Review of "Hope For Haiti Now"

It seems a little bit tasteless to review a telethon, but I’m pretty tasteless too so it suits me.

All together, the stripped down performances were very good. None of the performers made the mistake of adding dancing or anything too upbeat to their performances, with the exception of Wyclef Jean‘s Rivers of Babylon/ Yele medley. The songs were somber (again, with the exception of Jean) and sufficiently tear jerking.

The Good

The Spirituals. Springsteen, John Legend, and Mary J Blige all decided to do traditional folk songs (“We Shall Overcome,” “Motherless Child,” and “Hard Times Come Again No More” respectively) that were all appropriate, tasteful, and moving. But the best performance of the night came from Haitian singer Emeline Michel.

Michel’s version of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross” was about as inspiring as a song can be without Prince writing it for the Vikings. Her voice carried so much pain that it was tactile. If tonight was a contest, she would be the winner.

The Bad

The Fake Spirituals. Going for a spiritual song doesn’t always work out, like these three below.

Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” is so overplayed that it had absolutely no impact at all. If she wanted to move people, she shouldn’t have done one of her best known songs.

Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, and Keith Urban completely blew “Lean On Me,” even disregarding my disdain for Keith Urban. The three voices just did not go together at all. It was like listening to mediocre karaoke.

Justin Timberlake trying to get through Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah was painful. First of all, Hallelujah is a completely inappropriate song for a charity telethon. Doesn’t anyone read lyrics? Second, Timberlake took this song high up in the register, where it just doesn’t belong. Third, this song is too good for so many people to cover. Its become an epidemic over the last 10 years or so. Stop it.

The Ugly

Dave Matthews and Neil Young--The ugly has nothing to do with the very poorly aging Neil Young. These two could just not get their stuff together on “Alone and Forsaken.” The song was dominated by Young’s high reedy voice, where it would have sounded much better with Matthews out in front and Young singing harmonies.

The Bottom Line

If the musicial performances from “Hope for Haiti Now” proved anything last night, its that when you want to be sincere about a cause, sing a sincere song. But for Pete (Seeger’s) sake, you have to mean it!