Various Artists | | | 9. Final Straw - R.E.M. (move on mix) ~ Various Artists | | | 10. Going For The Gold - Bright Eyes (live) ~ Various Artists | | | 11. Commander Thinks Aloud, The - The Long Winters (future mix) ~ Various Artists | | | 12. Money - Will.I.AM ~ Various Artists | | | 13. Tippecanoe And Tyler Too - They Might Be Giants ~ Various Artists | | | 14. Ballad Of David Icke, The - Clem Snide ~ Various Artists | | | 15. Date With The Night - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (live) ~ Various Artists | | | 16. Everything's Ruined - Fountains Of Wayne (acoustic) ~ Various Artists | | | 17. Your Legs Grow - Nada Surf ~ Various Artists | | | 18. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips (live on the BBC) ~ Various Artists | | | 19. Northern Line - Old 97's ~ Various Artists | | | 20. Sam Stone - Laura Cantrell ~ Various Artists | | | 21. After Tomorrow - Tom Waits ~ Various Artists | | | 22. Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free, A - Elliott Smith ~ Various Artists | |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Future Soundtrack for America might be the No Alternative of 2004. But this time around, instead of HIV, the bogeyman is our own political lethargy. Organized by the Seattle indie Barsuk and They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh in cooperation with the liberal-minded advocacy groups MoveOn.org and Music for America, the release promises to contribute 100 percent of its profits to "progressive organizations working to involve more Americans in our political process." Like a more literate version of Fat Mike's raucous Rock Against Bush series, Future Soundtrack features material from old hands David Byrne, Tom Waits, and R.E.M. alongside 21st century indie rockers like Death Cab for Cutie and Bright Eyes. Like that old No Alternative comp, the stuff here is a mix of unreleased, rare, and live. Jimmy Eat World contributes a strong live version of the Guided By Voices gem "Game of Pricks," while They Might Be Giants somehow make the vintage campaign song "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" sound both haunting and hokey. One thing's for sure -- the 1840 campaign between William Henry Harrison ("Old Tippecanoe") and Martin Van Buren ("Little Van") was a negative lyric scorcher! Some things never change. It's nice to hear Mike Doughty freed of Soul Coughing's stilted near-millennium beatnik act -- "Move On" instead features a rangy acoustic guitar backed by warm organ tones and subtle electronics. The title does more than name-check the online activism group; Doughty indicts the U.S. Army as just another hawker "between ads for soda and skin cream" with his unique brand of cynical social comment. Besides sporting one of the set's best titles, Ben Kweller's "Jerry Falwell Destroyed Earth" is a rowdy minute and a half of crap-tone noise pop. Waits' "Day After Tomorrow" is a gentle missive to a faraway family, but Laura Cantrell's take on the John Prine tale of ex-soldiers and morphine -- "There's a hole in daddy's arm/Where all the money goes" -- is made more emotional by the girlish lilt of her voice. She could be the daughter "Sam Stone" never knew. Future Soundtrack for America's most notable track is probably Elliott Smith's "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free," from his posthumously released From a Basement on a Hill. While not the most directly political thing here, Smith's sense of foreboding suggests not only his personal struggles, but how crucial it is to be engaged in our nation and world. ~ Johnny Loftus | | The cover of 2004's politically minded FUTURE SOUNDTRACK FOR AMERICA reminds potential buyers that profits from the disc's sales will be donated to "progressive" organizations. A more fitting word could not have been chosen for this compilation, as the album serves as a broad survey of various genres in forward-thinking American music. Though there is a clear alternative-rock focus here, the disc also touches upon everything from No Depression music (Laura Cantrell, Old 97's) to hip-hop (Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas). | | Aside from the artists' altruistic motives, the common thread is that the tracks included are all rare or unreleased. Though obscure live cuts sit beside covers and exclusive recordings, the disc never sounds thrown together. In fact, the variety represented here only reinforces the collection's intentionally wide appeal. Highlights include OK Go's spot-on cover of the Zombies' ODESSEY AND ORACLE classic "This Will Be Our Year," Tom Waits's melancholy "Day After Tomorrow," and the late Elliott Smith's wonderfully ramshackle "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free." |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 08/17/2004 | | Original Release Date : 2004 | | Catalog ID : 37 | | Label : Barsuk | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00655173103722 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Uncut (p.116)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he record still sounds pertinent..."Mojo (Publisher)
(p.119)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "Future collectors' ware. In the meantime, the music's worth owning." |
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