In Loving Memory

Monica Kathleen Geroski (1953-2009)

I find that music means the most when you need it to mean the most. For me, this is one of those times.

And even though the title below seems fitting for how I’m feeling at the moment, the music contained therein seems fitting of an incredibly beautiful life.

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Dark Was The Night
Various Artists

Gabe’s excellent post this past Sunday on high-quality soundtracks is the perfect segue to a similar musical realm – The Compilation.

Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane…How about a quick shout-out to Jock Jams? Or an acknowledgement that the infamously low brow Now, That’s What I Call Music series (29 volumes deep) has sold 61 million copies in the U.S. alone?

But enough reminiscing (although be on the lookout for a post about Jock Jams). Dark Was The Night is the 20th compilation from The Red Hot Organization. Now I can’t speak for any of their other 19 releases, so I wont – and I don’t want to anyway.

Many compilations suffer from issues like a lack of recognizable artists, an overly obvious use of B-grade tracks, and a choppy patchwork of tracks seemingly placed one after another for no real good reason.

With these deficiencies in mind, Dark Was The Night is a truly remarkable 2-disc effort. The compilation includes artists such as The National, Feist, My Morning Jacket, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, The New Pornographers and The Books, just to name a few.

And as with any compilation you will experience varied levels of commitment/inspiration, but Dark Was The Night is surprisingly consistent. Aside from what seems like a complete lack of effort from one of my favorite bands Iron & Wine and a somewhat disappointing track from Spoon, many well-known artists have gone above and beyond for their previously unreleased tracks.

Some (of the many) highlights:
“Bon Iver - Brackett, WI”
“Sufjan Stevens - You Are the Blood”
"The Books (feat. Jose Gonzalez) - Cello Song"
"Fiest & Ben Gibbard - Train Song"
"Riceboy Sleeps - Happiness"

Etc., etc., etc…

And on top of all of that, the discs flow – seamlessly in fact. A feat in the world of compilations, and deserved of a big kudos to Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National for putting it together.

Now, to be honest, I don’t know why I’ve written this much. It’s a 33-song, 2-disc set filled with phenomenal artists front to back, and on iTunes it’s only $15.99 (and apparently even cheaper in the Amazon Mp3 store). This compilation sells itself.

So give it a listen, and let me know what you think.
Enjoy, and catch you next Thursday.