Various Artists - V Festival Presents... (Album)
When it comes to owning music collections, the best CDs seem to come as compilations. Kind of like sampling every dish from the menu of an expensive restaurant, you know you can’t afford to own all albums by the sixteen artists but you want to experience all the different flavours of the music. The added bonus of this compilation CD is that it is made up of the headlining acts from the V Festival. It was a significant injustice to my music-festival-loving self to have been unable to attend the 2009 V Fest, which is why I am stoked to have the CD from the gig in my possession. Though the first thing I noticed is NO Duffy, Virgin Mobile have made up for it with enough other talented artists and their best little tunes.
Opening with The Killers' Human, it's hard to find a person who doesn’t know this song. Though this band have had their music out for ages it is reasonable to say this song successfully launched their mainstream career. And truthfully I can see why, it is hard not to croon along to “Are we human? Or are we dancer? My sign is vital, my hands are cold, and I’m on my knees looking for the answer” Next is the salty dish Snow Patrol’s Take Back the City.
Empowering, yet it only lasts a couple of minutes so a sample is rarely enough and the song is often repeated. Snow Patrol may not have made this song big enough, to cause recognition, on the day of the Melbourne V Festival, however it certainly makes its mark on this album. You have of course an array of the harder old rock music, if served as a sample from the restaurant menu would probably have a shot of shandy or the likes simmered through. These tracks would be Grounds for Divorce by Elbow and Half Full Glass of Wine by Tame Impala. And what festival would be complete with out the songs that you can completely lose your shit to and dance your legs off – Dashboard by Modest Mouse, Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, Get Down by Groove Armada and You Know Me Better by Roisin Murphy.
Then there is the dish that looks initially like escargot, however goes down Just Like Honey. Jesus and Mary Chain offer a deliciously syncopated rhythm and their calming vocals harmonising like a mini angelic rock choir. One can't help but imagine these guys being in the lazy afternoon/ evening spot on the line up, with a few cold ones now flowing through and your legs ready to relax on a grassy viewing post. Likewise for this time of the festival you would probably find Phoenix performing Long Distance Call and Air with another selection of lovable tunes and hopefully Once Upon A Time.
The song that offends the ear from the first scream down the speakers is Louis XIV’s number Guilt By Association. Sorry, this is a dish that simply will not grow on me. It could possibly do damage to an ear canal, I’m sure. Or at the very least, haunt your mental health as you try to rid yourself of the opening noises as you try to sleep at night. I’m very much okay to have missed out on his set.
Finally the desserts: so delectable you just want to swoon over them. Be they rocky road, (The Reflex by Duran Duran, with so many extra bits scattered throughout the song with Simon Le Bon wrapping it all together with a melts-like-chocolate voice) or be they Tiramisu (you think it's going to be soft and melodic, though there is the occasional kick like West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys) or be they a berry pie and cream, tangy yet every new beat captures an uncontrollable dancer in you (like No One Knows by Queens Of The Stone Age). Or finally, the dessert might be the almighty treat of a home made sticky date pudding, with all the delights of sweetness and the comfort of someone you know and love creating something so pleasing like Never Miss A Beat by the delectable Kaiser Chiefs.
